Warning: This article contains spoilers.
Ben Higgins is a bachelor no more.
The Indiana native got down on one knee during Monday night’s season finale, presenting fan favorite Lauren Bushnell with a sparkling Neil Lane diamond ring. And despite telling Jojo Fletcher that he was also in love with her, his passion for another ultimately prevailed.
“I came into this feeling unlovable, and then we go through this experience, a journey that’s full of goodbyes. But Lauren, I never want to say goodbye to you,” Ben tells his future bride. “Lauren, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
Though Ben can hardly contain himself the moment Lauren says yes, it’s hard to believe that he said farewell to Jojo just a few moments prior.
“I came into this not knowing if I was going to find love,” Ben tells Jojo as they hold hands on the altar. “I didn’t know if this would be real, but with you it was real. I didn’t know if I could find love and I found it with you. But I found it with someone else more.”
Jojo, naturally, is speechless.
“I don’t even know what to say right now. I’m so confused, blindsided. Where did it go wrong,” Jojo presses.
While Ben says nothing ever went wrong between them, his answer isn’t enough to give her clarity as she sits in the back of her limo, dumbfounded.
“I walked into today thinking that it would be the happiest day of my life. He said he would never blindside me, but I feel blindsided right now,” she shares, as the lump in her throat builds. “I wish I could be mad at him, but I can’t. I just want a love that I can count on.”
Now that he’s said his final goodbye, Ben makes one last phone call before greeting his future bride.
“Mr. Bushnell, I love your daughter a lot and I am ready to make your daughter the happiest woman in the world, forever,” he tells Lauren’s dad from the altar. “I would like to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
While Papa Bushnell gladly accepts, Lauren first needs to tell Ben how she feels before accepting his final rose.
“I cannot believe that I’m standing here right now with you,” Lauren gushes. “Coming into this thing, I never knew this kind of love existed. You’re the person I want to spend my whole life with. You’re my person.”
As the newlyweds-to-be embrace in paradise one final time, they’re greeted with the reality of the hearts broken along the way – namely, Jojo – during the “After the Final Rose” special back in Los Angeles.
Before the audience can see Ben with his future wife for the first time, he has to face his past head-on.
“I cared about you and I always will. I want what’s best for you, forever,” Ben tells Jojo, as they chit-chat civilly on the couch. “I will never regret having you as a part of my life.”
While Jojo still has questions for Ben, she has come to terms with his decision to choose Lauren over her.
“I remember the day when you sent me home, those days and those weeks that I tried to understand what went wrong,” Jojo explains. “Watching the season back and seeing your connection with Lauren so early on, it helped me understand.”
“I’m good friends with Lauren and I think she is an amazing person,” she adds. “I think everything happens for a reason and I’m really happy for you guys.”
Though Jojo’s happy ending is still unwritten, she’ll be getting a little help from ABC this spring as she follows in Kaitlyn Bristowe’s footsteps as the next “Bachelorette.”
But before that exciting chapter begins, Ben and Lauren have to decide whether they’re going to swap vows in a studio filled with strangers and “Bachelor” MC Chris Harrison.
No pressure or anything.
“We both owe it to our family and friends and each other to cap off this craziness with a big wedding,” Ben says, potentially teasing yet another televised “Bachelor” wedding.
But before the darling duo jets off into the sunset (or their new home in Denver), Ben pops the question to Lauren again, only with their families in the audience.
“When I did it the first time, I had to call your dad on the phone. And I’d like to bring them out,” Ben tells his fiancée. “You’ve listened when I’ve just needed to talk, but in front of your family, my family and friends, will you marry me once again?”
Spoiler alert: She says yes.