They were late, we were afraid something had happened to them. We called them at home but there was no answer. The same thing happened when we called on the mobiles. They finally got to the apartment one hour later.

"What happened?"

"Sorry we're late but there's been an accident on the highway and the road was blocked. We didn't took the mobiles with us so we couldn't call you."

"It's OK. We're glad you're alright."

"Let's go."

They initially wanted to go to Barcelona, but we finally decided to go to Cadaques, another small city on the Spanish seaside. We went on a road along the coast. We avoided the highway. We also had a beautiful view, which couldn't have been possible to be seen on the highway. We got to Cadaques in about two hours and a half. The sea was clear, the wind wasn't blowing and it was hot. We went to a restaurant to have a cold drink and lunch. Shane and myself were completely amazed by the way the waiter memorized everything we had ordered and he didn't write anything on. We had our drinks brought right away. We were so thirsty that we drank them without even breathing. We ordered another round and they were brought together with the food. I had a juicy steak with french-fries and lots of ketchup. As desert I had a huge chocolate ice-cream. After we finished eating we went to the beach and Shane jumped into the water right away. I sat on one of the towels brought by Monique and I kept on watching him like I always did. I loved doing that. After ten minutes he got back on the towel next to me.

"I love Spain!"

"You've only seen a small part of Cadaques and you think you love Spain?"

"Yes, isn't it all like this?"

"I don't know. I've only seen what you've seen of it."

"You've seen many countries, but you've never seen Spain?"

"Nope, I've never been to Spain. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"What countries have you seen so far?"

"Hungary, Austria, a very small part of Germany, we were only passing through it, the Check Republic, the Slovak Republic, Italy, France, some of Yugoslavia and I've been to Russia once."

"Wow, you've travelled a lot, haven't you?"

"No, it might seem like I have, but I've only seen small parts of these countries."

"This is my first time out of Ireland or the UK, you know?"

"Really?"

"Yes, but I want to travel a lot, I have a whole life in front of me."

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and then we headed back to France. We had to leave back to Paris the next day and we had to pack our bags. We had a train at 10:30 the next day and Monique promised to come to take us to the station the next morning. We said good-bye to them and went upstairs. We packed our bags and then took a last walk on the beach. After that we went to sleep. We had to get up early in the morning.

Monique and Jean-Louis came at 9:30. We were dressed and we were having breakfast. We invited them to have breakfast with us, but they told us they had already eaten. We finished and left for the station. We bought tickets and waited for the train.

"Thank you so much for having us here!"

"No problem, it was our pleasure. We're sorry you cannot stay longer. We would have showed Shane other great places."

"I'm sorry, but maybe we'll come some other time and we'll get the chance of doing that."

"You're always welcome. And you, you take care of this girl or you'll have to deal with me, you hear me" she said to Shane giving him a hug.

I translated it to Shane and he promised to do so. After another round of hugs and kisses we got into the train and took our seats. The trip back to Paris was long, but we slept most of the time. At 14:15 we were back in the North Station. We took the tube and then the bus and got back to the hotel. Nobody from our group was there when we arrived. I called Celine and told her we were back and she said they were coming to the hotel. They arrived in an hour.

"Hey! Welcome back!"

"Hello guys! How are you?"

"We're OK! How are you? You look so great with this tans and these huge smiles on your faces!"

"We had a great time, that's the truth. We've seen a lot of places, we even went to Spain."

"Really?"

"Yes, I wanna move there! It's all so sunny and bright, not like back home raining all day long."

"Ah Shane, I wouldn't picture you living somewhere else but in Ireland mate."

"No Kian, you must go there and then talk. I loved it."

"Yeah, if you say so mate!"

Meanwhile the rest of the choir got back. They were pleased to see me back, especially Tibi and the twins. Finally Mark came all by himself. Amy had gone home. We decided to spend another crazy night in Paris just like our first one together. We went back to the city of lights and romance. We took Amy with us after a long talk with her parents. We went for another ride with the bateau-mouche. Shane and I had a great laugh remembering our first kiss. It seemed like it had been ages ago. Another lady with roses came and Shane bought seven yellow roses for me. I was really impressed by that. It actually touched me a lot, it brought tears to my eyes.

