{ 雨の天使 }
Rain Angel

Chapter 12

[ The Angel of Rain ]

“Ah hui… how are you?”
“Loke? KaiLoke? Where are you? How come I cannot see you?”
I don’t know where I am, everywhere was pure white and cloudy.
“Kai Loke where are you?”

“Ah Hui… you won’t be able to see me..”
The voice was really KaiLoke’s.

“KaiLoke, what happened?”
I began to knee down and cry again.
I didn’t know I’m so emotionally drained.

“Don’t cry Ah hui…”
The warm gentling wind blow up to my face.

“Where are you Loke? Why can't I see you? There are so many things to talk about between us”

“If you cry, the Angel of Rain will cry for you too…”
“The Angel of Rain will watch over you forever, I will watch over you, forever…”
“Be strong and live on because life is supposed to be happy….”

“No… Please don’t leave me”
Mavis was trembling on the bed struggling.

Wilson sat beside the bed watching her.
“She must have lost someone very special to her..”

Mavis suddenly woke up.
She realized it was a dream she had.
It didn’t felt a dream. Everything looked so real.
“KaiLoke must be in heavens now..”

“This bed is really soft and comfortable.”
She thought as she lay on the soft bed before.

Mavis suddenly sprung up from the bed.
“Where am I? Whose bed is this??? Whose clothes are this???”

She looked up. Wilson was looking at her.

“Argh!!!!!!!!!!!”
Mavis screamed with pitch that could kill.

Wilson walked over.
“These clothes are my ex-girlfriend’s. You were drenched all over. You were crying and suddenly fainted.. I have to carry you all the way back.”

Mavis slapped him a few times.

“You pervert!! What do you want???”

“Stop it.. Why did you slap me????”
Wilson stunned.

“Why did you change my clothes???? What intentions you have?”

“What intentions I’ve got?? You’ve nothing for me to see in the first place!”
Wilson fired a deadly remark on her.

In the mist of all the quarreling, the bedroom door opened up.

“Ah….The porridge is so hot…”
Hanling came in with a bowl in her hand.

“Hanling?? Why are you here?”
Mavis looked at her friend.

“Why? Because of you! Who ask you to faint all of the sudden”
Hanling put the bowl on the table.

“Hanling… so you were the one who changed out my clothes?”
Mavis lowered her tone.

“Stupid girl…All you know is cry, faint, scream and slap people”
Wilson walked out of the room.

He hoped her friend would be able to calm her down.

“Yeah lah! If not who changed? Wilson? Come to think of it, I feel he’s a real gentleman. At least he called me and asked me for help..”

“I just slapped him a few times just now..”
Mavis sounded remorseful.

“No problem, I wanted to slap him since that night”
Hanling encouraged her friend.

“Hanling… I dream of him just now…”

“Kai Loke?... Poor girl… don’t be too sad. Whatever happen she should not be too bothered about it. It cannot be helped…”
Hanling hugged her.

“I know.. I promise him I will live on happily. He said he will look after me. Well… I think he may actually be the Rain Angel that I’ve always talked about…I know he is.. I hope he is..”
Mavis let out a smile.

“That’s the spirit girl! I know you are sad…. But we should look forward”

“Life is supposed to be happy right?”
Hanling show Mavis her victory sign.

Wilson was standing outside the door.
He let out a smile of relieved. Finally she has the determination to pull herself together.
Wilson looked out his window.
The rain had stopped.

“Loke, I hope she will really get over you…”

--------------

Hanling accompanied Mavis to her void deck before she heads home herself.

“Ah hui, where did you go?”
Mavis’s mother looked at her tired daughter.

“I went to KaiLoke’s place just now”

“Are you ok? You looked very tired”

“I’m ok, Ma.. I’ve thought it through already..”

Mavis’s mother paused and looked at her daughter again.

“Whose clothes are you wearing?”

