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“Ding Dong!” The doorbell rang. Mao grumbled as she reluctantly pulled herself up to answer the door. It was a Sunday morning and she wanted to sleep. She had been studying hard for weeks to prepare for her major examinations.

“Who is that irritating person? It is a Sunday morning, for goodness sake!” Mao cannot be bothered to even look through the peephole and opened the door.

Standing in front was a young man with a red cap; he was wearing black pants and shirt, with a red jacket. With a brilliant smile on his face, and his eyes sparkling with childlike excitement, he was someone who Mao thought was quite cute but not her type.

“Good morning, Miss Mao. Here is a parcel for you. Please kindly sign here.” The postman’s voice was sweet. Mao signed and took the parcel.

“You don’t look like a postman.” Mao commented. She was one who had to speak her mind. She was not one who could keep silent.

“A potential rapper!” Her boyfriend would always as she ranted on about her life.

“I know. I am not a postman. Have a great day!” The postman replied quirkily, winking at Mao, before he turned and left.

“What?” Mao’s mind was not functioning effectively since she seriously wanted to sleep. However, she ignored the smart student in her and refused to analyze the weird postman and his reply.

She then shook the parcel in her hands. It was a typical brown rectangular parcel, and strangely, there was no stamp on it. Basically, on it was just Mao’s full name.

Inoue Mao

Tearing the parcel, in it, there was a small soft toy, the size of the palm. It was Disney’s Tigger. She smiled. This was her favourite character. In the parcel, there was another Hallmark card, with the adorable bear holding coloured balloons as its cover page.

“Miss Mao,

Today is a beautiful Sunday. You may want to scold and even hit me for disrupting your sleep. However, your kind and handsome boyfriend had managed to convince his manager to give him a short little break. You may want to meet your fabulous boyfriend at Love’s Peak Park at 1pm, after your lunch. Your boyfriend has lunch plans with friends and he apologizes for not being able to have lunch with you. However, dinner is on him though.

With much love

Matsumoto Jun

P:S: I know you love me too!”

“Right, Matsumoto Jun! What a wonderful surprise!” Mao’s lips curved upwards into a lovely smile as she thought of her boyfriend. He was a successful artiste now, known for his charms, natural acting skills and well-defined looks. They had been going out for months. Mao worked as a publicity officer and had to take charge of Jun’s promotions. As they worked together, sparks flew and they became a couple. However, they had to keep their relationship low-profile. That was no big deal for them since they worked under the same company, they would see each other easily inside the company.

Jun had won her heart easily with a simple song that he had written for her. His voice melted her heart and his smile simply knocked her out. Not that Mao had minded being won over so easily.

Their relationship was going strong but sometimes Mao felt worried since Jun was charming and being in the media industry there was always more than enough pretty girls.

However, Jun had never failed her, messaging and calling her daily despite his busy schedules. Though they might not be able to go out on proper dates, Mao was contented, though deep in her heart; she still yearned for proper dates like ordinary couples on the streets, fooling around merrily.

Soon, it was 1pm and Mao strolled along Love’ Peak Park, searching for Jun, who should be clad in dark clothing with sunglasses and a cap to hide his face.

She was walking to the pavilion at the heart of the park. This was where Jun had confessed to her, with his guitar, voice and smile. Jun was not there, though. Mao checked her watch. It was 1.20pm.

The wind blew and she used her fingers to comb her long hair. Her eyes were on the crashing waves, appreciating the beauty of nature, until she felt a tug at the bottom of her shirt. A little boy was standing there, with a pink balloon in the shape of a heart.

“Are you Sister Mao? A big brother asked me to pass this to you.” The little boy mumbled and passed the pink balloon to Mao. Afterwards, he just ran off, without giving Mao a chance to inquire for details.

Tied to the balloon was a scroll of paper.

“Miss Mao,

I am sure you remember this lovely place where it all started. Now you have a choice. Either proceed to the playground or the one and only bottle tree in this park. Your boyfriend is playing hard to get, just play along with him. Actually, you have to, or you will regret.

Love

Jun”

“What game are you trying to play, Jun?” Mao decided to go to the bottle tree. Under the bottle tree, people were having a drawing competition. Jane scanned the area but once again there was no sight of Jun.

“Weird.” Mao mumbled and accidentally a man bumped onto her. He reminded her of the postman earlier.

“Sorry sorry,” the man apologized in a melodic voice and hurried away.

