#bayinlove

I’m Perfectly Happy in This Moment

We gotten up in the morning and were sipping on coffee and a bundle of love, but we were still lying in bed.

“I’m super-happy with you.” Suddenly, he says his feelings out loud without context.

“Huh?”

He speaks in a louder voice

“Now. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

I laugh and say, “I know, but you are saying this abruptly.”

He smiles and says, “I just want to tell you. I am happy. How about you? Are you happy?”

When I don’t answer, he asks me again. “Are you happy?”

I hear that he said, “I m happy.” But I heard him saying,“ I love you.”

I feel like I am beloved when someone feels happy with me.

He asks me again when I don’t respond. ”How about you? Are you happy?”

Instead of answering, I sweep down his face from his forehead to his nose and lips with my fingers and then touch his cheek.

“Honey, I love you!” I suddenly confess.

He smiles and says, “I love you, too.”

My heart is filled with happiness. I think love and happiness are both mixed together.

I say to him, “I’m so happy with you.”

He smiles broadly at my words and lifts me up on his chest. He runs his fingers down my forehead, nose, and lips, then stares at me and pats my back with his hands.

“I’m really happy right now,” he says to me again.

This is how our happy morning starts.

It is almost noon.

I say, “Honey, I am hungry.”

At my words, he leaps out of bed. I’ve given him the nickname Leaper because he jumps up without a second’s delay whenever I say something.

I say, “Honey, coffee. Please.” and he jumps up.

“Oh, I’ve spilled water here.” He is in hurry to wipe it up quickly.

“Daring, can you help me?” He appears in front of me in a second.

I say, “What . . . ?” He runs toward me even though he doesn’t know what I am about to say.

Then he becomes the Leaper when I say to him, “I am hungry.”

He looks at his cell phone and asks me, “What do you want to eat?”

Perhaps he is searching for something to eat or place to eat on his cell phone while he is asking what I want. He is multi-tasking.

“What do you have here?” I ask him

“Eggs. Ah . . . Honey, do you want me to scramble some for you?

“Yeah, that would be good.”

“Okay! Wait a little bit.”

He puts down his cell phone and heads to the kitchen. I get out of bed too and follow him out of the bedroom.

I lie on the sofa and look at his back in the kitchen. He isn’t wearing a top, and he’s wearing casual pants. I can see his broad shoulders, his arm muscles working as he scrambles the eggs, and his solid-looking butt. He is leaning to one side as he cooks and has one hand in his pants pocket. His backside is not as cool as that of a male model. What does it make me smile just to look at him?

I turn the other way on the sofa and look at the blue sky of the South Bay beyond the window.

I take out my small notepad. I like to write down what I am thinking of, so I always carry it with me.

I close my eyes and inhale and exhale a few times. This breathing meditation helps me relax my thoughts or think for a while. After breathing slowly a few times, I open my eyes and start to write.

The sun that opens the morning shines by the window.

‘Your face glitters in the dim sunshine.

I am keeping your face in my eyes.

On a day when I can’t see you, I will remember your face in my eyes,

Your eyes open,

Your lips saying good morning to me.

The sun shines through the window.

Happiness is reflected in my heart.’

After a while, he brings the food to the table in front of the sofa. Scrambled eggs, fruit, and bread are on the plate. I take a picture of what he made for me and take a bite of the food then say to him, “ It’s so delicious.”

His lips turn up pleasantly, and he kisses me and then says to me again, “I’m super-happy with you.”

I like his pure expression of emotion.

I finish my writing after we eat.

‘You fill my heart with happiness and romance.

You are like a dream.

You are like reality.

You are like a dream in reality.

You are as beautiful as a dream.’

I am perfectly happy in this moment.

The First Meet-Up—Half Excited and Half Worried

We met each other by clicking ‘like’ and leaving comments on each other’s photos in Instagram. He seemed to like traveling and outdoor activities, based on his posts with photos of traveling, surfing, hiking, and snowboarding. I also like traveling, so I usually post pictures of traveling and pictures of outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, and swimming.

