“Huh,” says Winston quietly. “I didn’t even know his face could do that.”
“Yeah,” Kenji says. “It’s super weird the first time you see it.”
“I can’t look away. I’m trying to look away and I can’t. It’s like if a baby was born with a full set of teeth.”
“Yes!Exactly.It’s exactly like that!”
“But nice, too.”
“Yeah.” Kenji sighs. “Nice, too.”
“Hey, did you know he had dimples? I didn’t know he had dimples.”
“C’mon, man, that’s old news—”
“Could you two just—please—be quietfor a second?” Ella says, squeezing her eyes shut. “Just for one second?”
Kenji and Winston mime zipping their mouths shut before taking a step back, holding their hands up in surrender.
Ella bites her lip before meeting my eyes.
“So,” she says. “What do you think?” She clasps, unclasps her hands. “Are you busy this morning? There’s still something I want to show you—something I’ve been working on for the last few—”
I take her in my arms and she laughs, breathlessly, just until she meets my eyes. Her smile is soon replaced by a look—a softness in her expression that likely mirrors my own. I can still feel the outline of that little velvet box against my leg; I’ve been carrying it with me everywhere, too afraid to leave it behind, too afraid to lose hope.
“I love you,” I whisper.
When I kiss her I breathe her in, inhaling the scent of her skin as I draw my hands down her back, pulling her tighter. Her response is immediate; her small hands move up my chest to claim my face, holding me close as she deepens the kiss, standing on tiptoe as she slowly twines her arms around my neck.
The pilot light in my body catches fire.
I break away reluctantly, and only because I remember we have an audience. Still, I press my forehead to hers, keeping her close.
I’m smiling again. Like a common idiot.
“Okay, well, that took a gross turn.”
“Is it over yet?” Kenji asks. “I had to close my eyes.”
“I don’t know. I think it might be over, but if I were you I’d keep my eyes shut for another minute just in case—”
“Can you two keep your commentary to yourselves?” I say, pivoting to face them. “Is it so impossible for you to just be happy for—”
The words die in my throat.
Winston and Kenji are both bright-eyed and beaming, the two of them failing to fight back enormous smiles.
“Congratulations, man,” Kenji says softly.
His sincerity is so unexpected it strikes me before I’ve had a chance to armor myself, and the consequences leave me reeling.
An unfamiliar, overwhelming heat erupts in my head, in my chest, pricking the whites of my eyes.
Ella takes my hand.
I can’t help but study Kenji’s face; I’m astonished by the kindness there, the happiness he does nothing to hide. It becomes more obvious by the moment that he’s played a larger role in executing Ella’s plans than I might’ve suspected, and I experience the truth then—feel it clearly, for the first time—the realization like a physical jolt.
Kenji genuinely wants me to be happy.