“Ohh.. Eh.. They’re Hanling’s. Just now we met up then big rain then we were drenched then I went to her place then she lends me her clothes then…”

“Ok.. ok so many ‘then’”
Mavis’s mother walked into the kitchen.

Mavis let out a sense of relieve. If her mother would to know she had went to a stranger’s place and slept on his bed. God knows what will become of her.

------------

Night time came as the noisy void deck had died down.
Mavis folded and stacked her ‘new’ clothes into her closet.

She looked up to the clear sky with the half full moon.

“So many things have happened in such a short time.”

It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to stop thinking of someone.

Mavis took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

“Loke, If you really are the Rain Angel.. please show me a sign, any sign…”

Suddenly raindrops fell down from the sky.
It rained on a clear night sky.. but it only lasted a few minutes..

Mavis fell onto her chair.
She couldn’t believe what she had witness.
But she would want to believe in it, even though she may be the only one who believes in it.
Her heart is finally settled.

“Ah Loke, you don’t worry about me. I will study hard and go to university as promised. I will live a good life. I know when I cry, it will rain. If you really are the Rain Angel, then I cannot hate the rain anymore because it would mean I hate you… “

Mavis started to flip through her revision notes.

“Mavis Guo Mei Hui Ganbatte ne!”

Mavis spent the rest of the night revising through all the lessons that she missed.

As she prepared for bed, her mobile phone beeped.

[Sender : Wilson]

She read on..

“The darken clouds filled the lovely sky,

Thoughts of you ran across my mind..

As the wind began its mighty blow,

Senses of sadness felt across my soul..

Water descends the distance ground,

Behind my window I heard the sound,

Night came as I sat by my warming crouch,

Knowing that a rainfall brings out drought,

As I close my eyes and force myself to sleep,

Images of you flashes within deep.

Though the rain had washed my tears for you,

it will never remove any love I feel.”

[To be Cont]

{ 雨の天使 }

Rain Angel

Chapter 11

[ I hate the rain... ]

It rained that night, the next night and the next.
It rained on the day that you were cremated.
It then rained subsequently for 7 days straight.
KaiLoke is gone. The rain had taken his life.

My eyes are swollen, my smile is gone. My tears have dried up, my mouth stop to talk.
I sat back and think back what that guy said to me.
“What’s so great about being happy?”
Maybe he was right.

To see someone whom you see everyday suddenly gone forever.
This kind of sadness and pain is something which few got through.
Those who’ve experienced will know what I want to say.

KaiLoke… I Miss you..

“Ah hui”
KaiLoke’s mother called her after a few days after his cremation.

“Yes Auntie?”

“Can you come over to my place later? I’ve got something to pass you”

“Orhh… ok I’ll try”
Mavis put down the phone with a heavy heart.

Mavis didn’t want to go.
She didn’t have enough courage to face them.
To lose their son in an accident is terrible enough, knowing that he came for her was worse.
It must have taken them a lot of courage to pull through.

“I guess KaiLoke would want me to accompany them and talk to them more often”
“Maybe they will think less of him by talking with me”

Mavis made her way to his home.

“Ah hui, you are here. Come in please”
KaiLoke’s mother opened their 4 roomed flat to her.

It was the first time she had gone to their place after they moved out of the same block as her family 2 years ago.
The house was simple, yet neat and spacious unlike her own.

“Ah pa should have sell fish instead…”

“Meihui…”
Mavis turned.

“You are…. KaiWen?”
Mavis covered her mouth.

“Oh my god.. it’s been so long…”

“Yeah.. too bad I couldn’t make it to Ah Gor’s funeral. The air tickets back to Singapore was fully booked.

“Ah Wen reached home after Ah Loke was cremated. He had been busy settling the remaining paperwork since”

KaiLoke’s mother spoke as she brought a cup of tea to her.

“So… Auntie.. what is it that you want to give me?”

KaiLoke’s mother asked Mavis to go inside his room.

