Note: I was supposed to write my own version of this story but since I still have a lot of things to write and Gen had written this article very well, I have decided to post it in this blog (with her permission of course). I hope you'll enjoy reading this :)
It came as a surprise for most of us that my housemate and close friend Minnie will be going back to the Philippines. She came back from her 2 weeks vacation with the news, “I’m leaving”. It was a shock for most of us who knew her. It was a hard decision to make but nevertheless we understood that it’s for her son, Kyle. Though we are saddened that we won’t be able to see her anymore in a few more days, we decided to give her one last surprise, an unexpected despedida. Anai and I thought that it’s the best memory we could give her. We don’t want her to remember tearful goodbyes but fun moments with her closest friends.
It was Anai who brought up the idea of giving her a surprise despedida. It would be an intimate dinner with only a few invites. We wanted it to be among us since we know Minnie is always at her best ‘behavior’ when the people around her know her crazy antics. That being the idea, Anai and I thought of the 3 important questions when it comes to planning events: When, Where, How.
When…
Since Minnie will be leaving on the 9th (I am referring to her flight), the only dates that we can squeeze this dinner in is on a weekend. Added to this is that Anai and Jeng are both on night support. We thought of having it on a Friday or a Saturday but it was also the weekend of the PC Fair. So… the perfect choice was Sunday night, Aug 5. The time we chose was around 8 pm.
Where…
Okay… for this Anai and I kinda made a bias decision to pick California Pizza Kitchen. I told Anai that I wanted to try CPK KL since many people are saying that I should. Both of us are fans of CPK in Manila and since we haven’t tried it here in Malaysia, it was the perfect choice and venue for Minnie’s surprise.
How….
This is the difficult part. How to make it into a surprise. What Anai and I did initially was to choose the list of people to invite. We wanted it to be intimate so we’re inviting only Minnie’s closest friends. We sent the email to check with them if they are available on the Sunday. Most of the people we invited agreed. Some were not able to go because of prior commitments but majority said yes.
Then we thought of a way on how we are supposed to bring Minnie in KLCC without her ever suspecting that something’s up. And the solution came from Jeng. She suggested that we let Paul invite Minnie. (Btw, we’ve been teasing Paul and Minnie for ages… you get the picture?). With that in mind, Anai asked Paul if he can ask Minnie out to dinner on Sunday night. This is the perfect surprise since Minnie won’t have any clue that Paul is in cohorts with us.
The planning started on a Monday. By Wednesday, Paul still hasn’t invited Minnie yet. We are not worried though since we still have ample time before Sunday. Unfortunately, that night, the owners of our condo unit informed Minnie that they want to give her a despedida on Friday night. They will be the one to shoulder the food. They even suggested to just buy some pizza, KFC and a couple of beers. Minnie had no choice but to agree. So she invited some friends from work (the same group of people that we also invited for CPK). A lot of them got confused that this is the same party, we had to send out another email that this is different from Sunday.
Friday, Paul still has not asked Minnie out. By this time, Anai and I are already thinking of Plan B. But we’re still not losing hope that Paul would be our knight in shining armor. What we did was I asked the help of my ‘itay’ Onin (Paul’s friend) to give Paul a little nudge. And true to his word, Onin helped us out by telling Paul to hurry it up and ask Minnie out. He even said that Anai’s already frustrated with him. Obviously the little push worked because the message that Anai and I were both waiting for finally came around 3:04 PM: I HAVE A DATE!
So we’re all set for Sunday night. Unfortunately, come Sunday it was I who had a problem. I stayed at home for the rest of the afternoon hoping to get some shut eye before our big surprise. But Minnie had other plans for me. She wanted me to watch Silent Hill on DVD instead of taking a nap. (darn woman! she didn’t want me to sleep because she’d have no one to talk to) After the movie, I had to cook our lunch the following day. Then by 5 PM, Anai was already sending me text messages that we’ll be meeting at Asia Jaya at around 6:30. But I can’t make a single move because I can’t think of any excuse that will not make Minnie suspect anything.
By 6 PM, I made some feable excuse that I’m going to meet up with Anai and that we’d go to Midvalley. I took a shower, got dressed and I put on my contact lens, which I don’t usually use during the weekends (Minnie should have noticed this… thank God she didn’t. haha!) I got out of my room and found Minnie in the living room wearing white shorts. I should’ve panicked since I wanted her to wear something nice for the occasion. Good thing though the blouse that she was wearing was a little sexy so it would do.
The BIG problem came when she said that she’ll be leaving with me to go to Asia Jaya station because Anai and I will be meeting there. (Btw, KLCC is a 30 min train ride from Asia Jaya Station) I panicked so I texted Anai that Minnie will be coming with me. Anai called me up and I told her that I’ll just wait at the taxi stand. After Minnie and I parted at the corner before the station, Anai came carrying Rey’s Karavision. Haha! Now there’s our excuse! Our plan now was to tell Minnie, who by now is waiting at the platform, that we are going to KL Sentral to meet up with Rey. Good thing too that Paul hasn’t arrived yet by the time the next train arrived. Once the train doors opened, off we go to KLCC. And mind you, this is the only time we were able to breathe easily.
By 9 PM, all of the invited guests showed up and we were all just waiting for Paul and Minnie to arrive. When they came walking through the side corridor, it was funny because Minnie didn’t see us at all. She was really shocked that we cooked up a surprise for her. And that all her close friends were there. The night turned out as we expected it to be: full of laughs, very intimate, a little drama, lots of revelations… but overall… a night never to be forgotten.
Just like Minnie’s birthday bash, this surprise was well worth the effort that Anai, Jeng and I put in. To see Minnie with a big smile on her face that night and the day after, was enough to remind us that she’ll be leaving us with full of good memories. |
