The table was still warm from the chaos of last night's impromptu dinner party. Or maybe 'chaos' was too soft a word. Maybe 'gastronomic ambush' was closer to the truth.
Everything looked normal at first—steaming dishes, flickering candles, and a slightly anxious boyfriend fiddling with a bent fork like it held the secrets of the universe. I sat down across from him with one eyebrow raised, suspicious but hungry.
"So, this is... a dinner?" I asked, eyeing the glistening lasagna that looked like it had been in a boxing match with garlic bread.
"It's more like a mission," Zay said, adjusting his glasses. "A romantic mission."
My eyes narrowed. "Please tell me this doesn't involve time travel, robots, or surprise visits from your demon cousins."
"Not tonight," he said, way too quickly.
That was when the first clue hit me.
Literally.
A mini paper crane dropped from the chandelier and landed in my soup. Inside was a tiny note: _"Love's riddle is hidden in what you've already digested."_
I stared at him. "You made a treasure hunt out of dinner?"
"Romantic, right?"
I stared harder. "You're lucky you're cute."
What followed was a whirlwind of bite-sized clues hidden under dumplings, inside fortune cookies, even stitched into a napkin. Every message was slightly weird, mildly poetic, and definitely leading somewhere.
"You're planning something," I said as I bit into a mysterious meatball and found a gummy ring inside. "This isn't just dinner."
"Correct," he smiled.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The wall panel behind him slid open.
Behind it—our garage. But no ordinary garage. It was now lit up like a launchpad, with something that looked suspiciously like a... prototype rocket engine made of old washing machine parts and too much hope.
"We launch next month," he whispered. "If you say yes."
"Yes to what?"
He pulled a small, velvet box from the sauce bowl and opened it.
Inside wasn't a ring.
It was a glowing key.
"To our future. You in?"
I blinked. Then laughed.
"Only if I get to drive."
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Thank you for you !!!