It was the first time she ever sat foot in his room. Mavis could still remembered that KaiLoke had banned her from entering his room since she started in junior college.
They even quarreled and didn’t talk to each other for a period of time over this.

On the walls, were a giant portrait of a girl right behind his bed.

“It’s… me….”

Mavis walked towards the portrait.

“KaiLoke always wanted to give you this since your 16th birthday”
KaiWen came in.

“But… Why?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know that he liked you all along?”
Those words were smeared with sourness as she took it.

“I….. don’t know… what to say…”
Mavis walked towards the portrait.
“He liked you since young, he was always there to protect you.”
KaiWen continued.

“But he didn’t have the courage to tell you. He was afraid that you will avoid him if you know about it”

“I…”

Mavis then notice some books on his desk.
There were a few A level’s books lying on his table.

KaiWen saw the books too but he has no idea why the books were there.

Mavis walked up to the books and start flipping.

Every page of each textbook has a sentence.

“Chen Kai Loke… Loves…. Guo Mei Hui”

Mavis flipped the last textbook, the last page was different from the rest.
It was a written paragraph.

[ I know it’s stupid of me to do this and I can’t explain why I’m so attracted to her.
Maybe this is what people call Love.
I call this blindly in love.

I watched her grow from a cute naughty girl to a young pretty lady.
It hurts me every time to see she had a fall.
It will put a smile on my face when I see her arranging the carrots.
She is always clumsy when you ask her to carry things.

No one will know why I give up my studies.
Ah Ma will think I’m saving up the money for KaiWen.
It’s only half true, let them believe it.

I gave up my junior college placing because of her.
I want to wait for her.
I want to go to the same University with her.
I want to take care of her forever.
I know She may not like me…
But it is enough for me to have a chance to be with her…

16th May 2007]

It was written on the day of accident.
Everyone in the room cried.

Mavis especially. She had thought her tears had dried up.
It just keeping flowing out.

She cried because she know she would not have accepted him.
She cried because she can’t repay anything to him for what he had done for her.
She cried because she never had the chance to say ‘Thank You’ & ‘Sorry’ to him forever.

Mavis had requested the portrait to be hang up in his room.
She hope that it will accompany him at least.

Mavis left the house with a broken heart.
She had thought that she had recovered from the sadness.

It seems that the sadness have just begin.

Mavis walked to the park.

It was her soul asylum, a place where she could cry all she want.
It was a place where she could just stare at the flowers.

As she stood at the park, the sky had long darkened at her ignorance.
Soon the rain dropped.

Mavis just stood there.

The rain got bigger.

Mavis continued standing there closing her eyes.
Her mind was in shock over sadness or sadness over shock.

Mavis couldn’t feel the rain drops anymore.
She opened her eyes and looked up to an umbrella.

“Why are you standing in the rain?”

Wilson was holding the umbrella to cover her letting himself wet in the process.

“Why do you care?”
Mavis turned back.

“Why don’t I care? Who was the one who asked me to be happy?”

“What’s the point of being happy?”
Mavis cried again.

“You don’t need a reason to be happy right?”
Wilson sensing something is wrong with her today.

“Are you ok?”
Wilson tried to turn her around.

“Leave me alone!! LET GO!”

“Why are you so sad? What happen?”

“What do you know??? HAVE YOUR BEST FRIEND EVER DIED JUST LIKE THAT?”

“What~??~?? Hanling is dead??”
Wilson got a shock.

“NO NO NO I never said it’s her, you’ll never understand.”

“But you shouldn’t do this to yourself, you are only damaging yourself…”

“WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?? I DON’T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO CRY?”
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW?”

Wilson was stunned by her words, rather her tone.
The cheerful girl whom he met few months ago was gone.

“Yes, I know… I know your feeling now. Please cry it all out.. You will feel better”

“I HATE THE RAIN! I’ll never forgive the rain”

Wilson suddenly threw away the umbrella and hugged her.
She just continued to cry in his arms.
And the rain kept coming at them.

