Instead of beginning from the beginning, let’s begin right from my 24th birthday eve. My boyfriend Anshul had planned a surprise birthday bash. He had called all my friends to a club in Delhi. I was impressed with the amount of effort that this guy had put into the whole thing. Inviting each one of my friends, ordering my favourite squidgy chocolate cake, deciding on the perfect menu (with all my favourite dishes and drinks). And he had done all this just to make my day super special. And boy, did he know how to keep it all a big surprise?! The best part was that he had even picked up a new dress for me to wear that night, and it fit perfectly.
The clock struck 12 and he kissed me as he wished me Happy Birthday. Before I headed to cut the cake, I saw him go down on one knee with a ring in his hand. This was how he proposed to me! Surprised, baffled and confused, I said a ‘yes’ after 10 seconds of silence, and put forth my hand for him to put that ring on it. And just like that, within seconds, I was engaged!
Let us now rewind 3 years, and go back to when Anshul and I first met at our workplace in Gurgaon. He was my manager and I had just finished college at the time. Long working hours, meetings and having numerous post-work meals together is what drew us towards each other. Just 5 months into the company, and he and I had started dating each other. The relationship had largely been a smooth one. Anshul treated me like a princess, pampered me, and most of all, respected my goals and ambitions. Not just that, he had no over-possessive and insecure streak in him, something that had troubled me in my past relationships. Even the one year long distance that we had when Anshul had gone to pursue his MBA in Mohali did not shake things up for us. 3 years had just swiftly glided by. While we were both very seriously into each other and saw a future together too, we had never openly talked about it.
Now, coming back to my birthday. Anshul and I woke up together the morning after the surprise party. I was thinking about how much fun the previous night was, when my eyes fell upon the fat diamond ring sitting on my finger. Freaked out, I realised that it wasn’t in fact a dream or a figment of my imagination – I was actually ENGAGED! I jumped out of bed and woke Anshul up. I told him that we needed to talk and that I didn’t want to rush into getting married. A zillion things were racing through my mind, like – I have so many things to do before getting married, I don’t want to be the first one in my friends circle to get married, why is all this happening so fast, am I even ready for adulthood, why couldn’t Anshul just tell me beforehand, instead of putting me on the spot in front of everyone. But one thing that I was certain about was that I was in love with Anshul and I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone but him.
I voiced all my thoughts, concerns, anxiety and doubts in front of Anshul. To my surprise, he took it better than I’d expected. He actually listed out on paper all my fears and jotted down solutions for each one of them. Then he even made a list of pros and cons of getting married. He told me that if I didn’t feel convinced by the end of it, we will not go ahead and tie the knot.
I am not sure what, but around the end of the discussion, something had changed. I walked over to him, took the marker from his hand, threw it away, and starting kissing him passionately. I then told him that I couldn’t wait to begin my happily ever with him! After all, how often do you find a man patient enough to calmly understand, discuss and take care of all your anxiety through his words and lists, and convince you that he is, in fact, THE ONE?!
Names changed to protect privacy.
Images: Shutterstock
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