THE PROPOSAL

       Ethan stared at him for a while, not believing that Douglas was standing there. 

      "Can I come in?" Douglas asked. 

      "Sure," Ethan said and stepped away, letting him in.

   Douglas went into the room and looked around, Ethan looked at him, wondering why he was there. 

       "How may I help you?" Ethan asked. 

       "Is that how you welcome a guest?" 

        "Have a seat then." Ethan gestured him to a seat. Douglas sat down.  "What do you drink?" 

         "Beer is fine." 

         "You drink beer in the morning?" 

         "People are different. If you don't have a beer, I can take wine." 

        Ethan went to the kitchen and emerged with a bottle of wine and two glasses. He handed one glass to Douglas and poured wine into his glass. Douglas took a huge gulp. Ethan poured wine into the glass again. 

     "That's enough, thank you." 

      Ethan sat on an adjacent couch and drank from his glass and waited for Douglas to say something. But Douglas said nothing. 

       "Are we going to sit looking at each other for the whole day?" Ethan asked. 

       "Where is Angel?" 

       "She is not around, it's clear." 

      "You said to discuss your business card with you when I am done with my research." 

      Ethan raised his glass.  "Alright, I'm all ears." 

    "Don't dare give me that attitude." 

  Ethan smirked.  "What attitude?" 

      "You know what I am talking about. Don't go all high and mighty on me." 

       "I'm usually a humble person." 

      "Whatever." Douglas sipped wine.  "Why did you disguise?" 

        "It's a personal reason." 

       "Does Angel know about this? Does she know you are—you are this wealthy?" 

       "What do you think? Do you think she is that insensitive? I stopped pretending a long time ago." 

     Douglas nodded and drank from his glass again.  "I see." 

      Ethan sat up and placed his elbows on his knees.  "So what do you say? Do I qualify to marry her now?" 

       Douglas stared at him for a while without saying anything, Ethan widened his eyes demanding an answer. Douglas downed his drink.  "Look, I hope you got what I meant, I was just looking out for my sister." 

     "Guilty much?" 

     "Stop it. I never said I was feeling guilty. I had big plans for her and I didn't want her to settle for less." 

       "To you love doesn't count, does it?" 

        "Well, love doesn't pay bills, does it?" 

       "Your father provided for your mom, but it was hell for her wasn't it?" 

       Douglas stared at him for a while.  "You don't…you don't bring my parents into this." 

       "No, they are the closest I can use to explain to you that love really does matter." 

      "Can I get another drink?" Douglas said and avoided Ethan's glance. 

       "You are not planning on getting drunk at mine, right?" 

       "Men keep a conversation going with a couple of glasses." 

      Ethan handed him the bottle.  "Here you are." Ethan watched him as he gulped down the wine. 

     "Okay, maybe love does matter but finance is an essence." 

      "Do you even love Charlie?" 

       "Of course, I do. Why would you even ask me that?" 

        "If he wasn't earning will you ever have loved him?"

       "Since I have the means to provide, of course, I will." 

  Ethan nodded.  "That just answered my question. You would have understood him, right? That's also how it is in straight relationships. Faith would have understood me if I wasn't earning money. Back to my question. Do I qualify to marry your sister now?" 

     Douglas stared at him for a while and blinked away. "As much as I hate to admit it, you are smart enough." 

     Ethan shrugged.  "I will take that as a compliment." 

    "Listen, I will kill you if you ever hurt her." 

      "You have my word. I will never hurt her on purpose." 

      Douglas stared at him for a while.  "That doesn't make us friends." 

       "No, it doesn't, it makes us brothers-in-law," Ethan said with a smile. 

     Douglas paused, then smiled and shook his head. Ethan looked at him surprisingly. 

       "Did you just smile at me?" 

 Douglas stopped smiling and stood up.  "I have to take my leave—thanks for the drink, and..." He looked around.  "Your house is not nice."

     Ethan stood up and smoothed his shirt.  "Thanks for that too. You have a unique way of giving compliments." 

      "I meant that," Douglas said and started for the door and stopped and turned.  "Remember, my eyes are on you." He pointed two fingers to his eyes and pointed them at Ethan. 

      "Yes, bro!" 

      "I'm not your bro!" he called, opened the door and left. 

      Ethan stood there smiling as he left. 

      "Ethan, you were quite late," Faith said when she finally saw Ethan coming in from the front door. 

     Ethan planted a kiss on her cheek.  "I had to take care of some things." 

      Danny and Nora came down in bikinis and shorts.  "If that's not the man of the moment," Nora said. 

      "Sorry, I'm late, traffic!" Ethan said and dropped the cooler of drinks. He glassed over at Faith who was giving him a leery look. He went over to her and smoothed her hair.  "What's the matter?" 

      "You just lied. You said you had to take care of something to me and said it was the traffic that kept you to Nora and Danny. One of them is a lie." 

     Ethan smiled.  "I had to come up with an excuse. You look beautiful. Why ain't you in your bikini yet?" 

     Faith smiled mischievously.  "I wanted you to wear it on me." 

       "Sounds inviting, let's go." 

