“Ah.. Hyung! Wait for me!” Bambam dragged his large shiny suitcase and made a run after Jackson, who had walked ahead without waiting, since he had only got a duffle bag packed for the stay.
It was the first day of the company trip at the beach resort, and everyone was arranged to meet at the main lobby where a huge welcome banner was hung.
Peeling off his sunglasses from his face, Jackson took off his bag and dumped it on the chair.
Hurriedly, Bambam panted his way over to his side. “Jackson hyung! Didn’t you hear me call you?”
“I did.” He replied, totally looking through Bambam and around the area.
“Hyung, what are you looking for? If its the bathroom-”
Jackson instantly put a finger on Bambam’s lips, silencing him. “Shush. You’re too noisy.”
Still looking around, Jackson was trying to find you or Mark among the few groups of people that had strolled in excitedly. Some with hats some with floats, and some in bright florescent bikinis under overly translucent coverups.
Bambam fell silent following Jackson’s sweeping gaze as he caught sight of his scantily clad colleagues and dropped his jaw. Jackson however, was unfazed by that, and decided to call you. He took a few steps away from the area to overlook the beach downstairs.

J: Hello? Hey Mandy are you here yet?
M: Oh hey Jackson, we’re almost there!
J: ah… okay i’ll wait for you here then.
M: Aren’t you with our other colleagues?
J: No I can’t find Mark and I don’t really know the other groups of people here.
M: Really? But Mark should be somewhere around… anyways I’m gonna be there real soon. So just hang around for abit and chill ya?Uncharacteristic of Jackson to be clingy, he would usually make himself comfortable in a crowd and ease his way into conversation. But not having you or Mark around made him a little insecure. He just wasn’t feeling it today.
At where you were, on the bus, Yugyeom was showing pictures of himself to JB and discussing dance moves. JB at this point was completely oblivious that he was a mile away from home and stranded with just his phone and maybe a small pocket of his belonging.
You get another text from Mark after some time.

Mark:
Baby, are you nearing?
There’s something I want to show you…
You:
Yup we can see the beach already… what is it?Your stomach did a flip when you read his term of endearment which he seldom used over texting. It was usually just “babe” or “Mandy” … or just hey followed by what he wanted to say. What could it be that he was being so impatient about?
With a ring, came his reply, and you jabbed at your phone button to view it quick.

