A New Chapter For A New Story
"Hey baby". Fen says smiling when he sees her face. He had just entered the living room of the mansion, after a housekeeper had let him in.
"Fen, you're home." Ana moves towards him carrying a baby in her arms. She wraps an arm around Fen, and they kiss. Fen puts his arm lightly on her back and looks at the baby and smiles. He gently touches the baby.
"Hey little fellow." He says looking at him. "I haven't seen you in a minute. What's up?"
The baby looks at Fen and smiles. "Aaahhhh..." He coos.
"I missed you too." Fen says laughing. He follows Ana over to the couch.
"I know, I was supposed to meet you elsewhere, but I had to stay a little longer and watch over him." She says indicating to the adorable baby in her arms. He was a precious looking child with dark brown eyes that were bright and expressive, beautiful smooth light brown skin and a very cute smile.
"I actually am glad that I had to stay a little longer, I get to spend a little more time with him." She smiles at the baby. "Isn't that right Kenny?" She asks.
The baby looks at her and puts his hand on her hair.
"The nanny is running late, but she should be here shortly, and then you and I can spend some quality time together." Ana sighs and smiles at Fen. "I've missed you."
Fen nods. "I've missed you too Ana." He tells her smiling. He reaches over and grabs her hand. "But this tour is finally over, and now I can take some time to unwind and just relax for a bit." He rubs her hand. "And spend time quality time with my favorite lady."
Ana nods smiling. "You've earned it. You've worked really hard Fen. This has been yet another successful tour for you..." She gives him a bright smile. "The turnout for this tour was awesome. I was just talking with Devon about it the other day." She pauses and then continues. "You continue to make us proud at Hamilton-Winters."
Fen nods. "Thanks Ana. I always want to make your proud."
"Well you certainly have, and I don't blame you for wanting to take a much deserved break now that this tour has concluded. I think it would be healthy for you to kind of decompress and take a break. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and do a reset before you go back to working on another album... It would be good for you to take a nice break." She pauses thinking for a moment and then continues.
"You know some people take multiple years off, even several years off between successful albums, but you have been really grinding. Two successful albums and tours in almost two years. You've really worked like a beast..." She praises him. "You really had done excellent work." She turns to look at Kenny and smiles. "Right, Kenny?" She asks holding him. "Aren't we proud of Fen?" Kenny makes a face and then smiles again.
"I will take that as a yes." Ana says smiling at him and then turning to smile at Fen.
"He has dimples like your mother." Fen remarks smiling, lightly pinching Kenny's cheek.
"He does." Ana says.
Just then the doorbell rings. "That must be the nanny, Kim." Ana goes to the door, with Kenny still in her arms.
"Sorry, I'm late." Kim says as she comes through the door.
"That's okay." Ana says smiling. "It gave me the opportunity to spend more time with this little guy." She looks at Kim.
"I love spending time with my nephew." She expresses happily. She talks with Kim some more and then ends up kissing Kenny and handing him over to her. "I love you so much and I promise to spend more time with you." Ana tells her baby nephew. She talks to the nanny a bit more and then the Nanny leaves the room with Kenny to change his diaper.
Ana then turns to Fen. "Okay, well Kim will be taking care of Kenny. And Devon will be flying in later tonight. I know he can't wait to be back. He probably misses his son like crazy." She pauses. "And Kenny's mother also misses him too and should be back in a few days as well."
Fen nods. "I hear that, I know what's it's like to miss someone you love like crazy." He gives Ana a loving glance. "So…" He begins. "Are you ready for me to take you out?"
Ana nods. "Yeah, we can do that. Where are we going, our usual place?" Ana was referring to the Thai restaurant her and Fen liked to go to sometimes.
"That's actually closed for renovations." Fen informs her.
"Really?" Ana says disappointed.
"Yeah…" Fen says. "I checked and that is what I was told." He informs her.
Ana nods understanding. "Okay, well… how about Society?" She suggests. "We can go there and have a nice dinner…"
Fen nods. "We could go there or maybe Top of the Tower?" He suggests.
Ana makes a face and smiles. "Top of the Tower?" She asks.
Fen nods. He then gently grabs her and pulls her into his arms. "I want to you to a place that is a bit fancier tonight, because I…. uh…" He pauses. "I. uh… haven't seen you in a bit and I just want to take you to a really nice place."
Ana wraps her arms around his neck. "Okay, I'm definitely fine with that." They look into each other's eyes and kiss.
Ana sighs. "Man, I have missed you." She admits to him.
Fen nods. "Likewise." He states. "Ana, I know it's been a little over a month since we've last spent time with each other in person."
"But it feels like longer." Ana finishes. They smile at each other and Ana's gets her stuff and they go to dinner.
After Fen and Ana have their dinner at Top of The Tower Restaurant, they decide to have a walk in Chancellor Park. They walk together hand in hand enjoying the nice breeze.
"Ahhh… this breeze feels so good." Ana remarks closing her eyes and enjoying the breeze against her face.
"It does." Fen agrees. "It's just nice to be out here in this weather, spending time with the woman that I love." He says smiling at her. They walk a little more and then see a bench.
"Let's go sit down for a moment, Ana, I want to talk to you." Fen leads her over to the bench and they sit down. They turn to face each other, and Fen leans forward a bit.
