Beneath Siargao Skies

💍Chapter 1: The Proposal

The restaurant wasn't anything special. Just the usual Italian place three blocks from their office building where they'd grabbed lunch countless times before. Alyanna twirled her fork through the pasta, listening to Eric talk about the new marketing campaign his team was launching next quarter. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting everything in a slightly yellowish glow.

"So anyway," Eric said, cutting into his chicken parmesan with gusto, "I've been thinking."

Alyanna looked up curiously, catching something different in his tone. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, setting it on the table between the breadbasket and his half-empty beer glass.

"We should get married," he said, matter-of-factly, like he was suggesting they switch internet providers, like they're just talking about the weather. "Makes sense, right? We've been together five years."

Her heart stuttered. She stared at the box longingly then she looked at him. "Eric..."

"Open it." He nudged the box toward her with his knuckle.

With trembling fingers, Alyanna lifted the lid. Inside sat a simple solitaire ring, modest but pretty. Not the ring she'd pinned secretly on her private Pinterest board, not the one she'd imagined during those late-night daydreams, but a ring nonetheless.

This is not the proposal she had been dreaming about with Eric kneeling on one knee with the velvet box on one hand and him putting the ring on her finger with love on his eyes, but it's still a proposal nonetheless.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, her eyes already filling with tears.

Eric took another bite of his chicken. "I figured we could move in together too. My lease is up next month, and rent's getting ridiculous. If we split a one-bedroom, we'd save a ton on bills. Utilities, internet, all that stuff."

Alyanna barely heard the practical details. She was getting married. To Eric. The man she'd fallen for during that company team-building event three jobs ago, the one who'd finally noticed her after she fixed his laptop for the third time. She'd loved him through every late-night coding session, every weekend he'd spent golfing with his buddies, every forgotten birthday that he'd made up for eventually.

"Yes," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Yes, of course!"

Eric smiled, not the sweep-you-off-your-feet kind of smile, but his usual half-grin, and went back to his dinner. "Cool. I'll add you to the lease application this weekend."

Alyanna slipped the ring onto her finger. It was slightly loose, spinning around her knuckle, but she didn't care. She was engaged to the man she's been longing to build a family with.

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"He proposed WHEN?" Ellie's voice crackled through the phone that night, sharp with disbelief.

"During our dinner," Alyanna said, holding her hand up to the light, watching the small diamond catch the glow from her laptop screen. She was already in Eric's apartment. Well, it's their apartment now. Surrounded by half-unpacked boxes. "I know it's not fancy, but Ellie, it doesn't matter. He wants to marry me!" Alyanna said with love in her eyes.

"Aly." Ellie's tone softened, concerned about her best friend agreeing to this, but firm. "He asked you to marry him so you could split rent?"

"That's not... it's not just about that." Alyanna sank onto the couch, pushing aside Eric's gym bag. "He loves me. He's just... practical. You know how he is."

"Practical." Ellie repeated the word like it tasted bitter. "Babe, I love you, but you deserve better than practical. You deserve someone who plans something special, who gets down on one knee, who makes you feel like you're the most important person in the world. Not someone who proposes over marinara sauce and talks about saving on utilities."

Alyanna's chest tightened. "You're being unfair. Not everyone needs grand gestures."

"No, but everyone needs to feel valued. You, of all people, deserve grand gestures from him. With how much you've sacrificed and helped him, the least he could do is propose decently." There was a pause, then a sigh. "Look, I just want you to be happy. Really happy. Not settling-for-good-enough happy."

"I'm not settling," Alyanna insisted, even as a tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered questions she didn't want to answer. "I love him, Ellie. That's what matters."

"Okay." Ellie didn't sound convinced but did not want to make Alyanna sad. "Okay. I'm here for you, you know that. Always."

After they hung up, Alyanna sat in the quiet apartment, listening to the hum of the refrigerator and the distant sound of Eric playing video games in the bedroom. She looked down at the ring again, at the way it twisted loosely around her finger.

"This is what I want," she told herself firmly. "This is enough."

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The next two weeks blurred together in a flurry of moving boxes, combining kitchen supplies, and negotiating closet space. Alyanna labeled everything with color-coded tags, her organizational system from work bleeding into her personal life. Eric mostly left her to it, shrugging when she asked his opinion on where to put things.

Whatever works for you," he'd say before turning back to his phone or the TV, as if he couldn't be bothered.

But Alyanna didn't mind. She was building a life with him, their life. She imagined future mornings making coffee together, lazy Sunday brunches, maybe even a small wedding in a year or two. Something simple, intimate. Just like them.

She set up her little workspace in the corner of the living room, her monitors and mechanical keyboard fitting perfectly on the desk she'd brought from her old place. From here, she could see the kitchen where she planned to cook dinners for them, the couch where they'd watch movies, the door to the bedroom they now shared.

On her first official night living there, Alyanna made Eric's favorite meal, pot roast with roasted vegetables. She set the small dining table with actual placemats and lit a candle she'd bought at the grocery store.

Eric came home late, tie loosened, smelling like happy hour beers.

"Smells good," he said, dropping his messenger bag by the door. He kissed her cheek absently and headed to the bedroom to change.

As they ate, Alyanna chattered about her day, about the network issue she'd solved, about the funny email chain in the IT department. Eric nodded along, scrolling through his phone between bites.

"I was thinking," Alyanna ventured, "maybe we could set a date? For the wedding? Even just a rough timeframe?"

"Sure, yeah." Eric didn't look up. "We can talk about it later. No rush, right?"

"Right," she agreed softly. "No rush."

That night, lying in bed beside him, listening to his steady breathing as he slept, Alyanna stared at the ceiling and felt warmth spread through her chest. This was real. They were really doing this. She was going to be Alyanna Reyes-Martinez or maybe just Alyanna Martinez. They hadn't discussed that yet, either.

She turned on her side, watching Eric's face in the darkness. She loved the way his hair fell across his forehead, the strong line of his jaw. She'd loved him for so long, through every imperfection and disappointment, that she couldn't imagine her life without him.

This is enough, she told herself, reaching out to gently touch the ring on her finger. This is everything I need.

And with that thought wrapping around her like a blanket, Alyanna closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of white dresses and forever.