He completely surprised me and caught me off guard. (hence the no polish on nails in the pic below!!)
Apologies in advance for such a lengthy post, but since I'm not there to tell you in person, I want to be as detailed as possible.
How it happened:
So Saturday, we had plans to meet with my sister and her boyfriend for lunch at noon. However, night before, we had went out after our football game and didn't get home until 3am. I woke up super cranky and wanted to cancel lunch. Eugene said "what?! You can't cancel on her so last minute (angry face). As we are in the cab ride over, he said "oh btw, your sister is at the Brooklyn bridge now so we're going to meet her there". Since it was a beautiful day, the bridge was super crowded and I was hot, hungry and just obnoxious and angry at the world. Eugene checks his phone and said "Oh our other friends are actually here too with their kids. Let's go over and say hi".
We get to the middle of the bridge and see our friends taking pictures of their kids. They asked us if we can help them take pics and vice versa. After like 10 pics, finally, our friend Michelle goes "Eugene, why don't you and Qimin take one alone?" We take the picture and Eugene clears his throat and starts talking about the bridge.
"So, there's actually another reason why we are all here today. You know when we first started dating, you lived in Brooklyn and I lived in Queens and we always had to cross at least one bridge to see each other. It brought me to you."
He said some other stuff after that, but then his eyes started to water and he started to tear up. That's when I thought to myself "Ohhh &*%!" He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I freaked out a little and asked him "ok, there are a lot of people looking at us right now, are you being serious?" Yes, he was :)
Some things to note about the photo below:
-Yes, Eugene is holding the ring box the wrong way and is proposing to himself.
-Yes, the tourists in the background are not phased and couldn't have cared less about what is happening
-Yes, Eugene really "dressed up" for the occasion.
After the proposal:
So I'm starving (but happy!). My sister told me she that she used our lunch as a decoy and she actually has to leave to meet her friends.The other couple had to go home and let the kids nap. Eugene told me he had to go back to Long Island to help his parents with errands. Naturally, I asked if he wanted me to go with him so we can tell his parents together about the news. He said it's a Korean tradition to tell his parents about the news alone. He told me to call my best friend out for a late lunch and tell her the news in person since he didn't tell anyone about it beforehand. (Qimin: "OK, so everyone is leaving me after a proposal??? what?") Without hesitation, I called my bestie and lo & behold, she was free & so was another friend and we were to meet at 3pm at a place that she suggested. I hurried back to my apt and painted my nails and dashed over to the brunch place.
On my way there, I get like all these texts from her, "Where are you? How much longer? Brunch ends in an hour! Text me when you are 10 minutes away and I'll order your drink". I get there, feeling all excited to tell my friend (even hid my left hand under my bag to add to the element of surprise) and I notice that the upstairs was completely packed. I see my friend and she goes "oh you're here, lets go upstairs". I'm like "No, why? It's so packed upstairs, let's stay down here". She goes "They are giving out FREE shots!! and pulls my upstairs.
There they were. Eugene and all of our closest friends and family greeting me (and my ugliest cry face ever) with a huge "Surprise! congratulations on your engagement" party.
