"Oh my goodness!" Flirted, she exclaimed in delight, shying upon the compliment which was indeed catchy, "What kind of a joke is that?!" She wondered in question with a big bloom on her cheek, causing Bob Lee to smile and ask whether his words were a lie.
"Am I lying?"
Sooner than later, opposite a wealthy jewelry store right across the road, Bob Lee parked. As he unlocked the driver's door open, he smiled, "I believe the precious moment we've shared earlier today in my office answered all questions."
Ishtar looked thoroughly perplexed, "What do you mean by that?"
Bob Lee, after dragging Ishtar's mind to curiosity, he stepped out and walked to the passenger side, and gentily took her by the hand, correctly out of the car. With a smile on, "lets bring our romance to the next level," he told her.
"Wait!" Ishtar's voice panicked. Written on her face was the desire for a hint on what he was plotting at the moment.
"Just relax and follow my lead, okay?" Calmly he asked.
On a quiet mouth, while Ishtar lagged, Bob Lee took her by the hand and they crossed the road. He led her inside the jewelry store.
"Welcome!" Quickly, a young lady named 'Pixie', in the same age bracket with Ishtar, when she saw potential customers she approached them with an open mind and a warm smile.
Since Bob Lee knew what he wanted, his eyes shot straight to the jewelry counters, "Wow...!" He walked closer with Ishtar to look through the glass displays. With a good feeling in his expression, Bob Lee started admiring the different types of jewelry.
In the midst of finding the best piece, from the cuddy came a grown-up man and woman who were husband and wife, with well boxed pieces for him to look at.
Faces covered behind a customer care smile, "we thought you may want to look at these pieces too," the woman spoke behind the counter.
It wasn't long before Bob Lee's attention was pulled towards a diamond ring which shined bright, matching a necklace, bracelet and earrings in a set, when they opened the black box.
"this one," nodding his head, he approved his taste and touched it.
Suddenly, right there near to the jewelry counters, Bob Lee dropped down on a single knee, "Will you marry me?" And proposed.
Ishtar stared Gape-jawed at him. She tried to look around but the store was moving into a spin. Even though her major wish from way back in years was to have him as a husband, the speed at which such a steep mountain was climbed scared her.
In otherwise, the sudden proposal sharpened Ishtar's anxiety.
"No, this is abnormal _ within just half a day!" At the back of her mind she negated the naked truth; "from no where he asked me to marry him, then minutes later he toured every part of my body; okay that's fine I desperately needed it _ but now here we're, holding a Dimond ring in his hand, down on his knee proposing to me! Impossible...."
Inside the jewelry store everyone stood in wait, impatiently with inquisitive faces, as they looked at a very splendid young man kneeling infront of a beautiful young lady dressed in an office suit, to hear an energetic 'yes', and watch to climax as a diamond ring fits well into her finger.
"My love," Politely in a deep calm voice, Bob Lee requested, "please give me your finger, allow me to put a ring on it."
"My what?" More shocking and surprising to Ishtar to be baptized with a romantic name, she developed goose bumps.
She delved into her handbag, picked out her shades so fast and covered her eyes. She tried to leave but she stayed. This caused Bob Lee to jump off his knee and grabbed her hands, "What is the meaning of this?"
Abruptly, Ishtar pinched her cheek hard in a row.
The adorable grown-up couple, well known to be the jewelry store owners, together with their daughter Pixie, who were smiling, suddenly touched their mouths breathless with eyes widely open, horror-struck by the drama.
"Oh my gosh!" Blurted Pixie, "had she run mad?"
"Why are you hurting yourself?" Bob Lee confoundedly asked and suddenly Ishtar stop pinching herself.
"I just wanted to wake myself up from this dream, but I think it's impossible," Ishtar said in a downcast voice.
"What?!" Bob Lee stared at her in utter disbelief.
Everyone in the store couldn't help it, that the grown-up woman, Pixie's mother whipped a tear which was about to drop, off her cheek. It was a very nervous moment.