Mark:
There will be someone waiting for you at the lobby. It’s a surprise. *winks*WHAT?! Your face lit up instantly, a thousands throngs of butterflies fluttering in your tummy. You loved surprises.
Practically wishing and hoping you’d get a pleasant surprise every morning when you woke up, you always loved it when Mark got into his random mood to get you all excited and eager.
You recall one time back when you were studying at a nearby cafe, and Mark, knowing how you really hated mugging but yet had to do it alone for he distracted you too much, had planned a total surprise you keep you motivated.
At the first page of the last chapter, he stuck a leaf and wrote on it. Telling you he’s got a surprise waiting for you but you’d only know how to find it if you diligently studied the last chapter enough to answer the question. There wasn’t even a clue after that as you flipped your book inside out. But your curiosity fueled the passion for the boring book right at the last chapter. When you were just about done, you got a text with 4 multiple choice answers to the question he set for you, tagged with it were different places you had to head to, in order to find the mysterious surprise he had in store.
Because of how thoroughly you went through the chapter, you answered it with ease and set off, confident that it was the right place. True enough, it was a park and there waited a sign, hung from a branch of the tree.
It read in clear Mark writings, “stand here” and so you walked to it and stood there.
For a good few moments nothing was happening and you wondered if it was a prank instead. Thankfully with some ruffles above you, some leaves started falling from overhead and down jumped Mark with a bag of all your favourite foods. It gave you a huge shock at first, unaware he could climb trees, but later on it entirely made your day as you spent your last mugging hours by the lake, having a little picnic with the then, 19year old Mark.
There was no telling how his skills might have enhanced now that you both had grown up.
As you hopped off the bus, you told JB to chill for abit with Yugyeom, since he had already gotten the day off pretty much, while you scooted off quickly to look for the lobby.
Spotting Jackson standing in the middle of nowhere, you called out to him, at his great delight.
“Jackson!” You said in a sing-song, and he spun around, face lit in a bright smile.
“Mandy!!! What took you Sooooooo long?” He pouted and fell into step with you as you headed to the front desk.
You absent-mindedly gave him an answer from the top of your head while looking around for any clues for your surprise. You felt like you were starting a treasure hunt.
“Hey hey!” Jackson caught your shoulder as you breezed passed him.
You stopped and momentarily came to your senses. “Whaaa???”
He frowned at you, disapproving. “You obviously aren’t paying attention to me.”
“I’m sorry, Jackson, what were you saying?” In an empathetic tone you gave him your attention with a smile.
He rolled his eyes and continued, “I saaaaaaaaid…” dragging out his words, “I saw someone holding a sign with your naaaaaammeeeeee.”
“WHERE WHERE??” You swung around rapidly flapping Jackson’s face with some strands of your hair in the process.
“Omg” he swatted it away while sticking out his tongue, his face bunched up, eyes shut, like as if he ate something wrong. Pointing in the distance towards the welcome banner, you sprinted off before he could recover.
“Thanks man! I owe you one!” You shouted as you ran off. He could only stand there wondering, hoping he would be able to spot someone else familiar to hang out with.
Excitedly, you walked in a half run to the hotel staff holding a card with your name. In the distance, as she saw you, she smiled and directed you towards a walkway leading to the outside of the resort.
Greeting you were the sound of waves lapping by the beach, birds enjoying their morning flight in the sky and the rustling of the trees against the cool breeze. Just then, the staff stopped, bowed, and retreated, leaving you to stand beside a large rock under a shade of a large tree and nothing else.
Instinctively you looked up into the leaves but saw that it wasn’t sturdy enough to house your boyfriend since the branches were pretty much thin and light. Right then, you noticed a card tied to a branch behind you. Plucking it off with a jump, you recognised Mark’s handwriting and it said:
“I’ve been waiting for you, and counting the days. How about you?”
Underneath he doodled a room door, with the door number replaced by a question mark, and a scribble that seemed like a clue.
“Waiting since the day we met.”
That was tough.
It had been YEARS since the day you first met back in school when he first came and to be honest, you never remembered those dates.
You sat on the rock, with the card in hand, looking around hoping there would be other clues somewhere. As you frowned trying to recall, your phone gave a short ring.

Mark:
=(You burst out laughing at his cute display. He had to be watching you from somewhere. Standing on the rock, you waved in all directions and sat down again to reply him.

You:
Darling you know very well how poor my memory is in contrast to yours… and I know you can see me…Mark stood at the edge of the balcony which was just a short distance away, observing you. He knew that you wouldn’t have gotten the answer at first try, Afterall it had been nearly 7years since you met, back when he was in teens. With a smile he decided to “deliver” his next clue.
Always unpredictable, you couldn’t tell what he might do next. Before you knew it, he flew a little box over your head with a mini modelled airplane, you remember seeing him fix a couple of weeks ago. Landing on your outstretched arm, you took it and opened the box. It was a ring box and the sight of it made your heart race a little.
As you popped it open, inside sat a little card again, and it read:

“Today is the day, we met 7 years back.
You’ve always been the one and will always be the only one for me. Will you be mine, forever, from this day on?”Beside it was the same drawing of the door without numbers, but with hearts surrounding it. You knew what it meant.
With a pounding heart, you felt the thumping of your heartbeat in your ears, a sheer and unknown anticipation taking over.
Your closest friend, now boyfriend, Mark Tuan, the one that just couldn’t leave you alone, even for a day, was declaring his love for you with a lifelong commitment. He wanted you to be his wife, the one and only woman that he would look at, long for, and love.
You stood still for a moment to make sense of this situation, knowing that you had to be sure of things yourself.
Were you FINALLY gonna get married?
It had been years since you had a boyfriend and then in a flash, your best friend sleep talks and you find out he’s been having the biggest crush on you, bringing out your own hidden emotional reliance you’ve not realised you’ve had in him.
It just happened all too quickly.
Right then your phone started ringing, bringing you back to the reality if the sun, waves, cool breeze and little box in hand.

