February 15, 2012

My dearest,

It’s Valentine’s Day. Just another day. That’s what we say.

I drop you off at your office. You have a busy day ahead, a two-hour meeting in the morning, another one with the Thai client after lunch. I pick up our friends from Taipei at the hotel and take them out for breakfast. The sun is so bright today, barely any clouds in the sky. The table at the café is aglow as our friends read off the menu on the wall and decide. I wish you were here, right now, enjoying our scrambled eggs, toast and bacon.

The day passes. Driving. Meetings. Starbucks. More coffee.

Six p.m. You walk over to the mall from your office. We decide against driving home and having udon as we discussed earlier; easier to hit the food court and get a hot meal now – some nourishing soup, rice vegetables and meat. We eat slowly and share our day – awful clients, precious friends, what we had for lunch.

After dinner, we pass by the video store and you can’t help but stop to watch the TV screens for the next half hour. “What was it,” I ask later, “Final Fantasy?”

“It’s Tekken,” you say.

“What’s the difference?”

“Final Fantasy’s a video game. Tekken’s more arcade.”

And so it is. I can’t tell the difference, really. But it’s cute how much you enjoyed that movie, that game. We pay the parking ticket and get into our car. I drive us home, avoiding your pinches as I make fun of you. Finally your hand fall upon my leg and settle there. It’s comforting.

It’s Valentine’s Day. We have no chocolates, no wine, no roses. We have each other and our day and our night. And what could be sweeter?

I am so glad I have someone like you, and so grateful.

Yours, ever and always.