Phone pressed to her ear, she relaxed, realizing there must be no emergency after all.Sal sank onto the tan leather sofa opposite the fireplace, melting into its plush comfort.“It was busy…yours?”she replied as she took a moment to close her eyes.
“It was busy, too,” he responded, sounding tired.“Now, open the door, my love.”
Sal’s eyes shot open as she sat up.“What do you mean?Are you here?”She walked to the front door and peeked through the window, surprised to see Rafa smiling at her from outside.She unlocked and opened it, and there he was.Her best friend, her confidant, her fiancé, and her home—Rafa, her Rafa.
His eyes lit up his face, almost camouflaging his exhausted smile as he lifted a plastic bag in each hand.“Your favorite.”He beamed.
She didn’t know what came over her.But in that moment, seeing Rafa made her breathing steady and her heart beat slower, and she wanted nothing more than to absorb him into her—a cure for her nervous soul.Sal ignored the bags and embraced him, his arms still outstretched.His scent of teakwood and neroli encapsulated her as she wrapped her hands around his broad back.He startled at first and then relaxed.All the nervousness and doubt within her suddenly dissipated.
“Was it a bad day?”he whispered.
Sal took a deep breath.“The art show—it’s just getting to me.”
Rafa wrapped his long arms around her, still holding the plastic bags.“Gyoza will help.”She could hear the smile in his voice.
She stepped out of his embrace and took the plastic bags.“You know what else would go well with these?”she responded with a satisfied grin, feeling better already.
“Your home-cooked ramen,” he said, and kissed her forehead.
Sal quickly prepared iced tea and the ramen ingredients as Rafa entered the cottage and proceeded to the kitchenette with the steaming gyoza in hand.
“Ah!”he hollered, nearly tripping over one of the cats.“I swear, one of these days I might accidentally step on Hana’s tail.”He slipped away from Hana, who was relentlessly rubbing against his legs.After setting the gyoza down, he rummaged through the treat cabinet.
“You’ll spoil her to death.”Sal chuckled.
“I can’t help it.I love creatures that love me back.”He looked at her and gave her a sly grin, which Sal playfully ignored.
She sauntered over to the turntable and put on a record of her favorite songs by Nat King Cole.While the music played in the background, Sal got busy in the kitchen.
He took a seat on the opposite side of the small kitchenette counter, watching her.
Sal wondered if this was the right time to talk to him about the wedding and the ring, and then concluded that she didn’t want to add more stress to their current anxieties.So she made small talk, which usually lightened the mood.“There were some really good ramen noodles on sale at the Asian mart,” she said, chopping up some spring onions.
“I was craving some great uni, like the one we tried on our Japan trip,” he said as he watched her prep the ingredients.
Sal took out some beef bone broth and simmered it with a mix of sauces.“Are you talking about the trip where you proposed to me after coming home?”Sal asked, eyeing Rafa and seeing him blush.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to say yes,” he said.“Everything was planned, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask you.It always felt like it wasn’t the perfect time to propose just yet.”
Sal nodded as she remembered that day.They were exhausted and elated when they came back from the trip.After setting down their luggage, she made her way to the bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes.Then, as she walked out, there was Rafa, kneeling in the center of the small living room, his eyes alight with hope.
“I know this isn’t the most romantic proposal,” he began.“But I can’t wait for the next perfect moment when every moment I experience with you is already amazing.”He inhaled sharply and said, “I want this, and I want you.If I get to go home after every trip with you by my side, or even if I just get to eat your cooking and buy groceries with you for the rest of my life, I will be the happiest man alive.Be with me for a lifetime, Sal?”He reached for a small velvet box from his pocket, opened it, and presented the ring to her.
It was a large, round-cut, pale pink diamond ring that sparkled brightly.The look in his eyes, the way his lips trembled as he spoke, and the way his cheeks flushed—she would never forget how vulnerable he looked.
“I can’t remember anything after proposing except that you said yes.I was running on adrenaline,” Rafa said.
But Sal remembered clearly, and it was not something she wanted to bring up.Because he hadn’t noticed the one thing a woman in love could not do when being proposed to by the love of her life: she hesitated, though she said yes.How could she not when Rafa was bent on one knee, and looking up at her while offering his entire world?
“It doesn’t matter,” Sal said dismissively, lifting her hand to show her perfectly placed engagement ring.“Important thing is you got the girl.”
Rafa smiled.
This wasn’t the time to talk about her doubts about the wedding or the ring, not while he was so happy at the moment.I’ll talk about it after the art show, she thought as she grabbed two bowls and generously poured the ramen soup over the noodles and put on the toppings—medium-rare, pan-fried beef slices with garlic and salted butter, scallions, black garlic oil, corn kernels, asparagus, and egg yolks.“There,” she said with a pleased sigh, offering Rafa his serving.
Rafa helped himself while Sal stood opposite him barefoot, and slurped hot home-cooked ramen over the granite island.Sal let her gyoza cool down before stuffing it in her mouth.“By the way, where did you get these?They’re delicious,” she asked with her mouth half full.
“From Mr.Tanaka.He still likes to cook at night.I told him once that you loved his takoyaki and his gyoza, so whenever I ask, he cooks up a fresh batch.”He blew off the heat from his gyoza, and the hot steam swirled in the air as he ate it.“By the way, what’s up with that envelope?”Rafa said, pointing toward a brown envelope resting underneath piles of unopened mail on the console table nearby.
