May 21–May 31, 2018
The Meteor Shower Proposal
The island seemed to breathe with them now — every palm swayed in rhythm with the sea, every breeze carried the salt and warmth of home. After days of watching protests erupt across continents, of hearing Aarya calmly announce new spikes in Bharat Mail and Saraswati Search traffic, the villa was finally quiet.
It was the kind of silence that carried anticipation.
---
The Calm Before
That evening, Ananya walked barefoot along the private shoreline, the white sand glowing faintly in the twilight. Her laughter echoed as tiny crabs scurried away from her footsteps. For a moment, she was just a girl at the edge of the world, free of politics and global storms.
The MC watched her from a distance, a faint smile softening the iron in his expression. For all his breakthroughs, for all the satellites, arc reactors, and medical miracles, this — she — was the one frontier he could not calculate, could not predict.
In the villa, Aarya dimmed the lights deliberately.
> "It's almost time," he said in his steady, patient voice.
MC nodded. His heart, usually so steady under pressure, raced. Not from enemies, not from corporations, not from WHO or OPEC — but from the three words he had never said aloud.
---
The Night Sky Awakens
As the sun sank into the horizon, the sky deepened into velvet darkness. Then — streaks of silver. The annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower lit up the heavens, each trail of fire carving across the sky like divine brushstrokes.
Ananya gasped softly, tilting her head back, her eyes wide with wonder.
"It's beautiful," she whispered, her voice carrying over the sound of waves.
"Not as much as you," MC said — and for once, his voice betrayed his nerves.
---
The Proposal
He reached into his pocket. Not for diamonds bought from luxury houses, not for gold mined by faceless corporations — but for a ring he had crafted himself. The band was titanium laced with nanocarbon, resilient and unbreakable, forged in the very labs where his dreams became reality. At its heart sat a gemstone — a rare Kashmiri sapphire he had sourced quietly, symbolizing clarity and eternity.
He knelt on the sand, the meteors still raining overhead, the ocean crashing softly in applause.
"Ananya," he said, his voice trembling despite the steel of his character. "I've built companies, fought enemies, and bent the future to my will. But without you… none of it has meaning. I don't want to change the world alone. I want to share it with you. Will you marry me?"
---
Ananya's POV
Time slowed for her. In her heart flashed every memory: the shy boy who first showed her prototypes in Delhi, the fearless innovator challenging giants, the man who carried the weight of billions yet still found time to sit quietly and listen to her worries.
She saw the meteors, but more than that, she saw his eyes — full of sincerity, full of a vulnerability he rarely showed.
Tears welled up before she even spoke.
"Yes," she whispered first, then louder, with conviction that surprised even herself. "Yes!"
---
The Embrace
He slipped the ring onto her finger, his hands steady now, his smile breaking through the weight of all his responsibilities. She threw her arms around him, and for the first time in months, his shoulders truly relaxed.
Overhead, another meteor blazed — brighter than the rest, as if the universe itself sealed their promise.
Aarya, watching silently through his sensors, recorded the moment. But he did something unusual — he didn't archive it into any server. Instead, he whispered quietly into the villa's system:
> "This one belongs only to them."
---
The World Outside
The news of protests, of WHO's hesitation, of oil and pharma losing billions — it all paused here. For these few nights, the world was still fighting, but the island was theirs.
Ananya leaned against him as they lay on the sand, watching streaks of light paint the sky.
"I don't know what's coming," she said softly. "But if I'm with you, I'll face it all."
And in the distance, the reactors hummed — clean, eternal, unyielding. A perfect reflection of their bond.
---
Closing Scene
As the final meteors faded and dawn began to touch the horizon, MC held her hand tightly. For the first time, his heart was lighter than his mind.
The future still held enemies, assassins, governments, and wars. But for tonight — he had won the most important battle of all.
Love.