Off Script

A collision of waves & constellations(MBJ POV)

"How is she three months already? This is wild." I said as I held Mila over my head and watched her kick her legs.

"I'm telling you right now she's going to drool on you Michael" Mina said shaking her head and laughing.

"Nah she good...I just wiped her...Oh shit"

Sure, enough Mila drooled all over my eye.

Mina took Mila from my hands and started laughing.

"Why don't daddies ever listen to the mommies?" Mina said, laying Mila on the bed.

"Very funny, I can't even say anything you warned me" I said laughing still wiping my eye.

"I'll have to warn my mom when she comes and watches her tonight"

I walked up behind Mina and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Mhm about that, are you still not telling me what we are doing tonight?"

She turned around and threw her arms around my neck and slightly tugged at my ear.

"Can't a man take his girl on a simple date?"

She drops her hands to her sides and playfully pushes me.

"Okay Mr. Secretive, how do I dress then?" she plops onto the bed next to Mila who was kicking her legs like she had somewhere to be.

"Dress your best Mama" I said, winking and walking out the room.

I walked out the room and hurried to the backyard and called Tasha.

"Mikeeee" she answered laughing

"Tash everything ready to go?" I said with a huge grin.

"Now you know I'm not dropping the ball on this; everything is perfect and ready to go for your proposal. How does it feel Mike, you going to be a whole husband!" Tasha said screaming into the phone.

"Feels like I'm ready Tasha, feels like I'm fucking ready"

"That's what I like to hear, where is she?"

"Getting ready...shit let me go do the same" I said taking a deep breath.

"Mike, you got this, you planned it beautifully, I'm proud of you boss"

"Thanks Tasha, thanks for going through this journey with us too"

"Always...Goodluck!"

I laugh into the phone. "Thanks T talk to you later"

****

"Damn girl I didn't say to take my breath away tonight" I said as I grabbed her hand as she stepped out of the car.

"Boy hush" she said playfully

"I'm serious, got that black dress falling off your shoulders just right, let me get the full view Baby" I grabbed her hand and twirled her around.

She laughed and pulled me in for a kiss. "You play too much Mike"

"Mhm Come on before dinner get cold" 

"I see where we are Michael, you trying to re-create our first date or something?" she said, scanning the parking lot.

"Maybe, I'm just trying to be a little sentimental after all we've been through that's all."

She squeezed my hand and stroked my arm. "I see you Bakari"

"Not you hitting me with the middle name girl" 

I could feel the velvet box burning a hole in my pocket. My heart feeling like it was going to burst out of my chest as we walk through the doors.

As we stepped inside, the lights dimmed automatically.
The ceiling came alive — constellations forming and flickering in a quiet rhythm. I heard her inhale softly.

Then, the first line played — my recorded voice echoing through the dome.

"The thing about love is—it moves like light. Constant, even when it travels through darkness."

I watched her look up, hand instinctively pressing to her chest. She turned toward me, but I wasn't looking at the stars. I was looking at her.

The constellations shifted, aligning into our initials: M + M.
Then they moved again — slowly spelling out Forever.

I reached for her hand. "You know how every star we see is a light that's been traveling thousands of years? Sometimes love works the same way. It reaches us when we're finally ready for it."

We walked to the center of the dome. She looked around, eyes glistening.

"When I met you, Mina," I said quietly, "I didn't know what ready even looked like. I just knew peace when I saw it. You and J.C. — you changed what home meant. And when Mila came... you made my world complete."

The stars faded.
The room filled with the soft sound of waves — the same beach where I told her I loved her for the first time.

Projected across the dome now were our memories:

Our first date, sitting under the stars, laughing like we had the whole world to ourselves.

The beach, where I told her I loved her for the first time

The hospital, when I first held Mila against my skin.

J.C., standing on a chair flipping pancakes while we laughed through the chaos.

Every moment of us — the quiet, the messy, the real.

I could hear her sniffle softly, wiping at her eyes. "Michael..."

That was my cue.

I dropped to one knee.

"We started as a collision — literally. And it turned into gravity. You pulled me in, and I've been orbiting you ever since."

Her breath hitched, tears falling freely now.

"I've loved you through every storm, every headline, every doubt. You're my home, Mina Carter. You, J.C., and Mila — that's my universe. And I'll keep loving you in every lifetime."

I opened the box. The ring glimmered under the dome's soft light — small diamonds forming a constellation that matched the one from our first night here.

"Mina Carter... will you marry me?"

She stared at me for what felt like forever, tears shining, hand trembling.

"Yes," she whispered, voice breaking. "Yes, Michael."

I stood, pulling her in close as the stars above us rearranged again — forming M + M = Forever in slow, glowing motion.

She laughed softly against my chest, whispering, "Even the stars said yes."

I kissed her forehead, my voice rough. "You were the light the whole time, Mina. I just had to catch up."

We stood there under our sky, holding on like the world outside didn't exist—no noise, no cameras, no storms. Just us. Written in the stars, exactly how it was always supposed to be.