Shirley had always been one of the biggest supporters for me and Vivien. Having already met Vivien’s boyfriend, Shirley had, on numerous occasions, told me that she would much prefer if Vivien was with me instead. I’d never really know how serious she was with that statement, but I’d always just reply to her that she’s biased because I was her friend.

But on one fateful Tuesday morning, Shirley’s supportiveness was the prelude to one of the biggest moments of my life.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> jude! i have news!

<[email protected]> what? you’re pregnant? who’s the dad?

<[email protected]> WTF

<[email protected]> NO

<[email protected]> it’s about v!

<[email protected]> um…

<[email protected]> v’s pregnant? O_o

<[email protected]> grrrrr

<[email protected]> she’s having a spat with her boyfriend

<[email protected]> what happened? :o

<[email protected]> she didn’t go into details

<[email protected]> all she said is that they’re taking a bit of time away from each other

<[email protected]> it’s your chance!

<[email protected]> swoop in for the steal! lol

<[email protected]> wth

<[email protected]> you’re not supposed to say that as her friend :/

<[email protected]> we should be supportive of her relationships

<[email protected]> i support them when i’m talking to her lol

<[email protected]> but deep inside i ship you guys

<[email protected]> :P

<[email protected]> ugh

<[email protected]> you’re being a horrible friend :/

<[email protected]> lol

* * * * *

It wasn’t that I was pretending to support them. I really did. I thought that it would be for the best if their relationship sailed smoothly. I’d never want for my friend to go through a bad break-up.

Moreover, I had always believed that leaving someone for another person speaks negatively about the person. It suggests a lack of a commitment. And I didn’t want to see Vivien that way. The way I thought about it, if Vivien would leave her boyfriend for me, she could similarly leave me for someone else. And that kind of thinking breeds mistrust. I didn’t want that.

But human nature has it that even against all logic and intention, hope can find its way inside through the tiniest crack.

* * * * *

That night, while browsing through my social media accounts, I came across an event being shared by one of my friends. The event was called Eiga Sai. It was an event held by a local cinema to promote Japanese films. Basically for a little over a week, their cinemas only showed films featured in previous Japanese film festivals, and admission was free. All you had to do was line up early.

I recalled that Vivien mentioned before that she and Shirley watched a few of the films featured by Eiga Sai the previous year. And since they had not yet mentioned Eiga Sai in the previous days and weeks, I thought that maybe they were not informed. So I shared the article to them.

Shortly after, their replies came in. First, Vivien comments that she wants to go. Next, Shirley replies with an invitation to watch. Vivien then asks when. Shirley diverts the question by asking me when I am free.

And then suddenly, I was part of this movie watching trip.

* * * * *

We decided to just talk it over in the office, so on the next day the plan slowly took shape.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> so when are you free for eiga sai?

<[email protected]> weekends, i guess?

<[email protected]> wait

<[email protected]> who’s joining us anyway?

<[email protected]> it’s just you two

<[email protected]> lol

<[email protected]> what

<[email protected]> kidding

<[email protected]> i’ll join you guys

<[email protected]> as your chaperone lol

<[email protected]> what

<[email protected]> we’re not inviting other people?

<[email protected]> why do you want to have others join?

<[email protected]> this is your chance!

<[email protected]> what

<[email protected]> ok is there anyone specific you want to invite?

<[email protected]> uhm not really

* * * * *

<[email protected]> ok i just asked v

<[email protected]> there’s also no one in particular she wants to invite

<[email protected]> so it’s just us 3

<[email protected]> fine

<[email protected]> so, sunday?

<[email protected]> wait shouldn’t we pick a schedule based on the movie we want to see?

<[email protected]> what are the movies again?

<[email protected]> wait let me look for the list again

* * * * *

<[email protected]> the one about revenge seems nice

<[email protected]> confessions

<[email protected]> the brother one could also be good

<[email protected]> i also vaguely recall reading that sunset on third street is pretty nice

<[email protected]> dear doctor seems interesting as well

<[email protected]> ok i’ll ask v

* * * * *

<[email protected]> v says she wants to watch confessions

<[email protected]> is it showing this weekend?

