Love Knows No Boundaries

Yesterday, this article in the Star papers caught my attention. In case if you are unable to view the page, here it is...

Student goes the distance to suprise college mate
By Ang See Rene

Penang : Love knows no boundaries. And for 22-year-old Derrick Ooi, it was a nine-hour drive for about 600 km from Penang to Cameron Highlands and back again on the same day just to buy 214 red roses for Valentine’s Day – all for a girl he admired in college.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman College engineering student, who started his journey at 4am on Tuesday, said he had to rush back in the evening to get the flowers wrapped by a local florist as his coursemate, S.Y. Yeap, 20, was having an early birthday celebration that night.

Ooi admitted that some people would think he was crazy to have travelled to Cameron Highlands just to buy the flowers but “I only paid RM408 for the roses which would have cost about RM2,000 in Penang.”

Of the 214 roses, Ooi had initially planned to present Yeap with only 212 on her birthday today and to give her the remaining two roses two days later on Valentine’s Day.

“But as I didn’t want to spoil the nice wrappings, I gave her the whole bouquet to celebrate both occasions,” he said.

Cheered on by several college friends, Ooi presented the bouquet to a surprised Yeap in her Jelutong house on Tuesday night before the group went out for dinner.

Ooi said it had always been his dream to do something special for Valentine’s Day after working as a part-time flower salesman sometime ago.

“From my experience, most people would buy 12, 14 or even 99 roses but 214 is a special number,” he said.

He said the one-day trip was worthwhile as he had accomplished three goals – his dream, and celebrating the birthday and Valentine's Day.

Birthday girl Yeap said that although her friends had anticipated that Ooi would be giving her a surprise, she did not expect such a big bouquet.

“This is something different and I’m happy that I’m celebrating my birthday with my good friends from college,” she said.

Yeap said that although she already had a boyfriend, she appreciated Ooi’s gift.

Florist Leonard Tan from De Meridian Florist in Cintra Street, who wrapped the roses, said he had never come across someone like Ooi.

“I’ve been in the business for about five years and this is the first time I’ve heard about someone making a round trip to Cameron Highlands just to buy Valentine flowers,” he said.

He said Ooi came to his shop at 6pm that day and collected the flowers two hours later.

Tan said that if Ooi were to buy the 214 roses from his shop during the Valentine’s Day peak season, it would cost him about RM2,000.

I think he's asking for trouble. For goodness sake, she has a boyfriend!!! What was he thinking?? I mean, it's flattering and all, but there has to be some limit there. It's acceptable if he just get a smaller bouquet of flowers from a nearby florist or something. But to travel all the way to Camerons and back, 214 stalks for a girl who has a boyfriend?? I just hope he doesn't get bashed up today, as it's also Friday the 13th...