"Young lady," deeply concerned, Pixie's mother walked to Ishtar with humble words, "by not walking away, you've shown nothing but courage. Don't be afraid to embrace one of the most meaningful chances in life. You won't regret."
Talking with bravery, "Yes, I guarantee," her husband supplemented so lively, "both of you just reminded me back in time when my wife here refused to marry me, scared of my personality," he said recalling. "Of course I was a jerk young man, annoyingly stupid in so many different ways. Long story short, when she finally accepted, non of us is regretting. Infact, the courage I took to kneel down infront of her and propose with a ring in my hand that day, she had never stopped thanking me until now."
"...."
"Tell me... If this was a dream, would you really want to wake-up from it?" Emotionally Bob Lee asked.
"If there's one thing you know like a palm of your hand, is the undeniable fact that I love you crazily, I know you know it," very low in her vibration, she answered, "but am scared you may not protect my feelings...."
"Just tell me how and I will, I promise."
"Are you sure?"
"Hm hmmm," he noded his head, ready to learn how to protect Ishtar's feelings.
"Then put that ring on it," Ishtar stretched out her finger for Bob Lee to dress it with a ring, binning all the worries that haunted her mind.
Gentily, he proudly put an engagement ring on her finger.
Immediately, a cheerful round of applause arose from the watchers. Everyone around wished the young couple to walk out of the store door joyful.
"Last but not least," Bob Lee turned to the jewelry boxes and picked out the diamond necklace, "can you turn around, please?" Softly he put it around her neck, carried the diamond bracelet too, gently tied it on her wrist in joy.
"From now onwards I call you my diamond love," he caressed her with a warm hug as soon as he finished putting earrings softly on her ears, which hanged, shining so attractive.
"Are you nervous like me?" Ishtar asked, smiling.
"Of course not!" Bob Lee uttered, holding her hand while he smiled around the place.
However, Bob Lee made all these efforts on a crushed heart, full of invisible painful wounds. To his ignorance, Ishtar was just a pain killer for a moment, not the main healer.
Will their engagement be worthwhile?
"I am marrying Ishtar, mother."
"Hahaha...," she busted out in a loud laugh.
"I'm serious mom!"
"Son..., you know what, this must be the joke of the century," she went ahead to laugh.
"It's not a joke mom _ my presence in your bedroom is not just to wish you a good night as usual. Today, Ishtar is the major reason why I'm here."
"Your blessings matter a lot to us when we get married, so we shall need them," Bob Lee added, informing his mother on a serious note.
Mother, after noticing the bold writings on her son's face, unwavering resolution to marrying Ishtar, slowly her laughter faded away. She suddenly and uncontrollably threw bed cover sheets off her body and jumped out, off the bed, impatiently desiring some answers.
"When did it start?" She asked.
From the chest drawers; totally searching for nothing, into the mirrior pretending to find a spot on her face skin, and quickly outside the bedroom, downstairs, direct to the kitchen in a fridge. Filled with uncertainty, mother felt so frustrated. She picked a glass to take some water.
Bob Lee, who thought informing his mother about his decision to get married was going to be as simple as eating a piece of cake, came to notice that it was something close to lifting an elephant, quite a heavyweight task to accomplish.
He started following behind his mother to prove his point and convince her.
"Ishtar is a woman who understands us mom, she has been taking care of you and me, and father when he was still alive. We both know that she has been doing it unconditionally for years now," he smiled to mean all is well.
"Besides, she is such a beauty, so intelligent; the kind of woman I won't be embarrassed to hold hands with in public," he smiled more handsomely and comfortably towards his mother.
Still simple in her attitude, "you've not yet answered my question, Bob! I still need to know when you and Ishtar started, because the last time I knew it, there hardly was any slight kind of intimacy between both of you."
"I feel I achieved a certain intimacy with her," he replied, full of high spirit, "and am ready to make her my wife."
"Cut the crap!" Mother began to loose her temper, "does that answer when and how both of you started?"