Opposites attract. This infamous saying has applied to the field of love as well as science. It could not be more true than for the story of Eric and me.
We started out hating each other. Eric and I were competing for the same senior position in a respectable company, and fierce competition was hot from the very beginning. Tensions were incredibly high! To make matters even worse, we lived in the same neighborhood! Even our approaches and philosophy were different. Mine was of directness and determination; his was of easiness and nonchalance. Our relationship consisted of mutual distrust and animosity.
In our company, there is a day in June called Friendship Day where employees would spend a day out picnicking, kayaking, and hiking, among other things. The days flew by much too quickly, and then Friendship Day had arrived on that crisp summer morning. I had an obstacle with my kids that delayed my arrival at the bus taking us to Pennsylvania (a wonderful start to what was suppose to be a relaxing day!) and when I did arrive, I found out that the only seat available was the one next to Eric. I pretended that there was nobody sitting next to me, but I could still feel the stiffness in the air! In the whole 3 hours driving up to Pennsylvania, not one word was heard from neither Eric nor me.
As the bus came to a stop in the peaceful park, I breathed a sigh of absolute relief! Now I was ready to par-tay! After the enjoyable picnic and small talk, I found myself wanting to go kayaking. You must understand that kayaking is the most convenient in the mornings, so by that late afternoon, there was virtually no one else in sight kayaking. Oh well, I though, more for me! After all, I had kayaked all my life. The first 15 or so minutes were extremely enjoyable, and the serene landscape was absolutely breath-taking! Suddenly, I felt a slight tinge of wetness upon my knees. I looked down, and to my shock, found out that the boat was leaking! Panic shot through my insides, and I frantically ran through ideas of what to do. Should I just jump out and swim ashore? No, I had never taken swimming lessons. Should I try to row to land? That wouldn’t work; land was probably 2 miles away and I would probably sink by that time! I frenetically searched around, and suddenly spotted a low-hanging bridge! I knew that this was my only chance for survival, and proceeded to grab on the one of the bridges poles, and hang on there. I was in an awkward position, and I knew that my feeble arms would give way to the rushing current beneath. Hard as I tried to propel myself up, I could not. It was unbelievably frightening to look at my legs dangling helplessly with the ominous water traveling below me! Somehow, I knew that this was it, this was my last time breathing the air on this glorious old earth! I shuddered. Miraculously, I held on for approximately 15 minutes, before the knight in shining armor came: my arch nemesis David. In this situation between life and death, I regarded him as nothing more than a person helping me. I thought I saw a slight twinkle in his eyes when I explained to him my unfortunate demise. Well, it looks like you need a hand, David remarked casually, and I felt roses of humiliation sprang up from my face. Nevertheless, I breathed a sigh of unbelievable belief when I reached land, and unconsciously gave David a peck in the cheek showing my appreciation. Before I could pull back in horror, I realized that I had kissed David! I looked at his reaction, expecting an outburst of rage, but instead, I saw David blushing!
From then on, our romance hit off. David asked me out a day after Friends Day, and days of courtship turned into weeks, which turned into months, and finally, my wedding day had arrived, and boy was I the happiest girl in the world. On my wedding day, my husband-to-be remarked to me that he had a crush on me ever since the day he met me! Talking of rivals! Looking back at it, I realized that I did have feelings of friendly camaraderie! No wonder they call it Friends Day, although our relationship turned out to be something much more than friends.
Today, David and I live blissfully in Indianapolis where we don’t have the same position! In a weird way, I am sort of glad for that near death incident because fate brought me the love of my life!
Proposal Story By:
Sophia Wang
Beech Grove, IN
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