The Twenty Ninth Diary
On 21 November 2015, I woke up from a sweet dream, except that the dream was real. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw, was my toes peaking ever so slightly from the hundreds of silky thread counts blanket to say “hello”.
Hello, toes (:
I turned to my side and the second thing I saw was a hot beau sleeping soundly; a sight that warmed my face with a smile. I lifted my sleepy view and looked around our spanking suite at the Majestic Hotel. The entire setting was too surreal – yesterday we were boy / girl friends, the next day we became each other’s fiancés! It’s funny how such a mini upgrade can make such a huge difference to one’s happiness.
11 a.m.
We got dressed with “The Book of Life” playing at the background. From time-to-time, É gently nudged me to hurry up for the noon surprise with “Sayang, we have to be there at 12.30.”
At 12.30 sharp we arrived at a restaurant named Neroteca, where a waitress led us to a table for 6. Again, I secretly thought, “My friends are here to surprise me (but this Malaysian time isn’t working).” So we sat down and waited; É opposite me looking all smiley. I smiled back to imply “I love you too”.
12.40 p.m.
I don’t know what made me turned my head, but I did and in barged a surprise that made me CRY: my favorite people on earth with huge gifts in their arms. (There was one so huge they had to leave it in the car!)
For the first time in a very long time, É made me realise the important people in my life whom I love the most, yet had terribly forgotten about. Every year, for each birthday celebration, somehow I had always planned it with friends. Even if it was planned for me, the guest list always included (only) my best friends.
To have a man who is capable of loving me is one thing. To have a man who also loves my family, actually enjoys being one of us and brings them closer to me (!) is simply . . . a treasure.
É and I had been planning to invite my parents over to our place for a Portuguese Seafood Rice lunch for the longest time, but unfortunately our busy schedule always disapproved. For my birthday, É found a Portugese chef to cook this especially for us, as Neroteca is an Italian restaurant. I suppose, this is a first. A very exclusive first.
{Portuguese egg tarts as desserts}
É did a great job to confuse me; deterring my mind from putting together the clues to decode his surprise plan.
After the proposal, he suggested that we arrange a time to meet my parents the following week so that he can formally ask them for my hand in marriage. When I did so the very next day, dad played along by replying “Let’s see. I’ll let you know again”, which made me kinda upset.
Who knew they are all good actors!
{Good actors}
4.30 p.m.
We had to be “somewhere” at 4.30 p.m. so É drove us to the secret location. By this time, I had given up on guessing if my friends were going to turn up at all. Right at the foot of a hill, I was blindfolded throughout a short swirling drive and upon arrival, walked like a lost bat wearing some real horrorshow skinny heels.
Suddenly it happened. É pulled off my blindfold scarf (it was a movement so swift I swear my falsies almost flew off) and I saw HAPPINESS:
My fiancé booked an entire hillside bungalow of 4 floors accommodating 16 beds for my best friends!!!
{What can I say . . . <3}
{P A R T Y}
{Yus, I, Ain}
{É bonding with his brother-in-law at the balcony q:}
{Yus + Matthias soakin’ it up in the swimming pool}
{More Portugese snacks to accompany our (early) drinking session}
{Kin Wai, DJ and birthday cake provider of the day}
{‘Em hotties in hues of red and pink}
{Girl POWER}
8 p.m.
{A Portuguese feast for dinner}
{My beloved brother was there too!}
{My special surprise guest of the night was none other than my best high school mate, Dr. Gan, who drove 3 hours all the way from Tangkak when it was raining so bad and even risked encountering a landslide; leaving me absolutely speechless}
{My wish this year is simple: to live happily ever after and to have a soaring career; both journeys soaring smoothly}
{I’ve got the whole world in my hands}
The next day . . .
I feel so lucky to be a girl who is so loved. I may not have many friends I call friends, but this quality bunch is priceless.
Thank you, É, for stringing everything together, for being a dream come true, and most importantly, for enabling me to say “I am in love with a man who loves me too”.
