All shades of colors.

It was meant to be a beautiful day, the cabin they rented had been beautiful, old and had character dents that spoke of years of hard winter and beautiful summers.

"I was wondering what you were doing with fire, there is a reason I don't allow you into the kitchen, what were you thinking.." and as she trailed on angrily in the background, Kelvin couldn't help but watch wide eyed as his failed proposal engulfed the cabin in a massive inferno of hot red and orange. They had not even spent an hour in the cabin. It was Christmas eve and he was very unhappy.

And the worst part was that, she had passed by the neatly arranged candles, spelling out the words, 'will you marry me?' and Anna had not so much as blinked at the serene yet romantic mood set by the low lights and the smooth baritone of Barry white playing in the background, instead she had screamed like a banshee and promptly knocked down a candle, hence the now blazing fire.

"I don't know what mood you were trying to set," he comes back from his slightly disbelieving internal monologue

and shrugs like he had not just burnt down a 100 years old cabin in the name of love, oh well better this than stabbing himself like Romeo did.

"I wanted to give the cabin some ambience," he shrugged.

"Ambience? Ambience," she waved around the woods, gesturing at the lush green background and the serene sound of wildlife now combined with crackling wood, "we are surrounded by nature and you wanted to give the cabin ambience, I give up," she threw her hands up in the air and walked to the ambulance prepared to carry them out of the burning area. That was at 5:30am.

The second time he proposed was a joint affair with his friends. The plan was simple, after the failed affair early in the morning, Anna had gone to chill with the girls for a few hours and he needed his friends help. He had three hours to make a soup.

The group of friends gathered in Kevin home. In actuality, it was their home. Anna had moved in when the two had developed a stronger relationship. 

"Do we have everything ready?" Kevin asks, rolling the sleeves up on his shirt as he looks down at the ingredients spread out on the dining table. There's a raw chicken, some vegetables,

spices, and various other greens that he couldn't name.

The others nod.

"Alright, what do we do first?" Kevin asks, looking between his friends for advice because there was no way he could cook on his own. Kevin had once burned butter, he was a walking kitchen hazard but he wanted Anna to know how serious he was and cooking was the most serios task he could come up with.

"I think we're supposed to cook the chicken first," Stephen says, poking at the meat.

"Aren't we supposed to put spices on it or something to give it flavour?" Charming asks, picking up one of the jar of spice and sniffing.

"Let's do that first," Kevin says, grabbing the jar from Charming's hand. "How much do we put?"

"The more the better, right?" Lex says with a shrug.

Kevin looks skeptical but does what he says, after all, no one had any better answers. He takes a small fist full and sprinkles it over the meat, turning it an orange colour.

"Alright, anything else?" He asks, looking at the meat and that was how they continued till the aroma of heavily sprinkled spices and boiling meat rend the air.

He had left the soup in a cooler and put it on their kitchen table accompanied with a note before heading out with his friends. When he came back home hours later Anna's ring finger was ring less and she looked rather displeased. When asked what she did with the soup she proudly announced that she threw the offending concoction away because the soup tasted like how a fever potion in the middle ages would taste and she was not putting anything dirty in her sacred temple.

That was at 1 in the afternoon.

The third proposal had been just as uneventful, it invovled a hot air balloon and red tiny balloons arranged to pop the big question. One thing he failed to take note of was that the field was filled with weeds that had sharp pointy seeds which popped the balloons when a rather fierce breeze blew by before she could see it. By now it was getting dark and they were both tired so he decided to try one last time. There was a attraction the noted on their way to the park. 

The fourth proposal involved clowns, a circus and a screaming Anna because apparently Kevin had no idea she hated clowns. This happened at 7:00pm.

They were right when they said you could never really know someone fully. He had been in a relationship with the most loving woman for five years and he had no idea that one of his greatest joy was her nightmare. So with a heavy heart Kevin slashed off clowns for his unborn children's birthdays. 

So he had retired for the day, tomorrow was Christmas so he might as well propose tomorrow.

The fifth proposal was bleak. There was no music playing in the background, no potions, no balloons and no clowns. 

He had just resigned himself to asking her in the most mundane and simple way ever. He slipped the ring on her finger while she was asleep and waited wide eyed for her to wake up.

Not the best plan though if your future wife liked to sleep like she liked to eat. He had also not helped matters but dragging her all around the city earlier on. Four hours later, she woke up rather groggily and tried to wipe her face with her hand. The cold metal of the silver ring had hit her in the eyes and she had stared at her finger like it had grown two heads.

"Wait what's this?" She asked alarmed.

"Oh wow, thank you for finally taking notice your highness," he replied sarcastically.

"Is this a proposal?" She sat up now, the white blanket slipping down to her waist with her hair sticking every which way.

"Yes it is, it's the fifth fucking proposal so I guess fifth times the charm." 

"You want to marry me?" Anna's eyes had widened in disbelief as she flexed and unflexed the ring finger.

"Oh I'm no longer asking, you lost that chance after I burnt down a cabin, nearly killed us in an hot air balloon, gave away the soup I poured my heart and soul and sweat into to prepare for you and gave you a panic attack when I took you to the circus so no, I'm not asking, I've slapped the ring on you and we're engaged, capische." He held her cheeks softly as if daring her to refuse his proposal.

The sound of soft chuckling filled the air and his heart soared with joy. "So that was you trying to propose all those time, wow, you need to work on your proposals." She teased.

Without missing a beat, "I don't need to, we're already married remember?" He waved at her face.

"You know I wanted to propose that day," before he could speak she continued, "the day you burnt down the cabin, I was feeling a little insecure about asking you and when the cabin went up in flames I thought, 'I asked for a sign and maybe this is the sign. Maybe it's the wrong time,' so I stashed the ring in my purse and kept quiet."

"Well thank God you didn't, the guys and your family would have never let me live it down." He said.

The corner of her lips twisted up into a blinding smile that showed off her milk white, teeth. She truly loved this man and she had to say it. "I love you too,"

"It's obvious I also love you, no man in his right mind would try to propose five times otherwise. Your family already knows so get ready for the calls. I took a picture of you while you were busy snoring with the ring on your fat little finger."

"I love you very much," she repeated and watched as his ears turned crimson and he avoided looking at her out of embarrassment. In her eyes they were already married anyway and she had many more years to color him all shades of colors.

"So is that a yes?" Anna shook her head while rolling her eyes before leaning in to give him a hot kiss on the lips. 

"Yes, Merry Christmas." she whispered breathlessly against his now wet lips.

"Actually it's 11:58, it's still Christmas Eve." He pointed out.

"Shut up."