Language of Love

Arriving at her office on a bright April morning, their secretary was already in and had opened the office blinds allowing the warm sun rays into the room. She was happy that the day was great and whilst she was dusting her chair, her phone rang.

“Who could be calling me this early…” she thought and quickly finished wiping off her chair and desk too. Taking the phone out of her bag, she noticed a new number flashing on the small phone’s screen that made her wonder all the more. “Who might this be?” she murmured still undecided whether to take the call or just ignore it, but the phone was ringing persistently.

She finally pressed the receive button but all she heard was indistinct noise at the other end of the line so she thought it might have been an accidental call. Just when she was about to cancel, an excited voice suddenly came around.

“Hello, good morning! I hope I am not bothering you. I just wanted to say hi to you whilst I am in the mountain,” she heard he was panting. She was confused as to who was calling her and what on earth was he saying.

"Are you still there?" the voice kept on. "I am sorry, this is PST." He seems to have heard her thoughts. "I know you are in your office right now, but I thought of you as I climbed up,” the guy on the end of the line explained.

"Oh, hi... sorry... yes, I just arrived a minute ago," she was baffled by the call but managed to talk. Her confusion was evident in the deep crooked lines on her forehead reflected on the mirror atop her desk.

"Haha! I'm here at the peak of Mt. Bondok and I thought of you. I bet you will love it here, it's absolutely beautiful! But I don't want to take much of your time so I wish you a good day. This is my friend’s phone by the way. Thank you for taking my call and do take care..."

So it was him, PST...

She hung up without a word and went on with her busy day. She had been receiving messages from PST like “Good morning” or “Good night” and some other chit-chatty SMS to which she would reply at times or not at all. And it went on like that for many months.

One day, she received a notification on her phone of a reminder message (back then, keypad phones had a 'Reminder tab.) The message read "You're the Queen of My Heart..." and nothing else.

While she was having coffee with her best friend in one of McDonald’s chains, she received another reminder that said “I Lay My Love on You” and like before, there was nothing else. At that time she couldn’t just brush it off so she confided to her friend. “Someone must be playing with me” and showed her the message she just received. Her friend teased her saying it might be her secret admirer and they laughed about it.

Going home to her apartment one December evening, she noticed a folded brown scented paper pinned on her door and it read:
"Hi Cute! I just wanted to say bye for now. Stay beautiful and keep smiling! I am going home to the province and I will be missing you... See you next year!" The colored note was artistically signed with the letters "PST"

It had been over a year since he opened up about his intentions to her and now upped his game by leaving a physical note on her door. She didn’t bother much and just went on with her usual routine of ‘work-home-friends.’

January the following year, she found yet another colored note pinned on her door. And like the first, she just read it and didn’t bother much. But the notes didn't stop. There was another, then one more, again and again, that she has gotten used to it.

Came Valentine's Day and she was presented with a bouquet of beautiful red roses and a handwritten card through her younger brother who coincidentally arrived in the city for a meet-up with his friends. "Give him a chance already, he looked pitiful!" her brother teased.

What her brother said bothered her for some time that she wondered if she had been too harsh. As far as she remembered, she was civil and was good to him for quite some time already even taking his calls from time to time.

One afternoon while she was on her computer, someone knocked on her apartment. A smiling PST was right outside when she opened the door. And because she wasn't rude, she let him in and was handed a single red rose with a tiny card on it that said, “Could you please give this mad man a chance to prove how he cares for you sincerely?”

Doubt, fear, and bewilderment overwhelmed her. Silence took its place for some time and after looking at his pitiful eyes, she finally said "Okay, let's give it a try for the next 3 months if it works. But if not, I am sorry..." and awkwardly, they became boyfriend and girlfriend, that 23rd of February which she called their ‘trial day.’

Five years later from that very day, he went down on his knees and asked her to be his wife. Three years after the engagement, she marched down the aisle in the tune of "I Wanna Grow Old With You" and then they both said, “I Do.”

Fast forward to the 27th of November 2021, over nineteen years later from that ‘trial day’ she finds herself delighted and giggly thinking about how they have been through and the little and big things they do for her.

Think about warm big hugs, forehead kisses, giggles, foot massages, volunteering to cut her nails, doing the laundry from time to time, working his magic in the kitchen for their meals when he's up to it, brushing her hair, helping her tidy the yard, telling her he loves her every day, appreciating her little efforts, asking “Do you miss me?” any time of the day, supporting her on her online endeavors, and all other wonderful things he does.

At times, he also drives her crazy of his clumsiness, or make her feel sad or cry in frustration 'coz of his tendencies to lie; or annoy her when he insists on something that is out their bounds... then feeling sorry afterward, but does them again and again anyway, LOL!

Those were the languages of love of a young lad, him becoming a man and finally a husband.

Their relationship journey had been quite tumultuous from the start, but life has a way of making things work out. It had been a mixture of good, bad, fun, worst, amazing, beautiful, and challenging between them two yet they're making it work every single day. Still learning to accept each other's flaws and differences and complementing their weaknesses, and loving more of what they are, and growing gracefully and older together.

Thank you for reading, amazing Hivers and I hope you enjoyed the story of how a man loves his woman. Cheers to the weekend everyone!

FarmGirl writes from their lil kingdom in the mountains of PH. You can also find her on Read Noise Torum Twitter