To Trap a Ring (To Trap a Heart Part 3)

*Nainika’s Note* Hey everybody!! Good [insert time of day you’re reading this]!! I was originally going to write this part from Zach’s perspective because I wanted to dive into his background and why he was so pulled to Nicola and all that good stuff, but Hakuna Matata🤷! I read this prompt and immediately envisioned these guys having the best time with this kind of situation, so I knew Nicola’s relatable and funny voice was coming back! Hopefully, this captured both the lightheartedness of the first part, yet the maturity and seriousness of the second. I hope you guys enjoy this funny take on the prompt, and whatever you celebrate (or don’t) this season, happy holidays and stay safe!!!

You would think that the winter holidays would garner some sort of break from the day-to-day activities that you do…well every other day of the year. That’s why it’s called a break, for Pete’s sake. But to Zachary Walters, Ph.D., no day was exempt from his traditions, let alone December 24th, my favorite day of the year, and Christmas Eve. And being his girlfriend, I, Nicola Fletcher, was hopelessly tangled in his atrocious plans. Oh, the horror.

You see, after our trip to St. Kitts and Nevis in the spring, we’d started dating, and for the past eight months, I’d had the best time of my life. Zachary was the perfect boyfriend. The yin to my yang, the…er butter to my toast. He and I made each other laugh, made each other cry, and completed each other. It was bliss.

Except for his morning workouts at the atrocious hour of 4:15 am. Ugh. That was the one thing that never changed throughout our relationship. But to be honest, they made him happy, and I was finding that I loved them despite myself. I know, I know, atrocious, but when we were spending time together and laughing, there was almost nothing better. Gha, I sound like a lovesick puppy.

I started awake at the incessant knocking on my front door. I automatically looked over at my alarm clock, then remembered I’d thrown the damn thing out because it had been abused too much.

“I’m awake,” I yelled groggily, then promptly flopped back onto my pillow and closed my eyes. I heard the key turning into the lock and my front door swinging open. I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. I heard footsteps coming closer and closer until the bed dipped under Zachary’s weight. He poked me. Hard. I turned around. He poked me again. Harder. I popped up from under my cozy blankets and glared at my boyfriend. “It’s Christmas Eve. Can’t I catch a break?” He wagged his finger at me. I was sorely tempted to whack him.

“Your body’s a temple, Nicola. It’s up to you to-” I interrupted him by chucking my pillow at his head. I instantly regretted it, however, as he chucked it right back at me.

“All right, all right. I’m going.” Grumbling I got up and did my morning routine while Zachary made his protein gunk and me some of that delicious coffee protein powder shake. Finally, I walked out into my kitchen, wearing my big oversized winter jacket and fluffy Chicago Bears hat.

“Ready to go?” He asked, handing me my coffee. Even through my thick mittens, the warmth of the shake was blissful. I nodded, sipping carefully, and we walked out of my apartment and into the elevator, talking about our plans for the day. Once we got to the lobby, I walked over to George’s desk and handed him a hand-written card.

“Happy Holidays, George.” He smiled at me and came around the counter to hug me.

“To you as well, Ms. Fletcher, to you as well,”

Chicago during the holidays was beautiful, lights strung on most of the lampposts down Michigan Avenue, and as Zach and I walked to the gym, talking about random stuff, I realized how lucky I was that the man next to me was mine. I mean, that he loved me, but yes, also because he was mine.

The gym was also pretty uneventful, most people choosing to sleep in on Christmas Eve. I pointed this out to my maniac boyfriend, but he just flexed his muscles and I am not ashamed to admit I instantly forgot my name and what I was about to say.

“Nicola, you ready?” I blinked out of my stupor and looked up at him. He was all ready to go. I looked at my hand. I was still holding the dumbbell.

“Oh, yeah. One sec.” I put my dumbbell away and grabbed my bag from my locker.

“You know how we’ve been together for eight months now,” Zach said casually as I zipped up my obnoxiously long coat. My heart started racing again.

