"It's an odd combination of letters and numbers that doesn't make any sense," she said when I asked about the phrase. Instantly I knew what she was referring to.
I looked at the phrase that she pinpointed and as I had thought, it was the phrase 'Oh8teaaglio07io'.
"Do you know what it is? It seems like I am obsessed with it considering the book is filled with them," she added.
I let out a chuckle and did not hesitate to agree with her. "You're right. You were obsessed with it but it's only because you were proud of creating them." It felt like it was only yesterday seeing the joy on her face as she came to me, bragging about the 'most intelligent' code she had created.
"What exactly is it?" She asked. Her eyes were staring from one doodle of the phrase to another, all while turning the book upside down trying to see them in all angles.
"That's the password to unlock your phone."
Her jaw dropped, her eyebrows furrowed, still staring at the phrase and her index finger stabbed the book with such fiery. "But why? Why would I pick a very difficult password to remember?"
"It's easier when you break it down. If you look at it carefully, it's a combination of all your favourites."
"My??? As in me? Surely not!" Her tone was filled with disbelief and her beautiful dark brown locks swayed left and right softly, hitting her face as she shook her head.
"I can prove it to you," I said, suppressing my laughter at her denial. "Let me get a paper and a pencil." As soon as I grabbed the magnetic notepad and pencil from the fridge, I rewrote the whole sentence.
"This here is your favourite drink," I said, circling the word 'tea'. "And here," I underlined 'aglio07io', "is your favourite type of pasta dish."
Her head nodded, signifying acknowledgement of what had been said and then asked, "So what about this?" Her hand pointed on the first three alphanumerics.
A sentimental smile etched across my face as I looked at her. "This," I paused, not for dramatic effect but because it meant so much to me, "This is the date of our anniversary of being legally married."
"Really???"
I thought I was able to control my emotions. I truly did but it felt as though my eyes were being defiant. The way the moist in my eyes suddenly quadrupled and my vision had become slightly magnified in such an awkward way. There were several odd blotches in some parts of my sights that I could feel some were threatening to spill from the corner of my eyes.
"Yeah," I answered with a strained voice.
"Wow, I must have loved you so much, huh?"
"Yeah, we were very much in love." That was when a single drop of tear managed to pull all of its friends off the edge of my eyes and ran down my cheeks. As though that was not enough, they called for reinforcement and began making my nose runny. That attracted her attention and out of embarrassment, I wiped the tears away and laughed awkwardly.
"But that's not all. When combined, it becomes our anniversary date and month," I said, fighting to put words in between the sniffles.
"Ohhh, I saw it now. Ehhhh? Wait! I'm confused. Seven?" She asked while looking at me.
"No, the seven is just a decoy. There's actually 8 in there. That's all I'm saying." I put both my hands up, partially informing that she had to figure it herself.
Meanwhile she was solving her own equations, I took her phone from the TV cabinet and placed it in the middle of the table.
"Here, you can try unlocking it," I encouraged her.
Immediately she typed in the phrase and gasped! "Is this your phone?" She hushed, putting down the phone while her hands covered her mouth.
"No, that's yours. I bought you a new one since the old one is... permanently damaged. Why?"
"Did you also change the background photo?" Her eyes stole several glances on the phone.
"No. Why?"
"I - I - I...," she stuttered and shook her head rather vigorously.
Again, her actions only made me curious seeing her as startled as now. "Why?" I asked for the countless times.
She shoved the phone closer to me and retracted her hands faster as though the phone would explode any minute.
As soon as I saw the background photo, I roared in laughter! So much so that the tears of sadness easily became tears of laughter. "Makes sense now why you have this password. If only you knew the other password you had chosen, it would be even more shocking to see this," I said while wiping my happy tears.
Oh god, it felt so good to have such a hearty laugh. I never thought the house would be filled with such noise this soon.
"I-Is it as b-bad as the... That!"
Another episode of bellowed laughs rang the house and I nodded, "Oh yes! And I am confident to say that you wouldn't believe it was you."
"Nooo... I don't think I'm the type to do this," she said. Yet her face reddened, contradicting her words.
"Do you want to know what was the other password you almost picked?" I teased. Seeing her acting so coy brought up a distant memory that was both refreshing and sweet.
"Do I even want to know?" She whispered. Her hands covered her entire face but her sweet brown eyes peeked through the slits of her fingers.
"I'll soften the blow for you and tell you only the digits. Ready?" I waited for her response, feeling slightly excited to see her reaction.
As soon as her cautious head nodded, I gave her the digits. "Eight, zero, zero, eight—"
"Oh, that's not too bad! I guess our marriage date is such a great turning point for me," she interjected. Her tensed shoulder relaxed the moment she exhaled out the breath she held.
"One, three," I continued while nodding my head when she mouthed out 'There's MORE?'
"Five." I finally stopped talking, letting all the information sinked in.
"Thirteenth May?" She wondered out loud but I shook my head.
Between the background photo she had set up and the password, the latter was much more tame in comparison. Very very tame. Because the background photo that she had put up, it was a very explicit photo of us. One I assumed she had changed a couple of months before her memory loss on the very day she forbid me to touch her phone.
And the photo? It was done on a drunken night when lust and craziness took over. She was kneeling naked with her beautiful dark brown hair covering parts of her back. And what made her shy was most likely the blatant image of my naked self standing right in front of her, having my private parts hidden with her body.
Or well... Hidden within parts of her body.