Chapter 22: Birthday Surprise
Mei couldn’t believe that it was her birthday again. Time seemed to fly by faster as she got older. She remembered a long time ago someone told her that girls are like Christmas trees that their marketability and values dramatically reduces after the number 25. Now just the thought of that made her laugh, guess she’s way past that age now.
She was going to take the day off, but Roy told her that they would have a birthday party for her at work and the cake had already been ordered. She didn’t like to disappoint people, plus Jesse had given her a 4 hours leave so it would not be too bad to go in. Things had been slow around office; they have submitted the CMCS proposal and were just waiting on the result. Surprisingly Mr. Carson had been a lot more relaxed recently despite the fact that they lost the ARS contract and his attitude boosted everyone’s confidence in winning CMCS that Mei thought the birthday party was almost people’s excuse for an early celebration.
Dan said he had a surprise for her as well. She guessed he would probably take her to a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant. Dan was a very romantic guy and always tried to go extra miles to make her smile. She had been talking about the newly opened “Four Season’s Grill” in the nearby shopping center and was secretly hoping that was where they were going tonight.
Mei never liked to wear makeup, not even lipstick. The only times in a year where she made an exception were holiday parties and special events; and birthday is definitely categorized as a special event. Before heading to work, with the help of a little foundation, eye shadows and lipstick, she made sure the girl in the mirror looked beautiful and younger looking than ever before.
Thanksgiving was right around the corner. The holiday season was always the hardest time for single people, especially those like her with no family around. On her way drive to work, Mei saw a lot of trees had lost all their leaves, leaving empty branches poking out like witches hands, and bringing out a depressed and sad feeling from deep within.
Mei was a little earlier than normal, and decided to enjoy her coffee in the car for a little while. The temperature was around 50 degrees, warmer than usual, and it was really nice to just sit in the empty parking lot and make her birthday wish when no one’s around.
Adele’s “Someone Like You” was playing softly on the radio. Mei crossed her fingers and closed her eyes, she usually only makes one wish on her birthdays and this time was no exception. The wishes were always about her wildest dream at the time; and throughout the years some did come true like the one on her 16th birthday that she asked to be able to come to US one day; but most just became a whisper in the wind. Mei never cared much about the outcome of her wishes; she saw this as her only opportunity in the year to be a dreamer, almost like Scott.
“Good morning.” She almost jumped at the sudden greeting and opened her eyes to see Jesse standing next to her car with a brief case in hand. He’s wearing a light grey suit, with a patterned purple tie. Mei had never thought those colors would go together but now seeing them on Jesse completely changed her mind. He must just get here; Mei almost forgot that he usually arrived work earlier than everyone else.
“Morning,” Mei smiled back and quickly sensed the awkwardness between them had not decreased just for a tiny bit.
“I wanted to let you know that IRS wanted an in-person presentation for CMCS. You and I will need to leave for DC tomorrow afternoon; the meeting is scheduled for Friday at 3pm in the IRS headquarters.” Jesse didn’t leave any time for chit chat and went directly to business.
“Oh Great! Mr. Carson’s going to be really glad to hear that.” She grabbed her stuff and got out of the car to follow Jesse inside. From the back she was able to really look at him without making either of them uncomfortable. Not being able to talk about what happened that night and all his cold treatments suddenly overwhelmed her with sadness. She felt there is nothing she wanted more right now than for things to go back to when they still talked like friends.
They walked in silence all the way to the elevator, as it rose up to the top floor right before the door opened; Jesse turned to Mei and said with a slight smile: “Mei, Happy Birthday. You look beautiful today.” Then he got out as quickly as he could, almost as if escaping from danger and left Mei standing there speechless, almost in tears.
Roy and others really did a good job decorating the conference room. There was a “Happy Birthday” banner hanging from the ceiling and balloons tied in the back of each chair. A nice looking birthday cake from one of the whole sale places was sitting in the center of the square conference table with a couple of lighted candles on top. Around the cake there are bags of chips, a veggie tray, and a bowl of mixed fruits. The utensils, plates and drink were neatly placed over on the other side.
“Two candles for forever 20.” Cindy pulled Mei up to the table right in front of the cake and led people to start on the birthday song “Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…” Mei looked around these familiar faces and noticed Jesse was standing behind the crowd, singing along with everyone.
Filled with appreciation, Mei leaned over and blew out the candles. People clapped and cheered as their favorite team just won the super bowl. “Thank you all, you guys are great!” Mei smiled, “I wouldn’t mind getting older if I could have a birthday party like this every year!”
“Wait, that’s not all. Now you got to sit down and close your eyes for the present.” Roy and Cindy, the master minds behind the party, shushed the crowd like they have something big to reveal.
Mei closed her eyes as directed and wondered whether Jesse was in on the present too. Then the room suddenly became really quiet, and she heard footsteps of someone walking and finally stopped in front of her.
“Happy Birthday, Mei.” She was surprised at the sound and opened her eyes to see Dan standing right before her with a big bouquet of red roses in hand.
“Dan?” She was truly shocked and wasn’t sure whether this was the surprise Dan talked about. Before she could ask, she saw Dan knelt down before her, and pulled a little black box out from his pocket. Mei suddenly felt dizzy.
“Mei, I hope you know how much I care about you, and love you. You are the one that I have been looking for all these years…”Dan’s voice almost choked in the middle, he stopped for a second, opened the box to reveal a simple yet elegant diamond ring, “Mei, will you marry me?”
The room was so quiet to hear a pin drop; everyone’s eyes were on Mei now. Mei wanted to say something, but felt her throat was dryer than ever. She had an urge to look up and find someone’s face in the crowd for approval, but she knew she couldn’t. She closed her eyes to gather her thoughts, and after a few second, opened them again, looked back to Dan, and said “Yes.”
The room then once again was filled with cheers and hugs and congratulations. Out of the corner of her eye, Mei saw her golden boy quietly walk out without anyone noticing and she felt tears covered her face.
