CHAPTER 340: CHAPTER 340: SONG

Ivy’s breath hitched in surprise, but she allowed him to guide her as he slowly led her out of the house.

She didn’t know how long they walked, her senses sharpened with every step, her heart fluttering with anticipation, until finally, Silas stopped and removed the blindfold.

The moment her eyes adjusted, Ivy realized she was standing before a massive stage.

A sense of familiarity washed over her.

This wasn’t just any structure... it was the very building Silas had asked her to construct a week ago. It had two floors, but beyond that, it was completely empty.

She remembered how Silas had insisted that she shouldn’t build any rooms at all. At the time, she had wondered what he was planning, but he never explained, and she had simply let him have his way.

Now, she understood.

She was standing on a huge platform. In front of her was a hall large enough to comfortably accommodate a hundred people.

A spotlight shone directly on her, illuminating her figure, while the rest of the hall remained cloaked in darkness.

Even so, she could faintly make out the silhouettes of many individuals seated in rows of chairs.

For a moment, Ivy was stunned into stillness, her heart thundering louder with each passing second.

Then, another spotlight turned on somewhere ahead, and she instinctively turned toward it.

There stood Silas, holding a guitar in his hands, smiling at her with a boyish, almost shy grin. Before she could utter a word, he began to play.

The gentle brushing of guitar strings echoed beautifully throughout the hall, and Ivy felt her heartstrings being tugged in return.

His voice followed, soft, melodious, warm, and amplified somehow, even though he wasn’t using a microphone.

She immediately knew he must have hired a sound-enhancer superhuman, but she quickly forgot about the technicalities.

His voice alone was enough to remove every logical thought from her mind.

Silas sang their story... her story... woven into a ballad.

He sang about the day they first met, the day she saved him in childhood, how the little pink-haired girl had started following him everywhere with those luminous eyes.

Then he sang of their separation, caused by cruel people and circumstances beyond them, and how fate had eventually brought them back together as husband and wife.

His voice carried every emotion he had buried for years... devotion, longing, gratitude, and love.

We were children in a broken land,

You reached for me with trembling hands,

I was falling fast, you pulled me through,

The very first time that I met you.

’Who is she?’ I wondered then,

An angel disguised as my only friend.

Pink hair dancing in the morning light,

Soft smile turning darkness bright,

You followed me, step by step,

And slowly stole the breath I kept.

Oh, we were separated by the cruel and cold,

Torn away by hands of evil, stories left untold.

But destiny refused to let us break apart,

You carried me in silence, deep within your heart.

Now look at us, after everything we’ve known,

We found our way back home... we found our way back home.

Tears welled in Ivy’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She simply couldn’t believe Silas had written a song for her, much less performed it like this.

And when she saw him standing there with the guitar, memories surfaced... memories she had locked away.

She was transported back to her college days... the time when a singing competition was being held.

She had foolishly, boldly declared that she would date whoever won, simply because one annoying singer had been chasing her relentlessly.

She had said those words because she knew he had neither the voice nor guitar skills to win.

But Silas... Silas had heard those words.

The very next day, he registered himself for the competition.

Everyone laughed at him, telling him that a military trainee had no business singing on stage.

Some even mocked him, knowing his crush on Ivy. Ivy remembered standing anxiously at the back of the hall, terrified that he would embarrass himself.

But the moment Silas began to sing, the entire hall had gone silent.

Girls had screamed his name afterward, calling Ivy "hubby" jokingly, and Silas’s reputation skyrocketed.

During the finals, the hall had been so crowded that Ivy didn’t even have a place to sit.

She had stood at the back, watching as the handsome young man with black hair and blue eyes sang with a confidence that made her heart flip.

His voice filled the hall, and back then, Ivy had felt her first taste of insecurity mixed with admiration.

She remembered thinking, ’One day... maybe he will be mine.’

Now, that very same man was singing for her again... this time to propose.

As Silas’s song reached its final note, the hall erupted into applause, but Ivy barely heard it over her thundering heartbeat.

Silas set the guitar aside, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a velvet box.

Only then did Ivy notice he had changed clothes.

At some point during the transition between the "restaurant" and now, he had slipped away and put on a black three-piece tuxedo. His hair was neatly styled, and confidence radiated from his every step.

Ivy clasped her hands tightly, breath trembling.

Silas approached, kneeled down before her, and opened the velvet box. His voice echoed through the hall.

"From the moment you saved me till the very end of my life, I want to love only one girl... and that is you, Ivy. Please give me the honor of becoming my wife again."

Ivy didn’t even hesitate. She nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at grain, and the instant Silas saw that nod, pure joy lit up his eyes. He took the ring and gently slid it onto her finger.

Ivy gasped when she saw the diamond.

A pink diamond, light pink, delicate, and breathtaking. A shade that perfectly matched her hair and eyes.

Such diamonds were rare even before the apocalypse, and matching her exact eye and hair color was nearly impossible.