She felt a faint tickle inside her stomach, just like that time when she opened the acceptance letter of her university. But this time it was slightly different. It felt weird entering her old High School. She hasn't been her for almost 8 years and many things had changed. They had new benches, the gym was re-built and even the gardening club was moved to the other side of the building. The only thing that hadn't changed was the entrance door, it was the same big, heavy door from back then.

Like today, it was summer when Candy first entered this door. She has never been so nervous before, but she knew going to this school was the first step into her new life. And her parents were right, everything went better than expected. She made many new friends, went through exciting adventures, felt pain, love, happiness, heartbreaks, friendship. It was a good time. But like everything in life, this time had to come to an end, too. That was when Candy graduated 8 years ago. A lot has changed since then.

But today should be one of those days were she could talk about the past. It was the High School reunion she had been looking forward to for a long time already, ever since the invitation email arrived. Of course it was Rosa's idea to meet at the school. Candy could have imagined a better place, though, but it was nice visiting this old building again.

Not many people were here. It was a Sunday and the school was only open for this reunion. She still had some time before the others would arrive, so she could as well take a look at the classrooms. While strolling through the hallways, she remembered all those times she was looking for one of her classmates. Really, it was as if she was 16 again. Seeing the lockers, smelling the linoleum floor, everything was like before. Candy's heart was beating faster when she arrived at the library, a place she spent almost all her breaks at. Oh, how she had loved looking through all those books. And all those times she spent studying for exams. Armin always told her to get out of there, because he didn't like the library. It was a place where he had to be silent, he couldn't play his video games. But she liked it here, this room had a special atmosphere.

Candy stopped and looked around. Not much had changed here, the geography aisle was still right at the entrance while the romance novels were found at the end of the floor. That was when she remembered one special book. It was Dracula. She had read this one a thousand times already, but she couldn't ever get enough of this fantasy classic. It must be somewhere here… Ah, right, there it is. Candy grabbed the old book that was sitting in the middle of the fantasy aisle, right where she had last seen it years ago. It was the book she wanted to borrow when Nathaniel had surprised her.

That day, she had been trying to talk to him. She was nervous. She was scared. She was desperately in love with him. But she didn't know how to tell him. When he suddenly stood next to her in this library, talking about Dracula, she knew it was the right time. Before being able to confess to him or clear things, he kissed her. It wasn't her first kiss, but it felt like it was. Her heart stopped and her knees began to tremble. Only thinking about it made Candy smile and the butterflies in her stomach fly again. This is where it all started. She opened the book in her hands and absentmindedly flipped through a few pages, when suddenly something fell out of it. It was a small piece of paper, carefully wrapped around something. Confused, Candy reached to the ground to pick the paper up. She opened it and looked at a key. While searching for an answer she found something written on the paper, like a hidden message. 'The answer to every question is the question' it said. Even more confused now, it seemed to Candy that someone hid this paper knowing she would find it. For a minute or two, she was just staring at the key and the message. Where did the key belong? The only way to find out would be, trying to open something with it.

The key didn't fit into any of the keyholes in the library. That was why Candy went back to the hallway. She was about to give up when she catched sight of the lockers. Maybe this was where she had to put the key. She slowly reached the locker and didn't have to think long to choose the one she was using back in her school days. After hesitating for a few seconds, she gulped and put the key into the locker. It fit. The door opened with a screech, and inside Candy found a small box. It was white, and it looked like something was inside of it. This even confused her more. Who was playing this game with her? And why? She looked around, but no one was there. She was alone. Candy sighed, grabbed the box and tried to open it, but something inside of her made her stop. Before opening it, she went back to the library, where she was sure to be alone. The meeting point for the reunion was the classroom, therefore everyone would gather there.

When she arrived at the library, she went to the windows and placed the box at the windowsill. Some minutes passed in which she just looked at it. Finally, she grabbed it and opened it. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside. It was a ring, a simple one, with a small diamond on top of it. Not only that, but a cubic zirconia, her favourite kind of gemstone. Candy's breathing stopped when she understood what that was supposed to mean. She turned around to see Nathaniel who was already waiting for her at the library door. Candy was so surprised that she nearly dropped the box. She wanted to say something, but her mouth was too dry and her heart was beating too fast. It felt like she couldn't even breathe. Seeing her in a state like that, Nathaniel had to laugh. He stepped towards her and held his hand to her. Candy trembled, but she grabbed his hand and shook her head. 'You were supposed to return next week!' was the only thing she could say. Smiling, the blonde boy nodded. 'I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone to show up today. And seeing you, I guess I can say I was right.'

He was indeed right. Nathaniel was supposed to be away for one more week before returning after studying abroad for one whole year. He and Candy had talked about this for a long time and they finally came to the conclusion that it would be best for him to accept the invitation of studying in another country. They talked via phone every day, Nathaniel would come visit her every now and then and Candy even surprised him for his birthday a few months ago. But for the last three months, they hadn't seen each other. Nathaniel said he had to save some money for his flight back and focus on his studies. Candy was okay with this because she knew how much this meant to him. So, seeing him now was really leaving her speechless. She was so happy that she forgot to be angry about the fact that he didn't tell her he was coming back for the reunion. And, of course, there was the ring.

She wanted to hug her boyfriend, but Candy stopped midway. She looked at the tiny box in her hand, then into Nathaniel's eyes. 'What..' she began, 'What is the meaning of this?' she asked him. The tall boy only smiled, before taking the box out of her hand. He let go of her other hand and took the ring that was still inside the box. Then, he took her hand again and carefully put the ring on her finger. 'Don't you know?' he asked. 'It means that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'

Candy was fighting back tears. This all felt like in a 90s romance movie, and she would have never expected Nathaniel to act like this. But she was happy. It was more than she ever wanted. So she nodded, gulped and finally smiled. 'Nathaniel, I.. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?'

It wasn't the reaction he wanted expected, so he laughed. 'Well, I guess I have to be more direct. Candy, do you want to marry me?' While waiting for her answer, he placed his hand on her cheek. 'You know, I have been waiting to ask you for such a long time now, and I seriously ca-' but he couldn't end his sentence because Candy interrupted him. 'Of course! Of course I want to marry you!' Candy herself was surprised at this outburst, but it was how she truly felt. Never has she been happier about something. Her tears now rolled down her cheeks, she just let them go. She smiled and waited for Nathaniel to say something, but he reacted in another way. He just hugged her, so tight that she thought he would never let her go again. 'Finally' he whispered. Candy hugged him back, sobbing tears of joy. 'I missed you so much, Nathaniel..' was all she could say. He nodded in reply, and added 'I love you Candy .' , before looking into her eyes. They both smiled and shared a deep kiss.