Ana looks at him and smiles. "What is it Fen, What's on your mind?" She asks as she looks at him.
Fen takes her hands and looks thoughtful. "Quite a bit..." He sits up a little. "Like you said I just need to really decompress from this latest tour."
Ana nods understanding. "You've really have been grinding it out. And now you have the chance to sit back and take it easy for a while. And relax..."
Fen nods. "Yeah... I enjoyed touring again, but I have to admit, I'm glad it's over. And I can take a break for a bit." He squeezes her hand. "And being able to see you the times you were able to visit me on tour, helped me get through it even more."
Ana nods again and smiles. "I knew you'd be on the road for a while and I had to find some the time to fly out and see you. I needed to spend some time with my man." She says.
Fen smiles. "And I'm glad you did. I loved seeing you. I always love seeing you and spending time with you…" His voice trails off. He takes a big breath and looks her in her eyes and smiles and then asks a question. "Ana, have long have we been together?" He asks.
Ana makes a face thinking. "Let's see Fen, we've been together 21 months."
Fen nods taking that in. "21 months. Almost two years…." He looks down at their hands together. "That's a good of amount of time…."
Ana turns her head to the side and looks at him smiling. "It feels like we've together longer."
Fen nods. "It does." He then pauses thinking some more. "And in these past 21 months, I've done everything that I could to try and prove myself to you. As a musician and as a man."
Ana nods, her face becoming, serious as she's listening to Fen. "Yes, baby you have…"
Fen continues. "Yeah, I've tried to do that through my work and my actions. And I feel like I've had success with those things."
"Two successful hit albums, multiple successful tours, a few Grammy nods, including a couple of wins... and a couple of American Music Awards." Ana says grinning, rifling off Fen's achievements. She then laughs. "Though you almost didn't get to finish your speech for one of your AMA's because one of your overzealous fans tried to rush the stage to congratulate you."
Fen laughs remembering that moment. "Yes that was crazy." He acknowledges.
Ana shakes her head nodding. "Yes, it was..." She agrees. "But all in all I say.. you have done pretty well for yourself Fen."
Fen smiles. "Yes, and I'm proud of those accomplishments."
"And I could not be prouder of you." Ana tells him. "As an artist and… and as my man". She says looking at him beaming.
Fen nods. "I'm glad. I wanted to make you proud. I've always wanted to make you proud, Ana." He expresses to her. "Almost everything I do is largely for you. I mean… I've worked hard so that I can build a better life for myself, but also so I could build something better for us." He looks at Ana, giving her a serious look.
Ana listens to him. "Yeah you have certainly done that… I mean you are certainly are building up a nice career as an artist with Hamilton-Winters." She remarks proudly.
"Yes, but I wanted to build something for us personally as well." Fen says looking down at their hands together again and then back up Ana. "I wanted to be able to give you a good life."
Ana makes a face, confused for a moment by his statement, and then she smiles. "Oh, Fen I do have a good life." She remarks happily. "And I'm happy you're a part of it."
Fen nods. "Baby, I know. You're a smart, talented, hard-working woman, that has helped build that for yourself..." He pauses for a moment. "But I wanted to be able to make sure that I could also provide you with a good life... and try and make the life you have even better." He expresses in a very serious tone.
A thoughtful look comes across Ana's face as she wonders where Fen is going with this conversation. "Oh, Fen. You have made my life better." Ana says giving him a reassuring look.
Fen becomes quiet for a moment thinking about how he wanted to say what he wanted to say next. He looks at her and gives her a sincere look. "Good...And I couldn't imagine my life without you… And that is one of the reasons why I have worked so hard for you...". He stops for a moment and a very thoughtful look comes across his face. "And now I want to ask you something…" Ana sits up and looks at him curiously. "What is it?" She asks.
Fen takes another deep breath and goes for it. "Well… like we talked about, now is the time for me to take a break and reset things now that this latest tour is over."
Ana nods. "Right, you get to take a much-deserved break."
Fen nods. "Yes, I want to do that, and I want to reset and look even more towards the future. I want to take steps towards building even more towards my future. I want to look to start a new chapter in my life."
Ana nods again listening. "And I know you were saying you wanted to focus a bit more on other things. Like monitoring some of the businesses you have invested in. Like the one that you and Xavier were telling me that you guys invested in that is doing really well." Ana smiles at Fen.
"Now you have some time to focus more on things like that and try build an even bigger nest egg for yourself." She suggests.
Fen nods. "Yes, that. OF course I want to do that. But I also want to start a new chapter personally… And I want to start it with you." He declares firmly.
Ana eyes widen when he says that. "You want to start a new chapter with me?" She asks.
"I do." Fen confirms. He lets go of her hand for a moment and then stands up. He moves slightly away from the bench. He gets down on one knee and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box.
"I want to start a new Chapter with you... as my wife…." Fen opens the box. "Ana you know how much I love you." He proclaims. "I'm madly in love with you. … And I want to share the rest of my life with you..." He pauses for a moment and continues to go for it. "So... Ana will you marry me?" He asks looking up into Ana's face. "Say, you'll be my wife." He smiles as he looks at her and waits for an answer.