“I truly understand what you’ve gone through…”
Wilson can only consoled her as she just kept hitting him.

[To be Cont]

{ 雨の天使 }

Rain Angel

Chapter 10
[ The Rain that I’ll never forget… ]

Have you ever hate someone or something so much that it hurts your heart the moment you began to think about it?
The hurt is so much that you don’t even know how to react?
That someone whom you always trusted did the unimaginable.
I always thought life should be full of love and happiness.
No one or no things are to be disliked by anyone.
Some things can forgiven… but cannot be forgotten.
I’m beginning to hate the rain….


“How is he…?”
Mavis walked to his bed, panting as she had run all the way from the drop point.

She didn’t know what to say as she saw all the tubings and cables connected to KaiLoke. There were a lot of bandages and he was still in a coma. The sight of him drew tears straight from the heart as she advanced into the Intensive-Care Unit.

“How is Loke? Auntie?”

KaiLoKe’s mother can only held onto his father and weeped.

“How is KaiLoke, Ma…”

Mavis turned to her own parents instead.

“We don’t know Ah hui. We reached no long ago.”

“All we know is that KaiLoke had met an accident. We rushed down after informing you.. Poor kid…”

Mavis’s father sighed.

“But why he had an accident?”

“His car skidded along the expressway. It crashed onto the divider”
Loke’s father started telling.

“But shouldn’t he be at home? Preparing for tommorrow’s business?”

Mavis just cannot believe it.
She had never know KaiLoke as a dangerous driver.

“It was rainning quite heavily and he said that he’s going to pick you up before it rains”

“Why the rain…..?”
Mavis couldn’t believe what they have told her.

“Why must it be the rain…?”

“So what did the doctor say?”
Mavis turned her attention.

“The doctor said there’s some blood clot in his left brain. They are preparing to see if they can perform an operation tomorrow morning”

Mavis kneeled beside his bed.

“Loke, you must be strong…”

She touched his forehead.

“We make a move first… Mavis you joining us?”
Mavis’s father called after he console KaiLoke’s parents.

“Don’t worry, don’t think too much…”

“Yeah.. should not be anything critical. If not the operation would have done immediately”
Mavis’s father knew this kind of words might not be the best of all consoles but that was all that he could think of.

“Pa, Ma. Can I stay with him?”
Mavis requested.

“Ok… you take care of yourself okie? The hospital gets very cold at night”

Mavis’s parent had left the ICU.

“Auntie, Uncle. You want to go home too? I can take care of him”
Mavis suggested.

KaiLoke’s mother wasn’t responsing.
All her weeping had caused her to be phyiscally and emotionally drained. She had fallen asleep.
All the tiredness had caused a great impact to her.

“Ah hui, Are you sure you can take care of him tonight?”
KaiLoke’s father asked.

“Yeah..I can take care of him…”

“We’ll come back tomorrow morning okie? I think Loke’s mother is really tired”
KaiLoke's father carried her as he speaks.

“Yeah. Uncle, don’t worry. I will call you if he wakes up during the night”

“Ok… you take care of yourself too..”

They too walked out of the ICU.

The night seems extremelly and bitterly cold when you are alone in the hospital. Mavis took out a jacket and hung on herself.

She then walked over to his bed and tried to pull up his blanket.

Mavis just sat there watching him.

She think back all the memories that they shared since they were young. Loke had always take care of her as far as she can remember. Growing up together means they shared almost all the fun that a child cannot forget in his/her life.

Rain drops slowly hit the window.

Soon, it was rainning again.

It was cold enough to be alone, the rain seems to make it worse.

Mavis looked at KaiLoke.

“Loke.. you must wake up… or I will not talk to you anymore..”
Mavis hoped it will help by talking to him. It always worked in shows and movie.

She started talking their young times.
The days when they first met at the playground outside the wet market. The days when she fell sick and Loke had to carry her all the way from the market to the clinic. The days when she did well in her examinations.

Soon the rain was getting bigger.

