Page 139 of Okay Boss
"I'm asking you, in front of millions of people, to stop thinking of this as temporary." His voice found strength in absolute certainty. "To stop thinking of yourself as ordinary. To stop believing that two years from now, you'll walk away from me."
The ring gleamed. Beautiful and real and permanent in ways contracts could never be.
"The timeline is meaningless. It always was." He closed the box, tucking it back into his pocket. A promise to be delivered in person. "I never intended to let you go after two years. I never intended to let you go at all."
The time limit light flashed red, but no one moved to stop him. The audience sat frozen, witnessing something that felt less like a speech and more like watching someone jump without knowing if he'd land.
"I'm coming home now." His voice softened, meant suddenly for just one listener despite millions of ears. "Not to negotiate or convince. To tell you what I should have told you months ago. To give you this ring because I need you to be my wife. Not for cameras or families."
A pause.
His voice cracked.
“For me.”
He stepped back from the microphone. The award tucked under his arm, forgotten. His eyes held the camera for one final moment. Direct. Unflinching. Completely honest.
Then he walked off stage.
The host rushed forward, flustered, trying to transition back to the ceremony. But applause had already started, scattered at first, then building to something thunderous. Not for his acting. For the raw courage of loving someone out loud.
Among the audience, Vikram handed the trophy to his mother. Her eyes were bright with tears.
"Go," was all she said, pressing car keys into his palm.
He didn't need to be told twice.
Chapter 32
The television screen filled with Vikram's face.
Divya sat frozen on the living room couch, Pista's head resting on her lap, as her husband looked directly into the camera. Directly at her.
"Divya. You're watching right now because I made you promise."
Her hand flew to her mouth.
"I've been in love with you since the fourth week of your internship."
The ring box appeared on screen. Simple. Beautiful. Impossibly real.
"I'm asking you, in front of millions of people, to stop thinking of this as temporary."
Tears blurred her vision. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Could only watch as he said everything she'd been too terrified to hope for.
"I never intended to let you go at all."
Then he walked off stage.
The host's flustered voice filled the speakers, trying to salvage the ceremony's momentum, but Divya wasn't listening anymore. The world had narrowed to the impossible reality of what had just happened.
He'd told millions of people he loved her.
He'd shown them the ring.
He'd walked away from his moment of triumph, the award, the applause, the recognition, and declared thatshemattered more.
Her hands trembled violently. Her heart hammered so hard it hurt. The walls she'd built so carefully, so deliberately, stone by defensive stone, didn't just crack. They shattered. Exploded. Turned to dust under the weight of what he'd just done.
