Sean and I stroll down the dimly lit streets of Norwich, hand in hand, smiling and talking about absolutely anything as he leads me to our first surprise destination of the day. We've been strolling around Norwich fairly casually, as Sean realised his reservations were in fact an hour later than he thought, so we had some free time to wander around the few shops that were still open. Occasionally, I would catch Sean snapping pictures of me as I messed around in various furniture shops and made him laugh. When I checked instagram, I saw that he posted one of the pictures he took of me, wearing the beautiful navy blue, knee-length dress that he surprised me with as he dressed into his navy blue blazer.
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The fact that we are colour co-ordinated tonight is incredibly satisfying to me, as well as absolutely adorable.
We stop walking suddenly, and Sean stands behind me, quickly tying a blindfold over my eyes, before taking my hand again. Considering I know Norwich pretty well at this point, especially this part, I have a good idea of where we're headed whether Im wearing a blindfold or not, but I decide not to question Sean and continue to go along with his surprise, as he clearly went to great lengths to make all of this happen. I can tell we enter some restaurant, because of the warmth that wraps around me as I step inside, and the smell of garlic and tomatoes hitting my nose only confirms my suspicions: we're in one of my all time favourite restaurants, Bella Italia. "Hi, I made a reservation under Mcloughlin." My boyfriend speaks clearly to whoever he is talking to. A man laughs, probably over the blindfold covering my eyes, and I hear his footsteps walking away from us, before Sean and I follow "Of course, right this way!" My eyebrows furrow as we continue to walk, I've been in Bella Italia enough times to know that we've passed all of the tables by now, so where the hell are we going!?! The cool night air slaps me in the face again, and Im even more lost. Then, we stop walking. "A waiter will arrive in a few minutes to take your orders. We hope you enjoy!" The man who led us here tells us, then he leaves. Sean lets go of my hand, and I find myself pouting instantly at the loss of contact, which only makes him laugh as he moves behind me to untie my blindfold. I blink rapidly as the blindfold falls from my face, and my eyes widen in shock and awe at my surroundings.
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In front of me, is an area of Bella Italia that I never knew existed: a garden, with a single table, a pair of chairs, surrounded by a wooden frame covered in ivy leaves, with small lamps hanging in various places in the scene. It's like something from a movie. I feel tears stinging my eyes "Sean..." I whisper. He wraps his arms around my waist from behind and rests his head on top of mine "Do you like it?" My wonderful boyfriend asks quietly, sounding slightly nervous. I sniffle "I love it. Thank you, so much." I turn around in his arms to bury my face in his chest, and he envelopes me tighter in his warm embrace, kissing the top of my head softly. "Anything for you, my beautiful girl." Sean says, his tone soft, his voice low. After sharing a sweet moment, we pull apart, and Sean leads me over to our table. He pulls my chair out for me, and then pushes it back in once Im sitting down, before he takes his seat opposite me. We lift our menus, and start exploring the meals available to us. Every so often, we make eye contact over the top of the menus, and Sean wiggles his eyebrows at me, or winks at me, making me smile and laugh uncontrollably.
