I had wanted to blog about an ex-classmate's bday dinner,
I had wanted to blog about my crazy sunday afternoon out wit the boys n chicks,
I had wanted to blog about my Monday evening with the girls,
I had wanted to blog about my grievances under the hands of a certain colleague at work,
I had wanted to blog about this ridiculous t**payer who called in this afternoon
just to test my patience.
There are so many things,
so many stories that I've yet to tell.
But these thoughts flushed down the drain after dinner.
I stood beside the sink, lending mummy dearest my company as she washed the dishes.
Then she began talking.
My auntie from my dad's side rang up my mum this afternoon,
and asked her to accompany her for lunch.
Mum's initial reaction was to decline,
but after hearing her choked-up voice,
she decided otherwise.
Mum said that once she sat down opposite auntie,
the ominous feeling just got stronger.
Apparently,
auntie's gastric got very bad the night before,
so bad she lost sleep and even threw up five, six times.
Mum was shocked.
"Why didn't u go to a doctor?There's a 24 hour clinic nearby wat!"
"How could I? When I was so weak I cld barely manage to make it to the toilet to vomit"
"Ur husband?"
Her eyes misted up.
"He scolded me for making so much noise, groaning and whining about the pain,
that I disturbed his sleep and that I'm spoilt, so spoilt I can't even tolerate a little discomfort.
He scolded me for being lazy, for feigning illness, and warned me to stop it, claiming that I've been putting on an act ever since he got back from work..."
Mum was extremely disgusted.
She couldn't understand how any man could treat his wife like that.
I was infuriated.
I couldn't understand why any woman would allow herself to be treated that way.
My uncle and father are twins.
Yet they are as different as can be.
You'll never catch my father raising his voice at my mum.
On the contrary,
it's my mum who's always throwing her weight around the house.
And that's the environment that I grew up in.
I grew up believing that every woman is worth a mini fortune.
I grew up believing that women are created to be pampered.
If u can't find a man to shower u with love,
u bloody well shower urself with double the amount of love.
I've never really liked my father's twin.
I find it difficult to like a man who curses and swears at his wife over the smallest things,
over the most ridiculous things,
over things that are not even her fault to begin with.
Although he had never raised a hand to my aunt,
verbal abuse is just as bad.
Public verbal abuse is even worst.
Try as I might,
I can never seem to find it within myself to respect a man who hurls vulgarities at a woman.
It dawned on me that the whole situation seemed like something out of a bad chinese drama,
with a lot of sob tears, all the crying...
but this is real.
So real it really is a little scary.
You know the feeling of "shit-will-never-happen-to-me-all-the-bad-things-always-happen-to-others"?
this incident really upsets that belief,
cause this really is something that happened right on my doorstep.
I thought about it.
Mum and I talked about it.
She told me that aunt was really jealous about my father's nine years courtship with my mum before she finally agreed to marry him.
She told me that aunt confided that sometimes,
she wished uncle would just see her as a person,
and care,
just a little,
just to affirm that she is alive,
that she is a person,
that she's flesh and blood.
Mum says that uncle's callousness was due to the fact that they were matchmade,
and auntie was too easy a target.
They began dating almost immediately,
without any effort on uncle's part at all.
Aunt says that it's love at first sight.
Mum says that aunt must be blind.
I still remember an incident that mum related to me before about auntie and uncle.
There was this once that they went to the beach for a date,
and aunt wanted to go swimming.
Uncle did not.
So aunt went by herself.
Unfortunately, her leg cramped,
and she almost drowned in the sea.
Uncle did not even notice,
he only found out what happened when his kpo-ness got the better of him when he caught sight of a commotion.
He walked towards the crowd only to discover, to his shock, his unconscious date being resuscitated.
That was a telltale sign the kind of man my uncle is,
isn't it?
I mean,
it's ur girlfriend whom u let swim alone without a companion
it's ur woman who was being resuscitated and u don't even know
*dammit man, i can feel my anger rising again as I type*You know they say that when something close to your heart happens,
u'll get this inspiration to write,
and the stuff would be awesome,
cos it's straight from the heart.
It's a freaking lie man.
When something really angers u,
u'll lose ur ability to think coherently.
I've lost my ability to think straight,
and to express myself.
I just needed to get this off my chest,
this jumble of emotions,
and this, this phrase that had bothered me for hours,
since just now when my mum told me.
She said that auntie said this to her,
which left her on the verge of tears.
"I see the way ah ngee (my dad) always smile so proudly and drags u around,
so full of pride to introduce u to all his friends and family during gatherings,
and I see the way that ah jin (my uncle) never fails to just focus on his food then...
and i get this silly urge to cry"
I feel an urge to cry,
to cry for my foolish aunt,
to cry for this heartbroken woman.
Why do u marry her when u can't even do the simplest thing for her,when u can't even be proud of her,when u can't be bothered to even pretend to be proud of her?And why is this stupid woman still willing to put up with all these just to be with u?and there's a danger in loving somebody too muchand it's sad when u know it's their heart u can't touch there's a reason why people don't stay where they arecos baby sometimes love just ain't enough-