Valerie P.O.V.

I gazed around my beautifully decorated store, reminiscing the months of planning it took for my dream to come alive during and after my last semester of college. From finding the boutique space to launching the online website, all the work was materialised here, in real life.

After roughly two and a half years of being open for business, my little boutique was going extremely well. We stocked all sorts of different clothing brands as well as my own specially designed pieces. I had customers coming in to the shop and loving the things they wore.

That's all I ever wanted.

For people to feel good when they wore my designs, to spread and share that positivity.

It was awesome to see the power of transformation. I loved being my plain old self, but I loved getting all dressed up for myself too. It was like how people liked makeup- in a sense. It was like expressing your creativity, and expressing some self-empowerment, but through the way you styled yourself. That's the beauty of living- it's okay to wear sweats and old t-shirts on a friday night and do nothing, but it was also okay to dress up fiercely and go out. You could do both, but it would still be you either way.

Apart from the boutique, I also did a few styling jobs on the side, especially for my friends when the opportunity came up. For now though, I was loving running my own business. I also collaborated with Carter sometimes to help him with new ideas for his ever-evolving merch company.

I bid goodbye to some of my employees to start heading home for the evening. I had to make sure I came home on time tonight. I rolled up to the beautiful house Carter and I were currently renting together in L.A. for the past two years and wandered upstairs. After over a year of dating, we wanted to move in together. I was worried it would change our relationship, but it didn't- not in any bad ways at all.

Luckily for me, I had a few decent hours to get ready- play some music and relax, and put in a little more effort to doll myself up. We have both been so busy lately, he scheduled a date night for us later this evening to ensure we spent quality time together. He's such an incredible boyfriend.

As well as being my incredible boyfriend, Carter was still a huge influencer, and posted amazing content online. He had even progressed to investing in small businesses alongside his own. Our lifestyle we had built was amazing, we got work done but we could also spend precious time hanging out with friends and family whenever we liked, especially since we collaborated often.

I finally trusted in the life process, and let things fall into place for me. It hadn't always been easy, but I learnt to tackle the issues as it came along in a healthy manner, and learnt to talk about my problems and ask for help whenever I needed it.

"Hey baby, you home?" Carter called out, as I heard his footsteps echo along the hallway.

"Yeah! I'm in here," I called back from the bedroom as I finished slipping on a dress for tonight.

"Hi gorgeous," he stood behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"Hey," I turned my head to peck his cheek. "How was your day?"

"Mhm good," he murmured, placing a kiss on my temple. "Better now, though. How was yours?"

I smiled whole-heartedly at his sweetness, I have never been more in love. "Yeah it was good, the sales ran high today. We also have this amazing new label we've been dealing with to stock in the store as well."

"That sounds good Val, I'm so proud of you," he grinned.

"Thankyou. I couldn't have done it without you." I spun around fully to wrap my arms around his neck. "I love you."

"and I love you." He pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

He took my hand in his as he led us down to the dining room.

"Wow, Carter this is beautiful." I gasped in surprise at the sight before me. How the heck did I miss this going on? Well to be fair, I was in my own little world upstairs having some me time.

The lights were dimmed, and there sat three lit tapered candles on the dining table, alongside two hot meals and a small bouquet of flowers. It was simple, yet sensual and romantic.

"I thought we could have a night in. Just us."

"Good idea." I smiled. "This is really nice."

He pulled out the chair for me to sit down, so gentlemanly as always. The smell of the mushroom risotto, herbed chicken and buttery, garlic asparagus was divine. My mouth was watering.

"Did you make this?" I asked him, highly impressed.

"I'd like to say I did, but no. I got a chef, he left about 10 minutes before I came to get you." He chuckled. "Otherwise we would be eating pancakes."

"I love your pancakes," I laughed, placing a hand over his. "But this looks amazing!"

We dug into the meal, chatting away effortlessly. Connecting on an otherworldly level like we always did.

"Wine, my love?" he asked me in a prim and proper voice.

"Yes please," I chuckled at his antics, as he poured in the sweet, gold sparkling liquor. That was the only kind I could drink at this stage. I had a sweet tooth so working up to having grown-up reds with fancy meals was a task. Carter didn't really care though. I brought up the glass to my lips to have a sip to wash down the food.

"You know you call me a lot of pet names, like terms of endearment," I chuckled. "Baby, princess, angel, love, gorgeous, beautiful," I listed off as I thought about them all.

"Cause you're all of those things," he said with a wink, "not just one."