"Hush now, don't you cry! I bought them to you to make you happy not to cry…"

"I am happy…"

"And then…?"

"We have only two more nights together, do you realize that?"

"Let's not think about that, 'K?"

"What will I do without you?"

He didn't say a thing, he just took me into his arms and held me close to him. He slowly caressed my hair and then my face and then my cheeks and then my mouth, which he tenderly kissed. We kissed for a long time, tears were falling from my eyes. We stayed there not moving just holding each other. Afterwards we continued to walk on the streets together with the rest of the gang. We ended up again at the Eiffel Tower just like the last time and we sat on the benches and we waited for the sun to rise. We didn't fall asleep and we promised not to sleep until they had left Paris, which meant litres of coffee for all of us…

We had breakfast at McDonalds and ordered coffee for everyone. I remembered it was Val and Oli's birthday and I promised myself not to forget that. After we ate we went through the shops so the guys could spent their last money.

"I need to buy you something, a souvenir, something that you'll know it came from me."

"There's no need for that, you know I won't forget you."

"Yes, but I wanna be sure" he said smiling.

We went from shop to shop, but he wasn't satisfied by anything he saw. We finally ended up in an antique store. We were looking at the beautiful things when I heard Shane:

"I found something! Come here Lee!"

I walked towards him. He was holding his hand on his back.

"Close your eyes…" he said and he took my right arm slowly.

It still hurt me a little from time to time, but it was better than before. I felt him placing a ring on my ring finger and I opened my eyes. It was a beautiful and old silver ring. It was wonderful, almost like a wedding ring.

"I knew what I wanted from the beginning. I know you don't like gold and so I looked for a silver ring that could be considered as engagement ring. This one is perfect. Don't you think?"

I wasn't able to say anything. I was shocked. He was actually talking about engagement. I knew he loved me and God knows I loved him back, but weren't we speeding things up? I said slowly:

"Engagement ring…?"

"Yes, in this way I'll know that you'll be mine forever. I love you Lee. So would you do me the honour of being my fiancée?"

"Shane… since we've known each other we've never been serious. The problem is that I showed up in your life so suddenly and we haven't had the time of getting to know each other. Everything took place too dramatically. It wasn't something usual."

"You don't even mean that! You're saying that to make our separation easier, right?! Lee, you're unique and sweet and kind and I'm gonna miss you so much. I know you'll miss me too. I know we have something special, we're really meant to be and whatever you wanna say, just say it, but it won't make this beautiful thing we have to disappear!" he said holding my shoulders and then pulling me right into his arms.

I wasn't able to fight this back. I didn't want to fight back. I needed him so much, I just couldn't let him go.

"OK…" I said slowly.

"OK what?"

"I accept to be your fiancée…"

"You mean that?"

"Yes! I love you very much and it's also an honour for me to accept it."

"Woohoo! Yoopee! I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!"

"I think I got the picture!"

"We all did" said Celine. "You love her!!!"

We all burst into laugh. Shane went and paid for the ring and then we left the shop. We stopped in other shops so the other could buy something for their girls. They didn't get engaged although, but they were in love with each other too. I was happy when I found a very nice silver ring for Shane. I have to admit that it wasn't as beautiful as mine, but it looked nice. I bought it and offered it to my new 'fiancé'. We were kind of officially engaged right now. It was a lovely feeling. When they finished almost all the money we left the shops area and headed for Notre Dame. We went inside it. It was full of people but it was quiet. We went in front of the shrine and we made vows to each other. It was unbelievable! We swore to love each other forever, no matter what. Celine and Amy were crying like two silly girls.

"That's beautiful!" said Celine through the tears.

"Indeed…" was the only thing Amy was able to say.