The Proposal Untold (continuation)
December 5, 2008, sometime around 10:00pm
When I got to work, I went to one of her good friends’s office, Junelle, and told her that I was going to ask her for a small favor. She stopped what she was doing and asked me what the favor was. I went a few steps closer to her, so that I would block the view from outside her door, and that she was going to be the only one to see. I took the ring out of my pocket and she instantly beamed. I was expecting a different reaction but since she was just recently married and just went through the whole nine yards of it, then I guess it’s understandable that her reaction was a bit “lesser” than what I expected. Anyways, after a few minutes of checking out the ring, the first few words that came out of her was that she would like to volunteer the red ring box that she had to replace the box that the store gave me to hold the ring with. She said that she will be bringing it to work the next morning, just half a day before the big event. I asked her the favor, which is to make sure that as much as possible, she will be with my sweetie during the party, and that she is not to be out of her sight at any time. She smiled at me and agreed, promising that she will be 100% with her during the entire night of the party.
I went to another one of our friends, Sir Ron, and asked him for another favor. I showed him the ring and ‘congratulations’ was the instant reaction. He asked me what I needed from him and I simply told him to be with Ethel and Junelle during the night, that all of them are to keep her well rested and free from all other influences during the night, and that they are all to stay in one place, as much as possible.
Finally, most of the pieces are finally in place.
I went around the production floor and I remember some of the agents who I may have divulged the story to asked me if the plan was going well. I took the ring out of my pocket and there was a half-second of either a gasp or a scream that came out of everyone around me. They all saw how nice and simple the ring I chose was and that they were already congratulating me. I even remember a comment from a former agent of mine who was already a quality analyst at the time: “I wonder when someone will give me a ring like this one…?” I was still ecstatic and happy with how everything was going, but still, there was one more piece in the picture that wasn’t there. The approval from our President, that I will be allowed to go up on stage and kneel in front of everyone to ask the biggest question I am to ask in my entire life.
I went to the fifth floor with “the boys” and with them knowing what I was about to do the next day, as soon as we all lit our first cigarette for the night, the first question was, “where is the ring?”. I took the small grey box that the store gave me and showed them the ring. They were amazed at the simplicity of the design and complimented that it was, indeed, a very nice ring. As soon as the ring returned safely into my pocket, the next question they threw at me was: “We’re you able to give her the planned distraction?” I told them the entire story of how I got to the mall and chose everything, the difficulty in choosing for a ring, and finally getting a nice Fossil wristwatch to match it with. They were all laughing when I told them how my sweetie’s face looked like as soon as I entered our condo unit with the basket of flowers in my hands. “So far, so good”, they said.
Before they could ask the next question, the mobile phone inside my pocket rang.
The call I received was a message from God, delivered by an angel named Ms. Kaye. She is one of the organizers of the event and one of the major names connected to our company’s president. She was happy to tell me that I am being given two minutes on stage, and that I was supposed to see her an hour before the party so that she can fill me in on which part of the program I was supposed to go to the stage and grab the microphone. I could feel all my blood rushing to my brain and it’s as if I could see myself blushing. “Yes!” I said loudly. One of my friends gestured a “thumbs up” to me, as if to ask if my request was approved, and I enthusiastically put up my right thumb in response. Ms. Kaye said goodbye, and that she was looking forward to seeing me the next day, as well as her heartfelt congratulations.
After I received the call, I immediately went to my friends and asked them if it would be okay for them to ‘escort’ my sweetie once I ask for her on stage the following night. It was almost simultaneous when they said that they’d be happy to. I proceeded to the 6th floor of the building and I looked for one of my former agents, Hans, who was into photography. Knowing him, I was pretty sure he would be bringing his SLR along and take pictures of the upcoming event. True enough, when I asked him if it was okay for him to position himself close to the stage the next day, he instantly obliged and congratulated me in advance.
Now, all the pieces are set. The main characters of the play are in their starting positions. The only thing left to do is to lift the curtains.
(to be continued)