I grinned at the explanation. Always smooth as silk with his answers.

"Do you like them?" he asked.

"Yeah I do actually, keeps it interesting."

"Wanna add something else to that list?" He bit his lip.

"Like what?" I tilted my head curiously.

"Like Mrs Bryson."

What?

~

Carter P.O.V.

Her lips parted, as her beautiful orbs drifted to mine with a questioning glance.

"Wait here." I whispered as I pecked her on the cheek.

I ducked into my closet quickly and dug out the small box that held my entire future in its possession. I put it in my back pocket out of sight, and with a deep breath, ran back downstairs. I popped the camera on record in the corner discreetly before I approached her.

"Valerie Eve Delwood," I began with a smile. She turned her head over in my direction as I stepped closer.

"Yes, Carter Lee Bryson?" she chuckled curiously.

I took her hand gently in mine, as I bent down on one knee before her. Her eyes widened as she covered her mouth in shock. Her chest began to rise rapidly up and down.

After weeks of thinking over how the hell I was going to propose to the love of my life, I settled for what I do best. Spontaneity. Doing things whenever I felt like it. Forget a perfect setup, forget an entire camera crew, forget perfect timing.

All we have is now.

Us.

"I love you, so much. I've thought of a million different ways to do this, but I couldn't settle on anything that would perfectly encapsulate how fucking blessed I am to have you, how much I appreciate you, and how much I want you for the rest of our lives." I said each meaningful word as clearly as I could, holding back from getting choked up with emotion.

"Carter..." she whispered as a tear began to slip from the corner of her eye. I smiled as I wiped the tear away. So sweet, so perfect and always full of heart. So real. I loved it.

"So, yeah. Fuck it. I'm doing this right here, right now." I chuckled.

She giggled softly at my craziness.

"You are my whole world, Valerie. You're the land, the sea, the sky, the stars, the sun and the moon. You're incredible, and absolutely perfect. You make me so happy."

Another tear escaped her twinkling eyes as she bit down on her lip, listening to me attentively.

I wiped my hands free from the nervous sweat, before pulling out the box out of my back pocket and opened it up to her. She gasped.

"Will you marry me?"

She let out a breathless, overwhelming sound- a cross between a chuckle and cry before nodding her head furiously.

I let out a relieved sigh.

"Yes," she managed to say through choked gasps, "Yes, Carter!" she exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around me as we tumbled to the floor.

A grin spread across my face as I melted into her arms, blinking back some of the water pooling in my eyes. We looked at each other for a split second before smashing our lips together. Even after three years together, we never lost that spark.

People in this industry may say that we're still young, but I knew in my heart and every fibre of my being that this was my forever. I might as well make it official now.

We pulled back breathless, with huge smiles gracing our faces. I propped us upright into a sitting position at the table, side by side. I was still holding the ring box clutched in one hand. I pulled her trembling one to me and placed a kiss on it comfortingly.

"We forgot to do this," I chuckled, as I plucked the ring out from it's place and slipped it on her left hand.

"Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful Carter," she gushed, admiring the jewellery now adorning her ring finger.

It fit like a dream. It was a 24K rose gold band with a 2 carat pear shaped diamond and a small halo ring of diamonds encrusted around it, set in white gold. I thought it looked unique but stunning, just like her, so I went for it.

"I love you, Valerie." I grinned.

"I love you, Carter." she beamed.

"You're going to love me even more." I winked at her mischievously.

"What?" she mock gasped. "Even more than this," she waved her hands around at our surroundings.

"Hm, okay maybe it's a close second." I reconsidered.

Nothing could be better than getting engaged to the most beautiful woman alive.

"What is it?" she chuckled, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I got the chef to make dessert. Crème brûlée."

She let out a squeal of excitement that I loved so much to hear.

I can't wait for our future.

Sure we've had our ups and downs throughout the years, but we always came out on top. Together, and better than ever. We always learnt from our mistakes and learnt to talk and be honest with each other. We rode the many highs as they came, and supported each other during the lows. That's what a real partnership is like.

We're in love, and nothing could stop us.

~

Valerie P.O.V.

I smiled with pure joy as I kissed the man of my dreams.

My fiancé.

It won't always be sunny skies, but I know, no matter what, we'll get through all the rainy weather, together.

🌟🌟

I'm totally not crying in the club right now 😭

Thankyou to all my beautiful readers for following along this journey! This is my first ever book I have written, and now it is finished! Ahhhh!

Love you all, see you in the next one 😘