I live in the North Bay, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It takes 20 minutes by car from my hometown to go to San Francisco. I saw his pictures of daily life in San Francisco. He lives in San Jose and works in Silicon Valley as a software engineer. We both live in the Bay Area and have similar hobbies, so we seem to have common interests. Beyond leaving ‘likes’ and comments on Instagram, we started texting through Instagram about our daily lives, like what we’re eating for lunch or how we are feeling today, and sometimes we text to share more about our life story before we go to bed.

His simple, short, but funny text messages are interesting. I enjoy reading his messages as I go about my daily life.

At some point when we had been texting each other for a few weeks, he asked to me to meet up with him in person for a drink or to have dinner together. I already knew what he was doing, what kind of person he was through texting with him for weeks, and he did not seem to be a crazy person, but it was not easy to meet someone for the first time not only him. I postponed for meeting each other and I just happily continued communicating with each other every day.

One Friday, he texts me that he is going camping with a few friends.

“I’m going to go camping now with my friends”

“We’ve had planned it for a long time”

“I’ll text you when I get back”

“Have a nice weekend”

I wonder why he is texting me about his weekend plans even though I did not ask, but it is also a cute and pleasant message, and I think that he might be interested in me.

I respond, “Sounds fun. Have a good and safe trip.”

He doesn’t contact me until Sunday. I don’t think I have been waiting for his message, but maybe I am used to being in touch with him every day. I am wondering if he is back home or how the trip is going. But I decide not to contact him first. I just lie in my bed to sleep.

Ding. Ding

A message comes from him.

“I am home now”

“Sorry for not messaging you”

“Wifi was down,”

His text somehow thrills me. Why? Did I miss him because I couldn’t get in touch with him for only two days? I send him a reply.

“Hey“

“Welcome back”

“How was your camping trip?”

He texts an answer to me quickly.

“Camping was really fun”

“little tired”

“But it’s ok. “How was your weekend?”

We let loose a bunch of stories from the past two days, not even aware that the night is coming.

When I wake up in the morning, the phone is on my belly. Maybe I fell asleep while texting.

Ding. Ding

“Good morning. Felt asleep last night 😊 Have a good day” He sends a message in the morning.

“Good morning! me too 🤣 Have a nice day as well”

After that day, I notice a change in my feelings. I feel intimacy, curiosity, and anticipation with him and I really want to meet him someday.

It is Friday evening. After the past few weeks of messaging back and forth, we finally decide to meet up.

I enter the restaurant. A tall man in a black shirt is standing near the host and making a reservation. Maybe he recognizes me. He approaches with a smile and says, “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Glad to see you.”

“Nice to meet you.”

We are shaking hands and then hugging.

It’s our first time meeting, and we are both shy even though we were close during our chats on Instagram. We eat, drink, and laugh, we are becoming close. It is fun and comfortable. The restaurant is about to close, we do not realize how late it is getting.

He asks me gently, “Where do you want to go? Shall we look for a bar? I told you, my apartment has a swimming pool. We can sit next to the pool and have another drink. Do you want to or are you tired? Do want to go home?” He is asking me a lot of questions. He seems like he wants to spend more time with me and so do I. He is looking at me and waiting for an answer.

I say to him, “Do you have beer at home?”

He must be surprised by my unexpected answer. But he says, smiling brightly

“Yes, I have beer at home. Shall we go, then?” While calling Uber to take us home. He had not driven to the restaurant because he knew he would be drinking. We go to the sidewalk from the restaurant and walk on the crowded streets. He is holding my hand and says, “Uber will come over there. Take a walk for a little bit?”

”Yes, sounds good .”

I feel refreshed and as if I could fly in the cool night air, because of the beer, the smell of the city, and holding his hand. While we are walking, he says, “It is so great meeting you. I liked sitting down and talking with you. And you are prettier in person than on Instagram.”

“Me too. You are nice and kind. You are in better shape in person than in the pictures, too.”

It’s not easy to like someone at first sight, but we have a good feeling toward each other from first meeting.

