Chapter 21

He opened the box.

Inside was an elegant ring that glittered beneath the garden lights.

Then Alexander lowered himself onto one knee before her.

Elena covered her mouth with her hand, unable to stop the tears from filling her eyes.

He looked up at her.

"My little angel..."

Her heart trembled at the words.

He began to speak.

"Ever since the day I met you, I never imagined that the girl who dropped her books in front of me would one day become the person I'm most afraid of losing."

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

He continued,

"Years have passed since that day, and every year has made me more certain of one thing."

He drew a deep breath.

"I don't want to live the years ahead without you."

Then he held out his hand toward her.

"Elena Morris... will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

She couldn't answer immediately.

She stood there looking at him, tears filling her eyes, while he waited without putting any pressure on her.

Then she laughed through her tears and nodded.

"Yes."

He continued looking at her.

"Yes?"

She laughed as she wiped away her tears.

"Yes, Alexander."

He smiled.

His smile was different this time.

It was the smile of a man who had received the answer he had both feared and dreamed of hearing.

He rose to his feet and gently took her hand.

He glanced at the ring, then at her hand, and carefully slipped it onto her finger.

"So... you're officially my angel now."

She laughed.

"You were calling me your angel before you even proposed."

"True."

Then he added,

"But now I have proof."

She looked at the ring.

"You're impossible."

"And you've agreed to marry this impossible man."

She laughed even harder.

Then she lifted her eyes to his.

"I knew you'd say something like that."

"And that's one of the reasons you said yes, isn't it?"

"Don't let your confidence get too high."

He smiled.

"Too late."

A few minutes later, they sat on a bench near the lake.

Elena was still looking at her ring as though she hadn't fully processed what had happened.

Alexander looked at her.

"Are you happy?"

She raised her eyes to him.

"Very."

"Really?"

"Really."

He smiled and gently slipped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close in a tender embrace. Then he said,

"Then there's just one thing left."

She looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

He took out his phone.

"We need a picture."

She laughed.

"A picture? Right now?"

"Of course."

"Alexander, I've been crying for the past two minutes."

"And that's exactly why we need to take it now."

She laughed.

"Why?"

"Because I want to remember my angel's face at the moment she agreed to stay with me forever."

She stopped laughing.

She looked at him for a few moments, then smiled.

"All right."

Alexander stood up.

He found a suitable spot and positioned his phone so the camera would capture them with the lake in the background.

Then he returned to her.

"Come here."

She stood beside him and glanced at the phone.

"Are we ready?"

"Yes."

He moved a little closer to her.

Elena smiled at the camera.

But Alexander wasn't looking at the phone.

He was looking at her.

And at the very moment the picture was taken, Elena was laughing shyly, while Alexander's eyes remained fixed on her, his arm wrapped affectionately around her waist.

One picture.

Simple.

Nothing but a man and a woman, a smile, a ring, and a new promise.

Alexander looked at the picture, then smiled.

"Beautiful."

Elena leaned closer to see the screen.

"Let me see."

She looked at the picture, then laughed.

"You weren't even looking at the camera!"

"I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because you were standing beside me."

She lowered her eyes shyly, then said,

"Send it to me."

"I will."

A few moments later, the picture arrived on her phone.

She stared at it for a long time.

She didn't know why she felt she had to keep it.

Perhaps because it was the first picture of them together after everything had changed.

Perhaps because it held the moment she had said yes.

Or perhaps because some pictures are not merely pictures... they become part of the memory itself.

Afterward, they returned home.

Both families had already heard the news, and congratulations began pouring in.

That night, Elena sat in her room, looking at the new picture on her phone.

Then she opened her desk drawer.

She took out her diary and slipped the freshly printed photograph between its pages.

She continued looking at it for a few moments.

The picture showed her standing beside Alexander, the ring glittering on her finger, while he looked at her tenderly, wearing a beautiful smile instead of looking at the camera.

She smiled, then wrote the date beneath it.

She had no idea that the photograph would remain between the pages of her diary for years.

Nor did she know that one day it would fall out of that diary and find its way back to her years later, opening a door to the past.

For now, however, it was simply a photograph from one of the most beautiful nights of her life.

On the other side of the city, Alexander was looking at the same picture on his phone.

Then he sent her a message.

"Good night, my angel."

Elena stared at the message, a smile creeping across her face, and typed,

"Good night to you, too... my fiancé."

He sent another message immediately afterward.

"Put on something warm, and don't open the window tonight. It's freezing outside. Take care of yourself, my little angel."

She smiled at his message and sent him a heart before setting her phone aside.

She looked at her diary once more.

The future lay before her, unknown, but for the first time, she wasn't afraid of it, because she was no longer facing it alone.

All she knew was that a little photograph, born that night, would continue to hold a secret no one knew.

A secret that would resurface years later... when the photograph fell from the pages of the past and Elena found it again.

Only then... would she realize that some memories never truly disappear. They simply wait for the right moment to return.

And so, they married and lived four years filled with happiness and love, before Victoria entered Alexander's life and everything that drove them apart began to unfold.

To be continued....