"Good night" He smiled back at me and walked away.
Let me introduce you to my good friend, Bryan.
They say a woman and a man will never be just friends. Whether they fall in love secretly or they fall in love to one another, at perhaps, a wrong time or a right time.
What's the phrase? 'Lucky I'm in love with my best friend'?
But not for me, or Bryan.
We've been friends for almost 4 years. Go uphill and downhill together, as best friends of course.
Be the one whose supports mean a lot to each other.
Be the one with secrets that will only be told to each other.
I might say that our friendship is as strong as the construction of Eiffel Tower.
And, to have the kind of closest relationship with a man, other than your own boyfriend, is actually incredible.
Oh right dear, I do have a boyfriend. His name is William. Lives in a different country, approximately 800 miles away from me.
Simply, he is not capable of walking me home.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like Bryan's function is only to walk me home.
But with the truth that my boyfriend asked Bryan's protection for me, I think that explains why he acts responsible over me.
Yeap. They've been friends too.
In fact, Bryan is quite close to people that are close to me.
Bryan and I are living proof that a friendship between a man and a woman is possible.
We broke all the speculation of those teen quotes, such as:
We're all grown ups. We're happy just to have each other's back.
Just like how I watched his back walking away, further and further, until he's gone.
Unseen.
________________________________________________________________________________
I felt that my phone was vibrating, non-stop during my meeting and saw those missed-calls where Bryan had been calling me for 23 times.
I figured he had something really important to tell me.
I finally reached my phone just to find a text that he invited me to watch a movie tonight.
That, my friend, was not decent.
This unique friend of mine.
I actually look forward to meeting him.
______________________________________________________________________________
"Okay, what movie is it?" I sat nicely on my couch, waiting for the movie he had been wanting to show me since he arrived.
"It's called 'When Harry Met Sally'. I watched it once, old movie, great story plot." He sat next to me and handed me a bag of my favourite marshmallow.
I nodded and smiled.
When you knew someone enough to know her favourite brand of marshmallow, I guess, that kind of friendship you couldn't let go, right?
Harry Burns: I've been doing a lot of thinking, and the thing is, I love you.
Sally Albright: What?
Harry Burns: I love you
Sally Albright: How do you expect me to respond to this?
Harry Burns: How about, you love me too.
Sally Albright: How about, I'm leaving.
Harry Burns: Would you like to have dinner?... Just friends.
Sally Albright: I thought you didn't believe men and women could be friends.
Harry Burns: When did I say that?
Sally Albright: On the ride to New York.
Harry Burns: No, no, no, I never said that... Yes, that's right, they can't be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can... This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted... That doesn't work either, because what happens then is, the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you're just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say "No, no, no it's not true, nothing is missing from the relationship," the person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let's face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends.
Harry Burns: The first time we met, we hated each other.
Sally Albright: No, you didn't hate me, I hated you. The second time we met, you didn't even remember me.
Harry Burns: I did too, I remembered you. The third time we met, we became friends.
Sally Albright: We were friends for a long time.
Harry Burns: And then we weren't.
Sally Albright: And then we fell in love.
Sally Albright: Three months later we got married.
Harry Burns: Yeah, it only took three months.
Sally Albright: Twelve years and three months.
Harry Burns: We had this - we had a really wonderful wedding.
Sally Albright: It was - it really was a.... beautiful wedding.
________________________________________________________________________________
"Mary" Bryan called me softly on the way out of my room.
"Yes?" Bryan had been calling my name for thousands times, but I never felt like this before. Perhaps it was the movie that we just watched, perhaps.. those conversations between Harry and Sally revolved in my mind.
"I'm leaving tomorrow"
......
......
......
Five seconds. It took me five seconds to actually access the information I just received.
"What do you mean by you're leaving tomorrow?"
"I moved out. Across the country"
"All of a sudden?"
"You do remember that I just stay here for temporary right? 5 years? My work sent me back to my home country."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Just say.... I'm not ready to say goodbye"
I could feel that my heart had been sliced to the smallest pieces. I could feel that my chest had been burned down, probably because of the anger I could not take.
Bryan took my hand and hugged me.
"One minute" He said. "Give me one minute just to stay like this."
I could feel my eyes burst into tears and all the pain weakened my body. I leaned on him just not to fall. Felt his hug, holding me tight.
"I've been in love with you. Being your best friend and all, it just happened. Mary, I swore I never wanted to ruin our friendship. But, each day that I spent with you, I just craved for more. For each time I saw you sad, I'd give all my effort to make you smile. And for everything about you, how can I not fall in love with someone who has the power to comfort me for just being there for me. Even without having to talk about anything. I never wanted to feel this way about you, it just goes on and I'm no longer able to stop it. Each time you said 'I need you right now', in fact, I need you every time. I feel complete.... just to be next to you."
I could feel my whole body was shaking. I bet those were all the reasons I could not stay away from Bryan either. I felt the same way, but I just could not admit it.
"But, in spite of my urge to make you mine and how I want you so badly, really, who am I to ruin your relationship? All those fairy tales that you've always been wanting, all those dreams you've created with him, all those waitings for him. I would never destroy that. So, just tonight. Just once. I really need to tell you all these feelings I've been hiding. And.. to finally say goodbye."
He hugged me tightly until I could not breathe. I have lost my ability to speak, so I decided not to say anything.
"So long my friend. I hope we'll meet again sometimes. As for now, I think I will have to learn to let you go."
Bryan kissed my forehead.
"I hope you will always be happy, and really, I mean it" He smiled at me and walked away.
So, it's true what they say. A man and a woman will just never stay as best friends.
They eventually will fall for each other. Maybe temporary, maybe forever.
In my case, maybe it's too late.
