The night outside Adrian's window was velvet dark, scattered with distant stars. The city hummed faintly in the background, but inside his apartment, silence stretched like a cocoon, wrapping the two of them in its fragile warmth.
Elena lay curled against him on the couch, her head resting on his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her ear was grounding, soothing, as though the world beyond his walls had melted away. His hand traced idle patterns across her arm, each touch feather-light, as though he still couldn't quite believe she was real.
Neither spoke at first. Their breaths rose and fell in unison, the kind of silence that was not empty, but full brimming with all they had already said without words.
Adrian tilted his head slightly, watching her in the dim light. The soft glow from the lamp outlined her profile — the curve of her cheek, the gentle parting of her lips, the way her lashes fanned across her skin. She was, in every way, breathtaking.
He had kissed her. He had held her. He had crossed the threshold of restraint. And yet, even in the afterglow of passion, something inside him whispered: This isn't enough. I don't just want tonight. I want every night. I want always.
"Elena," he murmured, his voice rough in the quiet.
She stirred slightly, lifting her head to look at him. "Hm?"
His throat tightened at the softness in her eyes, the vulnerability she didn't try to hide. He took a shaky breath, gathering the courage he had held back for too long.
"I need to tell you something. And I need you to know I've never been more serious about anything in my life."
Her brows furrowed faintly, but she said nothing, only waiting, her fingers brushing against his chest in slow, absent strokes.
Adrian sat up, gently guiding her to sit with him. For a moment, the weight of what he was about to do pressed hard against his chest. Fear whispered that it was too soon, that it was reckless. But stronger than fear was the truth pulsing through him: he couldn't imagine a future that didn't have her in it.
He reached for her hands, holding them tightly between his. His gaze locked on hers, unwavering.
"Elena… you've changed everything for me. The way I see the world, the way I see myself. Every time you're near, it feels like the shadows I've carried for years fall away, and all I'm left with is light. Your light."
Her lips parted, a breath caught in her throat, but she didn't interrupt.
"I don't want this—us—to be something fleeting. I don't want to wake up one day and realize I let the best thing in my life slip away because I was afraid." His voice shook, but he pressed on, eyes never leaving hers. "I want you. Not just now, not just tomorrow… but every day, for as long as I live."
Slowly, he lowered himself to one knee, still holding her hands. The dim light painted shadows across the room, but in that moment, with her eyes wide and shimmering, she looked to him like starlight itself — steady, eternal.
"Elena…" His voice cracked as emotion surged. "Will you marry me?"
Tears welled in her eyes, spilling before she could stop them. For a moment, she was too overcome to speak, her breath trembling, her hands tightening around his.
Finally, with a laugh that broke into a sob, she whispered, "Yes. Adrian, yes."
Relief crashed through him, fierce and overwhelming. He surged to his feet, pulling her into his arms, kissing her with every ounce of love he could not contain. Her tears brushed against his skin, mingling with his own, as though their hearts had been waiting for this very collision of shadow and starlight.
And in that moment, as the night stretched on beyond their window, the universe itself seemed to pause — bearing witness to a love that had finally, irrevocably, chosen forever.