12 July 2000, Wednesday

It was 12 Jul 2000. It was a hot day like all other July days. The fan was on and the teacher was droning on and on in front of the class. But she could not concentrate. Her mind was already on the afternoon's activity and it was making her so nervous that her palms were sweating.

"What if it turns out to be boring?"
"What if he doesn't like me?"
"What if we can't communicate?"

Finally, the school bell rang. She walked out of the school with Xia Pei Pei, Marg and JY. She was supposed to meet him at Marg and JY's bus-stop, so they bade pei pei gd bye. Her friends wished her luck and told her words of encouragements. But she just could not stop her heart from thumping so hard. Like she was about to have a heart attack.

She waited, but he didn't show up. Though Marg and JY tried to comfort her, she was too nervous to hear them.... till finally!! she saw him running down the bridge. He had gone to the wrong bus-stop and ran into Pei Pei, who had guided him here.

They watched "Big Mama's House" at P.S. She shared straws with a guy for the first time. He paid for everything and she tried to push a $10 note into his hands but failed. They hung out (with her constantly trying to return him the $10 note) till 5.15pm before heading home.

She suddenly knew how to 'make' him hold her hands! But he was folding them. So she made lots of crappy comments like "It's rude to fold ur arms that way" etc. But still failed. Meanwhile, the poor $10 note was passed among them, but still ended back with her somehow.

They boarded the bus but continued to wrestled with the $10 note (well, when u are a poor student, $10 is a big deal I guess. haha) till by 'accident', she grabbed his hand and stuffed the $10 note inside.

And time seemed to stop as his fingers gently closed around hers.
"There's a note in between," she said weakly, trying to make things funny and less awkward. He took the note out and the 'wrestling' continued. But his hands still held hers strongly and firmly. "I'm going to hold your hand till you reach home," he told her.

And he did. And we have been holding hands for 6 years, 11 months and 26 days now.