All the people there were focusing their eyes on Chris, while nobody knew when the lights in the banquet hall had dimmed. Finally, they saw the gentle candlelight and the sweet red roses.

Chris stepped down from the rostrum and walked straight toward Freya.

The people who were standing beside Freya stepped back, forming a circle around her. The candlelight shone around them and the banquet hall was filled with the aroma of roses, which produced a romantic atmosphere.

Chris stopped in front of Freya. He stared at her with unparalleled sincerity and love. With the candlelight in his eyes, he looked tender and soft as water.

He raised his hands and gently wiped away the tears from Freya's face, saying, "Freya, thank you."

Freya tried to say in a calm voice, "You say thank you... and then? If you are saying that you won't love me and you want to thank me for annoying you in the past 10 years, for which you realized who you really love, I will pummel you."

"I want to thank you for your perseverance," Chris said. "If you had given up, who's proposing to you tonight might be another man. I would have regretted it."

"Proposing?"

Freya just realized that she was nearly inundated with the candlelight and the flowers. The rose petals all over the floor smelled pleasant as the candlelight shone; it was soft and sweet.

People around them were all smiling brightly as if they had understood all of that.

While she stood there blankly, Chris knelt on one knee, saying, "Freya, will you marry me?"

His words seemed to have come from deep within his heart, and they rammed heavily into Freya's ears.

Those were the most pleasant words that Freya had ever heard.

"I see. The most beautiful words are those from my beloved," she thought.

"Freya, I love you," Chris said with extremely deep love, "though I realized who I really love after 10 years. Fortunately, you didn't give up. So-marry me before it's too late. I want to be with you forever."

He opened a jewelry box, inside which was a perfectly-cut diamond ring.

Freya touched the ring, saying, "Have you realized that you need me instead of a brilliant and capable woman?"

"I don't need you," Chris said, "I want you now, and I want you for the rest of our lives."

The word "want" meant much more than the word "need", which made the crowd begin to hum with excitement.

Freya turned her lips into a smile, not hiding her happiness at all.

She took the ring out of the black velvet box and handed it to Chris. She said, "Yes, I will."

At that moment, Chris was probably the most excited he had ever been in his whole life.

His heart was beating fast with overwhelming joy and his hands began to tremble. But it didn't matter because he could still place the ring on Freya's finger.

There is a saying that goes "A man's fingers are linked with his heart". He thought, "Her finger has been ringed by a hard diamond, and so has her heart. That way, she will never leave me all her life."

A great cheer rose up from the crowd. Freya smiled with her lips pressed together and she said, "Now we should kiss each other."

As soon as her voice died down, Chris held her with his arms around her waist, lowered his head, and kissed her lips.

With the camera lights flashing wildly, the reporters from the main magazines and newspapers called their headquarters. "Big hit! Chris proposed to Freya at the anniversary. Now remove all the previous reports about them! I'm sending the photos to you, report it at once! The engagement diamond ring and Freya's dress have long stories, I'll dig them up!"

The reporters were in chaos, while Chris and Freya could hardly tear themselves away from each other's kiss.

It seemed that only by kissing heartily like that could they make sure what had just happened was real. And only by kissing in that way could they calm themselves down.

"It's been two minutes!" The extremely excited and gossipy crowd checked the time and yelled, "Hold on and kiss for nine minutes, then your love will last long!"

If kissing for nine minutes, the two would be out of breath.

When they kissed for three minutes, Chris released Freya, gently staring at her, with his arms still held tightly around her waist.

He said in a firm and thrilled voice, "They all witnessed that you agreed to marry me. From now on, you are mine."

Freya sniffed. "I say that you are mine!"

Instead of arguing with her over that, Chris gave Freya a deep kiss and said in a soft voice, "No one will shout insults at you anymore."

Freya was temporarily at a loss. She asked, "Is that why you chose to propose tonight?"

"Not exactly," Chris said. "All of your friends were aware of it when you were wooing me. If I want you to marry me, why shouldn't I shock the entire city?"

He would repay Freya double the love for what she had done.

Freya giggled happily with sweetness in her whole heart.

At that moment, Chris realized that the usually arrogant and aggressive Freya would easily be pleased.

Once he heartily loved and cared for her, she would feel like she owned the whole world.

Chris suddenly thought that he was lucky to be loved by Freya. Otherwise, she would have suffered a lot if she had loved someone who would only take advantage of her.

The lights in the banquet hall were turned on again as the emcee returned to the rostrum. He started with "Wow," and added, "the proposal just now was a real surprise and romance." Then he motioned for the sound designer to turn on the music, and a beautiful waltz came on.