Mark: baby what’s wrong? Is everything okay?
You: heya, you’re the sweetest thing ever you know that?
Mark: tell me something I don’t already know.
You: I think we are gonna be late.Mark took a look at his watch, and saw that it was close to the time that everyone was due to arrive.

Mark: nope. I’ve got us covered.
Are you still gonna stand there and keep your surprise waiting?
You: (opens the card and realised the door number would be today’s date) Ah….. well since you’ve waited 7 years what’s a little while more isn’t it?With a laugh you hung up and made your way into the resort, looking for the numbers. By now you had figured out that Mark probably got the villa suite for himself and wanted you to stay with him.
But what you didn’t know was the existence of the 1 carat diamond ring, hidden away in his pocket, waiting anxiously with bated breath to be fitted into the finger of the love of his life.
Walking down the wooden doors, you found door “2506”, the last day of school term back in university. As you knocked lightly on the door, it clicked open.
As you pushed it apart from the frame, carefully, you saw rose petals forming a walkway towards the bedroom. It was a large villa with white translucent daycurtains flapping leisurely at the open windows from the sea breeze, with a direct through view to the open sea. The bed was a large white princess frame, with netting hanging from the ceiling. Walking closer, you saw a box just like the one you had, only slightly smaller.
With a wry smile, you turned your back and saw Mark standing there, in tiptoe, holding a large bouquet of flowers, more surprised that you knew he was there.
He hastily broke into a smile.
“Bbbaby, SURPRISE!” And outstretched his arm with the large bouquet to mask his failed attempt at springing you an attack from the back.
You wanted to play along to give him the credit for all the effort.
“OH GOSH WERE YOU THERE ALL ALONG?!” Your put your hands over your chest and showed him a shocked expression.
He smiled, pushing the flowers nearer to you, “For you. To remember 7 years of knowing you today.” His gaze fixed on you, to observe reactions of any kind.
“Wow. How early were you here?” You said as you took the bouquet from him, admiring the fresh petals of mixed flowers. It was the first time Mark gave you flowers, since he knew you weren’t the kind that would be bowled over by these things. So he wasn’t sure if you would really feel his sincerity.
He sat you down by the edge of the bed beside him. “About the time you left home, maybe?” Looking at your side profile, he gentle swept your stray hairs and tucked them behind your ears.
Turning to face him, your faces were close enough for a kiss but you stayed still.
“Mark?” You said in a soft voice.
“Yes Mandy?” He answered.
“What makes you so sure I’m the one?” You asked, this time your turn to have your gaze locked on him.
“For me, there’s only you. Even though times may be tough, and we rub each other the wrong way, but still, I know deep down that time has shown me that I can’t do it without you.” Mark returned your curious gaze with a longing one. It wasn’t exactly what you expected to hear but it did move you a little.
He pointed to the little box sitting behind both of you.
“Did you see that?” He asked gently. “That’s my promise to you.” He reached out across your lap to pull the box out from the netting that hung from the ceiling, and stood up.
You watched him, straightening his already loosely fitted clothing and for some reason, it made your heart beat fast in anticipation for what he was about to say.
Standing in front of you, he took a deep breath and knelt down on one knee. Opening the little brown box, a large sparkly ring was perched on the little pillow, glistening through the morning sun.

With a classic rehearsed demeanor, and the deepest, smoothest, huskiest voice that ever travelled to your ears.
“Would you like to marry me?”

Notes