Outside of sex, what's the greatest feeling ever?

I am a 21-year-old girl from India. Going anonymous because I don’t want any of my family members or friends to read this answer. It will be revealed to all of them but at the right time.

My aunt (dad's sister) passed away when I was just about one year old. She had two kids by then, an elder daughter and the younger one was a son. Let's call him S.

His dad married again and had a son.

PS: In south India, a girl can get married to her father's sister's son; or her mother's brother's son. It's very common.

Okay coming back to the point, many times I have heard my parents, grandparents, uncle speak about how my aunt wanted me to get married to my cousin.

Let me tell you, we were very good friends, and I treated him just the way I would treat any of my other cousins. Since childhood, we have met every time we had holidays, festivals, etc. The summer holidays were much awaited for all of us. I don't think anybody would have enjoyed the summer holidays the way we did. I terribly miss those days.

In my native place, there's kind of a village festival which happens every year in summer, and there are three families who take in charge of the festival each year, turn by turn. It was our turn last year and everybody had gathered.

The girls of the family have to dress up really well and make offerings to the village goddess by which she gets pleased and that evening it rains. Rains definitely happen even during the scorching heat, on that particular day only. The next day is back to the normal scorching sunny day.

So I had worn a sari that day, fully decked up with jewels. I had to take the offering to the goddess at around 3 am. Most of my cousins were asleep, except S, and the elders of the family were busy with some other arrangements for the day. So he was asked to accompany me. I saw a bright spark in his eyes then as if he was just waiting for someone to utter it out. We went there, and the priest was already waiting for me. The whole thing took about an hour and a half. And we were returning home and saw a beautiful sunrise... So decided to stop there for a while and enjoy the view. We sat on a rock and started having random conversations.

All of a sudden he told me that he really loves me. All this might sound filmy and dramatic but trust me. It's a real incident.

He looked into my eyes and said "you have no idea how much I miss you when you're not around. I just love your character, the way you treat people, respect elders, and I'm sure you will be a perfect wife for any man."

I said, "I have just started taking life seriously now and this...." I was kind of not able to take whatever he just told me. But I could find truth in whatever he was saying.

He said, "You can stay the way you want, do whatever you feel like doing, enjoy your life, but I just want your company."

He broke the silence and continued "I really miss my mother and I know she will never come back no matter what. But I feel that vibe of my mother when you're around. I am not proposing to you just because my mother wanted us to get married. I genuinely like you. Will you take my mother's place in my house and heart?"

He said this and broke down. I was so touched by his words, I didn't utter a word. I just went close, hugged him tightly, and asked him to please stop crying. I don't know what happened to me at that moment, I just couldn't see him crying. He could control himself after a while and looked into my eyes, held my face in his hands, and said " I love you. I will take care of you with all that I have. All I need is your company and support."

My eyes were filled with tears and I just rested my head on his shoulders for a while. I realized I enjoyed his company.

By then we started getting calls from home. So we decided to leave. All the way we were smiling, occasionally looking at each other's faces. He said “you’re looking like an angel in this sari. You very much resemble my mother.” I started blushing and recalled many of my relatives telling me that I resembled my aunt.

I know she’s definitely looking upon us from heaven and I really wish she’s happy. I just want to tell her that I will try my best to take her place in their house, which is next to impossible, but still. I promise to take good care of her son. As much as I can. I will always be there for him.

I get along really well with his sister as well… She’s the only one who knows about our relationship as of now. So we both keep teasing and making fun of S... Hahaa… But deep down I really love him with all that I have.

That was the best day of my life and am very much sure about him. Since he is from my family, it won't take much effort in convincing our parents also.

He is seriously the best person I have in my life. He never pressurizes me about anything. He is a little possessive and jealous (which is healthy, and not to an extent where he doubts me) and it feels good. He is there whenever I need some support. He is my *to go person* for anything and he's always there.

Thinking about him and smiling; spending time with him is the best feeling ever.

Thank you for reading my really long story and please ignore grammatical errors.

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