        In a few minutes, they were at the beach. Ethan and Faith in their car, Danny and Nora in their car. They got down from the cars and the men brought down the drink cooler, while the women took the rolled-up mattresses and they set down to the spot they wanted to stay. The beach was filled with a lot of people, who were either sunbathing, swimming by the shore, surfing or having a party or picnic. 

      The couples walked down from their various cars. The men wore shorts and short sleeves button shirts with all the buttons opened, with sunshades, Nora wore a yellow bikini that accentuated her rich brown skin and a sunshade. Faith wore a red bikini that was tied by her side, her hair cascaded down her shoulders and she wore a sunshade too. 

     They got to a spot that was less crowdy and set down their equipment. They spread the mattress and sat around discussing and laughing all the way. The women shared the snacks. 

      "Say let's play a game," Danny suggested. 

       "What game?" Faith asked. 

       "Truth or dare?" 

       "What?!" Nora exclaimed and chuckled. 

       "Can't remember the last time I played that game," Faith said. 

        "That was in my college days," Ethan said.  "There was this girl I used to like and I loved joining the game whenever she is there just to get a chance to kiss her." 

   They laughed. 

      "What if I say no kissing in this game?" Danny asked. 

      "Oh, my God babe, would that even be a game?" Nora asked and scowled. 

       "Then you will have to cut me out and let Faith and I  go smooch all we want." 

       "There is no fun in the game when we don't get to touch each other, you know," Faith said. 

      "Oh, my God. I feel I was beaten," Nora whined rubbing her neck. 

      "Are you alright?" Danny asked concerned. 

       "I feel like I need a massage," Nora said feigning pain all over her body. 

      "Same here," Faith said and looked at Ethan. 

    The guys looked at themselves and smiled. 

     "We can play the truth or dare game after the massage, smooching included, please!" Faith said and laid on her stomach. 

     Nora did the same. Ethan and Danny knelt over them and started the massage. After a while Ethan started to tickle Faith, she jerked and giggled like a baby. He kept smiling and kept tickling. 

     "Can you stop, please? I needed a massage, not this!" Faith pleaded. 

       "This comes with a massage." 

    Faith kicked and while she threw fits of laughter, she managed to get out from under him and ran off, he pursued her and caught up with her almost immediately. He grabbed her waist from behind and spun with her while she snickered in fits of laughter. 

    After a while, they played the truth or dare game, which led to playing tag. They ran around the beach, the men would catch their partners grabbing them from behind or lifting them facing them and spinning around. Other people joined them to play the tag game. They played until they were exhausted, they went to the shore to swim, and they played some more in the water, laughing heartily. 

      After that, they danced to music from the music box they have brought, they were all laughing and happy. After dancing, the men decided to go do some surfing while the girls lay back, sunbathing and watching the guys. 

         "This is so cool, your man is so cool," Nora said. 

          "So is your man," Faith replied. 

       Nora sat up on her and turned to face Faith.  "Do you remember when we planned our future in college?" 

       "Yes, we said we would get married to two successful best friends like us and storm the world together." 

       "Remember when I told you that if you get married and forget me, I will come to your house and shoot you?" Nora asked and they giggled. 

        "Now, it turns out that you are getting married before me." 

      Nora grabbed her hand.  "I'm just happy that we are finally happy with the ones we love and who love us back. Very soon, you will get another ring on those fingers and it's gonna be for real this time." 

       "Yeah," Faith agreed and they hugged each other. 

       "Having ladies' time, huh?" they heard someone ask. 

    They pulled away from each other and looked to see Ethan and Danny standing there with a cameraman. 

      "Let's take some pictures," Ethan said. 

   They took different pictures together, they took separate couple pictures. Ethan requested to have a separate picture with Faith, he went and whispered something to the cameraman's ear. The man smiled and nodded. He asked them to strike a pose that he wanted to catch a particular moment. 

      "Ma'am, can you step away from him?" he said to Faith. 

    Faith took a few steps away from Ethan, smiling. 

    "Alright, I want you to look away from him, look the other way, when I count to three, you turn and give him your sexiest look and smile.". Faith nodded with a smile.  "Alright, one…two…three…"

     Faith turned to give Ethan her sexiest smile and gasped when she saw him kneeling with a box with a diamond ring open in front of her. The cameraman captured her reaction, thrice. 

       She put her hands over her mouth.  "Oh, my God!" 

      "Dear Faith, my angel. I know we've known each other for a very short time, but I can't think of not spending the rest of my life with you, you own all of me, my thoughts, my heart, my body. You fill me up with your goodness." He chuckled, I don't really what else to say, but will you do me the honour of spending the rest of your life with me?" 

    Faith still clutched her mouth, staring at Ethan in astonishment. Other people have gathered around them and were filming them now. She looked around and looked at Nora who was clutching her hands together and smiling at her. 

      "Oh, my God! Yes! Yes!" 

     "Yes!" 

     "Yes!" Faith said with a nod and stretched out her hand. 

      There was a loud cheer as Ethan put the ring on her finger. He stood up and they kissed so deeply and then she showed off her pure diamond ring. The crowd cheered and clapped for them.  She went and hugged Nora. 

        "I told you!" Nora yelled so that her voice would be heard above the crowd. 

      Ethan went and shoo k hands with Danny. 

     "You did it man," Danny said excitedly.

   Ethan beamed with smiles and went and shook hands with the cameraman. Faith come over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.