ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE

ANISHA'S POV

Dylan looked inside the small box and stared at it for a few seconds too long. The lights in the room switched off, and instantly a huge TV screen descended slowly from the ceiling; or from wherever it came! The screen flashed bright, and on that mega huge screen, a picture flashed. It was the picture of the ring, the one that Dylan was holding inside the jewellery box. As I was still amazed at what was happening, a voice started talking. A voice; wait! Whose voice was that? It was not just a voice. It was Dylan's voice. What on earth was going on?!

The picture of the ring filled the whole screen.

"There is no price to this ring. No-one can buy it. It was custom made for a special person; it belongs to a specific finger….."

A picture of a little girl flashed on the huge screen. A little girl with pitch black hair, smiling brightly into the sun, with two front teeth missing. Oh my! How? How did that happen? That was me. It was a picture of me; taken some years back when I was standing in front of Ms Meyerton' office at Olga. The picture vanished off, to be replaced by another picture of me, wearing my childhood favourite sky blue dress. And the voice carried on; "…Anisha Meyerton; this picture was taken on the very first day that I saw you. And from that day on, the image of you became engraved in my mind."

Water droplets appeared on top of the picture, and it slowly disappeared. In its place, another picture of me flashed. In that one, I was in my high school uniform, holding a book. I remembered that day very well, when the picture was taken. The voice went on, "I did not believe that happiness could be achieved without money, but you showed me otherwise. You give more than what you have; you give your all. You care about others more than you care for yourself. Anisha, you taught me love. If I were to be taken back to the days of meeting and learning from you, I would do it again. Life with you has taught me that I was destined to love only you."

The image of me vanished, and a beautiful white dove flew across the screen. A picture of me holding little Liam showed on the screen, and the voice went on, "you care about others' you do anything and everything to protect the ones you love. For the ones you care for, you fight until the end, never giving up, but standing for what you believe. I saw you fighting for your loved ones, and you made me believe in love. If I were to be asked to go back to that time, and see you standing up for what you believe, I would do it again. You and I are destined to be together forever."

Oh my word, I was melting. I was melting. A picture of me flashed, showing me lying on a hospital bed, with many machines connected to me. Dylan's voice filled the room once more, "at one point, I thought I had lost you. I lost you once, Anisha Meyerton, and I cannot afford to ever lose you again. I will protect you and love you, and I will show to you the care that you taught me, from the first day I met you. I have fought for you before, and if anything were to happen to separate us, I would fight for you again. Anisha Meyerton, I am destined to love only you."

A picture of me laughing while standing inside the yacht came up, and the voice came with it, "your laughter is the best sound I can ever ask for. Your singing is the sound of an angel. Your song touches my heart. I love hearing you laughing, and I will do anything I can, to make sure that smile remains on your face. And should you ever cry, my shoulder shall forever be available for you, and I will wipe off your tears. I will continue to look for things that make you laugh, and when you think you have laughed enough, I will still look for more; to make you laugh. For you, Anisha Meyerton, I would do anything."

Pictures of the two of us started flashing on the camera, as a beautiful slide show. The first picture was the image of me and him being carried into the police helicopter, after being rescued by the police from the kidnapping. Then there was a picture of us sitting at a table in a restaurant, us in Dylan's mansion, and a picture of us at the entrance to K JNR PROIDUCTINS, taken on the day that was supposed to be my first at that company. There were pictures of us at the de Milo rooftop, and us during the family dinner at the de Milos. More and more pictures of us in the yacht flashed on the big bright screen. While they all played, Dylan's voice continued to narrate,

"You and I have been through a lot together. We have faced death; and we survived. The people who were supposed to understand us, at times failed to understand. Together, we cried, and together we laughed. We celebrated together, our triumphs and our loses came to us, and we handled them together, as a team. If the story of my life could be re-written, and this time I hold a pen in my hand; having a chance to choose, a chance to run away from the unpleasant moment, and a chance to embrace the happy moments….If I could re-write my life, yet with an eye seeing into the future; and the power to change some chapters of my life…Even given a chance to erase the moments of pain; those moments of great fear and trauma; the experience of facing death…believe me Anisha, I would not erase any of it. Instead I would do it all over again. For whatever is done with you, Anisha Meyerton, is worth doing again. Destiny has the answer to the issues of the heart; and my destiny is with you."

"In those moments of my deepest pain, during the times of my greatest fear and trauma…when I felt useless and powerless the most; that was the moment that I met my reason for living. I met you, Anisha Meyerton. And on that day that I met you, I promised myself to never let you go again. I lost you once, I could not lose you again! I met you, and my life suddenly became whole. With the pain, fear and trauma that I experienced, considering that they would bring you to me; then I would do it again."

The screen was blank, before a picture of me and Dylan flashed on the screen. It was there for about three seconds, and then it disappeared, and the TV screen shut down. The lights in the room switched on, as the huge screen disappeared back to where it came from. Dylan went down on one knee in front of me and said,

"For me to feel whole and happy; for me to continue giving love to the lady who I believe deserves it the most, Anisha Meyerton, please spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?"

Oh! Oh my goodness, I was crying! I was crying and I had not even realised that. I opened my mouth to speak, and my voice refused to come out. I cleared my throat and a man's voice yelled, "say yes!" Of course I was going to say yes! I was choking. The tears were flowing….and the second time I opened my mouth, my voice stood by me: "yes, Dylan de Milo; I will marry you."

He slipped the ring in my finger. The hugs. The kisses. The congratulatory messages. Six or seven waitresses emerged from the room, carrying my favourite flowers; the usual. They were all placed neatly on our table.

"Congratulations!" a familiar voice screamed.

What? Arianna! Arianna was there too? And Pete? They all came in for the hugs. I was more than happy to see Arianna present. And what's more, a much more familiar voice screamed out from behind me:

" Girl you did it! Congratulations, Anisha!!"

I could not believe it. Valentina!! Valentina was there too!! That was when all the tears in my body gushed out. Valentina!! I would have never guessed that she would be there. Indeed Dylan proved himself once again! He cared for the ones I cared for. He cared for me, there was no doubt about that! Sharing one of the most special events of my life with Valentina gave me the most happiness. I could not have asked for more.

When I later on asked Dylan whether or not the whole auction was planned; he said no. He had known that Red Raindrop Hotel was going to have their auction on the said date; and he used it to his advantage, by asking the management if he could bring the engagement ring along, and they readily agreed to the request. Oh, what a loving man! My very own fiancé. All that handsomeness. That smile which I always described as beautiful. The pack of muscles and the warm heart of gold. All of it. All of it was for me to love and enjoy. Of God! No girl could have asked for more.