Kai started acting strange in March.
At first, Lina didn't notice. He'd always been slightly unpredictable—composer's brain, she called it. But as weeks passed, his behavior grew increasingly odd.
Secretive phone calls he stepped away to take. Late-night meetings he didn't explain. A sudden interest in her schedule, her plans, her dreams for the future.
"What's going on with you?" she finally asked one evening.
"Nothing." Too quick. Too casual. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you're being weird. Weirder than usual."
Kai laughed, but it sounded forced. "I'm not being weird. I'm just... working on something. A new composition. It's demanding."
Lina studied him. "A composition."
"Yes."
"You're sure that's all?"
"Positive." He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry. Everything's fine."
She let it go.
But she didn't believe him.
The strange behavior continued.
Kai started asking odd questions—about her childhood, her favorite places, her earliest memories. He wanted to know about her parents' marriage, her thoughts on forever, whether she believed in fate.
"What's with the twenty questions?" Lina asked one night, half-laughing, half-suspicious.
"Just curious." He shrugged too casually. "We've been together a while. I want to know everything about you."
"You already know everything about me."
"Then I want to know it again."
Lina narrowed her eyes. "Kai."
"Yes?"
"If you're planning something, you're really bad at hiding it."
His expression flickered—guilt, nerves, something else. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't."
Mia was no help.
"He's probably planning a surprise party," she said when Lina called to complain. "Or a romantic weekend. Something sweet."
"It's more than that. He's been acting weird for weeks."
"Weeks? Lina, that's not a surprise—that's a proposal."
Lina's heart stopped. "What?"
"Think about it. Secretive behavior? Asking about your past and future? Late-night meetings? Classic pre-proposal syndrome." Mia sounded delighted. "Kai's going to propose!"
"He can't be. We haven't talked about marriage. Not seriously."
"You don't have to talk about it for him to know what he wants." Mia's voice softened. "Lina, the man wrote a symphony about you. A proposal is the logical next step."
Lina's mind raced.
Was Kai going to propose?
Did she want him to?
Did she?
The answer, she realized, was yes.
She wanted to marry him. Had wanted it, maybe, since she was seventeen years old and first heard him play piano. Definitely since he found her again, since he proved his love with years of unsent letters, since he chose her over and over despite everything.
She wanted forever with Kai.
But wanting it and being ready for it were different things.
"What if I'm not ready?" she asked Mia.
"Ready for what? Happiness? Commitment? A lifetime with the man you love?"
"When you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous."
"Because it is ridiculous." Mia grinned. "You've been ready since high school, Lina. You just didn't know it."
Kai proposed two weeks later.
He took her back to Riverside High, to the music room where everything began. Candles flickered on the piano. Their song filled the air—recorded, this time, so he could be with her instead of playing.
"You are the beginning and middle and end of every story I'll ever tell," he said, down on one knee. "You're the reason I believe in love, in hope, in second chances. I don't want to spend another day without promising you forever."
The ring was beautiful—simple, elegant, perfect.
"Lina," Kai whispered, "will you marry me?"
She was crying before he finished the question.
"Yes," she sobbed. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes."
He slid the ring onto her finger, then stood and kissed her with everything he had.
Outside, the sun set over Riverside, just as it had seven years ago.
But this time, they watched it together.