Unexpecting The Expected 

He went over the lines again, making it the sixty-seventh time.

Adjoah.. In all this time we’ve spent with each other, I’ve come to love and cherish you for who you are. And this feeling grows more and more each passing d- Nah. That line doesn’t sound cool enough. Rephrase. It must be dope.

He looked up at her just as she made her way towards the table, back from the washroom. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

***

She had to excuse herself briefly for a washroom break to freshen up because she strongly felt he was finally going to man up and do it today. Everything just felt right: The Mēkrifo dinner-for-two at this plush restaurant, the slight tension and nervousness on his side, and the way he absent-mindedly kept licking his lower lip.

She smiled at her reflection in the mirror,  tucked a seemingly loose strand of hair behind her right ear and winked. She loved the way her red dress clung tightly to her body, accentuating her  curves. She even wore makeup – a shade of red lipstick, something she rarely did. She made her way back to their table, pretty enthused.

She caught him smiling at her the moment she stepped out of the washroom, and she smiled back trying not to get overwhelmed by the rush of emotions coursing through her body at that moment.

***

He licked his lower lip once more, oblivious that she’d taken note of the act.

“Ermm Adjoa.. I.. I have something to say.. urmmm.. I have something important to ask you.”

He noticed how she calmly dropped her fork and gave him her full attention. He licked his lip once more.

“Yes.. I’m listening..” She offered, trying to coax him to continue talking.

“In all this time we’ve spent together.. I mean, with each other.. Well I guess it’s same the same thing.. together, with each other..” 

He paused.

“How do you make your bowl of cereal? Do you pour your milk first before adding the cereal or it’s cereal before milk?”

He looked at her face and chuckled. “Haha.. Why do you look so forlorn? It’s almost as if you were expecting me to ask something else…”

He clenched his fist around the ring he held under the table, then he pocketed it.