Our Beginning Is Light and Simple

He opens his eyes in the morning and says to me suddenly, “I would like to go on dates with you. More. ” The whole time I have known him, I have always felt that he is very simple and honest. He never speaks in a complicated way, he is straight-forward. I’m also a simple and clear person, so our personalities fit well.

I ask him, “A date? What kind of date do you want to go on?

“Let’s keep in touch, meet, go hiking, go to the sea, watch movies, eat together. All the kinds of things we can do together.”

”I like that, too.”

He smiles and squeezes my shoulder, then asks me

“Are you meeting only me?” I laugh at his question.

“Sure. I’m only going on a date with you.”

“Cool! I am glad.” He says while hugging me.

Our beginning is simple and clear.

So, after our first date, it’s already time to go home. I say, “I think I have to go home.”

His eyes show regret. “Yes, you should go. Can we meet next weekend?”

“Why not?”

He is smiling, and then he asks me, “Do you have more time next weekend? How about we go to the beach? I’ll make a bonfire for you in the evening.”

“Bonfire? At the ocean?”

“Yeah. You like the beach, don’t you?” He seems to have remembered the conversation we’ve had.

“I’ll be back on Friday evening after work. Let’s go to the beach on Saturday,”

”Sounds perfect.”

Back in my home, I lie on my bed and close my eyes for a moment. I see images of him as if I were with him. His honest and clear speech was manly, and I liked his handsome appearance, by my standards, especially his warm eyes and bright smile on me. It was a pleasant first meeting, including his sense of humor. He sometimes burst out laughing with a soft voice.

We expressed our feelings in text messages on the days during the week when we couldn’t meet. How could we express our feelings through texts without using emojis? 😊😍🤣😘🥰❤️😃😁☺️😛

Our beautiful and romantic dating begins.

Bonfire is one of the best part for dating

We go to Santa Cruz, a seaside town located about an hour south of San Jose. We park downtown, have an ice cream, hold hands, and walk around the town.

He asks me, “Have a drink in here?”

The place is a taproom. There are lines of beer taps, and we can pour our beers ourselves. We sit by the window and drink at the cool bar for a while.

He says, “ Why don’t we walk along the shoreline and have a fire in the fire pit in the evening? “

“ I love it.”

After drinking our beers, we head up the shore. We walk along the costal path hand in hand and watch surfers surf in the Pacific Ocean.

“You like surfing, don’t you? I saw it on your Instagram.”

“Yeah. I was surfing about two years ago.”

“Your pictures looked great.”

At my words, he shrugs his shoulders once. His arm is around my shoulders, and I am hugging his waist. We are walking and looking at the beautiful seaside scenery and surfers

“How do you feel when you surf?” I ask him

“It is fun and cold.”

“Cold?”

“Yes, the ocean is much colder than I thought.”

“Oh, so people just paddle their arms fast so they won’t get cold?”

He is laughing and says, “ So, did I swing my arms hard, too?”

Paddling arms fast and hard so it will not be cold—it’s nonsense, but we are laughing back and forth, making jokes. It’s fun to talk and spend time together. Everyone in front of me, behind me, and passing by me looks happy. The seagull flying by looks happy, too.

We get off the costal path and go to the beach bringing wood to make a bonfire, drinks and snacks. We dip our feet in the ocean and see the blue sky turning pink and red into a sunset, and I watch him upside down. We take pictures of the beautiful view to post on Instagram. He plays music that he downloaded to his cell phone through his portable speakers. We lie down on the sand on top of our blankets. I put my head on his chest and close my eyes for a moment. I can hear the sound of the music, the sound of the waves, and the sound of his breathing. By this time, the sunset has faded and the ocean is getting dark. He piles up branches before lighting the bonfire. I am thankful and love this man who makes a fire just for me. He sits in front of the fire pit and stares at the flames.

He looks at me and says, “Hey, honey, why are you sitting far from me? Come and sit next to me.”

I’ve been sitting a little away from him, looking at the fire, the sea, and the flames. Now I sit close to him and say, “Is this good?”

He is smiling giving me a thumbs-up, ”Perfect.”

