The Meeting, the Love of My Life

On this day, 1996, in front of a handful of friends and family, we became man and wife.

Refusing to wear the pink traditional Malay traditional costume that the mak andam has picked for me, I chose a more garang black one with gold trim, complete with a kris in my waist belt. Many of her friends and relatives were present. For me, just the most important people in my life, my grandparents, my parents. None of my sisters or friends were present.

The solemnization and photo taking session was over in record time. It was the happiest day of my life. It seems as if it was just yesterday that I got to know her. And I remember it very clearly.

It was in the year 1990. I was playing table-tennis in the Ngee Ann Poly sports hall with Adon, a girl whom I really liked at that time. Mansur came along and asked if I would like to join him for a disco night organized by the accountancy or business people. What for? I don't even dance. But I agreed to it anyway since all the guys are going and we still have to try to get in. You guessed it, not one of the 5 or 7 of us got a ticket.

When the door to the multi-purpose-hall was opened, we just hustled our way through among those with tickets, like wolves among sheeps. Within seconds, all of us got in. How? Fate I guess.

So the music played, we danced among ourselves. I more or less jumped like a vampire throughout the night, cos I can't dance. These business and accountancy people certainly has more yin than yang. Many pretty girls, some were already dancing among us. I was with my Malay buddies, beside me was this beautiful girl who looked like a model, apparently my friends know her. Suddenly, all my friends bolted, leaving me dazed and confused on the dance floor. I wasn't paying attention. Apparently, the DJ had just announced that its time for some slow dance as he played hotel california or something. Even the beautiful Malay girl had fled to the side. Instead, in front of me stood this messy looking girl *. Urmm... ok, it would be rude to run away now, not that I'm shy or afraid. But, I really can't dance! Anyway, we approached each other and started grooving to the music. We asked for each other's name and engaged in some small talk. This girl is kinda rough, the way she led me through the slow dance, but who cares? It was too noisy to hear much and it was too dark to see her features clearly, I went on to enjoy the dance while my friends were all looking from the side.

Soon, the slow dance was over. We said some nice things to each other and then it was over. I couldn't find my friends so I went to sit high up on some chairs stacked high up to get a better view of the place. Then came the beautiful Malay girl who was dancing among us. She sat beside me, slapped me on my thigh, and asked me, "So how was the slow dance?". "It's ok...". After some moments of awkward silence, she walked away.

As it turns out, Mansur kinda know the girl I danced with. They came from the same school, and she's Malay too, although she looked more Chinese than I do. One of the guys, Edwan, happened to have her number and asked if I was interested in calling her up. Are you kidding? Have I ever said no to calling up girls?

Alas, after a few tries, I gave up. The line was always picked up by an Indian family, wrong number bro. Too bad, I'll have to forget her then. I don't know why. She wasn't the most beautiful or prettiest girl I know then, but something about her makes her special and I can't put a finger on it. She seemed spunky and I like rugged girls who dresses down with little or no make-up, her smile, and most of all, her eyes. She was almost exactly what I had prayed for, long wavy hair, simple, t-shirt and jeans, no make-up, sporty, strong. Almost exactly, because I'd forgotten to mention stuff like race or religion in my prayers. I guessed God filled up those blanks for me.

A few weeks later, she called. Edwan had told her that I tried calling but couldn't get her. Apparently, Edwan had got the number from a friend of hers, but it was deliberately written with a wrong last digit so as to avoid nuiscance calls. So she got my number from Edwan this time and gave me a call to ask me out(heheh). The rest, as they say, is history. The following few years was for me a melting pot of the most wonderful and painful experiences. As I've always said, its the bitter-sweetness of longing for something you cannot have that makes the romance so much more memorable. My friends gave us a year, we sort of hope it will last at least for a few. But look at us now! 8 years... and counting...

I am still as happy as I was 8 years ago, to have you to spend the rest of my life with, my love...

*turns out I have seen this girl in one of my earlier adventures, and I didn't know until she showed me later the video she shot