November 13, 2015

Since that Christmas, Claire and I became lovers; girlfriends to be specific.

For the whole two years I attended the university, we were able to hide our relationship from everyone. The only people who knew were my friends, and that blasted instructor Chevalier who was Claire’s cousin. I felt stupid being jealous over her cousin, but in my defense, she didn’t tell me he was her cousin.

Every occasion, especially Christmas – our anniversary – we celebrate it together. That is until I graduated and she was called back by her family in France. It was heartbreaking when she left but we kept our relationship and so far, both of us were happy with each other despite the distance.

Long distance relationship was indeed hard but with modern technology, it was at least bearable. And since I was already a webpage developer at a well-known company, I was able to save up every year and buy tickets so that I can spend Christmas and our anniversaries with her.

My lips curved up into a smile as I continued eating my dinner. The memory about the roller-coaster experience I had with Claire can really make me smile at how stupidly dense I was before. She told me that she fell for me the moment I introduced myself – in a snarky manner – and made her frustrated a few times when I didn’t attend her classes. I laughed at such memory.

My reminiscing was put on hold when mom stepped in the dining area and sat on the chair adjacent to mine. She has a smile on her face that I know very well. A smile that means that Claire said something embarrassing about me once again.

Ignoring my mom, I wolfed down the remaining food on my plate and hoped I could run back to my room and continue my call with Claire. And importantly, avoid any conversation with my mom.

“So… I had a lovely chat with Claire.”

I groaned loudly. I curse and bless the day that Claire won over my parents’ affection. “Let me guess. She wants you to make sure I don’t take more than two cups of coffee per day?” a hit or miss speculation.

“Oh dear, even if I say that to you, you won’t even listen.” I nodded. I guess I missed. “No, not that coffee addiction of yours but more of your future with her. You two have been together for almost five years and she’s not getting any younger.”

I stopped eating. ‘Future with Claire? What future?’

“When are you planning on settling down? I want some grandkids and I don’t even care if you decide to live in France.”

Oh! THAT future. I showed my mom a confident grin. “Mom, don’t worry. When I come back from France, Claire won’t be turning twenty-eight without a ring on her finger. I already planned it out really. This coming Christmas, our fifth anniversary, I will propose to her. I already have the ring back in my room as proof,” I informed my mom. Indeed that there’s a ring hidden within my room and has been kept hidden for six months now.

My mom smiled widely. “Perfect! Now, she said that she’ll go around Paris for a while and she’ll call you around nine her time.”

Nodding, I calculated the time I need to wake up. “Around four in the morning. Sure, I’ll set my alarm.” I told my mom.

After our talk, my mom practically suggested different wedding plans and even proposal gimmicks, I marched back to my room, sent my beloved a message about me hitting the sack, and decided to call it a night.

November 14, 2015. 4:20AM

My phone rang loudly, waking me up. Slowly, I looked at it and saw Claire’s photo on my screen. My darling’s calling me via skype. Accepting the video call, my girlfriend’s – soon to be fiancée – face appeared in the screen and I saw her beautiful sunny smile.

“Bonjour ma chérie! Took you a while to anzwer.” She greeted me happily.

I showed her a sheepish grin. “Good evening to your side of the world, darling. Sorry, I guess I was too sleepy. So, how’s your day?” I asked with a yawn. I listened to her tell me how her day went and what she did in Paris. She told me that she was shopping to find gifts she would be giving for Christmas, early to avoid the Christmas rush, and felt hungry along the way.

“Now I’m in front of La Belle Equipe bar, waiting for my maman. Zhe zaid zhe’ll be joining me for dinner. Oh and zhe zayz ‘hi’ too.”

Claire’s mom, her whole family to be accurate, knew about my relationship with her daughter and already gave us her blessing. “That’s great darling! So, what time will auntie be there?”

“Around quarter to ten.”

“Aww poor Frenchwoman, alone in the streets of Paris while waiting for her mom,” I teased her. She stuck out her tongue and I laughed at how cute she looked like. “Sorry. So, wanna play a game while waiting for auntie?” She nodded and told me I should go first. I nodded and thought of the perfect line for my darling to guess.

“’I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck.’”

Claire laughed. “Pleaze chérie, ‘zat iz eazy. Pat from Zilver Liningz Playbook,” she answered confidently and I just shook my head in defeat. “Ha! I am good at ‘ziz, chérie. Now my turn.” She smirks at me as if she knows I won’t be able to guess what she will say. “‘Why ‘zink zeparately of ‘ziz life ‘zan ‘ze next, when one iz born from the lazt? Time iz alwayz too zhort for ‘zoze who need it, but for ‘zoze who love, it laztz forever.’”

The line was not familiar to me. I racked my brain for the answer but no avail. I was about to tell her that I don’t know the answer when I heard several sounds resembling a firecracker and people screaming in panic.

The thoughts of the movie line forgotten, I asked Claire what was happening. I can see people running frantically and as I called out to my beloved, she was swept along with the people running wildly. The firecracker-like sounds continued and then the screen went blank.

“Claire!” I tried calling her Skype account again but no answer. I called her number again and again, but she didn’t pick up. I panicked.

Checking the time, I noticed that it was already four thirty-three in the morning; nine thirty-three in Paris.

Claire did not contact me since then.