“Hey, wait! Your drawing!” Mao picked up the sketchbook and wanted to return it to the man. Then something caught her attention. There was a pink ribbon twisted into the shape of a butterfly, on the top right hand corner of the black sketchbook. That was what she had taught Jun to fold before.

She opened the sketchbook and gasped. On the pages in the sketchbook, there were snapshots of her doing work, smiling, pouting…

“Jun…” Mao was moved to tears. She wondered what the occasion was. Today was not her birthday, or his, or their anniversary.

A post-it note was at the final page.

“Riddle 1: the place where kids play.

Riddle 2: the place where it all started for us”

Mao knew where she was heading towards now.

The playground.

Mao scrutinized the playground. Though she was deeply
moved by Jun’s acts, she was getting scared. She had no idea what Jun had up his sleeves. The children at the playground ran around, shouting and chasing each other.

Some were on the swings, others were climbing up and sliding down the slides. Mothers were chatting while watching over their children.

“Oh my god!”

“Balloons!”

“So colourful!”

Mao turned to see what caused the sudden commotion.

Tilting her head upwards, there were surely more than fifty balloons up in the air. Red, yellow, orange… The colours of the rainbow.

“Beautiful.” Mao let out a gasp.

“Just like you,” a familiar and sweet voice rang beside her ears.

Turning her head, she saw the man she loved right behind her, “Jun.”

Jun gave a dazzling smile and hugged her from behind. “Like this surprise? Is it creative enough?”

Mao nodded her head, thinking to herself that her words previously must have hurt him bad. Mao then gave a gentle small smile, “but it is kind of tiring. So many places…”

Jun blinked and chuckled, “You are just being lazy. Seriously, there are only three places to go to.”

Mao shifted her attention to Jun, thinking in her mind, “True, there were only three places.” Her lips formed a pout. Jun upon seeing that laughed heartily.

Mao hit him gently and rolled her eyes. “Is it that funny?”

Jun nodded his head and pacified, “Don't be angry. I hope that this little creative surprise makes you smile. That is my main aim. I just want to make you happy. I know I have been quoting those useless love books and quotes. I know you do not mean to hurt me with those words in any way. I do realize that you love me for being me and you just want me to behave more like myself and be more comfortable.”

Jun paused and looked endearingly at Mao in her eyes. “There is a reason why I am doing this. Let’s get engaged and publicize our relationship.”

Jun took out a shining diamond ring.

Mao stared hard at Jun. Jun gave a loving smile. “I talked to my manager and she agreed to it. She said that she would understand since she is a female as well. She will work with you to strategize how to publicize with the
lowest risk.”

“Jun…” Mao hugged him tightly. She was moved beyond words.

“Hey, baby girl! This is not supposed to be your reaction! How about a kiss and are you going to wear the ring?” Jun broke the embrace.

Mao glared at Jun. “You……!”

She did not get to finish what she had to say as Jun smoothly and quickly slipped the ring onto her finger and pressed his lips upon hers. After a few moments, they pulled apart.

“I have something to confess though. I really can’t get any more creative. I guess you have to accept me quoting others or I will express myself using weird analogies which are not easy to comprehend. So due to my lack of creativity just like any other flawed cup, I asked my manager for help. She planned this surprise. She said she knew girls.” Jun chortled.

Mao laughed heartily and gently smacked Jun’s chest. “You know you don’t have to mention a flawed cup, it is a redundant analogy.”

Jun pretended that he was very hurt by Mao’s words. His actions just earned him another few more smacks from Mao.

Mao then continued genuinely, “And, I accept your quotes and surrender to you and the sad reality that my dearest boyfriend just isn’t creative. But, I just want you to know that you are still my precious boyfriend even if you lack creativity. You are really very sweet to me and you are willing to ask for help just to make me happy. Jun, this is more than enough to me. Really.”

Tears glistened in Mao’s eyes. Jun hugged Mao even more tightly.

“Oh! There was this cute guy who acted as the postman and even bumped onto me on purpose.” Mao mentioned. “Who is he then?”

Jun grinned.

“He is attached to my manager. Together, they are the super inquisitive couple, who loves to play Cupid and mediator. I will introduce you to them next time. They are fun!” Jun smiled and thanked silently for their help.

“Right now, let’s enjoy our time together.” Jun held Mao’s hands tightly, not wanting to let go.

Mao smiled blissfully as she laid her head against his shoulder.

The balloons had flown right up into the sky and were no longer visible.

“I love you, Mao.”

“I love you, Jun.”

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