After a full lunch, they went to see a movie in a nearby cinema. Simon had bought tickets in advance and they had the best seats in the house. Thank You For Smoking was a comedy--- not really a typical choice for a dateaversary, but then since when were they the typical type? They enjoyed themselves and that was what mattered.

They passed by Starbucks when they left the cinema and bought coffees, strolling leisurely around Toronto. They didn't talk much, but no words were necessary. The other's company was enough. A cool autumn breeze was blowing, ruffling Martina's hair and swirling leaves around them, but their coffees--- and each other--- kept them warm.

The ring on Martina's pinky finger glinted under the cold sun. Simon had a matching one on his pinky finger. They had bought them two months into their relationship, knowing that they would be together forever.

"You know what?" Simon said all of a sudden, breaking the silence. "Let's go back to the place we first met."

"Good idea," agreed Martina, draining the last of her coffee and dumping it into a rubbish bin nearby. They had walked quite far and as it would be stupid to walk all the way back to the university, they flagged down a cab.

"Hey, remember that time we broke the couch?" Martina suddenly asked. Simon snickered.

"I can never forget that," he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Wanna do it again?" His hand s around Martina's waist and tickled her below the ribs. She jumped, shrieking, and instantly took revenge, ticking him in return.

They had been together for a few months already when that incident happened. They were keeping their relationship a secret, so as not to make things awkward among their friends.

That particular incident happened at a friend's place. Everyone had gone downstairs for some food except Simon and Martina, and they had a tickling fight on the couch, but they made no sound so that the others couldn't hear them.

All of a sudden, the couch practically exploded. On closer inspection one of the legs had snapped off, probably because of the extra weight and shaking. Panicking, they wedged the leg upright, barely supporting the couch, and sat somewhere else and pretended to read.

When their friends came back in, they leaped onto the couch and it promptly collapsed again, causing shrieks and screams and laughter while Simon and Martina feigned shock and laughed their heads off.

"Save it for the bedroom, would you," the cab driver said dryly at the next stop light. They stopped, embarrassed, and sat all prim and proper on the backseat.

Simon's phone rang and he answered it. He frowned.

"Hello? Who? Wrong number," he said flatly, and hung up.

"She's asking for someone named Trajan," he told Martina. "Wrong number, but that's a pretty cool name."

"Oh."

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the New College of the University of Toronto. They walked down to the dingy basement to see the door of that very classroom shut.

"Is there a class going on?" Simon wondered. Martina knocked on the door and no one answered.

"It's empty," she said happily. She pushed open the door and stopped dead in shock.

The classroom had been transformed, with candles flickering softly and rose petals and poetry on pieces of old paper scattered around the room. On the chalkboard was a handwritten poem, I Wish I Could Remember That First Day, by Christina Rossetti:

"I wish I could remember that first day,

     First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

     If bright or dim the season, it might be

Summer or Winter for aught I can say;

So unrecorded did it slip away,

     So blind was I to see and to foresee,

     So dull to mark the budding of my tree

That would not blossom yet for many a May.

If only I could recollect it, such

    A day of days! I let it come and go

    As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;

It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;

If only now I could recall that touch,

    First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!"

Simon told Martina to sit down, who was still in shock. He got down on one knee. What was this? Was she being surprised, for the first time of her life? Was this how it felt? She suddenly recalled what Simon said earlier that day, when she told him no one could ever surprise her--- "I'm gonna be the first, just you wait"--- did he mean this?

"When we first met, I called you Martina," he said solemnly, taking her hands and gazing intensely into her eyes. "Then I called you Sunshine, then I called you Snuggleduck. And now, I'm hoping to call you my wife." Out of nowhere, he whipped out a tiny blue box wrapped in chocolate brown ribbon, and inside was a gorgeous engagement ring.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*sobbing hideously because this is so beautiful*