You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 412 The Ring Is Back

Mid July on C Island was sweltering hot. The sun in the sky shone down on the trestle bridge, where Nina was sitting under a massive sunshade. She turned her head and stared at her companion with narrowed eyes, and her expression was unreadable.

Her surprise lasted for a moment. Her eyes fell on the ring in Vicente's hand, and then her astonishment turned into delight.

Nina looked at Vicente excitedly.

Vicente smiled and winked at her. At that moment, Nina felt that the light in her eyes matched the glitter of the ring in her hand.

"Marry me?" Vicente shook the ring box on purpose, not hiding the sly look in her eyes.

Nina kept staring at the ring.

It was the ring that John put on her finger when he proposed to her. No other ring in the world looked exactly the same as this one.

She remembered the letters carved on the inner side of the ring: JN.

John and Nina.

She could hardly contain her excitement after she received the ring that night. On her way to see Vivian, she stroked the ring again and again. That was when she found the letters.

It was a pity that she passed out not long after. The next time she woke up, the ring was gone.

Now, the ring appeared in front of her again. With indescribable excitement and joy, she stared at the ring with tears in her eyes.

Vicente waited for her, a gentle smile on her face.

Unbeknownst to them, two people stood on the arched terrace at the top of the castle, observing the situation using binoculars.

Bruce saw Vicente kneeling on one knee to propose. His daughter, Nina, was standing in front of him, but she hadn't reached out her hand to take it.

Anne saw a frown form on his brows and patted his arm. "What's wrong? Did Nina refuse?"

"No," Bruce replied with a shake of his head. From what he could see, the two was looking at each other-one was looking up, and the other was looking down. Anne's face was alight with curiosity. "She accepted?"

"Not really." Bruce continued to shake his head, focusing on the scene unfolding at the end of the trestle bridge.

If the sea breeze didn't lift Nina's hair and skirt, Bruce would have thought that the two were frozen by some enchantment.

"It's strange." When Bruce made the comment, Anne hurriedly grabbed the binoculars from him. "You're a fool. I'll do it myself."

Anne placed the binoculars over her eyes. The small, blurred scene they could see from a distance became magnified several times. She clearly saw Nina reach out a hand to take the ring from the box. "What do you mean she did not accept? Nina obviously agreed to the proposal!" Anne was overjoyed. She threw the binoculars at her husband, who stood there in a daze, and left in a hurry.

"Where are you going?" Seeing his wife leaving, Bruce followed behind her, still full of skepticism. "Are you sure you saw it correctly? Did she really agree?"

"Why would I lie to you? She really accepted the ring." Anne stopped and waited for Bruce to catch up with her. The couple were so excited, as if they were the participants in the marriage proposal. However, the real protagonist, Nina, looked strangely calm as her fingers touched the ring.

She calmly twirled the ring and finally slid it on her ring finger. She recalled the night when John slipped it on her ring finger during his proposal.

Feeling the heavy weight of the ring on her finger, Nina shed tears of happiness. Accompanied by the sea wind and sunshine, she pressed her lips together and tasted the salty water.

"It's back," she murmured. Then, she looked up at Vicente, who had by then risen to her feet. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Seeing the incandescent happiness on Nina's face, Vicente felt her mood lift up. Finally, her problems were solved.

"Now that you have accepted my proposal ring, we will be a family from now on. You don't have to be so polite, and you don't have to thank me in the future." Vicente walked over and slipped her arm around Nina's shoulders. A soft sigh escaped her lips.

Knowing that Vicente was a girl and a friend she had lost in her childhood and recently regained, Nina naturally found physical contact with her to be not uncomfortable. She also did not bring her down like last time.

Nina rolled her eyes and jokingly complained in a whisper, "How could you propose to me with my own ring?"

With that, she shook off Vicente's arm.

Shamelessly, Vicente replaced the arm Nina had just shaken off. After all, no one else was there. Rebecca had already gone to report the proceedings to Nina's parents when Vicente took out the ring and proposed.

Only the two of them remained on the bridge. No matter how loudly they spoke, the words would only be blown away by the breeze.

Naturally, Vicente became uninhibited. She even reverted to her female voice and said, "If I didn't do that, would you have taken my ring and accepted my proposal?"

Nina became more relaxed. "I may have taken the ring, but I never agreed to your proposal."

For some reason, Nina wanted to deny that she had accepted the proposal. She wanted to see if Vicente would get mad at her.

Vicente's eyes flashed. "You are naive. Regardless of whose ring you're wearing on your finger, I proposed with it just now. The fact that you have taken it means that you agree, and..."

Her voice trailed off, and she looked behind her shoulder. "Someone is filming this. I'm sure a picture of you taking the ring must have hit the headlines by now."

"What?" Nina craned her neck, a frown on her face. She glared up at Vicente and said angrily, "If the news of our engagement is released, the people from other countries will also see it!"

Nina didn't see anyone, but she couldn't be sure that there were no hidden cameras. People couldn't hear what they were talking about from a distance, but they could definitely capture what they were doing.

She was worried that John would see this in the foreign news. It might lead to a huge misunderstanding, and he might think that she had betrayed him. A manipulative person like Vivian would use such news to her advantage and cause problems between her and John.

Now that they couldn't contact or communicate with each other, she wouldn't be clarify her side of the story to John. The misunderstanding would escalate and eventually get out of control.

The more Nina thought about it, the angrier she became. Again, she shook off Vicente's arm again.

"I know what you are worried about." Vicente tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but Nina removed it again, so she was left with no choice but to withdraw her hand. "I promise that only the people of C Island know about it and will never spread it."

"How can you guarantee that?" Nina didn't know whether she should believe her or not.

Patting her chest, Vicente promised, "I swear it upon my honor."

"Your honor? That doesn't reassure me one bit!" Although Nina said that, she believed Vicente. Even so, her worry remained. "Can you guarantee that my mother will not spread the news? She wants everyone to know about it. With this, she will completely separate me from John."

A trace of sadness flashed through Nina's eyes as she spoke. Vicente couldn't bear see her sad face. "I've managed to persuade your mother to give me your ring, and I've also managed to persuade her not to spread the news. Trust me."

Vicente sounded so confident, and she almost raised her hand to swear on her own life.

"Really?" Nina thought about it carefully. Judging from what she knew of Vicente, she was a considerate woman.

Vicente rubbed at her forehead and asked, "Can't we have a little trust between us?"

"Trust is built slowly." Nina heavily patted Vicente's shoulder, and the pain nearly made her buckle.

Vicente took half a step back, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You brought me down last time. And your pat hurts me so much. Did your husband not complain?"

"My husband is not as weak as you," Nina said honestly.

Vicente was so angry that she almost stamped her feet. "You hurt my feelings."

Nina just shrugged. Caressing the ring on her ring finger, Nina looked at the direction of Lexingport City. She missed him.

'I miss you, John.'

She missed him so much.0☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