COVID-19: Lebanese lover proposes in ‘coronavirus suit’

Tripoli: A Lebanese coordinator gave his girlfriend a ‘memorable birthday present’ when he dressed up in a corona-isolation suit and forklifted himself to her balcony where he knelt down and proposed.

Alike most countries imposing lockdown procedures fighting the pandemic outbreak, Lebanese citizens had just started their third house-quarantine week when 32-year-old Jinane Merhabi had an unparalleled birthday gift when she was proposed to in a ‘dreamlike way’.

On April 4 [Jinane’s birthday] her sweetheart, Mohammad Samad, put on a corona-isolation suit and coordinated with a special crane to drive him to Tripoli’s famous Azmi Street to forklift him to the second-floor balcony where he knelt down before his captivated girlfriend and proposed.

“Oh my God … I still cannot believe this. I have known him for three and a half years … he is bold and crazy. He has done wild things that nobody ever thought of doing but I didn’t see such a proposal coming. I knew he was up to something for my birthday but zero expectations for a proposal,” Jinane told Gulf News.

An office coordinator, who lives and works in Tripoli, Samad has his name saved as ‘majnoon’ [crazy in Arabic] on Jinane’s mobile list of contacts.

Last week, the video of Samad’s surreal proposal scene surfaced across social media platforms as users shared it virally with loads of applauses and congratulatory comments.

Jinane got to know Samad from his sister, who is her best friend.

“We met in May 2017 and were best friends. Our relationship developed and we became lovers,” said the 32-year-old entrepreneur, who runs an online business.

Enchanted Samad was shown in several videos to have taken all the required precautions when he geared himself up with the white isolation suit, wore a mask and gloves before the crane forklifted him on to the balcony where he rolled out a proposal paper with ‘Will you marry me?’ written on it.

“In front of such a surreal proposal, there is nothing but to say yes, yes and yes. I had not seen his sisters for nearly two months and when they knocked at our door, I thought they came to say happy birthday. My father said to keep the windows closed because officials were sterilising the street … when I went out to the balcony, there was an unusual crowd at balconies and in the street. Seemingly he had prearranged everything. I suspected nothing. Everybody was videoing with their mobiles … then I saw two men with corona suits being elevated to our balcony. Instantly I realised he must be up to some birthday surprise, though we had only planned a car ride … I looked for him in the crowd and didn’t see him. One of the two men was fumigating … when the crane case reached our balcony, I knew him from his reddish long beard,” Jinane told the newspaper.

Describing the unexpected balcony scene, Jinane said she did not comprehend that Samad was going to propose until the moment when he knelt down on his knee and rolled out the proposal paper.

“It was a boldly crazy thing that he did. The next day his family came and proposed to me officially,” she concluded.