Fiance and Fiancee

Sunday has arrived, and it was 4th Feb 07 - Rebecca's 25th birthday. I was glad to be the first to wish her happy birthday because I guess her family was too busy getting ready to go to church and forgot to wish her early in the morning. But it feels good to be the first to wish her, especially on this added special day (and I believe she didn't expect what I was planning to do)!

It was a typical church Sunday service (as usual), except that we had an invited speaker Rev George Ong who is tremendously humourous in his jokes, yet serious in his sermon preaching. He amazes me at how he went into writing books on humour to earn a living, while working as a pastor without drawing a salary. In fact, he has already written 10 books! I wanted to buy one book to read and laugh, as well as to support his ministry... but it was a pity because I had to rush off to give out Chinese New Year peanut cookies to the neighbouring blocks of residents near my church, as part of my church Community Penetration (CP) work.

Rebecca and I were assigned to Blk 13, Level 7 & 8; whereas her parents together with Richard Berry and his daughter went to Level 9 & 10. It was an interesting time, though only 3 out of the 12 homes opened up to Rebecca and I. Nonetheless, just being able to send our greetings and regards to one particularly friendly lady and little girl made us smile.

Thereafter, I brought Rebecca to Suntec City to eat at Marche (this is our first time eating at this place coz we have never eaten there together before) and we even saw Sean at the MRT station waiting for some people. Sadly, we arrived there to discover that it has closed down! Now both the outlet at Orchard HMV and Suntec City has closed down! What's going on? Is the business really that poor? I kinda like the cripes there...

I felt a bit bad, coz both of us had to wonder around to look for a nice place to eat. In the end, I decided to bring her to Outback Steakhouse at Millenia Walk. This is also our first time eating there, so it wasn't such a bad choice after all, even though the food tasted average and the atmosphere was rather quiet without any music. Hmm... but still, I appreciated the time that we spent over my lunch treat. =)

After lunch, and buying some snacks for my planned dinner picnic by the beach, I decided that we take bus 10 to Harbourfront because we were both feeling sleepy after a heavy meaty lunch and it was a long way back to City Hall MRT station. Thank God for giving me this idea! In fact, this route turned out so much faster and we managed to reach Harbourfront in just 10-15 mins!

And so, I brought her to take the Sentosa Express Monorail, which she looked quite impressed about. Then we took the air-conditioned tram to Palawan Beach, before crossing the bridge over to the Southernmost Point of Asia Continent. There, we spent the next 2 hours just chatting at the bottom of one of the tall towers, as well as at the top and 2nd lower level of the tall tower.

Why? It was because I planned an early dinner picnic for two of us, and even brought newspapers to sit on... but it turned out that the newspapers weren't enough (forming just a 4-piece square just enough to sit on), it was very windy and the newspapers kept flying, and the spot of beach sand where I chose to sit, ended up damp for some strange reason! Thus, that's why I had to throw away the newspapers and we ended up chatting, relaxing our minds and just taking time to breathe and watch the scenery and people go by. It was a quiet way of spending time together and we both liked it. Once in awhile, at least.

As we chatted, I also took a few photos of the sunset before it seemingly disappeared due to the thick clouds at the horizon. Just before it got a little dark, I felt an urgent need to go to the toilet, so we walked back to the food centre across the bridge to use the washroom.

Surprisingly, the sky became a lot darker after I came out of the toilet. It was just 1-2 mins! Anyway, so I suggested that we walk back to the Southernmost Point to chat awhile more, before I send her home. I suggested that we stroll along the beach instead of going up to the tall tower again, and that was what we did. After a short while, I stopped and asked if she wanted to see her birthday gift and she said okay. So I told Rebecca to wait awhile, while I went to that quiet corner to prepare my surprise. Just in case anything happened, I told her to shout for me.

When I reached that spot, I took out the glass bottle with a rolled-up piece of paper inside (with a message for her), dug a hole in the soft sand, placed the bottle into the hole and covered it up with the sand. Then I took out the box containing the engagement ring and put it in my right pocket. Thereafter, I started to light the candles which I had bought and prepared for this occasion... but all of them wouldn't stay lighted for more than a few seconds!

It was such a windy day and no matter how I tried to shift the location, the wind kept the candles from being lighted for long. I prayed for a miracle from God to just stop the wind for a few minutes, but it didn't work. So, I decided to place the glass bottle back at my previously selected spot and just placed the candles in a heart shape formation on top of that sand covered area. Well, that was like the best that I could do (even though later Rebecca suggested that I could use sparklers, which I replied that candles are more romantic).

Lastly, I slotted the song sheet into my back pocket and took out my mobile phone to set the loudest volume and select the music that I wanted to play to set the mood. Once ready, I walked over to Rebecca with my black tie (to improvise as a blindfold) which apparently failed to properly cover her eyes! Hahahaha... It was so funny... It was like so many things are going wrong at the last minute! I even confessed to Rebecca that I was feeling anxious inside.

Anyway, so I covered Rebecca's eyes and slowly walked her toward that sandy spot. Upon reaching there, I started to play the MIDI tune titled 'Forever In Love' by Kenny G, before asking her to open her eyes and telling her that her birthday gift is hidden inside the sand in front of her.

Rebecca seemed rather wary as she tried to push away the sand, so I tried to help her a bit (before the music ended in 5 mins time). Finally, she found the glass bottle and had difficulty taking out the piece of paper inside because there was sand stuck at the top opening! With a little help, she managed to take out that light pink piece of paper, and I asked if I could read her birthday message to her.

I did my best to read and mean the words which I had typed and printed on this piece of paper, while Rebecca listened quietly to herself. I wasn't sure if she could guess that I was about to propose, but I carried on reading slowly. I planned my message to end with a sentence that led to my kneeling down on my left knee (I had planned to kneel on my right knee, but in my anxiousness, I forgot and ended up kneeling on my left knee). Then I took out the box containing the engagement ring, opened the box and asked Rebecca if she would marry me.

Rebecca looked stunned (Okay, so I was right that she didn't expect this coming), but she said okay. I smiled (or at least I think I did), took out the engagement ring and put it on her finger. She still looked a little surprised that I had actually proposed to her (I mean, what could we expect... it was the first time that both of us encountered this situation) and I assured her that we have gotten the blessings from the OFL leaders, the church pastor and her parents.

After that, I asked if I could sing her a song. So I played the MIDI tune titled 'Hold On Together' and invited her to sing along with me, if she wanted to. I started to sing, and awhile later, Rebecca joined in, crying at the same time because she was very touched. Its a nice and meaningful song about us holding on together through life. We ended with a hug and kiss!

The journey home was long, so we decided to wait for a taxi back to her home. The queue was rather long, but we continued chatting and even laughed at this Japanese lady who spoke to Rebecca in Japanese and Rebecca replied in Mandarin; both not understanding what each other had said. Hahahaha... =)

I was glad and thankful for God to have provided this fine weather, especially since so many things could have gone wrong and made this impossible to carry out. And I was even more glad when Rebecca messaged me that her parents are happy, especially her Mum who commented that Rebecca's engagement ring looks nicer than hers! *Laugh*... I am glad to be accepted.

Now we have 21 months before our planned wedding day. Its still quite a long wait, with our HDB flat being ready to be collect the keys at the end of this year. But its okay... we have already waited this long... might as well save up some more money at the meanwhile and continue to enjoy our remaining courtship days together! Praise God! =)