I remembered how uncomfortable I was. Almost everyone conversed in Malay and I was more comfortable with English. 

One particular incident made the whole memory of the camp permanently etched in my brain. 

I saw a girl. She came to the camp about a day late. What about her that caught my eye? Her smile. 

My eyes were always wandering, looking around the environment. But when she came into the picture, I was happy just seeing her. 

Didn't do much then because when the other guys saw her, well, lets just say I knew I didn't stood a chance. 

We all went home and I thought that would be the end of it. Life moves on. Then January 1999 had to happen. 

Mending my secondary school band's table for the annual cca & school open house, I saw a familiar face. The same face I saw 3 years before. 

And to make matters more uncomfortable, her brother joined band and decided to play the same instrument.

Went to speak to her mother and when I had the opportunity to speak to her, I only said 2 words - Hello, Hi. After which, I walked away as her reply - a simple "Hi" - was accompanied with a smile that instantly melted my heart and made my knees go weak. 

It was a trying 3 months, after that. Being the beautiful girl she is, many guys from my school wanted to get to know her. And when the day came where I got tired of everything and had garnered enough courage to go up to her, I had to hear that a particular senior of mine was supposedly close to her and her family. 

With hopes dashed, I told myself it wasn't possible at all. She was just meant to be The Crush and nothing more. 

So I moved on in life. 

Got attached a few times along the way, with one particular relationship lasting a total of ten years, including the time offs. 

The roller coaster decade was quite trying. Whether it was regarding school or love or work. 

I did want to come up to her a few times along the way, but for some reason or another, I just couldn't make myself do it. 

So I allowed time to pass and let live life accordingly. 

Then in 2009, I joined my current job. Went in to to the fateful camp and guess who I met? Her brother, my junior from band is now in a senior squad. 

I just smiled to myself as the memories of 1996 and 1999 came flashing by. 

I knew she lived nearby, but never bothered to do anything as I never thought anything would have been possible. 

One particular night, in 2010, as I was walking home from a friend's place, I saw, at the void deck, someone preparing for a wedding. The decoration was elaborate and what I'd call beautiful. 

I saw her family. And I realized that it was her wedding. 

I was very disappointed. But I couldn't blame anyone but myself as I chose to not do anything when I had the opportunity to do so. 

Hence, I said I prayer, for her to have a happy and blessed marriage. :) 

2 years later, I chanced upon her at Facebook. My itchy fingers decided to go to her profile to take a peek. 

Scroller through her photos and realized that she is even more beautiful. 

What happened next was, whether anyone would believe or not, an accident. 

My fat fingers accidentally clicked on the "add friend" button. I couldn't take that action back as she would suspect something. 

So I acted as if nothing happened as I was sure that she wouldn't recognize me. Why would a married lady want to add another guy whom she barely knew on her Facebook right? 

Less than a month later, to my surprise, she accepted my friend request. 

It was almost 2 weeks later that I decided to message her on Facebook, with the intention of being just friends. 

Through that chat, I learnt of her status and what she has went through. Felt sad that someone had to go through such a troubled patch in life. 

What happened the following weeks, was what you would call miraculous. 

We chatted a lot via whatsapp. We met up to have our one to one conversation in 16 years. We went out more often. 

Then one particular night caught me off guard. When she was showing very obvious signs that she liked me. I was scared and excited. Confusing I know. Haha. 

We started dating officially and more importantly, exclusively. 

Within weeks, I found a new zest in life. Everyone realized a different glow in me. I became very much happier. 

On a night of weird antics and after running after each other for about 1 kilometer, I decided to ask her to be in a relationship with me. 

Though it was a comfortable friendship so far, I still felt that she would have just said no to me that night. But she didn't. She accepted. 

So she spent her birthday being newly attached to me! 

A few more days and weeks passed. I met her mother, father, brother and sister. It was moving really fast. 

I told myself thy my proposal to her shouldn't be same or similar to anything we've heard of or seen. 

So I threw many smoke screens that day. And eventually when I did propose to her, with a pair of diamond earrings, I could see that smile on her face. The smile that made me fall for her 16 years before. 

We got officially engaged in January when my family went over to her place and met with her family. 

After that, the trials and tribulations began. We quarreled more often. It was tiring for us as work commitments, wedding preparations and later on, the administration work for our home, would drain us dry. 

Any normal person would have called things off and given up. But I didn't. 

I believed that God presented me with her, along with future in laws who are in every sense perfect, for a reason. For me to know what true happiness means. 

But for me to understand true happiness, I believed that he tested us with a real load of trials. He didn't just want me to understand true happiness, he wanted to ensure that I'd appreciate it. 

So what happened after? We sat and talked. And I must say, it is really a different experience. Two people willingly working things out together, just because we know how special this whole relationship is, and how important we are to each others' lives. 

In 29 days, she will cease to be my fiancée and will be my lawfully wedded wife. 

God answered my prayers with my very own fairy tale. With a beautiful princess whom I'm sure will be a great queen. 

It's a really blessed relationship. My parents treat her like their own daughter. Her parents treat me like their own son. 

While we had the many bumps on the relationship, I can't help but notice how certain things, like house and wedding preparations, stuff that would usually be rather difficult and complicated for most people, happened rather smoothly for us. 

I am a lucky boy who is really blessed by God. Why? Cos Lenny Syafawatie Binte Abdul Rahman, THE Crush, will, in a matter of days, be MY wife.

The crush became my greatest love. :) 

Am eagerly looking forward to having a family with the girl whom I've always wanted. 

Alhamdullilah.