“Yeah?” I said, trying and failing to be as casual as he was. We started walking out, and I thought we were done with the conversation until he turned and dropped on one knee in front of the dumbbell rack and held out a gorgeous ring in a black velvet box. It was simple yet stunning, a rose gold band with an ever looping arrow that represented protection and defense. Everything I wanted in a husband, and everything I wanted to give to a husband.

“Nicola, will you-” I cut in, although my heart was hammering and my brain was screaming ‘YES’.

“I’ll have you know, that I have very high expectations for a proposal,” I said, raising an eyebrow down at him.

“So…no?” He said, looking all puppy-dog eyes, but there was no real hurt behind his words. He knew me, and he knew my personality.

“Well, not in the gym with me being all sweaty, no,” I said. Zachary shrugged, then stood up and stowed the box safely back in his gym bag.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting anything different,” he said as we walked out of the gym to the chagrin of the people working there. They probably thought I was being such a jerk. Eh, let them. I didn’t care.

We walked back to our building and parted ways to take a shower and grab breakfast. I met him back outside my apartment to find him writing down things on a notepad. I handed him his scarf that he had kindly let me borrow and leaned over his shoulder to read what he was writing. He instantly covered it, and shoved it in his pocket, blushing slightly.

“What? Is it a love letter?” I gasped, “To someone else?” I snickered at myself, and Zach rolled his eyes, exasperated.

“It’s an itinerary. I have our day planned to the tee.”

“Oooh, I can’t wait,” I said as we walked back to the elevators.

We walked along the lakeshore, couples walking around us softly talking to themselves, the spirit of the holiday season in the air. We rounded the corner of Shedd Aquarium and stood for a moment, looking up at the skyline of the city we both loved. Zach cleared his throat, and I turned to see him dropping to his knee. Instantly the people around us gasped in excitement and waited with bated breath, wanting to see my reaction.

“Nicola-” I scrunched my face, looking from him to the location we were at.

“Yeah, no again. Too cliché, mon cheri,” He wasn’t surprised and rose back up. The girl next to me looked as if she was going to faint while her partner looked as if he was trying not to laugh. Yeah, well, he didn’t have to deal with her gushing about a proposal all day, so I suppose it was a good day for him.

“Are you going to make me wait until the one place you absolutely love, to say yes?” He asked, linking his arm with mine as we walked away from the gaping couples. I smiled.

“If I said anything other than yes to that, you’d know there was something wrong with me.” He rolled his eyes, and I laughed, leaning into his comforting bulk. We walked for a while, the night air cold, yet at the same time, I was too happy to be warm. After a while, we got to the next stop on Zach’s make-Nicola-happy list.

The Brookfield Zoo was practically empty when as walked through the ticket gate. Many people going to arrive for the light show later this evening. It was only the afternoon, yet today was turning out to be one of my favorite days of this year. I was barely able to contain my excitement as we walked past the huge carousel until Zachary turned to me with his arms spread out as if he was welcoming me to my kingdom. With a squeal, I ran through the park like a kid, gleefully pulling Zachary after me.

“Oh look, there’s the sloths!” I didn’t give him a chance to even get a good look at the adorable creatures before yanking him toward the tapir enclosure. And once we got there, it was the same deal with the giraffes, then the elephants, then to my favorite exhibit, the tigers.

“You know they’re not going anywhere, right?” Zach said, puffing slightly from exertion. I didn’t tear my eyes from the majestic cats sprawled out in front of me, just reached over and smacked where I thought the general area of his shoulder was. He grunted. I winced. I’d smacked his stomach. Whoops. He grabbed my hand and forced me to turn around, dropping to the ground on one knee.

“Nicola, here amidst your favorite animals, will you m-”

“Nope. Not when I can smell elephant dung.” He thought it over then realized I was probably right.

“Yeah, ok. Not the best area.” I held out my hand and helped him to his feet.

“To help heal your ego, what’s your favorite exhibit?” Zachary’s eyes lit up.

“I thought you’d never ask.” He pulled me toward the reptile house, to my disappointment. He ran over to the snakes and eagerly pointed to the reticulated python who was lazing in his terrarium. I shuddered and backed away to the amusement of my psycho boyfriend. “You like tigers, but you don’t like snakes?”

