Right after the proposal, dearest and I headed to Liang Court’s Party World. Frankly, I’ve been there once and didn’t like it at all. Song selection was difficult and the sound system wasn’t good the last time I went. So when Sheena suggested to go Party World, I wasn’t very keen. But Sheena was very quick to assure me that she knew some big shot from Party World, who could allocate a room with wireless mics for me. And so, being the very accommodating me (wahaha), I agreed to meet there.

On the way there, I was half thinking whether Sheena will tear for me, or whether she already knew it. Dearest & I discussed whether we should bring the flowers up because i) it will be a pity to just keep the flowers in the car, but ii) it’s a little embarrassing to be carrying 99 stalks of roses around and most importantly, iii) will Jackson be pressured by the flowers and had to do 999 stalks of roses when it’s his time to propose to Sheena? Haha… The kind of thoughts that ran through our mind.

When we walked into Party World, and the waiter said “Room 63, this way” without even asking us for our names, I started to suspect something. But I quickly rationalize that perhaps somehow Sheena told the waiter to expect someone with flowers, or something along that line. In any case, there wasn’t much time to think about this while we followed the waiter in a long maze to Room 63.

Along the way, dearest & I saw Sheng Leong, dearest’s good friend from Loyang. And there was another friend with Sheng Leong. I was surprised and greeted Sheng Leong and he said “oh, so coincident… blah blah blah…”. My suspicion grew a little again, but again it all happened so fast, I quickly swept any thoughts away.

Then we reached Room 63. First I saw the balloons.

And knew something was going on. But the moment I saw Sheena, I went towards her with a huge smile on my face.

By now I knew that Sheena must have known beforehand and thought that she must have been in this together with Jackson and dearest. We hugged tightly…

And now for the biggest surprise…

This huge bunch of friends gave me a big shock! A quick glance and I saw dearest’s uni frens and my best pals… and I swore I turned almost hysterical. With the roses still in my arms, I turned away from them and started to cry… sob, in fact. Yes, my first tears… I simply couldn’t believe that dearest has taken the effort to bring together our friends, not just common friends, but his friends, and mine, to share the joy.

I’ve always thought that dearest doesn’t like to share stuffs about us to his friends. Like I was wishing he would tell his friends like Alfred, Jason & Nikolas that we are doing a ring exchange, ie religious engagement on Sunday. Call me insecure, but I always thought that dearest is reluctant to ‘announce’ to his friends of his commitment to me. So when I saw that he not only asked my friends (which was a huge feat on its own cos he’s never really met my secondary school pals, let alone be able to contact them without my knowledge) but his own friends as well, especially those who I am not familiar with, I’m especially touched. The fact that he was willing to share this happiness with his friends, mattered to me, a lot.

I was seriously stunned. I’ve never done anything like that in my life before. I’ve never hosted parties, or organized a huge 21st birthday, for example. Seeing different groups of friends around, I didn’t know what to do. Very quickly, I told Sheena, pls help me. I don’t know how to be a good host. LOL.

The rest of the night… was in a whirl. Dearest introduced me to his friends, those whom I seldom meet. I hanged out with my friends, describing to them the actual proposal. Had some drinks with different friends, etc etc… Jiayi baked us a cake! In the design of Tiffany gift box. How sweet of her… Even Sheena’s mum and uncle Bruce came to share our joy! How honored…

Throughout the night, dearest kept coming to me and asked if I was happy. Each and every single time he saw me, he asked me the same question “Are you happy?”. Obviously he had a little too much to drink. After a few times, I told him “Yes, this is the 200th time”. Then it was “Yes, for the 201st time, I am happy”. The total count for the night was 203rd time. LOL.

Dearest was happy. And that warmed my heart so. I knew dearest loved me with all his heart. But I always thought that I was the only one who wanted us to tie the knot. Seeing him feeling so anxious over the proposal, so concerned about whether I appreciated the things that he have planned, so happy that all our friends turned up for our party, etc… made me realized that he truly truly wanted me. And that makes my day so.

The next part, I do not know how to put into words. Should I describe them as they happened that night, or should I share them as and when I discovered them, a day or 2 days later? LOL. You see, to a certain point in time that night, I had a little too much to drink, and couldn’t remember much.