We sit closer and closer. We are caressing other’s hands and backs, looking at the bonfire for a long time. It is said that if you look at the flames of a fire, your thoughts will slow down for a bit. The sound of waves makes you feel comfortable, and caressing each other’s bodies raises body temperature and produces pleasant hormones.

I can hear the laughter of people sitting here and there on the darkened beach and his laughter in our whispered conversations. The sound of the wood as it burns sounds like a laugh.

This is perfect romantic dating.

No Plans and No Alarms but It is Perfect Time

He wakes up Saturday morning and is searching for something on his cell phone.

“How about we go here today?” He shows me a picture on his cell phone.

“I know this place.”

“Have you been there?”

“No, I’ve been near it, but not on the bridge. It’s 17 miles past Monterey, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Bixby Bridge. We go for a drive on Highway 1 and see the bridge. OK?”

“Sounds good.”

When I try to get out of bed, he grabs my arm and says, “Are you getting up?”

“Yeah. We’re going for a drive.”

“It’s only eight o’clock. Come and lie down a little more.”

He pulls lightly on my arm and lays me back down beside him.

“If we sleep, we won’t be able to get up. We can’t go there” I say, but I lie down next to him again and hug him. He pats me on the head and hugs me tightly while he speaks.

“Let’s lie down for another half hour.”

Ring, ring.

We awake to the sound of his cell phone ringing.

“Hello.” He exchanges a few words and hangs up.

I am still half asleep. “What time is it?”

“It’s ten.”

“Already?”

It’s been two hours since we lay down for a while. We usually get up around six on weekdays, but on weekends, we’re lazy. We wake up but then go to sleep again, so it’s always past nine when we get up. There are no plans and no alarms at his place. There is not a specific time we have to wake up, eat and go to work. We just spend time together, relaxed and cozy.

He asks, “Should we just go out for breakfast and start right away? Do you need to take a shower?”

“No, I’m just going to wash my face and wear a hat. That’ll be okay, right?”

“You’re beautiful no matter what you do.”

He leans forward and kisses me as I wake up.

We leave the house dressed casually in jeans, T-shirts, hats, and sunglasses.

Walking to the parking lot, he says, “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Peet’s and bagels?”

“Bagels? How about Noah’s Bagels?”

“Sounds yummy.”

We have egg-and-cheese sandwiches at Noah’s and two cups of Americano at Peet’s Coffee. These are our favorite places. We sit at a table outside and start to eat our late breakfast.

I take a big bite of a sandwich and chew it.

He says, “Delicious?”

I nod.

He looks at me and says, ”Nice. Enjoy it.”

Noah’s bagels and Peet’s coffee always taste the same. But no matter what we eat or where we eat, he always asks me if it tastes good and tells me to enjoy it. I like his care and consideration. If he wipes my lips, I wipe his lips, too. There’s not much to wipe off, but we seem to feel caring and warm-heart in these little actions.

We get into the car with the leftover coffee.

“Let’s go.”

No plans. No alarms. I thought we’d open our eyes in the morning and go for a drive after a cup of coffee. The warm noon sunshine and the clear blue sky without clouds are perfect for driving.

Being with this guy makes me happy and excited every weekend. I am happy enough just as it is in this moments with him.

In the Sunset

We spend the weekend together, go grocery shopping, cook at home, walk in the park in front of his apartment, watch TV, sit in chairs by his apartment building’s swimming pool, read books or listen to music, take a nap, and clean the house. All of these things suit us very well. The times we spend together are not boring or uncomfortable at all. I sometimes feel like we are newlyweds or an elderly couple. I get used to spending weekends with him like this. It is a break from the busy week as I relax.

Late in the afternoon, he asks me to go see the beautiful sunset sky. It takes about 20 minutes by car to get to Alviso from his house, and from there we can walk along the Bay Trail.

He looks like a Hollywood actor in khaki polo shorts, a dark blue shirt, and sunglasses. Somehow, he seems to be more handsome than when we first met. Could it be because I love him? I am holding this handsome guy’s hand and we are walking toward the parking lot.

