…not exactly
by pia
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Well, I didn't EXACTLY say yes.
Towards the end of 2005, we decided to take a much-needed break together. Since most destinations were already booked, we chose to visit Nurture Spa in Tagaytay instead. Our last visit there was in 2002 and we really enjoyed it.
While we were having our foot spa treatments, Mike told me about a dream he had two nights ago. In it, he was standing atop a tall building similar to the shots in the movie King Kong (go figure). There was filming going on, and amidst the klieg lights and cameras rolling, he saw me confidently walking back and forth across a plank jutting out of the building. As opposed to him, who was absolutely terrified and had to crawl on all fours just to get across.Upon hearing this, I jokingly said, “Maybe that dream means you're scared of walking down the aisle. Maybe deep down you're really not the marrying type.” At this, he just gave me a cryptic smile. I thought nothing of it and didn't have a clue as to what would transpire that night.
Incidentally, I too had a bad dream the night before. I told him that in it, we were in line as if to watch a movie. He was close to the front of the line, but I could clearly see that he was with another girl. That girl was flirting with him and to my surprise, Mike was flirting back! Someone nudged me and asked “Did you see that?” I nodded and decided to approach him and the girl. I said to them, “Hi! What's this?” Mike quickly grabbed my hand and led me away to have a talk. He ended up breaking up with me.
I woke up panting… did that really happen? I realized that it wasn't real when I remembered that this was the day we were going up to Tagaytay.
Fast forward to after dinner in Nurture Spa…
He didn't want to drive back to Manila straight from dinner so he asked me to join him hang out in one of the lanais dotting
the property. I personally wanted to get indoors immediately. The sticky feeling from the massage oil still lingered, making me feel uncomfortable. I didn't want to expose ourselves in the windy Tagaytay weather nor catch a cold in late December. I was really, really ready to go home then. But he insisted, so we settled in one of the huts named Harmony. We sat in two separate antique chairs, the kind our grandmothers used as rocking chairs except that these had four sturdy legs standing on the stone floor.“Do you realize that five out of the seven anniversaries we've had were celebrated here in Tagaytay?” He continued to reminisce on our various anniversary celebrations. I nodded absentmindedly, freezing in my flimsy jacket amidst the gale force winds. I didn't participate in the conversation quite in the way he wanted me to. Instead, I started blabbing about this girl we knew from UP who turned back on her blossoming career and instead became a volunteer in some far-flung province. Little did I know that he was already getting frustrated. There he was, trying to steer the conversation towards a would-be proposal and here I was, Ms. Chismosa herself talking nonsense again.
As the night went on, we continued to talk about the past seven years. Then he requested to move closer beside me and sort of massage each others hand. I agreed, so he walked over and sat in one of the small stools beside my chair. With his left hand in both of mine, he asked, “So, do you want to go through with our plans?”
Eyebrows raised, I asked, “What plans?”
“Isn’t it fitting that our anniversaries were celebrated here in Tagaytay... and that I propose to you here as well?” I was in shock, but I could see his right hand remove something from his pocket.
As he opened that lovely little red box, he said…
“No more bad dreams for us. Will you marry me?”
I was bobbing my head up and down, and with tears streaming down my face I hugged my fiancé for the very first time.
So you see… I didn't EXACTLY say yes. *wink*
