The end?
Not even close.
Love, after all, is stubborn.
---
It didn't arrive loudly.
It didn't demand attention.
It grew.
In morning coffees left on the counter.
In late-night check-ins after long shifts.
In quiet glances that said I'm here without a single word spoken.
Xavier stopped counting the days at some point.
Not because they didn't matter—but because life had finally begun to feel like something that stayed.
Isabella noticed it first.
How he waited for her pace when they walked.
How he remembered the smallest things—how she liked her tea, which nights she couldn't sleep, when silence helped more than comfort.
How he never pushed.
Never rushed.
Just… stayed.
---
The proposal wasn't planned.
Not perfectly.
Not dramatically.
And definitely not with a crowd.
It happened on a quiet evening beyond the barracks walls—the same place where fear had once lived, now softened by time.
They sat together, watching the sky change colors.
Xavier was unusually quiet.
Isabella noticed.
"You're thinking too loud," she teased gently.
He exhaled. "I know."
He stood.
She frowned. "Xavier?"
He turned to face her, suddenly nervous in a way no battlefield had ever made him.
"I've faced bandits," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Bullets. Orders. Death."
She tilted her head. "And?"
"And none of it scared me like this."
Her breath caught.
He dropped to one knee—not smoothly, not perfectly—but with intention.
"I don't know how to promise you an easy life," he said. "But I know how to promise you one where you're never alone again."
Her eyes filled instantly.
"I loved you before I understood it," he continued. "And I chose you even when I was forced to forget everything else."
He reached into his pocket, hands shaking, and held up a simple ring.
"Isabella Rossi," he said softly, "will you let me spend the rest of my life choosing you?"
She covered her mouth.
Tears fell freely now.
"Yes," she whispered.
Then louder—laughing, crying, shaking—
"Yes."
He stood, and she practically threw herself into his arms.
Andrea, who had been pretending not to watch from a distance, groaned loudly.
"Finally," he said. "I was about to propose for you."
They laughed.
They held each other.
And this time—
nothing and no one stood in their way.
Love hadn't just survived.
It had won.
And now—
it was ready to begin. 💍✨