Unexpected Expected Engagement

Marc and I haven’t taken a very open road to engagement ever since we plunge to give love a second chance. Sure, we talk about our future – how we want to design our house, which car we want to purchase once we start to have kids or even where to go on our honeymoon. But it has always been set in my mind that the first step to fulfill OUR dreams is to get formally engaged because that would mean we are both ready. Actually, a year before we broke up in 2007 (when the 5 year curse attacked), Marc has proposed to me in 2006 (SORT OF). ...

It was on our 4th year as girlfriend-boyfriend when I left for UK to stay with my sister’s family during fall and winter. Before I entered the airport security , he slowly handed a small test tube with rolled stationery inside, tied up with a fancy red ribbon and sealed while saying, “...buksan mo na kapag nasa eroplano ka na ha?…” (open once you are settled on the plane) and I did. The small note said a lot of farewells and good lucks, then at the bottom of the letter was saying “will you be my fiancee?” I really couldn't remember if I had ever answered back over the phone,  via email or in IM.  >_<  I was a brat then and I had a lot of different plans for myself, and all I knew was that he was willing to wait till  I come back to the Philippines again. After a year, things have changed; we broke up and the rest is history!!! :)

So going forward, after three years of being apart, we tried to rekindle the flames and thankfully, our revived relationship now looks like we definitely learned from our mistakes we have done when we were younger. (nung bagets pa kaming dalawa!) :)) We really took each step very SLOW even if everyone around us kept pushing to take the fast lane and get married right away. I think taking our relationship very slow was one of the BEST decisions we made together.

#TheBESTBirthdayEver

I'm not going to pretend that I don’t have any idea about his wedding proposal happening anytime soon. Six months back or so, Marc would tell me the songs he would want to play on our wedding day. Then sometime in February 2014, he was counting by his fingers how many months away from my birthday. I immediately felt he was seriously preparing for something and I thought maybe he’s proposing soon!  (was that woman’s intuition?) After that, I almost connect everything he does or say or not say leading to the proposal. Though very EXCITED, I secretly KEPT it to myself just because I was so afraid my intuition wasn't true! One time, he accidentally mentioned that he went out with her sister, Ken, one weekend. As soon as I asked where they went, he immediately changed the topic! As in I really felt he didn't want to talk about it! Another instance inside the cinema, he was holding my hand like crazy – with his left hand then right and navigating through my fingers ( turned out he was getting the ring size without blowing the element of surprise! @_@) Poor boy, I don’t wear ring so he had to improvise to get my ring size. :-D In March 2014, my intuition has gotten a little stronger when he asked me one time in Google Hangouts (our official chat tool) to make sure I file vacation leave on my birthday because he would be throwing a surprise treat for me. I absolutely got very excited; I smiled with matching wide eyes. :-D

Few months later, nothing has changed, we still talk about the future,  we had maintained our “WE” time and “ME” time, we chat all day long, we watch movie marathon at Mall of Asia, I still laugh at his silliest jokes, and until I almost forgot the idea about the proposal – maybe it would be happening soon or I thought maybe NOT…

End of April 2014 came, a few weeks before my birth month and he was still disguising his proposal plans by telling me that he had not decided where to go or what to do on my birthday and that he was busy at work so he wasn't able to finalize his “surprise” plans. I even offered to help but he refused immediately. A few weeks after, he asked to me to bring three sets of clothes on my big day: swim wear, formal wear and HIKING attire. I must admit… INTUITION knocked again after that!!! My internet browser went flooded with searches like “marriage proposal on top of the mountain” or “proposal after hike” and even “Mt. Batulao proposal” because he mentioned Mt. Batulao a few times before. I knew I was taking away the element of surprise the more I read stuffs in the internet about the proposal ideas out there… but, my god, I couldn't help myself!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! :) :) :) I was such a loser, right? :)) Our chat conversations were full of stuffs about the hike, I thought I had to be wearing my best when he pop the question! :) I was smiling like an idiot all the time.

 And because I didn't want to ruin his plans, IF ANY, so I just gone with the flow, stopped my own personal investigations and KEPT my expectations VERY LOW. And there were DISTRACTIONS… A few weeks before, I told him that I would be attending the KForce company outing in Antipolo on the weekend before my birthday. And then he also told me that he would be attending an organized outreach program in Bicol on the same weekend. WHAAAAAT?? BICOL? As in 12 hours away from Manila??! I thought to myself, if he planned to be proposing ON MY BIRTHDAY, AFTER THE HIKE, why on earth he would be attending another TIRING event before that? So I got confused again. My office friends, Kat, Shiela and Zeny, could tell that part of me was still hesitant and refusing to dive into THEIR ANALYSIS that Marc’s surprise could be IT! But clearly, I was still focusing on preparing about OUR hike. Hehehe! :) I exercised my legs and did Zumba from the Youtube a few times to get ready and bought arm warmers just like the real hikers have! :D 

The weekend before my birthday was indeed a tiring one. Our team outing was mostly physical activities which we won 1^st place by the way… Marc was supposed to pick me up at my house Monday morning but he sent me a message that they were still navigating SLEX from Bicol and will be arriving later than expected. After a few hours, he arrived at my house later in the afternoon. I still didn't know where he was taking me but since he started driving south, I thought it could be TAGAYTAY or BATANGAS! PWEDE! :) Either way, Mt. Batulao is geographically near Tagaytay and Batangas. HEHEHE! When we reached Mendez, Cavite, he asked me to close my eyes and I did (bring it on!). I felt a few turns before he eventually said I could open my eyes. We were on a parking lot, a lot of trees in my blurry view and I could not really recognize the place. "Where are we?" As soon as we unloaded our things, I eventually saw the sign “Camp Benjamin”.

