THE FINAL DEAL - EPILOGUE

"Will you please marry me?"

These words are probably meant to be the most romantic words ever said by a guy to a girl. But, as I stared at Adam who was currently bent on his knee with his hand in front of me, I realized that this sentence was anything but romantic.

Adam rose his eyebrows in a questioning manner and there was a spark in his eyes; a spark of happiness and pride.

Bast*rd!

Sighing heavily, I ran my fingers though my hair for probably the twentieth time in the last twenty minutes.

"You're taking all day, Keith. Just say yes and get your nervous a*s out of it." I snapped my head towards Lee and looked at him with narrowed deadly eyes, showing him the pissed off expression to the best capability I could muster in this nervousness.

With Adam leaning in front of me, waiting for my answer with a huge smile along with excitement in his eyes and Lee looking at me with an irritated expression on his face, I decided that it was time to finally tell them my decision. "No!" I said flatly.

Just as the word escaped my lips, Adam's gleeful and expectant expression changed to that of complete shock and sadness. "What?" he asked with his mouth wide open. "Why would you say no?" He stood up and looked at me with confusion all over his face as if he couldn't believe that I had just said no to him.

"Why do you want the drama to stretch, Keith? I've to go back. Joanna is waiting for me." Lee didn't try to hide his irritation as he said this with an exasperated sigh.

"I would have said 'yes'," I told him very seriously, looking straight in his eyes. I turned back to Adam whose confused expressions were still very intact and told him, "If you hadn't added 'please' to it."

He rolled his eyes at me, and said, "Kim will like it, you idiot. Autumn did when I proposed her." A grin appeared on his face when he mentioned his fiancé.

"Well, that was because you were desperate to marry her," I smirked as he looked at me narrowed eyes. Ignoring him, I continued in a very firm and strong voice, "I'm not going to use that word at all. I'm not that desperate."

As if it was planned, both my friends started laughing the moment those words escaped my mouth. I gave them a cold stare, but it was of no use as they high fived each other amidst their laughter. "You-" Lee pointed towards me with his index finger and managed to say in between his laughter, "you, Keith Warren, are not desperate to marry Kimberly Jones?"

Their laughter increased as Adam joined him in pulling my leg, "You'll be ready to touch her feet and beg all your life if that is what will take her to say yes to you."

"F*ck off!" was all I could say. Truth was I could readily nod at what he had said. He was so right, not that I was going to tell them that, despite of the fact that they knew it very well. Before they could make fun of the lack of a smart a*s reply from me, I brought them back to the topic. "Will you guys suggest me something else? Something better and practical?"

"Seriously Keith, just take her to a nice restaurant. Put the ring in her glass of champagne, bend down on your knee and ask the damn question. There is nothing to be so scared of," Lee said. Noticing my scrutinizing gaze on him, he added a bit defensively, "This is a tried and tested formula by me, myself. And, look at me; I'm a happily married man to a six month pregnant wife, who will definitely divorce me if I don't reach the hotel room in next ten minutes." He finished off by looking at me pointedly with accusing glare.

"You're whipped!" I brushed him with a roll of my eyes and sat down on the near-by couch.

"You're the one to say." Adam snorted.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows and said, "You're the one to snort."

Ignoring me, he huffed. "Lee, suggest this douche something. I'm out of here."

He started moving out of the room, and I reminded him, "This is your home." Lee and I snickered as he stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at us.

"Well, great! Then you two move out of here." He shoved me and Lee and lay down on his bed.

"With pleasure!" Lee stood up from the bed and stretched lazily. "Man up, Keith."

I shot him a mocking smile and replied sarcastically, "I'll try!" Laughing, Lee went downstairs and eventually to his wife, Joanna who was staying in a hotel near Adam and my parent's home.

Silence fell in the room and I started staring at my shoes very thoughtfully as if that was there were the answers written to all the questions that were currently filling up my mind's question bank. What was I going to do? It was Kim, whom I had to propose and it was not a joke. It had been about six months since Kim and I got back together after she had declared to the world that I was the father of the Asian kid, who was apparently her neighbor's son. She moved in with me two months back and every moment of these six months had been just great and fun. Living with her was so damn easy and good. She was not like Veronica, who used to complaint when I used to leave the toilet seat up and neither did she want the spare room to be library. As soon as she moved in, we donated all the books to a public library and changed that room into her studio.

