Kim unlocked the door to her apartment and flicked on the lights as she got in. It had been a shitty day at work and would probably carry over to tonight. She hated Valentine's Day now since her ex-fiancé had dumped her for her ex-best friend last year, just two days before.
"Fucking asshole," she muttered to no one in particular as she put a microwave dinner into the nuke. Kim thought about her life over the past year, while she hadn't gone into a tailspin, she was definitely in a holding pattern. Her mom and girlfriends had all tried setting her up on dates but the guys were so substandard it was laughable.
The microwave beeped and she grabbed a cooler from the fridge and took it and her mystery meat dinner to the couch. She turned on the tv and started channel surfing, eventually stopping at an old 1930's swashbuckler starring Rudolph Valentino and Mary Pickford. She sat and watched the movie, letting her dinner get cold and her drink get warm. Her last waking thought was 'That Valentino sure knew how to treat a woman!'
---
Someone was knocking at the door.
'No, go away' she thought as she slowly came out of a delicious dream.
The knocking continued. Kim moaned as she came fully awake.
'This had better be good' she thought as she went and opened the door. "Yes, can I help...you?"
In the doorway stood a man dressed all in black. Black shirt, pants, boots, gloves and bandana mask. He had a fancy rapier at his waist and a cape as well as a pencil moustache.
"Kim Gallant? I am here at the behest of your fianće."
He got down on one knee and held a small box up to Kim. "Kim Gallant, will you marry me?"
She stood in shock for a moment, then tears started to slowly course down her cheeks as she turned away.
"Miss? Are you okay?" the man in black said as he quickly stood up. "Did I get it wrong? Sorry but I'm really new to this celebrity proposal business."
"No sorry it's not you, there must have been a mistake. My fianće left me a year ago."
Kim could see the man in black's face blanch. "Oh shit, your order must have been the one they lost last year. I heard the guy was totally freaked because the ring was really expensive."
"If it's who I think it is, the ring is priceless. It was my grandmother's ring." Kim said with disgust. "May I see the ring please?"
He handed the ring box to Kim. She took the ring out with shaking hands and checked the inside of the band. "There! See? Those are my grandparents' initials."
Zorro or whoever he was supposed to be took off his bandana and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen you were my last call for the night. I don't normally do this, probably because I'm proposing for people, but would you like to grab a bite to eat and explain this to me?"
Kim looked a bit surprised, "Shouldn't you be going home to your girlfriend?"
"Can't say I have one currently." he said as he surreptitiously checked Kim out. He figured she was 5'8", slim without being too skinny, curves in all the right places. She had short brown hair and sparkly blue eyes.
Kim looked Zorro up and down, brazen in her evaluation of him. She liked what she saw, he was definitely buff, and she liked his shy smile. And he genuinely seemed to be a stand up guy. "Well Zorro, I don't normally go out with guys if I don't at least get their name."
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm Rudy Valentine," he said as he held out his hand.
Kim tried to suppress a snicker, then a small laugh escaped. Finally she couldn't hold it back. She began to laugh so hard tears were running down her cheeks again.
Rudy smiled, "Okay, okay. Let it out, it's so funny that a guy named Rudy Valentine works as a cheesy Rudolph Valentino wanna be for a proposal service. I'll have you know I'm our most popular proposal character."
Hiding a smile behind her hand Kim replied, "I'm sure you are. You have a certain presence about you. Is your moustache real or a fake?"
Rudy smiled, "Does it look fake Kim?"
She leaned forward and lightly ran her finger tips along it. "Wow you really take your work seriously. I can't believe it's real."
"Well I kinda grew it on a dare and it looked so good I decided to keep it." Rudy said as he blushed.