<[email protected]> yes

<[email protected]> saturday night

<[email protected]> 7 pm

<[email protected]> ok, i’ll ask

<[email protected]> you know, you could just talk to her directly

<[email protected]> :P

<[email protected]> hey you’re the one planning this, not me

<[email protected]> hahaha

* * * * *

<[email protected]> ok, confirmed

<[email protected]> saturday 7 pm

<[email protected]> meet there at 6 pm to line up

<[email protected]> ok

<[email protected]> no concerns

<[email protected]> it’s a date!

<[email protected]> no it’s not lol

<[email protected]> it is!

<[email protected]> lol

* * * * *

In my mind, I knew I shouldn’t make a big deal out of this movie. After all, going out to watch movies is a fairly common thing friends though, albeit not for me. It was difficult to resist my instinct to overthink and simulate the things that could happen in my mind. And adding in Shirley’s teasing and whatnot, I ended up running the things that could happen on that Saturday over and over in mind.

I already had decided to bring a car for that day, so my transportation shouldn’t be a problem. I had thought that I should probably arrive there early. On one hand, it would reflect ever so horribly if I was late that day. On the other hand, I wanted to scout the area early to have a better feel for the queue. Who knows but any additional preparation might actually pay off.

So I had thought that in case the queue started growing quite early, I would already line up. This would save us a lot of trouble. But Eiga Sai’s queue had some quirks in it. Basically, since it’s a free movie, they would only give one ticket per person on the queue. This meant that if Shirley or Vivien came later than the time my position in the queue got our tickets, they wouldn’t have any. And so I thought of a contingency plan.

I had a good friend who lived near the area of the cinema. I thought that perhaps I could ask him a favor to line up with me. At the very least, I’d get one extra ticket if the worst case scenario of them being both late happened. Maybe I could just get Shirley to not show up in that scenario.

There were other scenarios that floated in my head that time. Like what if Shirley really was a no show. That shouldn’t be a problem. Vivien and I could just go ahead and watch the movie. Maybe really make it a date. If Vivien didn’t show up? Well, that would mean time to go home.

Nevertheless, I felt I had to think positively, so I went on with my simulation assuming both arrived well and on time. Since we’d be queueing at 6 PM and that the movie would start at 7 PM , this meant we had no time to eat dinner. So perhaps after the movie, I’d invite them to eat.

Of course, I thought about treating them to the dinner. Somehow, a part of me still wanted to show off, even though I knew in my head there wasn’t much to show off about that anyway. We’d eat dinner probably until late in the night, after which, being the guy with a car, I would offer to drive them home. A part of me also thought about the possibility of Shirley taking the hint and making an excuse to go her own separate way.

All in all, there was so much potential for that night. As much as I did not want to, I couldn’t help but be excited for the movie.

* * * * *

The next day, I had contacted my friend to see if he would be willing to help. Of course, like any other friend would, he began interrogating me as to what I was up to. I tried to weasel my way out, saying that it was just going to be me with a couple of officemates. But of course, he knew I would not do something this elaborate for just an ordinary officemate.

So after a bit of playing coy about it, I did eventually tell him what I was up to. I did try to downplay the matter, but of course, he knew what I was really trying to pull off. And I also knew that he knew. But he was merciful enough not to prod further, graciously agreeing to help me out in exchange for telling him about what would happen that night afterwards.

So my trump card was settled. Now everything was all set.

* * * * *

Friday finally came and I was finally one day away from the big “date”. I was excited. Of course, I would not admit it then, but the fact was that I really was excited. My feelings then would be the classic butterflies-in-my-stomach kind of thing.

But that Friday came with a big problem: work. Friday’s work somehow ended up piling up on the team I was in (Vivien and Shirley were in other teams). For some reason, there was just too many things that needed to be done: bug fixes, urgent change requests, deployment, the works. As much as I wanted to bask in the excitement for the next day, I couldn’t, because work got in the way.

But that wasn’t the issue here. The problem was something that I had feared early that day, which really did come true on that afternoon: not only did I had to work overtime that night, I also had to report to work on Saturday.

Suddenly, my plan was in shambles.