I remember how shocked I was when she had not said a word about me leaving the toilet seat up. Since it was Kim, I knew I could say any damn thing to her and that's what I did. I had asked her with complete disbelief that why she didn't say anything to me or complained, like any other girl would have done. She had said while rolling her eyes, "Do you ever complaint when I leave the toilet seat down?" I had laughed and picked her up after hearing this reply. That night ended up with me loving her all night. She was so amazing and easy to live with. No complications!

And, there was not a doubt in my mind that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. It was just her who I wanted for forever.

This was part of the reason that why I brought her here back to Hendersonville to my parent's home. I had wanted to pop the question here, where I had first realized my feelings for me. But, she was so oblivious to my plans that she invited everybody here for this Christmas and New Year's celebrations which resulted in Adam, Autumn, Lee, Joanna, Hailey, Brian, Adrian along with my parents and Adam's parents to be here in Hendersonville.

So much for a romantic getaway!

This whole 'inviting everybody' plan actually helped me as I took too many advices from almost everyone as to how I should propose Kim. There was not a doubt that she would say yes to me, and I was not nervous too.

Yeah, right! Bullsh*t!

I was so f*cking nervous that I could hear my own heart beating loudly in my ears. This was not good. I was damn scared that there might be a slight possibility that Kim hated living with me, thereby she would say no and would eventually, move out of our apartment.

No!

I wasn't ready for it. I couldn't live without her. Also, there was a promise that I had made to myself, I was never going to let her go. This promise was not meant to be broken. Ever.

"Will you please stop over thinking about it?" Adam's voice brought me back from my deep thoughts and I snapped my head back to him at the speed of lightening. I had completely forgotten that I was sitting with him in his room.

Sighing, I asked him a rhetorical question, "How can I? What if she'll say no?"

Adam rolled his eyes at me and said, "We both know that she won't say 'no' to you. She loves you, though I can never understand why." I shot him a glare, but he ignored it by shrugging and continued, "Take her to a high class restaurant, ask the violin to be played at your table, ask the waiter to put the ring in her glass of champagne. Just as she'll sip it and feel the ring at her lips, bend down on your knee and ask the golden question. It's simple, Keith, and girls love this. This is the ultimate romantic gesture." Seeing my doubtful gaze, he added, "Trust me!"

And that's what I did.

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"You are beautiful," I told her as I straightened my tie with shaking hands.

Kim looked up from the menu and chuckled. "You're saying that for the tenth time, Keith."

Grinning sheepishly, I mumbled, "It's true!"

She smiled her gorgeous smile at me and said, "Thank you and now you can stop pulling the 'James Blunt' card." I laughed at her reply and while shaking her head at me she went back to look at the menu, but I couldn't look away from her. She was so amazingly beautiful in that peach dress, that I was so damn eager to go back home and remove that dress, thereby have my way with her. I was sure that the dress would look much better on the floor of my room. But, there were other things to be fulfilled before that. It would be divine if she would be wearing my ring on her ring finger when I'll make love to her tonight; when I'll make love to my fiancé.

The thought alone was enough to make me feel all giddy.

Once we gave our orders, she leaned slightly on the table and asked, "Why the sudden dinner? I wanted to hang out with the girls." She pouted, looking oh-so-sexy.

"Don't tempt me, Kimberly." I groaned.

"Don't call me Kimberly." She gasped, completely ignoring my main purpose of calling her Kimberly.

"I love you too, baby." I grinned showing her my gorgeous smile, ignoring her narrowed eyes look and that definitely helped in making her melt. Slight blush crept up her neck, but showing that she was embarrassed was not something that was a part of her nature. So, she rolled her eyes at me which made me laugh.

