Surprise – Part Two

“Min, seriously, where are we going?”, I asked Minseok as the route he was taking lead off onto mud road.

“We’re almost there…”, he replied, and as if right on cue, in the distance I spotted a clearing overlooking a lake.

“Is this the same lake outside our house?”

“Yes, we are on the opposite side, wait let me show you”, he said as he backed up the car under the shade of a huge cherry blossom tree. We stepped out and walked on over to the lake to get a better view.

“Do you see that grey structure over there?”, he asked as he pointed out into the distance.

“Umm, nooo…”, I said trying to see what he was looking at.

“Me too”, he said and started laughing heartily.

“Minnn!!! That was a sad joke”, I said and rolled my eyes as I walked back towards the car.

“Babe, where are you going?”, he asked as he back-hugged me and stopped me from walking any further.

“The picnic basket…”, I said and turned around to face him, still in his embrace.

“Hmmm?”, he seemed lost as we held our gaze.

“Min, are you ok?”, I asked as I searched his eyes, he seemed nervous.

“Yes, yes. I’m ok, why?”

“You seem nervous…”

“Me? Nervous?”, he let go of me and ran his fingers through his hair, avoiding eye contact.

“Minseok? What are you planning on doing?”, I asked, zeroing in on his plan in my mind, as the runaway bride in me started to crop up.

*Control yourself Mackenzie, don’t freak out, it’s Minseok. Do you want anyone else? No, right? So why freak out? Don’t hurt his feelings. Stop, just be an adult. Don’t you see yourself with Min in the future too? Right, so stay calm*

“I’m planning on feeding us breakfast”, he said as he took my hand and we made our way back to the car.

I didn’t ask any more questions as I was not prepared to hear what he had to say.

(If you haven’t figured it out yet, I guessed he was going to propose and it freaked me out)

In silence, he brought out the basket from the back seat and placed it on the warm hood of the car.

He removed a red and white checkered cloth from the picnic basket and placed it on the hood, our make-do tabletop. Then out came two tiffin boxes. I quickly opened them and found French Toast and Egg Sandwiches neatly placed inside each of them.

“This is so lovely, Min-Min”, I said all happy and forgot about Min’s plan. Maybe I was just overthinking, I thought to myself, and calmed down.

“Enjoy, enjoy”, he said as he removed a flask of coffee and two mugs from the basket.

Both of us were hungry. We ate in silence and sipped our coffee in between bites.

Once we were done, we packed up and walked on over to the lake.

Min seemed nervous again as we took a seat on the moist grass at the water’s edge.

“I guess you know what I’m about to ask you”, he said to me.

“Yes, but I may be wrong, so please go ahead”, I replied, trying to be calm. *Please don’t propose*

He removed a tiny box from his pocket and opened it. But he didn’t show me what was inside.

I was lost and could only hear the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I felt like I was about to pass out from sheer fear. I was not ready for this.

But he didn’t say anything. All he did was place a ring on my index finger.

“I am not going to ask you anything. So, stop freaking out.”

“Ok”, I said all serious, still looking at the ring. It was a sleek rose gold band.

“Kenzie, stop”, he laughed and put his arm around me.

“It’s beautiful”, I said, falling in love with the ring. It was simple and classy.

“Mackenzie, will you marry me?”, he whispered in my ear and pulled me into his side. He turned to get a closer look at my face.

“Hmm, you seem calm”, he said as I looked at him and smiled.

“What were you expecting?”, I asked blushing.

“I thought you would’ve tried to run away by now”, he said and hugged me even closer.

“So that’s why you’re hugging me”, I giggled and kissed him on his cheek.

“Kenzie, seriously, are you ok?”

“Yes and YES”, I said and smiled at him.

“I’m confused”, Min said looking completely lost. He didn’t expect me to be so calm.

“Minseok, I love you and I will marry you”, I whispered in his ear.

He just stared at me blankly.

Then suddenly he smiled and hugged me tightly.

“Min, we can’t plan anything right now…”

“Of course, of course. This stays between us for now.”

“Oh gosh, it’s going to get so complicated…”, worry started to creep in and I tried to pull away from his embrace.

“Kenzie, stop it. Don’t think any further, we’ll figure it out”, he said and continued to hug me, not letting me go.

“But Min…”, he let go of me and placed his palms on either side of my face.

“Kenzie, one step at a time. Don’t think about the families, we will handle it, ok?”

“Ok”

He put his arm around me and he started talking about food because food calmed me down. He told me about his favourite restaurants and how he planned to take me to each one of them once it was possible. There was no more marriage talk and we went back to our normal selves.

After about an hour we could see the rays of the sun hit the lake waters. A light breeze caused soft ripples on its surface, making it glisten wherever the sunlight hit its waters. As time went by, the temperature started to rise and we decided to head back home since it was getting quite warm.

As we sat in the car and Min drove us home, I noticed that the ring had shifted from my index finger onto my ring finger. *Min* I smiled to myself.