Maybe having been affected by Chris, the gentlemen there began to ask their female companions to dance. Different couples with happy faces were dancing pleasantly, while Freya took Chris to the dance floor. They were without a doubt the most striking pair, with the camera constantly shooting at them.

Joanne could not dance, so she stood aside with Brian, asking, "The other day my brother called you out. So did you two talk about the plan for tonight?" When Wendy suddenly ran to her and told her that the banquet hall had been decorated different from normal ones, she instantly knew that it was in Chris's plan. What's more, she guessed it when thinking of Brian's mysterious manner of speaking.

"He asked me to help him find a custom-made ring," Brian said, "and to not tell you about it. He worried that you would leak out his plan since Freya knows you well. He didn't want her to know in advance."

Joanne smiled and said, "Have you heard that-life is too wonderful for words?"

Brian raised his eyebrow in bewilderment.

Joanne continued saying, "Around this time last year, I agreed to marry you. But never had I imagined how happy I would be, while Freya was trying to ruin my brother's relationship with his girlfriend at the time."

At that time, both Freya and she thought that happiness was beyond reach.

However, they didn't realize that they had been close to happiness.

According to what Joanne said, life was indeed too wonderful for words.

Brian circled her waist with his arm, asking her, "Are you feeling tired? How about leaving now?"

Joanne nodded as the waltz ended then waved her hand to Freya. Followed by Chris, who was helpless and patient, Freya happily ran to her.

Joanne joked, "Freya, should I call you my sister-in-law now?"

Freya shook her head as if it was a rattle-drum, saying, "Calling me that once is enough. I want you to treat me like you normally do."

They had known each other for 10 years and they had been calling each other by their first names. If Joanne would call her by a new name now, it might take her about eight or 10 years to get used to it.

Joanne was just kidding. She hugged Freya and said, "I'm leaving now."

"Hmm." Freya knew that Joanne got drowsy easily during pregnancy, so she just said, "I'll go to see you as soon as I'm free."

Chris and Brian were speechless. Two men could understand each other with just one look.

Brian took Joanne out of the banquet hall and helped her put her coat on. When they were about to leave, they ran into Gavin, who had just returned.

Joanne came up with an idea and said, "Gavin, could you please drive Wendy home after the reception?"

"OK. I promise you." Gavin glanced into the banquet hall with a meaningful look on his face, saying, "But she may not need me."

Joanne looked in the direction that Gavin had glanced, and she saw Wendy chatting joyfully with a young stranger. When she was wondering who the stranger could be, Gavin suddenly said, "It's Travis's cousin, the same as Travis when he wasn't married."

Gavin's words were full of disdain. Joanne smiled and said, "I want you to look after Wendy and take her home. If she leaves here with another man, tomorrow I'll hold you responsible."

"Do you... mean it?" Gavin thought he should never interfere when a man was trying to woo a lady. He looked at Brian with pleading eyes, but Brian just ignored that.

Obviously, Brian would agree with whatever Joanne said, so it was no use to ask him for help.

Joanne left with Brian. After getting in the car, she asked, "Did I frighten him?"

Brian smiled as if nothing had happened. He said, "He isn't so timid as to be frightened by that."

When Gavin was 15 years old, the orphanage he had been lived in failed to collect donations and was stuck with a shortage of funds. It was he, as well as several guys, that had taken businesses from the street bastards and earned 40,000 US dollars in a month. In the end, the orphanage survived its financial difficulties.

After that, he was chased and surrounded by more than 20 guys. They blocked him into an alley and put a gun against his head, but he wasn't scared.

So it wouldn't be that easy to frighten Gavin.

"In fact, there's no need for me to speak to him that way," Joanne said. "I think he won't let it happen that Wendy leaves here together with Travis's cousin."

"Why do you think so?" Brian looked at Joanne with interest and said, "From what I know of him, he will never ruin others' romance."

"I had an intuition," Joanne said affirmatively, "that he won't look on and do nothing if Wendy leaves with the guy."

Brian raised his eyebrow, saying, "Do you mean that Gavin likes Wendy?"

"Not exactly, but he will protect her. As time goes by, he may fall in love with her."

Brian leisurely looked at Joanne, asking, "How do you know that?"

Joanne pointed at her eyes and said, "By observing."

"Really?" Brian said with a faint smile on his face, "Then why didn't you figure out that I liked you?"

"Uh..." Joanne thought for a while then said, "because I was too close to you." Then she added, "You can also say that I didn't have confidence in myself."

Brian became silent for a while. Then he held Joanne in his arms, saying, "You should be more confident in the future. I love you."

Joanne looked up into Brian's gentle eyes, smiled, and kissed his lips.

She would always remember this night.