I looked around the hotel that had very well dressed people dining at mostly all the tables. I was prepared to pop the question to her, almost. The ring had already been given to the waiter who was serving us. The musicians had been told that at what time they were supposed to play at our table. Everything was set, well, except me.

I was a bundle of nerves. But I was going to go according to Adam and Lee's plan. It was going to be perfect. Yes, perfect!

Suddenly, the music stopped and a very loud gasp made almost everyone look towards the couple at the table next to us. The guy was kneeling in front of the girl with a ring in his hand and the girl had her hand over her heart as if she couldn't believe what was happening.

'I don't blame you, girl. Neither can I believe this,' I thought with utter disappointment.

"Will you please marry me?" the guy asked with a slight smile on his face.

The girl covered her mouth with her hands as if she had won the Miss Universe contest and with slightly teary eyes, she said, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The guy jumped with joy and kissed her. Everybody erupted in cheers and applauds, while all I could do was look dumbfounded at them.

'Did Adam and Lee suggest the same thing to him too?' It was all I could wonder and silently curse them. There was no thrill in going for this method now. The guy proposing the girl was like watching me proposing Kim.

"That was so stupid. Thank God, we haven't eaten anything yet or I would have puked." Kim snorted as the music started playing again.

I looked at her with slightly wide eyes and said, "Come again!"

With a smirk, she leant in towards me and whispered, "This is probably the most boring way of proposing a girl. It just shows that the guy couldn't think of anything better and just went with the tried, tested and overused formula." She rolled her eyes at the end, showing her disinterest.

While all I could think about was what could have happened if I had proposed to her already. One of the scenarios included her throwing the champagne all over me. She hated this kind of proposal. How could I be so dumb that I agreed everything Lee and Adam had said? I knew Kim better than anyone else and she hated show off. I was such an a*s.

I was so lost in thoughts and cursing myself that I didn't notice the musicians who were now playing music beside our table or the waiter who had arrived with our glasses of champagne. My eyes widened dramatically as I watched Kim's hand move towards her glass of champagne; the glass that had the ring in it. With so many things going on in my messed up and confused mind, I did the only thing I could think of to prevent Kim from killing me and spilling the champagne all over me.

Before she could hold the glass, I held it in a reflex and drank the entire contents of the glass. Just as the ring touched my lips, I pulled the glass away from my mouth and brought it near my knees, under the table. Very discreetly, I took out the ring from the glass and kept it in my coat's pocket. A short sigh of relief escaped my lips when I realized that I had stopped myself from getting embarrassed in this restaurant. I looked up towards Kim to find her giving me a very confused look. I couldn't blame her for looking at me like I was mad and lacked manners. The music too had stopped playing and the musicians, too, were looking at me dumbfounded.

I guess, it was their first time seeing a guy propose himself.

With a little uneasiness and hell lot of nervousness, I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled, "I was thirsty."

She gave me a doubtful look and her eyes drifted towards my part of the table where I had kept the now empty glass. She looked between the table and me for a minute and my curiosity got the best of me. My own eyes went to the object that was the subject of her keen interest now. My mouth gaped open when I saw that right next to the empty glass was kept a glass full of champagne, which was supposed to be my drink. Kim quirked an eyebrow at me as she pointedly looked at the champagne filled glass and then at me. I knew what she was trying to say. Why in the world I behaved so badly and literally snatched away her glass of champagne?

Too tongue tied to utter even a word, I dragged the champagne filled glass towards her and muttered, "Cheers!"

*****

Nothing about the night had gone according to what I had planned in the first place. In fact, everything was perfectly opposite and f*cked up.

Not only had my plans of proposing Kim had been effectively ruined by the over-acting couple, but I had also managed to embarrass myself in front of Kim. Yes, there was nothing new in that, but this was not supposed to happen today; the day when I wanted the diamond ring that I had bought for her to be placed in her ring finger.

After snatching and drinking her champagne, I had pulled on a very effective 'klutz' mode. I had spilled the entire contents of the Thai curry Kim had so fondly ordered on the floor of the restaurant, I had managed to collide with a middle aged lady when we were moving out of the restaurant, which made his husband think that I was hitting on his wife.

