LOVE, Kloudiia

“99 Paper Cranes & 1-Metre Eiffel Tower” – Jhong Ren from Singapore (the winner of this project!)

I met my girlfriend when we attended the Union Orientation Camp in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) when I was in year 2. We were in this Food and Beverage Committee and she was the main committee member and I’m the sub-committee member. Simply saying, she called the shots about matters regarding food and I listened to her.

My story of meeting her was not much of a fantasy or fairy-tale which tells a prince rescuing the princess by slaying the fiery dragon. The only thing I had slayed was the shyness in me and the fear of approaching her for a date.

I could say I’m lucky because her birthday was coming and I had the opportunity to celebrate the birthday with her. The timing was excellent. However, to win the “contract” of celebrating with her was not as easy as I remembered I had 2 other competitors. Frankly speaking, I’m no extrovert or a guy skilled in winning the hearts of girls. I’m more of an introvert, shy and timid and totally clueless especially when it comes to courtship.

But I can say I’m genuine and sincere and I did everything for her from the bottom of my heart. I folded 99 paper cranes and glued them into a wind charm. I folded cranes in hostel, I folded cranes in between tutorials, I folded them late into the night till 4am and woke up at 7.30 am for lectures and tutorials.

There is a clich “madly in love” and I think how I was feeling at that time. When someone is madly in love, they can do crazy things. I’m no origami person but I learnt folding cranes from scratch. I asked friends to teach me. I was willing to do anything to go out with her.

The mindset is even if I’m not selected to be the person to celebrate with her; I still wanted to give her my very best present. Meanwhile, I sent her lovely notes telling her “to do well for her test”, “best of luck” before her tests because I knew she felt low about performing in them. I made paper flowers and keychains with paper cranes tied to them as her good luck charms. I learnt what I can and do what I want to make her happy and boost her confidence.

I stuffed seashells (from Hainan Island) into a glass crystal bowl (from an art and craft shop in Jurong Point) with scented flowers (from Junction 8 in Bishan) and rushed to meet her at the lift lobby to pass it to her. It was a surprise visit and I called her only when I reached her house. I ran from my dormitory to take a bus to Jurong Bus Interchange and I ran to take a train and ran from the train station to her house. My heart was beating fast, not because of the running but because of the thought of seeing her soon.

It had been 5 years and this girl will soon be my wife. I made 99 cranes for her to be my girlfriend; and I made a 1-metre tall Eiffel Tower with hundreds of toothpicks for her to be my wife during my proposal day. This woman is someone who I will do anything for. This woman is like my angel who is protecting me and safeguarding me.

Since she is my angel, I want to be her guardian angel too – for eternity.

[tags]True love story,NTU,Love and marriage,Dating & relationships,Origami,99 paper cranes[/tags]