By Jeahan Virda De Barras
He is driving through layers of fog, and you’re both unusually serious, maybe a bit anxious about what could possibly happen any second on this notoriously mountainous highway.
He suddenly begins to talk, his eyes still fixated in the overcast road ahead. “You know what, Jeahan? I can’t see anything…”
He then turns to look your way. “…but you.”
You both snicker at the same time, then burst into unhinged laughter. Never mind that you’re still on one of the most dangerous roads you’ve ever been on.
This is something typical when you’re together. If your story with him was a genre, it would literally be a romantic comedy. Some days, it’s heart-fluttering and intimate, sometimes, it’s all just slapstick and terrible inside jokes.
What’s amusing is that watching romantic comedies is actually one of your favorite activities to do with him. You both enjoy pointing out plot loopholes and predicting one scene after another based on a so-called formula, acting like a pair that’s high and mighty over Hollywood’s most paid screenwriters and directors. It’s a guilty pleasure, sure, but intuitively, it’s also because you both happen to be hopeless romantics–albeit with opposing personalities.
You are the standard hopeless romantic. Dreaming of a prince since seven years old, swooning over marriage proposals and candle-lit dinners, reciting poetic lines like you’re a Bridgerton daughter and thinking of fake scenarios while standing in what you imagine is a Georgian balcony.
He is more of a closeted one. He puts on a front of being cool and casual, and makes a lot of dirty banters. You can put it this way: He’s a budget version of Barney Stinson in real life, only because he’s not blond and doesn’t ever suit up. And you know that infamous character–underneath his rubbish, he does care.
When together, you’re often bickering, calling each other ugly, old, and other weird names. Perhaps different from how men used to treat you. While others sent you flowers, gave you cute, handmade notes, and called you a princess, he makes you wash his dirty dishes and hang his laundry that has been sitting in the machine for days.
And yet for some reason, everything about this–everything about him–truly excites you. You haven’t felt like this in years, maybe ever. You’ve somehow formed an unusual connection, and it’s nothing short of beguiling.
Here’s the thing about unexpected flings. They usually come right after a hurtful event, and you welcome them into your life in order to forget the pain you’re going through, but then they end up being so much more to you than you initially planned. Before you know it, they’ve already become your little refuge, your thrilling escape from life that forces you to live up to certain standards and act your age.
Is this sounding like a typical romantic comedy plot already?
Cool, Casual Guy sends a message to the wrong girl. The wrong girl aka Good Girl innocently responds and Cool, Casual Guy plays along. They meet again after a few months of not talking. Good Girl falls in love because Cool, Casual guy is so mysterious and badly needs saving. Good Girl changes Cool, Casual Guy’s ways and makes him believe in love again.
Yeah, maybe you being with him is a cliché.
He finally pulls up to your destination after a 4-hour drive. It’s 4 degrees celsius and you’re both freezing. He grabs your hand, and of course, your heart flutters. He’s so good at this, you think to yourself. Exactly how many women has he done this with? You’re dying of curiosity, but you’d rather not ask.
“You’re not just another girl to me,” he tells you often. “You’re cute, charming, funny, and interesting, and I enjoy spending time with you.”
You overthink, of course. Would you be the one to actually change him? Will the good, innocent girl finally make the free-spirited, casual-loving guy stop flying away?
In the romantic comedies you love watching, it usually happens that way. But this is real life. And in real life, you just hope for the best and wait for the real life screenwriter to decide whether he’ll be a part of your ending or not.
You are now finished with your dinner, your first meal for this trip. Your thoughts are drifting again, and as you do, he looks at you. “What are you thinking?” He asks. You just shrug and say it’s nothing.
Out of nowhere, he gives you the warmest hug, as if he has been reading your mind all along.
Well, then. Maybe for now, this is good enough.