BRIRITBRIRIT HELLOMOTO! BRIRITBRIRIT HELLOMOTO! *groan*...
Im still sleepy from the all-nighter i pulled last night.
I reached out my hand blindly to the coffee table filled with chinese food cartons and twinkie wrappers.
BRIRITBRIRIT HELLOMOTO! BRIRITBRIRIT HELLOMOTO! Ah! Found it...
"Ugh...
BURRP! Hello?" I groggily spoke to my phone after I flipped it open.
"Hi...
Uhm, are you the guy who-?" a hesitant voice answered.
Before he could continue his idiotic question, I told him, "Yeah that's me; let's meet at Dino's in 30 minutes.
Oh, and bring me some chicken soup.
" I flipped my phone close and just sat on the sofa for a while.
I've always been working myself to the brink of exhaustion.
I haven't even slept on my bed for a whole year now and my sofa's getting all worn out.
It has been like this since...
ugh please! Not in the morning! If I start my day with thoughts of the past, I'd just end up sulking all day.
And my sofa wouldn't be able to endure that much torture.
So I willed myself to banish the bad thought of her to the back of my head.
Come on! You can do this! You've got work waiting at Dino's in 30 minutes.
This is a pretty convenient mechanism of mine I developed through the past years.
I have gotten used to giving myself a pep talk just so I can start my day.
I took a bath and brushed my teeth four times.
I wouldn't want to scare off the client with a massive chunk of Chinese food having a vacation between my teeth.
I then put on a clean shirt and hung my bag on my shoulder.
40 minutes later, yes, it took me 40 minutes with all the pep talk...
I am walking into Dino's and spot my client right away.
You want to know how I recognize them? They're usually the happy and excited ones.
The ones who are glowing with...
I hate to say this...
love.
I sat across him and took out my pen and paper.
"Ok, first rule.
You can only pass my number to a male who is very much like you now...
Lesbians included.
Second, never ever reveal how you really did it.
It's always better for you to get the credit.
You will never know my real name, but for the meantime call me Red.
And third, where's my chicken soup?" Even after all I said, he's still glowing as he took out a Tupperware and slid it across the table towards me.
He watched me with annoying excitement and anticipation as I put in a few drops of Tabasco and sip through his soup.
Hmmm...
this is a nice soup.
This gets me up better than coffee.
"So...
Uhm, how do we do this? Uhm...
What's the process?" he asked in so many syllables.
"Dude, first thing I want you to do is to get rid of your UHMS in your sentences.
That would definitely kill the mood.
" I told him harshly.
And when he looked back at me confused, I added, "Who would say yes to this? Will-uhm-you-uhm-marry-uhm-me-uhm???" I exaggeratedly demonstrated to him.
"Uhm...
Eherm...
sorry.
I'm just so excited, you know! I heard about you from my friend who had an officemate who proposed! Oh it was so beautiful! What else can top a marching band on a boat?! Oh my god, that's so romantic.
The girl said yes right away and they were actually having relationship problems!" he shouted breathlessly as if I was across the room.
"Stop, I don't discuss my previous projects with clients.
" I told him as I hold up my hand to him.
"Sorry...
It's just that I don't have a job and I think she's about to dump me...
" he uncomfortably said as his happy glow lowered a little.
*groan* "All right, since you can't bottle up your excitement, let's start.
" I slid aside the Tupperware and put my paper and pen in front of me.
"Tell me her likes and dreams" I asked him as I poised to write.
An hour later, I'm walking out of Dino's with a pad full of notes and an idea to make.
I now have a deadline.
I've got to finish this proposal before the end of the month at their anniversary day or no pay for me.
That's what I do.
I design and make proposals.
If once, you've heard of this guy who did the most romantic and heartwarming proposal that would make you awwww...
That might be one of my projects.
I help those unromantic boyfriends fool their partners into marrying them because I make them suddenly seem sweet and thoughtful.
* chuckle* and they pay me for it.
Just last year I did this proposal for this guy who was caught cheating by her girl two times.
The girl likes going to the beach but had no time to go there so my team and I built the whole parking lot of her apartment building into a whole beach front complete with saltwater, coconut trees and a luau.
How did we do it? Go figure, this is my business so I wouldn't tell you.
Then there's this girl who's starting to fall for a way better guy than her loser boyfriend.
But the loser boyfriend is my client so here's what we did...
While the girl is in her office looking out the window, suddenly a hundred guys on parachutes started slowly falling in front of her window all holding a sign that says 'WILL YOU MARRY' and the last guy on a parachute is her boyfriend holding a 'ME?' sign.