I remembered forcing Nikolas and Jason to drink with me but I couldn’t recall that they actually managed to make me drink beer (which I had initially refused to because beer doesn’t go well with Martell).

I remembered having a drink with Kok Zhong and then telling dearest I must have a drink with each of his Loyang friends, but ended up having to ask him to identify for me who is Yue Ming and who is Jun Ming.

I remembered a few things, here and there. And that’s about it.

What time did we leave Party World? I couldn’t recall. How did we get home? I couldn’t recall. Almost dead drunk. Bad, very bad…

In part 2 of the post proposal party, I’ll share all the stuff which happened, which I didn’t remember, and had to have different group of friends relate to me, and then we all had a good laugh about it. Stay tuned again!

It was 4th December 2009, Friday, after showers.

Dearest picked me up from work and we headed to East Coast Park for a simple dinner at the Lagoon. Duck porridge, followed by fruits. We were supposed to meet Sheena & Jackson for a night of singing at Party World at 9plus and we had a fair time of time to spare before then. So dearest suggested that we take a leisurely stroll along the beach.

We went to our usual spot only to find that parts of it were closed for some upgrading works. So we just wandered around, hand in hand, chatting about stuff. We left East Coast after a while and headed towards Liang Court.

While driving, Dearest suggested to go to Tanjong Rhu since there is still some time before our date with Sheena & Jackson. So off we went, and stood on the bridge and people-watched while listening to songs. When it was finally around 9pm, we walked back to the car and Dearest asked me to help him open the boot.

I did and when the boot opened, I saw it was all decorated – with balloons (which was supposed to fly away but didn’t. LOL) and flowers and precious moments figure and all – and then I knew it. My love was going to proposed to me!

Dearest looked a little sheepish when he picked up the ring box and hesitated for a second or two before he went on bended knee, opened the box and…. stuttered a very short speech that goes something like “I love you and thank you for being supportive of me all these years… blah blah”. Frankly, I couldn’t remember what he said at all, except that he stuttered for a while, finding the right words but what struck me the deepest was that I saw some tears flickering in his eyes! Of course it ended with the crucial question “Will you marry me?”.

And my response? I grinned like a silly girl and said “What am I supposed to say?” LOL. In my mind, I was thinking to myself, should I be saying “yes” or “ok” or “i do”. LOL. What a crazy brain I have. So this went on for a few seconds until dearest said “you cannot say no leh, you say no i will cry”. Then I said yes and he prepared to put the diamond ring on my finger. But before that I had to take off the couple ring that I was wearing and he even warned me to keep the couple ring in a safe place and not lose it.

Then dearest got up, and I gave him a tight hug and told him “sorry”. I kept saying sorry because I knew this proposal came about due to a fight earlier in the week where I accused him of not understanding my needs, my desire of having a diamond ring before we are engaged religiously. I felt like such a brat.

Dearest asked me why I didn’t cry. Well, I was really surprised, and happy and touched and everything. But don’t ask me why I didn’t cry. I guess I am just usually emotionally retarded, that’s all. I did, however, had this huge silly grin on my face the WHOLE time, including when we took pictures after that.

And yes, there were just the 2 of us, in a secluded area, hidden behind a huge heavy vehicle. My dearest is this shy boy. LOL.

At this point in time, we were quite late for the singing session with Sheena & Jackson. We went back into the car, with me hugging on to the 99 stalks of white and pink roses and admiring the huge rock sitting on my left ring finger. It was amazing how dearest managed to buy a customized diamond ring (for my ultra small ring size of 5.5HK) in a matter of 3 days. And it was from vivodiamonds (he remembered!) which generally sells cheaper diamonds than the likes of Lee Hwa and Soo Kee. When dearest said that it was 0.5 carats, I was so happy. Remember I once wrote about how I had wanted a 0.34 carat diamond, but I dreamed that my mum said it would have to be 0.5 carat? Dearest not only fulfilled my wish of being proposed to before our engagement, he also fulfilled my mum’s ‘wish’ of getting me a 0.5!