After a few peek at the resort, he asked me to go to Bag of Beans restaurant in Tagaytay for some light snack. While driving to the restaurant, he asked me if it is okay if we drop the hiking activity because of these and that – .....................SO I KNEW IT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN… :-( It made me sad a little bit pero okay lang, keri na. Anyway, I still have my birthday dinner treat from him :)

At Bag of Beans resto, Marc asked me to order light snacks so we could still have room for dinner. But since I was really hungry, I ordered a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese, Blueberry Cheesecake and Banana Split. Taaaaadaaaaah!  :D 

We went back to Camp Benjamin before dusk after driving around Tagaytay. Around 6:00PM, he said it was time for my birthday dinner and asked me to try the dress he asked me to bring. I actually brought two – a tight fitting red dress in asymmetrical sleeves and a set of halter top and satin short. I tried the red dress first and he approved. Since he LEFT his polo shirt in the car, he went out to get it. Although he approved the red dress, I was not comfortable wearing it; it was just too tight and tiny. I tried the other dress and I decided I would just have Marc see if it would be better than the tiny dress once he comes back. Thirty plus minutes past, no Marc came back. Then someone knocked at the door, not Marc but one of the female receptionists at the lobby. “Ma’am, ready na daw po ba kayo?” HUH???! NOOOOOO! I haven’t combed my hair and I was waiting for Marc to see if he would like me to wear the other dress instead. I said, “wait lang po…” The girl insisted to wait outside so she could accompany me to the restaurant because Marc is already waiting. POOR ME. Unprepared, I went outside and followed the girl.

BUT WAIT... She wasn't really taking me to the restaurant but inside another building. I could not remember everything, but she disappeared in the dark as soon as I saw candles leading the path to the resort’s infinity pool.  Uh Oh! The lights were off but I saw the shadows of two people opening the big door and I was hearing instrumental music playing in the background. Then I saw Marc standing beside the table while holding a bouquet of flowers on his hands. AHA!! HAHAHA! He really pulled off the surprise dinner! Clap! Clap! Hindi man natuloy ang dream HIKING ko… PWEDE NA ITOng surprise na ito, sabi ko sa sarili ko. :D Bad thing... I was not able to take a picture of the entire setup.

It was a 4-course dinner under the moonlight (full moon nung gabing yon) with a bottle of red wine. Surprisingly, it was just us in the pool area (and the Waiter of course). I asked how he did that, he said it was just part of the plan. We were laughing at each other the whole time and I was secretly feeling KILIG inside about everything that night – the candles, the flowers, the music, the moonlight, the food, the sound of the Jacuzzi at the pool, the wine, the idea about the surprise dinner and his tight face with fake smile from time to time (parang natatae look) HAHAHA! 

"It was such a nice birthday surprise... "

After the 3^rd course, Marc gave the cue for the dessert. The waiter cleaned the table and revealed THE birthday cake! It was a fondant cake with huge green ribbon on the top and a cute “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” sign in front of me. He asked me to tell him my favorite song and I said “All of Me” (by John Legend). The song immediately played! :-D Seemed choreographed... Then he lit the candle and asked me to close my eyes to make a wish…

AND THEN as soon as I opened my eyes, the cake was turned on the other side and revealing the “MARRY ME?” sign in front of me! AAAAAAAAAWWWWW!! I thought to myself, "is this really happening??????"

I saw him knelled on the ground while holding THE engagement ring. I started to cry…  he was saying something (like a speech! ) but I couldn't remember ANYTHING! He started crying too! I was crying of happy tears and grinning like a fool whenever I look at him. All I could remember  were the last words "WILL YOU MARRY ME?" ... I smiled at him and said.. "YES na YES!".  I thought it was just a birthday dinner. He put the ring on my finger and I hugged him. We even argued a bit where to put the ring. HAHAHA. It ended up in the middle finger... but we were both bothered and googled it the next day -- now in the ring finger!  :)

It was a magical evening for us.  :')  It was so planned that even if I had asked him to bring the polo inside our cottage when we were  unloading our things from the car...  He had his SHOES kept in the trunk so that he could still escape from me. 

To Camp Benjamin staffs who participated in the preparations. I will forever remember this.

To the restaurant staff who played as the Waiter during our dinner. You did a good job!

To Manong Guard who almost blew the proposal. who said “Sir, sya na po ba?”when we got back to the resort from Bag of Beans. Good thing, it meant nothing to me at the time.

To the girl staff (Marc’s coordinator about the proposal in the resort), thank you for the big smile you gave me when our car passed by you. It made me think you were a weird person but it made sense to me now. I also learned from Marc that it was the first time someone setup a proposal at Camp Benjamin. How nice… ^_^

I think the most interesting and amazing part was HIS FAMILY’s preparations about the proposal… Special THANKS to his family who helped him every step of the way for his plans. Later he revealed that they were the one who brought the flowers, THE two-faced cake, candles, setup the music and place. They were already at the resort in the morning with him. He had to say he couldn't pick me up early because they were actually busy in the preparations. He also had to make sure I won't be asking to go anywhere near the pool area that was why he kept me busy the whole afternoon. Also for helping him find the perfect ring and negotiate with the baker who made the lovely cake (IT WAS A CLEVER IDEA to have the cake disguised the “MARRY ME?” sign on the other side.

And most importantly, to The ONE who gave you to me, all honor and glory to HIM forever!


YIHIIIII! We are officially ENGAGED! CHEERS!
Salamat,  MAHAL...