I pace around my apartment's living room nervously.

It's our relationship's first anniversary and I'm going to propose Shravya to marry me today.

I'm a ball full of emotions right now. Nervousness, fear, happiness, excitement, uncertainty, I'm feeling it all.

Is it too early for me to ask her that?

Will she refuse?

We've never really spoken about marriage in the past one year that we have been together so will she be surprised?

Will it be an unexpected proposal for her?

Think positive Arjun Mehrotra. Think positive.

Your blood group isn't B negative, and even if it was, today you have to think only positive. I mentally tell myself.

My eyes fly to the clock.

8. 06 p.m.

She was supposed to be here by 8.

Where's she?

I take my phone out of my pocket to call her but find a text from her instead which was sent almost half an hour ago.

I was setting up the dinner table at that time so I must have not paid attention to my phone.

I quickly opened the text.

Love : I'm on my way, Arjun. It won't be too much exaggeration to say that Mumbai's traffic is at its peak today.

Her text says.

I smile at it.

Shravya and her, too much exaggeration.

A few months back when I had told her I love you for the first time I had prepared this really romantic and somewhat cheesy speech for her, where I told her I'd get her the moon and stars if she so much as asked me to.

Her response to it was,

I love you too Arjun, but don't you think that's like too much exaggeration, bringing me the moon and stars part? She had said this exact line and then laughed. I had joined her too.

I remember being just as nervous and scared then too.

But she had said she loved me back and man, it was the best thing she had ever told me.

That's what she has turned me into. A man totally and madly in love with her.

And today I wanted to ask her to be mine forever.

I wanted to take our relationship to the next stage.

My chain of thoughts are broken by the ringing of the doorbell.

She's here.

Oh God.

"Calm down Arjun." I told myself and released a deep breath after which I walked to the door.

On opening the door I was greeted by the most gorgeous sight I have ever laid my eyes on.

Shravya, the love of my life standing in front of me in the red coloured saree that I got for her and asked her to wear today.

My breath hitched as I took in her appearance.

Her hair was open and flying because of the wind, some strands teasing her face causing her to frown as she tried to tuck them behind her ear.

Her face had a soft makeup look on it but her lips, she had painted them with a blood red lipstick shade which matched the colour of the saree she was wearing.

Every fiber in my being wanted me to grab her by her hair, pin her to the nearest wall and taste those lips but I controlled myself.

Tonight I have a lot of talking to do.

"Arjun?" She asked me as she waved her hand in front of me.

"You look breathtakingly beautiful Shravya and I just got lost in admiring you as always. Please come in." I tell her with a smile.

She leaves me lovestruck everytime I see her so there was no point in lying to her about why I went blank.

The moment she enters she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me in for a kiss.

It is a slow and sensual kiss that leaves me wanting for more when we part.

"Happy first anniversary, love." She says once she stands back on her toes.

"Happy first anniversary to you too, love." I told her.

Shravya then turns around and bends down to pick something up.

When she turns back to face me there's a huge carry bag in her hand.

"What's this?" I ask her.

"You'll find out." She says and walks inside.

I follow her waiting for her reaction.

She immediately stops in her tracks as she takes in the sight in front of her.

There's a black board where I've written, 'Will You Marry Me' and have drawn penguins, unicorns, ice bears, animated avocados with smiley faces, emojis, doughnuts and hearts.

She likes quirky stuff right? So I've set up a unicorn themed proposal for her.

Instead of the usual roses and heart shaped balloons I've made a way with quirky stationery of different sorts, pens, paper clips, metallic balloons shaped like unicorns and penguins, that leads to the black board.

I've even ordered a unicorn themed cake that we'll cut if she says yes and it's time for a celebration.

Well, I just hope the cake doesn't go to waste.

"Arjun." She just utters my name and then goes silent.

"Arjun, are you..are you serious?" She asks me a whole thirty seconds later.

"Shravya, I'm damn serious." I told her.

I release a deep breath before opening my mouth to ask her the question but before I can,

"Arjun, this is all so cute. Aww, where did you get this ice bear plush toy from? This was on my to buy list." Shravya tells me as she goes down on her knees and picks that stupid stuffed toy up.

I remove my hand from my pocket where the box containing the ring was and go down on my knees too.

Shravya surprises me by encircling her arms around my neck and pushing me towards her.

Before I can even process what's happening my girl's already giving me a hug.

"Arjun, I love you for this." She tells me.

"Shravya, baby, I love you too, but right now, we have more important things to discuss than this toy." I told her.

"We do? Oh yes, we do. But Arjun, this is so cute." She tells me.

"Yes, very cute." I tell her with a smile.

To be honest there's absolutely nothing I find cute about this toy but what I would find really cute right now is if Shravya gives me a peck on my lips and agrees to this proposal.

My eyes follow Shravya as she now picks up an avocado shaped stuffed toy.

"Arjunnn." She says as she grins widely at me.

Before she can comment on how cute this is, I wrap my fingers around her forearm and pull her towards myself.

The avocado toy sandwiching between the two of us.

"Shravya, let me speak first." I told her.

She's startled for a few seconds but then nods her head at me.

"Shravya, I'll get you a whole store filled with quirky stuff, I'll bring you cute stationery everyday, I'll always be the first one to apologise everytime we fight which I hope isn't too often, I'll take you on kulfi dates every weekend, I want to watch you as you work on those accounts at late night and frown every time there's something you find not adding up, I want to be the one bringing you ice creams on those times on the month, I want you to be the first person I see when I wake up in the morning and last when I go to bed. I want to come back home to you everyday. I want to have you sleep beside me, close to me everyday. I want to make you my wife Shravya, I want to take our relationship to the next level, so Shravya will you please, please, please marry me, I promise to keep you happy always. I promise to make you smile and keep you entertained. I promise to bring you tasty food from The Mehrotra's everyday, well, and now I will end my speech because I don't know what else to say but let's just say this man will do everything in his power to bring a smile to that beautiful face of yours." I told her.

