just minishorts.

I'm ill. I caught a flu on Sunday, and it morphed into this really horrible fever that didn't want to go away. Eric brought me to the office and had to pick me up again at 10 a.m. to take me to the doctor's. In the end, I got myself a medical chit, and found myself sleeping the day away while Eric helped my mum clean things up after me. Sheesh… what a way to spend Valentine's, eh?

Earlier this year we agreed that V-day was to be sliced off the list of couple celebrations… but we were still planning to go out to have a nice meal… Well, so much for the plans, since I fell so ill. In the end my mother had to cook a really watery porridge broth for me, and poor Eric had to share that with Mum and me.

It's funny how your emotions get all mixed up when you're trying to nurse an impending flu/fever. I've been rather edgy for the past few days, and Eric's patience has been fantastically admirable—I'm at a point where I look back, remember how he handled my peculiarities, and think, 'Gosh, how does he do it?' How do I feel now, despite this horrible bout of sniffles?

Extremely blessed and lucky. Especially since I know how insufferable and impossible I can be.

This was what he did for me… On Sunday Eric offered to be my personal chauffeur for gloomy Monday. And then, of course, I fell ill, and he brought me everywhere… got lunch for Mum and me, made me herbal tea and sat with me until the fever broke. To top it up, he went and bought me a copy of The Da Vinci Code's Special Illustrated Edition, and sat with this nutcase editor who bend her neck silly, scrutinizing the images in the book. I have to tell you that this book is a really really lovely copy of Brown's run-of-the-mill bestseller, and Mum thinks it's a really lovely gift for Valentine's.

If you're wondering who and why, just FYI, Nick's wrote a piece about Eric.

Why now? Why didn't I talk about it before?

Maybe it's because yesterday was Valentine's Day and I sort of shortchanged him by being ill… Maybe it's because of the previous failures… Maybe it's because I keep hearing this tingling alarm that suggests that minishorts.net might have something to do with relationship failures…

But what really happened was this.

Sometime in October last year, I was going through a breakup, and April had come to visit. We were lazing in a corner of Citrus Park's Strudels, walking through the year that was 2004 and talking how our lives had progressed (or regressed) since then. I remember my concerns, how a beautiful friendship had deteriorated to the state it had become, and a deep sense of regret. We had long conversations, and I came to this vow:

'I'm not going to get involved with ANYONE for at least a year. I'm going to make it happen, I'm not going to meet anyone, I'm just going to concentrate on being single and enjoying it.'

I really put my efforts to it. I met up with old friends, focused on work, focused on building up my life again, focused on family again. It took some time, getting used to being single, but I drove into the position easily, and it was so comfortable at that point in time I told my mother that it didn't feel that bad to be single for life at all.

Just that, I didn't count on meeting someone that soon.

I recall how I finally came out of my shell and dragged poor Nick into my life, telling him to help me out of this little rut that I was stuck in, and getting his help in helping me stay firm in my convictions. I got out really frequently, and I led a fantastic social life for a while?immediately after my re-entry into singledom, I was watching an average of one movie a week, mamak was a daily recurring event, I took on a few freelance copywriting work and went through an extreme book-binge.

Then one fine night, Nick brought me out to mamak to meet up with his two best buds, and I had found a new bunch of mates to hang out with. Mamaks led on to Matrix pool Fridays, to IMAX theatre outings, to daily multiple SMSes, to nightly conversations over the phone, and to suppers at the nearest tong sui pos.

Then one day, we became it.

They say it's when you're not looking that you find that someone special. It took me quite some time to admit defeat, that my little vow would not be fulfilled. Many things had to be considered, especially the fact that I had just come out of a relationship with someone else. But in the end, the few people who know how, understand why I went ahead anyway, and they're the few that really matter in my life.

Actually I'm glad I broke that vow. It's nice to be part of something good, and I really do want this to last.