Ch 17 - Proposal

Mr. SA Man was the beginning of my 'torturing' journey.

He was like the cover of a book—holding everything together and giving readers a reason to start. And this book would have no end.

I think what was sad exactly about this whole "mentally happy about torturing people" is that I felt no guilt whatsoever.

Sad but fun.

***

**Daniel's POV**

It was a beautiful night at sea, and we had just left the port.

We settled in and moved our luggage to our rooms. Daniel was kind enough to get each of us a room, but since it was a sleepover, we only used two. Tiana and I shared one, and the boys took the other.

Overall, it was going to be the best sleepover ever.

I went out to ask the boys about dinner and bumped into Daniel on my way back to my room.

"Where are you going?" I asked with a smile, stating the obvious.

"Where do you think I'm going?" he said, inching closer to me.

"You have a bad habit," I said as Daniel's face came within inches of mine. He bent down slightly to close the distance between us—the height difference was obvious.

"What's that?" he asked, staring at my lips like they were food.

Maybe they were…for food.

My mouth is for food—that's what I meant.

Yeah.

"You always answer questions with questions " I said, noticing his eyes wander over my face and settle on my lips again.

"Hmm, because you always have questions," he continued to stare.

"Then answer them!" I said, growing annoyed.

Noticing my mood shift, he replied, "But then I'd never get to see you worked up like this" then he straightened up.

"You like seeing me annoyed?"

"A little. I find you cute when you pout," he said with an honest look.

He knows what he's doing to me with those eyes. Damn it. I'm trapped.

"I have to make sure our reservation has no issues. I gotta go, E," he said.

"E?" I asked, surprised he had already given me a nickname.

He looked at me, grabbed the back of my head, pulled me close, and gave me a hearty kiss…on the lips.

"Yes, my E," he said, letting me go.

My whole face was flushed—blushed and flushed, all of the above.

I entered my room with a burning face, and luckily, Tiana wasn't there to tease me. She had probably gone to shower already. I would too, but for now, I was on an important mission—finding a good outfit for dinner.

I needed something that said "sexy" but also "wow, I'm decent."

While I was still searching, Tiana came out of the shower.

"What are you doing?" she asked, surprised to find clothes sprawled across the bed and floor, including hers. She seemed too calm for this emergency—probably because she had already picked an outfit.

"I don't have anything to wear," I cried out, sitting on the bed. I was even wearing a bathing suit, hoping to find inspiration, but still had no luck.

"Come on, that's not possible. We only packed the good clothes, remember?" she said, looking around at the mess.

"Yeah, I know, but nothing says what I want it to say."

"What do you want it to say, Mrs Walter?" Tiana replied with sarcasm.

"Dumbass, don't call me that," I said, blushing furiously.

After a few seconds of me being cute and Tiana shaking her head at my behavior, I finally said, "I want it to say "sexy" and I am "decent"

"Took you long enough," she said, now looking for an outfit.

I stood up from the bed and hugged her tightly. "I love youuu, you always have the best outfits!"

"Obviously dumbass, you're so lucky to have me."

"Sure," I replied sarcastically.

I finally broke the hug and went to shower. When I got back, Tiana had already picked out a very nice outfit, and we got dressed together.

I knew I looked good, but my bestie looked gorgeous.

What if she steals my man? I thought.

It's not possible—plus, she's dating someone. Right?

***

**Daniel's POV**

It was a beautiful Friday evening. The weather was fair, and the sea breeze was blowing nicely.

For dinner, I made a reservation at a nice restaurant on the ship's deck. It was a bit pricey, which kept it from being too crowded. I chose it because I wanted us to enjoy the sea view as we ate—it would make the "sleepcation" memorable. Also, I wanted to impress someone.

The boys and I didn't take long to freshen up and throw on some shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. I wore a black elbow-length shirt with a black top underneath, leaving the shirt unbuttoned, and paired it with gray shorts to complement the color tone.

I accessorized with a silver necklace, a watch, and a single earring—a cross that dangled slightly from my right ear. I hadn't worn earrings in a while, but I was paying more attention to my appearance now.

After a final check in the mirror, I briefly straightened my freshly cut hair, which had a wet look. Overall, I looked charming. Yeah, I know—I look that good.

The boys were only putting on shirts and shorts, nothing really different. I guess they had no one to impress.

As much as I would hate to admit, they still looked good with doing anything. It made me feel pathetic.

The boys and I had been waiting for the girls for over 40 minutes—why am I not surprised?

We asked the waitress to start getting the meal ready because Tiana texted Harry to say they were on their way.

I'm sure the boys had called them at least 20 times. They were probably really hungry, but at least they had the gentlemanly etiquette to wait, which made me proud of my girl. She chooses her friends well.

About three minutes after the text, I noticed people staring behind me, mostly men. I turned around and...

There she was—my wife.

She was wearing a black gown covered in stones. It was strapless with a straight neckline. She had on a cute silver necklace, small stoned earrings, and pretty silver slippers. She carried a black bag, wore red lipstick, and had very light makeup. Her wavy hair gave her a rich old-money vibe.

Everyone just had to stare.

As for Tiana, she wore a nude body-hugging dress that barely reached her knees, the same silver slippers as my girl, and a mixture of gold and silver for her necklace and earrings. She carried a gold bag. She looked pretty, I'd admit—but not as pretty as my wife.

With smiles and jokes, they waved at us.

I had reserved a seat next to me and signaled for her to sit there.

I couldn't take my eyes off her as the food was served.

"Daniel!" Cornelius screamed.

"You don't need to shout my name. I'm right here," I said calmly, meeting his eyes, annoyed that he had interrupted my drooling.

"We've been calling you for a while, but you seemed to not be paying attention. Stop staring at her—food has been served. She's not food," Cornelius said with a smirk.

She looked down at her hands, clearly shy.

"Yet" I replied.

"Huh? Are you drunk? Can't make sense of what you just said," Cornelius said.

"You said she's not food, so I replied she's not food yet, dumbass." I said, staring at her intensely.

"Ca…can we eat now?" she finally spoke, blushing briefly.

"The food or you?"

She hit me on the arm while our friends chuckled.

"You're so embarrassing," she said after a while with a stuffed mouth, chewing on one chicken leg while holding another.

How can someone so slim eat so much?

She probably doesn't weigh much.

After we had eaten, cracked jokes, and gossiped a little, it started to get windy. So, I gave E my shirt.

That's when I felt it was time. I signaled for the band to start playing, and first, the waitresses brought out a large bouquet of flowers for her while her face lit up with smiles. Then, as the dark blue sky lit up with fireworks that I had planned, I reached into my pocket, pulled out a small case, went down on one knee, and tugged E's hand.

Everyone finally noticed me.

"Will you marry me, E?" I asked, opening the case that housed a $500,000 diamond ring.

I know it was a ridiculous thing to do—she had just met me a week ago. I was sure she would say no because she hardly knew me.

However, the shock on our friends' faces is a look I'll remember forever, especially when she screamed, "Yes!" and started jumping up and down.

People applauded as the fireworks continued to go off. They must have thought it was just another proposal.

What they didn't know was that we were still in high school, and she had just met me a week ago.

But once you've got money, power, and brains, there's absolutely nothing you can't achieve...