i was broken-hearted.. i told myself, it's never too late to fall in love again. after a serious relationship which ended in a heartbreak, i was so scared that i may no longer be able to find the right man for me. i thought my world would revolve around my work and my family and no one else.
then a young man crossed my path.. i called him Neo. i accidentally sent him an Instant Message (IM) at work, which was supposed to be sent to Anton.. through that IM, we became aquaintances, then friends.. a friend who treated me as an equal. a friend out of accident. a friend whom i had contact with whenever i had dilemmas. a friend and a co-worker.
a friend who professed his love to me, brought fruits when i got sick and serenaded me through the phone...
a friend who courted me, but got busted (i turned him down 4 times!)
and in the end, he won my heart.....
love began one enchanted day in Enchanted Kingdom... it happened August 8, 2004... after midnight... i was soaking wet in the swimming pool with a bevy of beauties. i was with my friends, my F4 friends where we held a birthday bash for Vanness and i was thrilled to have joined them in a resort somewhere in Calamba, Laguna.
it was 12:45 AM. When i saw my cell phone blinking rapidly from afar, i knew Neo was calling me. So i hurriedly swam across the pool and with wet hand, i grabbed my phone.
then i heard Neo's familiar husky yet silent voice.. the voice which sent shivers down my spine.. i giggled while i was talking to him, not minding the shouts and screams that my F4 colleagues were bursting out. i don't know why i felt that way whenever he called.. there was (& still is) something in him that makes my heart jump and my knees wobble. at any rate, my heart was pounding so fast that i almost forgot that i was headed to the balcony of the resort while i was clad in a skimpy two-piece swimsuit. good thing, i managed to compose myself and hid on a secluded area to be able to talk to him intimately.
the truth is, i was about to say the magic words when he professed his love for me. but i controlled myself and decided to tell him personally the next day the words he had longed to hear.
yes, i asked him if he was willing to take a leave of absence from work and meet me up in Laguna the next day.. (remember, he was in Pampanga at that time!) it was actually a test for him.. a test to check his love for me.. i didn't think he was up to it, but still, i hoped that he would meet me up in Enchanted Kingdom..(originally, my other friends - Bryan, Sarah Johnny & I) planned to go to Enchanted Kingdom) so i decided to bring Neo along..
i was weary and ecstatic and i couldn't sleep well that night. amidst the merrymaking of my F4 buddies, i laid awake almost the whole evening thinking of the event that will unfold the morning after. it was quarter to 4am when my eyes suddenly felt numb and heavy and sleepy.
5:45 am... my friend, Sien came up knocking on the door of our suites. i was up and about and got ready for the day ahead. i asked her if she could give me a lift going to Sta. Rosa Laguna so i can meet my other friends there. Luckily, she agreed. so at 7:30am, i was already at Jollibee and had breakfast with my friends. when they left me there, i played some games on my cellphone but i soon got tired.
i texted my friend, Bryan and told them that i'm gonna be at Waltermart where i was supposed to wait for him, sarah, jenny and johnny and of course, neo. i asked what time would they be arriving at our rendezvous and he said, they're most likely to meet me up at 11am... oh my! imagine, from 8 till 11am.. i had to wait up for them at 3 hours! grueling yet exciting.. somehow, it gave me enough time to ponder and re-examine myself if i was ready for the day.
at 10am, i entered watermart and headed to Expressions and a lovely greeting card caught my attention. i pulled it up from the card holder and i immediately bought a pen... silly romantic thoughts ran up my mind when went to the cashier's place. then i roamed around the department store area to check some items but i easily tired up. i didn't notice that time was running faster than i could imagine. the next thing i knew, neo texted me saying that they are already in sta.rosa exit. so i ran out of waltermart and waited for them outside McDo and texted jenny to join us.
it was raining cats and dogs when they arrived so i stayed inside the van and dried myself for a while. neo reserved the back seat for us which was convenient to me. i asked him to buy me a burger meal since i forgot to eat lunch. while he was gone, i started scribbling on the card that i bought and i was putting it back on my bag when he came back. we still had 30 minutes left (it was 11:30) and jenny was still not around. we went ahead to Enchanted Kingdom and prepared ourselves.
while bryan and sarah were busy canoodling in front of our seat, johnny went out and decided to wait for jenny at the entrance. at the back, i was kinda quiet, talking to neo about my evening at the F4 party. exactly, 12 noon, while he was looking at me, i whispered to his ear the three magic words... "i love you"... he was surprised and i could see a different kind of spark in his eyes when he heard me say that. i was taken aback when he kissed me on my cheek and gleefully said i love you too... oh my.. i'm getting mushy here... but it's how it happened and it's still vivid on my memory.. at 12pm, aug.8, 2004 - neo and i are officially called "a couple"..
after a few minutes, jenny arrived.. so we all we went outside the van, then i officially introduced neo to them as my boyfriend. i'm glad that they were all so happy for both of us. then off we went to Enchanted Kingdom..
neo and i spent all the time together.. from the Realto theater experience, to our first ride at Wheel of Fate.. i had fun riding the bump cars and felt the wind beneath my wings at the giant swing. the catterpillar ride was so romantic for me too. we ate our fave dominos pan pizza and cuddled each other while watching a sci-fi 4-dimensional film. i got so scared at the Space Shuttle ride that i forgot to open my eyes while rolling around the air and i could hardly breathe! we were tempted to try Anchors Aweigh but i declined since i felt that i might feel giddy and blow up! the last two rides we tried were the Jungle Log and Rio Grande Rapids where we all got wet! we saw our pictures taken and we would like to get a copy of those pics but we decided not to..
it was past 6pm when sarah and i went to the dressing area and changed clothes. we had a little chit-chat about our budding lovelife and i felt sad because she would soon go back home to her province in Davao. but we didn't want to spoil the fun so we just forgot all about it and headed back to the van and enjoyed the last hours together with our "other halfs".. along the way, Neo whispered sweet nothings and love-lines to my ears and i laid my head on his lap and cherished the moment we were together. somehow, the world stopped revolving around us and i just prayed that the special moment would continue for a lifetime.
and that's how our story started... it's been more than 6 years now and i'm happy because we stay strong together and we promise to keep what we had started out to last as long as forever...