When I was in the car, Sheena called and asked if we were on our way. I was actually still grinning but I tried to mask the emotions because I wanted to surprise Sheena when I show her the flowers and ring later when we meet. Sheena asked why did I sound so weird, and I kinda suspected that she might have known about the proposal from dearest beforehand which is why we are meeting for karaoke later, to have a small celebration together with us 2 couples. After I got off the conversation with Sheena, I thought of sms-ing all my close friends to share the exciting news with them but I didn’t do it eventually cos the flowers were really heavy.

[Edited to add: I have previously ended abruptly here without realizing it until Sheena reminded me about it. Well, I was anxious to move on to Part 2. But Part 2 was much harder to blog about than I thought. Just stay tuned ok... Part 2 is fun!]

A picture to entertain you while Part 2 is in the making…

i came home tonight from a company event and was talking to dearest on the phone when i saw a handwritten envelope on the table. and the handwriting looks so familiar. i was thinking very quickly “what could this be?” and “isn’t too early for a christmas card?”

and then i eagerly opened the envelope from my beloved sister, and saw this!

OMG! this is so unexpected! really… yes, dearest and i are going to be ‘engaged’ in 3 days. and yes, the engagement will be in the presence of Buddha and we do take this seriously. but it’s not like it’s going to be a ROM or wedding dinner or something… yet…

and dear bl was so sweet and thoughtful to send her wishes in the most traditional snail-mail, and also with tatty bear, my fav! aawwww…..

bl, thanks a million for this lovely gesture. i’m truly blessed to have such a dear pal… and you’ll definitely be my 姐妹, that’s without a doubt!

now i’m getting excited… 3 days more…

ok, it’s almost a month. i’ve been like really really slack in blogging. i guess the interest has died down for me, with no interesting topics or photos or happenings or even emotions to share with my dear friends.

i’ll just update bits and pieces of my life then…

* dearest clinched his 2nd deal a couple of weeks back. sometimes it’s amazing how things happen. for the same unit, there were 2 close-but-unsuccessful deals. it was a little discouraging but immediately after the 2nd prospective deal fell through, dearest found another client who is not only a really easy-going guy, but also offered a higher price, for a longer period, which brought about a higher commission. cool.

* been on lots of leave, with nothing to occupy my time except for sleep and dvd. so over the last weekend, i slept a lot. too bad the dark circles are still there though. also completed the whole of grey’s anatomy season 5, which got my emotions all messed up badly.

* no excuses. it could be grey’s anatomy, or it could be my own crankiness, or it could be jitters… but i’ve been picking fights with dearest. i just turned into this crazy person who cries and screams and shouts. i hope the worst is over. i’m now constantly reminding myself to be… tame. wish me luck.

* it was sheena, jackson and alfred’s birthday, in the last week of november. so dearest and i spent some time heading to town to buy all the presents. hehe, 5 presents in total. for 3 friends. strange?

* to celebrate alfred’s birthday, dearest drove the 3 of us and jason to JB. the famous bak kut teh actually improved! i didn’t like it previously cos the meat was too tough. but this time the meat was tender. nice! but the place was crowded, the cook couldn’t handle the demand and we didn’t get to eat the ‘pig leg’, which is my fav dish there! so disappointing. then we did an impromtu thing, and drove up to kota tinggi waterfall! i’ve never been there before and i was half expecting a huge nature reserve and all. but it turned out to be a resort for which we had to pay to get in! cheh…

* for sheena’s birthday, she invited many of her friends to this thai disco at cairnhill. we get to meet most of her best friends, and at one point in time, had to prevent sheena and jackson from having a ‘fight’. haha… that was the highlight of the night for me. jackson was so piffed, he shouted for me to ‘take care’ of sheena. and guess what, when i went to bed that night, all i dreamt of was frantically looking around for sheena! hahaha… the dreams stopped when she smsed me to say that she has reached home safely.

