Chapter 18
“What is this? she picked up a USB drive.”
Javon suddenly became nervous: “You, you look at the cake first…”
Seeing his nervous expression, Elie’s heart trembled, vaguely realizing something.
A USB flash drive was inserted into the TV, and a video popped up.
The camera shook violently, and the scene showed Javon standing in a hospital corridor wearing a white coat, with a group of nurses behind him holding up signs and trying not to laugh.
Dr. Roberts! All of us in the orthopedic department applied to be your in- laws!
While Elie was daydreaming, the video suddenly switched to Javon’s colleagues.
In the Technical Department, Brayden, with dark circles under his eyes, shouted, “Elie, hurry up and agree to him!” His colleagues laughed and waved glow sticks, even the serious technical director awkwardly made a heart gesture.
Finally, a blank shot of the night sky, with Javon’s voiceover softly playing:
“Elie, you said you didn’t like grand scenes…”
The scene changed, and he appeared on the screen, wearing a simple shirt instead of the white coat, holding the pothos plant that she always
Chapter 18
complained was “almost dead.”
“So I thought, you probably prefer this over roses.”
He lifted the pothos, and buried in the soil of the pot was a diamond ring.
“It, like you, may seem unremarkable, but in fact, it is more tenacious than anyone.”
The video suddenly stopped.
Elie stood still, her heart pounding violently, tears slowly streaming down her cheeks.
But she knew that this time the tears were not because of pain and despair, but tears of joy.
When Javon knelt down on one knee, he accidentally knocked over the cake box, not even caring about the cream smearing on his pants. He trembled as he opened the pothos pot hiding the ring inside.
“I know you have been through too many bad things, maybe you don’t believe in love anymore, he said hoarsely.”
“But can you give me a chance? You don’t have to answer now, you can observe me for ten years, twenty years…”
Elie looked at the delicate sunflower engraving on the ring, and suddenly tears poured down like rain.
On this day last year, she fell into the mud in a heavy rain; on this day two years ago, she was publicly mocked by Clara for “deserving to celebrate her birthday“, even earlier, she always received Eric’s perfunctory transfer with the note “compensation” on her birthday.
And now, someone burnt three cakes for her, someone collected the
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limited edition books she casually mentioned, someone remembered she liked sunflowers but was allergic to pollen…
“No need to investigate, she reached out and pulled him up, her fingertips brushing the cream on his face, “I can answer now-”
Javon suddenly covered her mouth and said, “Wait! I, I prepared a script!“.
He fumbled for his phone in a panic, but ended up pulling out a bunch of small notes and scattering them all over the floor.
Elie picked up a note that read, “Key points: Learn to respect her, love her, and always consider her first.”
Another one was “Never say stupid things like ‘I can’t endure hardship like you“…”
She laughed out loud and tiptoed to kiss his lips covered in cream.
“This was my answer.”
Javon was stunned for two seconds, then suddenly picked her up and spun her around, nearly knocking over the carefully arranged wall of balloons.
The TV started playing the song they loved to listen to while taking a walk, the neon lights outside the window lit up one by one, and the ugly cake was still sitting nicely on the table, the candlelight gently illuminating the silhouettes of the two people.
Elie thought, the feeling of being truly loved was like this.
Javon was busy cooking pasta in the kitchen, while Elie leaned against the door watching him chop the onions awkwardly.
“I actually just planned to cook myself a bowl of pasta, she said, shaking
Chapter 10
her feet in the fuzzy slippers.”
Javon turned back and glared at her, “So, did I learn how to make pasta from the cafeteria lady for nothing?”
The steam rose from the hot soup, and Elie suddenly remembered the pothos plant in the video.
“Why did you choose it as the ring box?”
Javon poured the sauce over the noodles and whispered, “Because the first time I went to your office, I saw it sunbathing on the windowsill.”
He remembered every detail about her.
Elie bowed her head to eat the pasta, tears quietly falling into the soup.
Salty, sweet, just like her brand new life.
