The teacher got her fairy-tale ending!
Michelle Young is engaged! On Tuesday's season finale of The Bachelorette, the teacher got her fairy-tale ending when Nayte Olukoya popped the question.
The finale saw Nayte and Brandon Jones vying for Michelle's heart, before she had to break things off with one of them. Before making her final choice, Michelle first had to bring Nayte to meet her parents, Ephraim and LaVonne.
Though Nayte and Michelle exchanged I love yous during their Fantasy Suite date, her parents weren't so sure about the Austin-based sales executive.
Ephraim worried that Nayte might be an emotionally closed-off person, while LaVonne wasn't so sure that he was ready to get down on one knee.
"With Nayte, there was a different vibe than what we saw with Brandon," Ephraim shared, explaining that Brandon -- whom Michelle later broke up with -- was more personable when he met the family.
"What I feel is that my mind and my heart are pointed toward Michelle," Nayte said, when asked if he felt Michelle is "the one." LaVonne directly told Nayte that she doesn't feel like he's actually ready to be engaged, and that he still seems very reserved.
"Nayte was very kind, he said all the right things, but I really wasn't getting that feeling that he was ready to propose to her," LaVonne shared in an interview. "I think one of things she likes about him is that he's a little more surprising, a little less predictable. And to be honest, I am worried about that."
Still, though, Michelle needed one final date to really make sure how she felt about each of the men she'd developed feelings for. After a sweet date with Brandon (whom her parents' seemed to absolutely adore), she had a uniquely mystical experience with Nayte, where he finally opened up.
"Any fears or doubts I entered the night with have been resolved," Michelle said in a confessional after Nayte finally got real about his feelings for her and his fear of losing her. "Nayte is ready for this."
And that was enough for Michelle to make her choice.
After an emotional goodbye with Brandon, Michelle was ready for her happy ending with Nayte. He didn't disappoint, and proposed in a romantic fashion.
"The very first night I met you, I knew we had a connection that I wanted to hold on to. The second night we were together, we talked about running away together," Nayte said, as they stood together on a beach. "I'm standing in front of you right now and feeling the same. I want to run away with you. I want to run away into forever with the woman I've come to love."
"I know that you've felt unseen at times. And I want to let you know I'm completely prepared, willing and ready to make sure that you are always chosen first, seen, now, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives. I love you Michelle," he added.
"Nayte, the moment you stepped out of the limo, I felt that there was a connection. It was this kinetic moment that I was feeling things I didn't even know it was possible to feel," Michelle responded. "I love you with my entire heart. I don't ever want to think about waking up next to anyone besides you, and doing life with anyone beside you."
"At the end [of the show], I wanted to be standing in front of my soulmate, and he is definitely standing right in front of me," she added, before Nayte got down on one knee and popped the question.
Michelle readily accepted, before offering her now-fiancé her final rose.
Michelle's journey for love has come to an end. The Bachelor franchise will return on Jan. 3 with the premiere of Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor. ET will keep you up to date all season long, with all of our Bachelor coverage.
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