“You don’t understand. They’re literally faces…with tails,” I said, “and they move around with no legs like some kind of witch. How is that not the grossest thing you’ve ever seen?” He threw his head back and laughed, a deep belly laugh that’s so infectious. He put his hands on my waist and picked me up, spinning me around while I laughed with delight. He finally put me down and pulled me into his warm embrace, tucking me into him where I fit perfectly.

“You are the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met, and I don’t deserve you.” I smiled and burrowed deeper into his warmth. Seriously, he was like a walking radiator.

“Well, of course, you don’t. Your favorite animal is a face with a tail. How is that even a thing?” He snickered, then kissed my hair.

“Shall we move on then, my dear?” I took his offered arm.

“We shall, my prince,” I said, and laughing and talking, we walked out of the zoo and to our next stop. Lunch. Boy was I hungry.

As it was my day, Zachary let me pick lunch, and I must say, it was very nice of him to let me do so. Because otherwise, we’d be eating at some healthy place. The holidays were a place to pig out, and if anyone disagrees, I’ll beat ‘em up. I could see his grimace as we walked into Lou Malnati’s Pizzaria, but he didn’t say anything as I ordered the cheesiest pizza in existence. We walked and ate, both of us content to let each other eat the last piece, which resulted in a fight over pizza. Let me tell you, I didn’t win. It was an atrocious move on Zach’s part.

He had one more place for us to go to, but it was still early evening, so we went into a theater and watched a couple of movies to while away the time. I don’t remember anything, we were too busy making fun of the actors and gossiping like teenagers in the back of the theater, much to the annoyance of the few people who were there. When we walked out of the theater, it was already dark, even though it was only around 5:30 pm. There was also a colder bite to the air, so we took a cab to Zach’s last stop.

Buckingham Fountain was always decked out during the holidays. The lights made the water look as if it was light up. Even so, it was almost…gory. When it was red, the water looked like blood. Seriously, not the best visual after one’s eaten. Or for little kids, though now that I think about it, little kids are creepy. They’d probably like it. Me, not so much. So when Zachary turned to me with a hopeful smile and dropped to his knee, I tugged him up and pulled him along. No way in hell was I getting proposed to in front of blood water.

“What was wrong with that?” He said, trying to keep up with my fast pace.

“To deathlike. Not the best background for an engagement scenario.” I said, towing him along.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were avoiding me proposing to you.” I abruptly stopped, but Zach didn’t notice for a few seconds, still walking, until he was yanked back by my death grip on his scarf. “Ow, what was that for?” He said, massaging his neck where his scarf chaffed him when I pulled on it. I grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and pulled him down to me, meeting his cold lips with my equally frigid ones. He gave a sound of surprise, then kissed me back, drawing me close to him. I gently pulled away, and leaned my forehead against his, staring into his ice blue eyes that melted only for me.

“Make no mistake, Ph.D. I love you more than life itself and can’t wait to get engaged to you. But I do want a proposal that is meaningful. Keep working on it,” I patted his shoulder in a placating gesture, and he smiled, “You’re almost there. If three times wasn’t the charm, then maybe five times was your lucky number.” He hailed a cab, then turned to me, tugging my Bears hat down further over my head. I hadn’t even noticed it was almost off my head.

We drove back to our apartment, talking about the day, and what tomorrow would look like, and as we got out of the cab, Zach paying the driver, I took a moment to fully appreciate what I had been given. A wonderful life. An amazing boyfriend. A solid roof above my head. Food I didn’t have to scavenge for. I could go on and on, but I knew that I couldn’t take anything for granted. So when Zach got down on his knee for the fifth time in a day, after we had been cozing up by his fireplace, his Christmas tree that we had spent hours decorating together glinting in the reflected light of the flickering fire. When he pledged his life to me for the rest of our days, and when he laid his heart out for me to assess, I didn’t hesitate as I said “Yes,” to be the fiancée of Zachary Walters, Ph.D.