“Pretty,” he says to me out of the blue. I burst into laughter at this word, and he smiles at me. His arm is around my shoulders, and he says, “Pretty. Pretty. You are pretty.”

“You look great, too.”

We stop for a while and kiss. I guess we’ve become prettier and more handsome than before because we’ve been saying many positive words to each other. Words seem to have power.

We get out of the car at the right time when the sun is about to set. As he said, the sunset is really beautiful. We walk along the Bay Trail. The land that overlooks the trail is filled with white salt because the sea was drained and dried. The view of the sunset making shadows on the ground and the salt glistening in the sunset is really beautiful. The wind of the sky that I feel in the bay blows coolly, and tall white reeds are pulled by the wind and do a gentle dance. I open my arms wide and feel the wind.

I remember the road I used to walk on with my mom when I was young. From the house where we lived, if we walked along the hill road, we would come to my grandmother’s house. Mom and I took a walk after dinner and went to see my grandmother sometimes. I still remember the red sunset I would look at when I walked down the hill. The sunset stretched out endlessly, and white reeds and yellow flowers bloomed on both sides of the road. As an adult, I still remember that path. This place with him is similar. I feel like I will reach my grandmother’s house if we keep walking.

I tell him about my childhood memories.

“Wow, what a beautiful memory.”

“Yes, the road here is similar to that one at the time. Sunset. Wind. Reeds. The road was so beautiful then. It’s beautiful here, too.”

He holds my hand and asks, “What did you do with your mom?”

“Held hands and talked. Oh, I sang, too. There was a song that my mom and I liked, and we walked together singing it.”

“Do you remember the song? Can you sing for me?”

Other songs I only vaguely remember or have forgotten, but I have never forgotten this song. Because I was singing this song a lot with mom. I don’t think I’ve ever sung it to anyone except my mom. I am holding his hand, and I begin to sing in a quiet voice. He leans toward me and listens to my song.

‘The sunset glows red on the changing hills of the evening smoke in the fields where the wind stays.

Scarecrow’s arms open to laughter and the fruit of a field of rice paddies bent down when you dream of a green-roofed ground.

The sunset glows red on the changing hills of the evening smoke that blooms in the fields where the autumn wind stays.’

“The song is really nice. The lyrics are so beautiful. What’s the song about?”

“The lyrics tell the story of a sunset. The road I was walking on with my mom was like the place in the lyrics. Autumn hills, wind and sunburns. The reeds were shaking, and it was like the evening smoke was blooming.”

“Is that the same here?”

I put one arm around his waist.

“Yes, it’s similar here. I didn’t know there would be another place like the one in my memory.”

“Can you stand over there. I’ll take a picture for you.”

He takes pictures of me, we take pictures together, and I take a picture of him. We keep these memories in our cell phone albums.

As we walk, laugh, and talk, the sun sets and dusk falls.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

“Yes, I’m hungry. Noodles?”

“Oh, I was thinking of that. Let’s go eat pho.”

As he drives, he asks me to sing the song I sang earlier again.

The image of a happy child singing while walking along the sunset path with her mother comes up. And now the grown-up kid who sings seems happy. He also seems to be happy, humming while listening to my singing.

In the past and present, it is a beautiful and happy day, as if the sun were flowing along the melody of the song and the sunset were extended.

We post the pictures we took today on Instagram.

I remember my mother’s beautiful reflection in the red sunset, and I see him standing in the sunset looking happy at my photo on Instagram. And he is clicking, ‘like’ and leaving a comment,“awesome.”

The dating style I usually prefer is to not interfere too much in the other person’s life or get too serious, but I like having fun and focusing on each other. We have close and deep relationships not bothered by the idea of girlfriend or boyfriend. I think he and I get along well in that regard. We each work hard at our work during the week, and we have fun doing things together on the weekends. We still text each other during the week telling each other what happened in the day, saying our morning or goodnight greetings. We are getting to know each other while respecting each other’s lives, with interest but not interference.

I’m enjoying dating and perfectly happy in every moment with him.