Have you ever heard of hitch? Or how about the love doctor? Well they can all just take a hike.
I am a way better option, man.
I can do it better than your fairy godmother.
It's now the end of the month and there I am putting the finishing touches on my latest project.
The master plan is for the guy to propose while a continuous rain of purple feathers rain on them.
I was about to finish the preparations when my phone rang again.
It's another client.
Wow business is starting to boom.
So I did the same routine.
I met up with the loser boyfriend and get the likes and dreams of the girl...
But this time it's different.
For one, the guy isn't a loser or a cheater or anything like my other usual clients.
He's just so in love with his girl and he just wants to give her the best.
He also seems sweet and romantic enough to come up with something on his own.
He's rich, thoughtful and faithful.
If he weren't sitting right across me, I'd think he's a fictional character! But then what came next shook my world, he was telling me the likes and dreams of her girl...
"She likes color pink, daisies, shoes, she likes giving small notes, she likes pasta, movies, gravy of KFC, likes looking for shooting stars in the beach at night and most of all she likes--" "Butterflies...
" I suddenly blurted out before he can even finish.
My memory came gushing in of a butterfly ring in my hand as I kneel in front of the girl I love the most.
We were in a white tent filled with hundreds of live butterflies flying all around us.
It might have been the perfect proposal, the perfect moment.
But then I remember her confused face as she looked down at me.
She didn't say yes...
she just walked away and I'm still kneeling there alone...
and along with the memory is the pain.
I was reminded of the pain that shattered me to the point of falling apart.
This guy just described my one and only love! And the recipient of my first ever project.
"Hey, how'd you know she likes butterflies?" Mr.
Perfect asked me with a weird smile lingering on his Mr.
Perfect lips.
"Lucky guess...
" I told him and he gave me another smile.
As our conversation continued, all the descriptions fit her completely.
It's as if this guy is actually reading my memories of her and our happy times.
The pain disappears as I remembered how i loved her so much...
how I STILL love her so much.
The night after I met with Mr.
Perfect, I refused the urges of my body to sulk and think of her.
Instead, I chose a better form of torture for myself by planning the perfect proposal for her.
She deserves this.
She deserves to be happy even if I'm not the guy who she says yes to.
Maybe what she wanted is someone not myself.
Maybe she wanted someone better.
I kept telling myself she deserves this as I try to deplete my body fluids by throwing them all out my eyes.
Come on! Am I even sure it's really her? Get a grip, man! There's no one else on this earth who would love to eat chocolates even though she's allergic to it! It's just so uniquely her! The deadline came and the perfect proposal I planned is completed, much to the questioning looks of my team, who were so curious as to why would I be so obsessive on the details of this particular project.
I usually watch from afar during the proposal of my clients just in case something needs to be attended to.
But this time, I decided to just skip it.
The proposal is so masterfully done that I'm sure nothing will go wrong.
I hope it makes her happy.
Man, I never expected myself to be this martyr.
Love changes everyone, I guess.
I now sit on a park bench across town from the venue of the proposal as I wallow in my own loneliness.
All the while, thoughts like 'STAND UP AND SEE HER!' kept popping in and out of my head...
Huh, I guess I'm not totally a martyr after all.
I was doing alright in stopping myself when Mr.
Perfect called.
"Hello, Red? There's a problem, something is missing! You need to go here immediately before she comes.
Please, hurry...
" and then he hung up.
I rushed through traffic thinking what went wrong.
It was perfect and I know it.
I finally arrived at the venue and was surprised.
What the?! All of what I designed was gone and replaced with...
a gigantic white tent, standing outside are my team all exhausted and smiling at me in a peculiar way.
I asked them what happened but they all just urged me to enter and find out for myself.
When I entered, my jaw dropped and my eyes popped.
FYI, this is my surprised look.
It's as if I time traveled.
The whole tent was filled with hundreds of live butterflies flying all around.
And a girl was standing in the middle, smiling at me.
Well, she's not just any girl...
As I gazed into her eyes, Mr.
Perfect appeared beside me and whispered to my ear, "Don't worry, I'm her gay best friend and she's not exactly my type.
" He said as he eyed one of my team.
I looked at him with my surprised look.
He smiled at me and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, Romeo...
knock 'er dead!" then slapping my behind pushing me towards her.
I walked slowly towards the girl standing in the middle of the tent.
She looked more beautiful than the butterflies swirling around her.
It was so magical; it was as if the butterflies were trained to just continually fly around her in a colorful tornado.
I feel like my heart wants to punch a hole through my chest right now! When I got close, she smiled at me warmly and said...
"Do it again, I know what to say now...
" as she handed me a butterfly ring.