"Arjun Mehrotra I love you, I love you so so much. It'll be an honour for me to be your wife. You've made me the happiest woman alive already. There's not one day that goes by without me overthinking about whether I even deserve you or not. You know how your girlfriend is right? An overthinking and nagging twenty-seven year old that loves cute stuff, but you still love me so much and never complain. You're the best boyfriend anyone can ever have and I'm sure you'll be the best husband. So yes, I will marry you." She says and her hold on the avocado toy loosens as she moves her hands to my collars and pulls me towards herself.

"Arjun Mehrotra, you're the best thing that has happened to Shravya Arora." She whispers against my lips and crashes her lips against mine.

We kiss each other softly, slowly, gently, putting in all of our love for each other in that one kiss. Every time I kiss Shravya it's like a new experience. I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of kissing her.

Soon enough the kiss turns into a hungry one as I give her lower lip a bite and immediately enter her mouth. Our tongues move against each other as we taste each other's mouths. My hands move to Shravya's bare waist and I push her closer towards me.

When we part, panting for breath, I press my forehead against her keeping her close to me.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to this, Shravya." I told her.

"Thank you so much for asking me, Arjun. I could have never been the first one to ask." She tells me.

"I'm glad I did then." I told her.

"I'm glad too." She says and both of us chuckle.

"Shravya, there's a ring, I completely forgot about it, let me get it out of my pocket." I told her.

She pulls back and looks at me.

Her face flushed, her lips red and swollen, eyes slightly darker and her hair sticking out in all directions.

Damn, I love how she looks right now.

I quickly fish the box out of my pocket and take the ring out of it.

"May I please?" I ask her.

She smiles, her eyes tearing up a bit as she nods her head at me and brings out her hand in my direction.

I hold it and slide the ring down her ring finger.

I place a kiss on her knuckles and then look back at her.

"I can't wait to get married to you, Shravya Arora." I told her.

"I can't wait to get married to you too, Arjun Mehrotra." She tells me.

I stand up on my toes and then offer her my hand.

She takes it and stands up too.

"I've got you something too." She tells me.

"Show it to me." I tell her feeling excited at the thought of what she's got me.

"Just a second." She says and then turns away walking towards the direction of the carry bag she brought with herself.

She picks it up and brings it back to me.

"This is for you Arjun." She tells me.

"Thank you." I tell her and take it from her hand.

"See what's inside." She tells me and I do.

I take out the box from inside it.

On opening it I find a watch inside. I take it out and have a look at it.

"Wait, switch it on first." She tells me.

I switch it on and find a date engraved on the dial.

14.07.2021.

"14th Of July 2021. The day I first met you Arjun. You had come to my office. Remember Sneha was pulling me towards you and I was trying to push myself away. That day you had looked at me and then mumbled something under your breath before looking away and getting inside the elevator." She tells me.

"I remember. And as for what I had mumbled under my breath, I was telling myself, ''Look away Arjun, it's rude to stare at a stranger for so long even if they're mesmerizing to look at." I told her.

"Is that really what you mumbled? All this while I thought you mumbled something along the lines of, what craziness are these two girls doing." She tells me and I laugh.

"No, babe, that wasn't what I said." I told her.

"Well, that makes me feel a lot better." She says.

"Okay now press that button on the side." She tells me and I do.

On pressing the button a picture of the two of us, appears with a message that says,

'Arjun, I love you, and will continue to do so always and forever.'

In the picture Shravya's giving me a kiss on my cheek while I'm smiling ear to ear.

It's from one of our kulfi dates a couple of months back.

"This is so cool. I love it." I tell her as I smile looking at the picture and the message on it.

"I'm so glad you do." She says.

"You must know this Shravya, I will love you always and forever too." I told her.

I then unbuckle the watch I was currently wearing and wear the one Shravya just got me.

"This looks so good on my hand." I tell her and she smiles in response.

"Arjun, I've also made your favourite Butter chicken and garlic nan for dinner and brought it." She tells me.

"You have? Wow!!" I tell her and walk towards the carry bag.

I take the containers out of it and place them on the dining table.

While Shravya walks over to the black board.

"Did you draw these?" She asks me.

"Yes. I know they look funny but that's all this guy could pull off." I tell her with a shy smile.

"No they're not. I love them and I love your efforts Arjun. Thank you so much again." She says and takes her phone out of her bag.

"Do you have a piece of chalk left?" She asks me.

"Yes, I do." I tell her and bring her one.

She writes, 'YES' below the will you marry me and then draws a heart beside it.

"Perfect." She then says and turns around to look at me.

"Perfect indeed." I say.

"This is my dream proposal, Arjun. I love the decoration so much. I'm so glad you did not opt for rose petals and red balloons because honestly this unicorn theme makes me so much happier." She tells me.

"I know that, Shravya. That's why I chose this theme. Rose petals and red balloons are too mainstream anyways." I told her.

"Totally. But I'm sure the rest of the world will differ." She tells me and the two of us laugh. A few seconds later I stop and that's only to admire the love of my life laughing whole heartedly.

I have got myself the best girl there is out there and she is happy. I think I've pretty much got everything I would need for a lifetime.