Couldn't he see the girl I was with? Why the hell would I ever hit on someone else when I was with the girl I so madly loved?

The entire scene got a bit chaotic, and I had to drag Kim out of the restaurant to stop her from fighting with the man. Well, yeah, this was my Kim.

"What are you thinking?" I turned my head slightly to the left to look at Kim as she was leaning against my arm, giving me her wonderful smile.

A smile made its way on my face and I turned so I could hug her completely. Once she was in my arms, I breathed deep and smelled my favorite fragrance on her. It was not some expensive perfume, it was her own fragrance mixed with strawberries. I loved it. I loved everything about her.

"I'm sorry for spoiling the night," I told her honestly.

In an instant, she pulled back from the hug and gasped. "Are you kidding me? It was so much fun. I loved it."

Slight laughter escaped my lips at Kim's idea of 'fun' and I pulled her to me again, but this time to kiss her passionately. I had wanted to do that all night. It wasn't like I needed a special moment or her permission to kiss her. She was mine and in the last six months, I had kissed and made love to her way too many times to even keep a track. But, not tonight. I had wanted her to wait for that special moment when I would ask her to marry me, and when she'll say yes, I would've kissed her with all the love I felt for her.

But, as we all know, my plans had been drowned deep in a gutter.

She parted a bit breathlessly and opened her eyes after a few seconds with a huge smile on her face. "Took you all night, huh?"

Chuckling, I rested my forehead against hers and told her, "This was the place where I promised myself that I was never going to let you go."

She parted slightly from me and looked at me with her huge warm brown eyes as if she couldn't believe me. "Really?"

I grinned and moved behind her, so now we both were facing the wonderful view of Hendersonville from my old school's terrace. I snaked my arms around her waist, and pulled her back to my chest. She melted in my arms and I heard her sigh in contentment. A huge smile made its way on my face as I knew that she loved me too. I rested my chin on her shoulder and asked her, "Didn't I tell you that I make all the important decisions of my life here?"

She nodded her head slightly and whispered, "Was I one of those important decisions?"

I shook my head and replied in a whisper, "No!" She went stiff for a split second but quickly recomposed herself. I knew Kim too well to know how she managed to hide her emotions so well. But, I was not a stranger to her feelings now. I knew her in and out! "You're the most important," I told her honestly and left a trail of kisses at the nape of her neck.

In reaction, she molded into me and rested her hands on mine around her waist. "I love you," she whispered and I could hear the smile in her voice.

That's when it hit me.

Why was I searching for ways to propose Kim? Why was I trying to go all extravagant with her? Why was I so damn nervous?

This was Kim, for God's sake; my Kim; the Kim who loved me deeply and the Kim who I loved.

In reply to her probably the thousandth time confession of love; I turned her so she was now facing me. She looked at me with confusion all over her face and I managed to smile. Yes, I was still nervous but there was a new found confidence in me. Thanks to Kim!

I bent towards her, so my mouth was next to her ear and whispered, "Marry me?" She went stiff as my words registered in her head, and I moved back to look at her expressions. To say that she was beyond surprised would be a huge understatement. She looked at me with wide eyes and her eyes wandered all over my face. Probably she was waiting for me to laugh and tell her that it was all a joke.

No, Kim! This was anything but a joke.

She opened and closed her mouth several times but nothing came out of her vocal chords. With each passing second that she took to reply back, my nervousness seemed to have increased manifolds. Silence had formed between us; a very long silence.

Silence was not good.

Silence was never good.

Hell, I was never good with silences.

It unnerved me.

It made me so nervous that I thought of backing off at that very moment and telling Kim that it was all a joke. She'd continue to live with me, right? She could move out temporarily if she wants a break from me; a guy who had almost married someone else. But, she would continue being my girlfriend, right?

Hell, why was I being such a pussy?

I was not going to take a 'No' for her answer. I was going to marry her and she had no other option but to say yes.

Before I could say anything at all, she opened her mouth. "Why did you do that?" she asked with disbelief and disappointment etched on her features.

In a state of complete shock, I eyed her warily for a moment and eventually muttered, "Okay. This was not the answer I was looking for."

