The beginning of another journey, together.

It was a very special day.

27th of December 2007. It would be 3 day before our 10th anniversary.

It had been an emotional and stressful preparation, but it all paid off.

Six months of searching and planning, eventually everything came into places accordingly, thank god.

We arrived Nadi, Fiji on the 25th of December from Sydney, and we began our stay at Musket Cove Island Resort located on Malolo Lailai Island.

She might know something was going to happen, but I was confident that, as long as everything happened accordingly, it would be a big surprise for her. I mean, a huge surprise.

I was meant to meet up Gloria on my day of arrival, but she was busy whole day for someone else’s wedding. It really stressed me out a lot not able to discuss things in details with her on the first day. Even more stressful, I had to act normal all along.

27th of December 2007. I was supposed to bring her for dinner at the jetty. Weather was good, thank god again. We were both not too lethargic after a day of activities. As planned, we arrived the jetty around quarter to six. After some photo shooting, we sat down and were served by the lovely staffs for drinks and soups. We brought our buffet dinner from the serving area back to the jetty. It was a lovely evening. The jetty was well decorated and we were all alone there. Singings of the Fijian performers at the restaurant were soothing.

We took lots more shoots at the jetty. Wind was blowing in rhythms.

But it started raining. Oh god, it stressed me out even further! Why now!

Thank god, he must had realized he fooled me enough, he decided to just have a short and light shower over this wonderful island.

A staff came over and invited us to the evening Fijian traditional dance for tonight’s theme - ‘Pig on the Spit’. It was supposed to happen at the beach but due to the rain, the venue was changed to the lounge of the restaurant. Its the Dick’s Place.

We sat at the second row among the crowd. I saw Gloria. I knew she was wishing me luck. And acting normal had been my skill of the day. She did not seem to suspect anything. Not anymore at least, as there was nothing happening during our romantic dinner at the jetty. It was all part of the plan.

She enjoyed the show, of course with my added humor during it. Before the end of the show we even joined the last dance with the performers and the crowd. It was awesome.

We were invited back to our seats. The dancers came back to the stage and announced that the dance had finished. “But tonight was a special night”, said the lead performer, “We are going to end tonight differently, a way we have never done before.”

The lead performer invited ‘this lady in the pink dress’ to the stage. She was wearing a gorgeous pink dress with pearl necklace and pinkish flower hair clip. She was absolutely stunning.

While she was walking to the front with her back facing me, I was handed the bunch of flowers by Gloria. I was nervous. Very nervous, but the excitement was intense. I quickly pulled out the cute blue box, within sitting my shinny engagement ring from the tri-port carrying bag. I walked to the side and hide behind a Christmas tree.

The dancer showed her the banner with words as such:

“Fui Yin, Will You Marry Me?”

I walked towards her with the flowers, ring, and my sincerity.

I kneeled down and handed her the flowers, pulling the strings off the box and revealing the sparkling diamond ring within.

I saw her expression. I caught her this time. She was completely surprised. She was very happy, I could feel it.

I asked her: “Will you marry me?”.

She was speechless. The crowd went frenzy. All I could hear was applause and “Oh My God!”.

She waited awhile, and she nodded, with a big smile.

It was one of the best day in my life.

I stood up and kissed her on the lips. Everyone clapped again, this time with cheers.

We could feel the warmness from the crowd. They were part of this whole thing, they actually infused me with some ‘no turning back’ power. I felt, somehow, that I owed them something.

We were both heavily greeted by different guests from the resort. They all wished us forever lasting marriage and congratulated us.

Gloria stepped forward and congratulated us too. No hesitation, I hugged her. Without her, this would not have happened. She helped me so much in the planning. The once in a life time planning. She even gave us a complimentary Champagne!

Despite the very minor hiccups, everything was a success.

But my success in life is, I have Fui Yin as my most beloved future wife.

I love you, Fui Yin. And I will love you for the rest of my life.