Marian's Fortieth Birthday ~ The Ink Well Prompt #136

On the day she clocked forty, Marian woke up in the middle of the night, around 1:00 am, her sleep having been taken away. She was glad she made it this far in life even though she wasn't married yet. The wall around her room appeared new in her sight, probably because she woke up from sleep. A cursory look into her portrait hanging on the wall became clearer with the cobweb of a gigantic brownish spider, hunting its prey. She kept watch of what would transpire between the spider and the innocent-looking black ant.

While she kept her gaze on the wall, her phone beeped. It was her first birthday message from Jason. He was the first man that got so close to her but never uttered the word "I love you", even though his countenance read that he had goosebumps for her. As she picked up her phone to read the message, her attention on the spider and black ant shifted, and never got to see the end of the struggle for survival between the two.

Hey Marian. It's your fortieth birthday today. I wish you the best in all you do. May all your desires come through. I just wanted to be the first to wish you a blissful year ahead. And I do hope I am the first.

Tara Winstead

As Marian read through the text message, her heartbeat became faster. This was the feeling anytime that Jason appeared. She loves him so much and Jason feels the same way toward her too.

Jason was forty-two last November too and unmarried. What in the world is he waiting for?

Marian queried herself. Of course, she wasn't going to throw herself on a man. If Jason does love her, he should come out straight to her and not hide his feelings. Marian kept ruminating about life without a partner. She wants to have a family of her own. One that she would nurture and worry about.

Around 1:30 a.m., another beep took her attention. On reaching her phone, it was a birthday message from Charles.

Happy birthday dear. You are an amazing person and deserve to be celebrated, always. Do remember that you are loved.

This one went straight to the point. Charles was known to be a jovial person. Though he is the operations manager, he is open-minded and approachable. A young man in his early forties too but not married. Since Marian started working at Mayer and Baker, an auditing firm, Charles has been a close friend with whom she shared great moments. They would attend parties together during weekends and sometimes go to fun places like the beachfront to relax and watch the waves of the sea.

Around 3:00 a.m., she slept off and woke up late. Ordinarily, she would wake up by 6:00 a.m. and prepare for work but today was a different day. She had not slept enough. When she woke up by 8:00 a.m., she rushed to the bathroom, washed up, and put on her new burgundy gown. She just wanted to look good for her birthday. In another thirty minutes, she hit the road to her office. Thankfully, there wasn't any traffic, so she had a smooth drive to the office. On reaching the office, everyone appeared to be very busy and pretended not to notice her arrival. Marian walked to her office and met a surprise

Hurrah! She's here

One of the staff who was already in Marian's office beckoned on the others and in unison, they sang:

For she's a jolly good fellow…….

The office was decorated with confetti on the ground and balloons of different colors on the roof.

After the merry, Charles came forth with a bag of gifts for Marian. She wasn't expecting less from him though. He greeted her and made some good wishes to her for clocking forty. Then Charles moved back, dipped his left hand into his breast pocket brought out a box of the ring, knelt, and asked Marian to marry him.

Daniel Moises Magulado

She was so dumbfounded. She didn't know what to say. Everyone around them started shouting:

Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

She was moved to tears. It was like she was in a dream at the moment. A short thought flashed through her mind:

Would you allow this moment to slip? This was all you have dreamed of.

Marian moved toward Charles and said yes. Everyone in the building shouted at the top of their voice and then followed with a round of applause. The lovebirds hugged each other tightly after she had worn the ring.

In a moment, Marian reminisced all that had happened. It still appeared to her as a dream. She never thought she could find a partner. At some point, she had begun to lose hope of settling down with a partner.

Later that evening, she was preparing to meet Charles at the Lagoon restaurant where they had agreed to mark her birthday specially. Charles wanted to treat her to some local cuisine. As she was preparing to leave her apartment, Jason appeared. He had come to wish Marian a happy birthday.

Hey, Jason. You came at the wrong time. I am about to leave for an important meet-up.

Jason looked stunned.

More important than I?

He queried.

Look, buddy. I don't have time to talk, okay?

She said, pointing at the door for Jason to leave. It was at this moment that Jason went on his knees and stretched out his hands with a box of rings and then said:

Please, do me the favour to be my wife.

It was a wonder to Marian. Someone she had waited for all these years. He never turned up to say what he felt toward her.

Jason! Can we do this later? Oh! Sorry, can we talk about this later?

Jason stood and walked out of the door as Marian followed from behind. He walked into the darkness until he disappeared.

While she drives around Broad Street, Marian wonders how much of a day she has had. She wondered about what got into Jason all these while that he had to wait till this day before he could come out straight to her. She tried all her best to forget about the drama that Jason came to act as she approached the Lagoon restaurant where her king, Charles was anxiously waiting for her.

It was a long night. They spoke about their desires in life and how much they would cherish each other. Marian had the best birthday ever. The height of the day was when Charles proposed to her. It was the least she expected.