She rolled her eyes at me and looked around as if thinking about something, while I looked at her in complete confusion and anticipation as to what her answer was going to be. Suddenly, she looked back at me with bright eyes and a smile on her face. This look was not good at all, not good for me. "What if-" she started, "I say 'no' to you and then, I propose you?"

Her complete sentence didn't register in my head as I stopped listening after the mere mention of 'no' in the sentence. I was in a state of shock and the feeling of losing something started spreading through my nerves. No words came out of my mouth; nothing could as I stared in shock at the girl I was madly in love with. But, eventually, her words registered in my head and my shocked expressions changed to that of complete disbelief and confusion. "What?" I asked, thinking that I might have heard something wrong. Which girl would like to do this? But then again, this was Kim.

"You heard me, Keith." She rolled her eyes playfully and again went to a very excited mode as she chirped, "I was going to propose you tonight, but you stole my thunder. Why would you do that?" she asked with accusation in er voice and without waiting for my reply, she continued, "So, I'm going to say 'no' to you and then, I'll propose you again." She was grinning from ear to ear as she voiced out her idea in front me.

The sadness that had overpowered me for a moment was completely and utterly replaced by happiness and excitement. Taking her by surprise, I wrapped my arms around her waist and spun her around till we both were laughing in bliss. I let her feet touch the ground and brought her closer to me. "That's not a very nice to way of saying 'yes'," I whispered, looking into her brown eyes with joy dripping from my blue ones.

She chuckled and snaked her arms around my neck, pulling me closer so that our lips were a breath away. "Did I ever say I'm nice?"

Laughing lightly, I took out the ring from my coat's pocket and she very gladly accepted it in her ring finger. With happiness flooded in every nerve of my body, I vanished whatever little distance was left between us. Our lips moved together in perfect sync, and after six months, she still had the same effect on me as she had earlier. In fact, it had just increased with each passing moment and I was sure, that this lifetime would not be enough to show to her the extent of my love for her.

One thing, that's very important for everyone to know is that, Kim and I never met again... well, how could we? Didn't I promise that I was not going to let her go now?

I fulfilled my promise so damn well.

"Wanna make a deal?" I asked when we parted from the passionate kiss and rested my forehead against her's.

She chuckled slightly and asked, "What deal?"

Brushing my lips against her's, I told her, "The coming years are going to be the best years of your life."

She smiled against my lips and mumbled, "I won't mind losing. Deal!"

My lips stretched in the goofiest smile and I said the one word that had started everything between us eight years back, "Deal."

Didn't I say that Keith Warren never regrets anything?

Well, this time too I didn't regret any of it.

- THE END - 

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A/N (RANTING - Straight from my heart)

Time to put the green tick mark on this book. 

This is soooo emotional for me. Damn!! I can't believe this has ended. I'm gonna miss them sooo much :'(

What an incredible journey this has been, trust me. From the very first words I wrote to the last word I wrote just now, this had been a bliss; a true bliss.

Nothing would have been possible without you amazing readers and supporters. I know there were times when I got all snappy on rude comments, but you can't expect me to be all nice all the time. I'm myself a mere human and trust me, it used to get on my nerves when any of you used to comment saying something like, 'You're stretching it', 'I want kiss/ sex scene etc', or 'Update!' well, there have been a few more rude comments which took a toll on me and made me go NINJA! :D

BUT, I can NEVER forget the wonderful comments with which most of you have showered me and Keith & Kim. This love is immense & whenever, I'm upset with life, I log onto Wattpad & read the wonderful comments or the messages that you people send me. See, you guys matter sooo much to me. :) <3

KIM'S POV - I've decided to upload 2 chapters in Kim's pov & I'm not telling which ones. That's gonna be a surprise & trust me, you're gonna love it. I'll upload the 1st one by this weekend. :)

NEW STORY - Posted! It's called 'Love is...' It's in girl's pov, & I promise, it's going to be equally refreshing & humorous as AMWA, if not more. :) GO, CHECK IT OUT! It's in the external link. :D