* dearest and i also went to get the engraving done for the rings. then i saw this necklace which i like. the white gold without diamond costs $2k+. i dun think i’ll ever buy it… just admire it’s beauty can le… then, dearest asked me if i would mind having the eternity ring as a proposal ring rather than a solitaire (since i love the eternity ring so much). i think i said i dun mind. but come to think of it, i’m not so sure leh… hahaha… why not get a solitaire set in a band of diamonds? hahaha… 2 in 1. ok, i’m just joking…

ok… so that’s about it. other times are just spent working, meeting up with dearest for dinners and playing mahjong, playing badminton, etc.

and the next big thing?? our engagement!! 4 days… yipeee…. countdown…

i haven’t been blogging much because there’s nothing really interesting in my life except for the rings and date of engagement which i’ve updated in the other blog.

dearest has been very busy with his new career in the real estate industry and the good news is he closed a first deal 2 sundays ago! definitely a very strong morale booster. hope good deals continue to come by. remember, if you have lobangs, must recommend ok…

because he is so busy with work, i try to occupy my time and not bother him. so i’ve made a few new friends! it started with badminton with my colleague’s friends. then we also did karaoke, steamboat, basketball, dinners, pool etc together. and the happiest thing is, even dearest have met most of them a couple of times. i love it when dearest accepts my frens and vice versa!

i’ve also been hooked on buying stuff from US and shipping via vpost. mainly skincare stuff – must take extra care of my skin now that i have freckle-few face! and i’m happy to share that my skin feels and look great now with the vit c, anti-oxidant, sunscreen, apple cider vinegar toner and emu oil that i’m using (on different times and days of course, not altogether!) also ventured into mineral makeup which on the very first time i used it, dearest genuinely commented that i look fab! haha… i’m so going to buy more mineral makeup and brushes soon.

oh, and, i think the best thing is, dearest and i are growing. together, and in a good way (though we are indeed growing in the horizontal way as well). i’m not sure whether it’s a sign or maturity, or that we are getting mentally prepared for marriage, or that we are simply continuing to loving each other. although we do bicker now and then, both of us make extra effort to be sweet to each other and to spend time with each other whenever possible.

like tonight. dearest needed to meet a client but he didn’t want to see me being alone for dinner so he specially made time and had dinner with me. even ordered extra ingredients – my fav sotong for me. and he had this happy look when he sees me finishing the huge bowl of fish soup. and then bought potato chips for me somemore!

little thoughtful things that never fail to warm me. love.

dearest & i were in the car waiting for his friends to arrive for dinner. he placed a pillow over my lap and rested on it.

熊天平’s song 最后还是会 was playing over the radio. i was singing along to the song while softly stroking dearest’s hair.

dearest fell asleep halfway through the song.

when dearest woke up, he said “i remember hearing you sing before i dozed off – that familiar voice and the familiar touch”. he said a bit more than this and i can’t recall the exact words.

but they meant a lot to me. a lot.

it’s amazing.

now, hop over to the other site for more… =)

dearest and i bought our wedding bands!! woohoo…
part 1 of the story is updated in the other blog. part 2 will be up tomorrow.

another step closer…

as long as you are behind me.
nothing else matters.
just you and me.
me and you.
love.

attended sherlynn (sheena’s dear sister) and jeffry’s wedding on friday.

when jeffry popped the champagne, dearest caught the champagne cork. effortlessly. it just came to him.
those at our table said jokingly that the next wedding is going to be ours.

ha… is this a sign or what?

dearest is complaining that i’m not blogging much anymore. well, there’s nothing much for me to blog about.

yeah, sherlynn’s wedding was heartwarming and lots of fun (we reached home only around 4am!) but we didn’t take any pictures of our own, so there’s nothing much to blog about. oh, except for the fact that sheena was so busy entertaining the guests, it’s like her own wedding instead. and jackson went around trying to get friends drunk on red wine, so it’s also like his wedding. ha.

yeah, we went to the ronald cheng & william su concert. but can’t blog about it because we didn’t take any pictures.

and, yeah, i had a new haircut. went to a new hairstylist who had quite a bit of attitude. asked me whether i want to get a new hairstyle and i said “anything”. then he gave me a magazine and asked me to pick something i like. i said i didn’t know what’s suitable for me and he picked out 2 styles, and then decided on one for me.

now… the hair looks korean. he almost layered off all my hair and now i have a fluffy head, and miserable strands of hair hanging from the fluff. heh. sometimes i find it trendy, sometimes i find myself looking like an auntie. it’s a thin line.

it’s liverpool’s big match tonight. yippee yeah…