“I like it,” she said in the utmost chirpy tone she could muster and threw her arms around him, staring warily at the birthday gift in her hand.

 

“No, you don’t.”

 

She held the bouquet to her chest tightly like a young child would do with their teddy bear.if someone wanted to take it away. “I really really like it!”

 

“Do you absolutely hate all romantic gestures?” Amber caught the flash of disappointment in his eyes before he put up a strained smile.

 

“Well, I didn’t quite expect a bouquet of chocolates," she admitted in a meek voice. “Sorry.”

 

“Nah, your boyfriend of five years should know better, eh?” He pecked her cheek with an arm slung over her shoulders and guided them down the street. "But there’s something that you’d have to keep in mind when eating the chocolates.”

 

“There are 30 chocolates, and you’re only allowed one per day, starting from today.” She gave him a sceptical look and he clamped her nose between his fingers, drawing nasally protests from her. “Did you hear what I say, Pigber?”

 

Amber snorted at his odd request and followed his silly instructions, plucking a gold wrapped chocolate that was the size of a golf ball. “Do you want me to choke on these?” Her chuckle died when something inside the wrapper caught her attention.

 

“Stalking?” She read the word and turned to him quizzically. “What’s this?” He shrugged and walked ahead of her while she trailed behind, studying the bouquet in her hands.

 

“That’s for you to find out. Remember, a chocolate a day," he sang.

 

That was enough to intrigue her and she couldn’t wait for each day to end. She would anxiously stay awake every night and attack the next chocolate stalk when midnight came. Not only does she greedily yearn for the delicious chocolates, she also had to endure the impulse of tearing up the remaining chocolates for the sake of satisfying her curiosity.

 

“Be with bear, stalking you at meeting spot?” Amber muttered. The gold wrappers were laid out before her as she took another bite of the day’s chocolate ration. “Stalking bear be with you at meeting spot?” She frowned. “Be with you at meeting spot, bear stalking?” She let out a yell of frustration and gathered the wrappers in a box for safe keeping.

 

She was annoyed of having to crack her brain daily and left the wrappers to accumulate. After the last chocolate was consumed, she spread out the wrappers and bit her lip in concentration as she mentally sorted the words. It didn’t take her long to make sense of the jumbled words and her jaw slacked when the message hit her.

 

With shaking hands she rearranged the words on her bed and gasped when the last word completed the message.  She glanced at the clock on the wall whose hour hand was pointed at one, and reread the message.

 

“Are you planning to camp here for the night?”

 

Henry looked up from fixing his tent and grinned, spreading his arms around him. “Why not? The park’s a pretty cool place to be.”

 

“It is, literally. Must I remind you that it’s nearing winter, and you may or may not freeze to your death, young man?” Amber tugged her jacket tighter around her body.

 

He ped the tent and beckoned for her to crawl in. “So what’s the occasion?” she asked.

 

“Well, I posed a question to my girlfriend and she’s supposed to give me an answer today.” He turned up the portable heater and pulled out a flask from his bag. “I don’t know when she’ll be here so I thought, why not camp and wait for her to turn up.”

 

“Ah, your girlfriend must be spoilt rotten by you, Mr..?”

 

Henry snorted at her acting, and handed her a cup of hot cocoa. “Lau.”

 

“Pardon my rudeness, but what if she doesn’t show up, Mr. Lau?”

 

He looked down at his drink, and sighed exaggeratedly. “She’d miss the best fish there is in this expansive sea.” He secretly smiled at the stack of wrappers held tightly in her fist. “What are those that you’re holding?”

 

“Oh, these?” Amber dropped the wrappers between them. “My boyfriend gave me these. Here, let me arrange it for you.”

 

“Be my wife? If yes, I’ll be waiting where we first met. If no? Well, you’ll just have to bear with me stalking you for the rest of your life.”  She finished and turned to him. “This is the place where we first met five years ago. Maybe I’m early, but by chance, did you see a man loitering around the park?”

 

“Wait, you may have dismissed him as an apparition under the moonlight because he has this ghostly white milky skin.” Henry pursed his lips in response to her description of him.

 

“No, I haven’t seen a dude like that around," he said dryly.

 

“Oh well, if you do, please convey this to him.” The wrappers crinkled under her as she closed the distance between them. Henry’s hand s around her waist, bringing her closer just as her lips brushed pass his cheek, her warm breath tickling his ear.

 

“I’m a er for well-planned romantic gestures. Like this one, which just landed him a wife.”