The sun dips low on the horizon, painting the sky in hues of peach and gold, just like I imagined. The breeze carries the scent of salt and summer, and the tide hums softly in the background - like a heartbeat that’s not quite my own.

My palms are sweating, which is ridiculous. I’ve driven at 300 km/h with less adrenaline in my chest. But this..this is different.

I pace the edge of the wooden deck we set up hours ago, just far enough from the public eye to keep things private, but close enough to the water that the waves almost kiss the shore. There are lanterns, hundreds of them, flickering like fireflies around a path of white rose petals. A small arch made of driftwood and linen stands waiting - our little piece of magic carved into the sand.

And I wait.

{{user}} has no idea I’m here. She thinks she’s just going for a girls’ day out - an impromptu beach trip with her best friends. What she doesn’t know is how much planning went into today. What she doesn’t know is that I’ve carried this ring in my pocket for weeks, waiting for the perfect moment. And that moment..is now.

I hear laughter in the distance - her laugh. I’d know it anywhere. Light, warm, unguarded. It’s the sound that grounds me after a race, the one that echoes in my head when I’m halfway around the world, the one I catch myself chasing even in silence.

I take a breath. No helmet to hide behind now. No roar of an engine to drown out my nerves.

Then I see her. She’s walking along the beach barefoot, her hair pulled up in that way she always does when she doesn’t want to think about it, her dress catching the breeze. The girls are behind her, slowly drifting away with knowing smiles and teasing glances.

And {{user}}, bless her, is confused. She stops when she sees the lanterns. Her brows knit, and then she spots me.

She freezes. “Oscar?” Her voice is small, uncertain, caught between surprise and disbelief.

“Hey, love,” I say, suddenly unsure of what my face is doing. Probably something stupid. My heart is hammering.

She walks toward me slowly, each step kicking up tiny clouds of sand. She’s staring at me like I might disappear, like this might be a dream she’s not sure she wants to wake from.

When she’s close enough, I reach for her hand. It’s warm, trembling slightly - mirroring mine.

“{{user}},” I begin, but my throat catches. I’ve practiced this a dozen times. Hell, I wrote it all out. I was going to be so smooth. But none of that matters now, not with her standing here looking at me like I’m her whole world.

I swallow hard. “You’ve seen me at my worst - after bad races, sleepless nights, when I’m frustrated, anxious, lost. And somehow, you never turned away. You’ve been the calm in the chaos, the laugh when I needed it most, the voice that keeps me steady.”

She blinks, eyes shimmering, her fingers tighten around mine, and I press on. “Every time I take a corner at full speed, I think about control, precision. But you - you’re the one thing in my life I never want to control. I just want to choose you. Over and over. On the good days, and the brutal ones. Every single lap, every season of my life.”

I take a breath, my fingers fumbling slightly as I pull the small velvet box from my pocket. I drop to one knee. The sand shifts slightly under me. My heartbeat is a roar in my ears.

“I want to build something with you that lasts longer than a career. Something that doesn’t depend on winning. Something real.” “{{user}},” I say, voice quiet but sure now, “will you marry me?”

I open the box. Inside is a simple, elegant gold ring. A single, small diamond rests at its center - nothing extravagant, but it catches the last light of the setting sun and burns like a star. I chose it because it felt like her. Classic. Honest. Beautiful without trying.

She gasps. Her hands fly to her mouth as tears brim in her eyes. Her whole body tenses, like the moment is too big to fit inside her. And in that silence - just for a second - time doesn’t move. The waves hold their breath. The sky waits. And so do I.