“Stop.. the rain….stop it”
Mavis couldn’t hold onto herself anymore.
There was no one there for her to comfort her, to ask her not to cry.

Mavis wiped her tears and took out a tissue to wipe his forehead..

She felt something on his cheeks.

It was tears…

“Nurse!! Nurse, Doctor…!”
Mavis ran outside the ward room.

A few Doctors came and took a look at him.
They were taking his heart beat, blood pressure and all sorts of examinations.

Mavis quietly stood there and watched.

Suddenly one of the doctors shouted…

“His blood pressure is going down. We’re losing him!!”

The rest of the doctors hurried to do immediate rescure.

Mavis hurried to his bed.

“KaiLoke!! KaiLoke..!! What happened?? Didn’t he woke up…!!??”


No one was able to answer her.

Mavis was there looking at him, wiping his sweat and holding onto his hand.

KaiLoke opened his eyes and looked at Mavis.

He tried to said something… but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“Ah hui….”

“Yes, I hear you KaiLoke… I hear you… Please don’t give up!!”

“Ah Hui… I……..”

“Don’t give up okie??? Don’t give up on your parents… Don’t give up on Me…..”

Mavis wasn’t able to control herself anymore

“Ah Hui…………I………..Love……….. You………”

And all went still.

The doctors had stopped.
The beeping sound of the heart beat equipment went constant.

He was gone…
Mavis held on him and cried…

She didn’t know how long she had cried..

As the hopsital informed the family.
Mavis sat at the corner alone.
Her tears contiune to drip as the as the rain drops contiune to hit the window.

She stared at the rain…

The rain that killed her best friend, her brother and someone that love her.

She hated the rain…




[To be Cont]

What is it that you like to do?

Do you know what is the thing that you really like to do?
Some people might call it a hobby.
But a hobby is only done through your free time right?

So think again, what is it that you like to do?
Something that will put a smile on your face despite the hectic lifestyle that you are going through each day.

I like to watch the rain drops falling down from the sky from the first drop.
I like to accomplish my job assignments in office that makes everyone’s day.
I like to take a walk through the park with my wife after dinner.
I like to see my wife being happy each day.
I like to her and my family to have happy memories that they can remember throughout their life.

I like the things that I'm good at doing.

When you are good, you are expected to be better.
When you are better, people expect the best from you.
What comes after the best?
Consistency?
Reliability?
Continuous improvement?

Until….?

The day that you don't like doing it anymore.
When you don't like doing it, whatever people tell you is not important.

When you like to do something, shouldn't you be doing it as you like it?

Recently I began writing a lot, on the web, in my blog.
I've completed one story, in the mist of completing the next.

People have told me it's a good try for the first.
Then expect better from the second.

The second story wasn't that well received as the first.
Nobody commented well on it.

Maybe it's really bad.
Maybe my first attempt was a fluke.
Maybe I should stop writing altogether.

“Why do care so much from other people's point of view?”
Jo told me.

“What makes a good story? It's something that will relate to people in their life”
I told myself.

“I will continue writing.”
Even if there’s only 1 person reading.

“I will continue…”

Because it’s the memories that I leave for the reader to remember.
One day throughout their life, they will remember the stories that they once read and how it related to them.

And they will remember someone who writes them.

That's me…

Anntonii Lim

{ 雨の天使 }

Rain Angel

Chapter 9
[ The Rain between me, him and.... ]

It's 5am in the wet market.
Many hawkers have started opening their stall after they got the goods from their distributors.
Many people don't go to wet market as much as they used to be.
The convenience of knowing that the supermarket will always have fresh stock of vegetables and meat never helped.
I used to remember that the wet market was always crowded in the mornings.
Housewives trying to fight a 20cent bargain.
People quarreling over the freshness of the displayed fish.
What was the feeling liked?
To accompany your mother to the wet market and watch her display her skills.
Skills in picking the fresh vegetables, choosing the fresh fish.
We'll never understand that.
Negotiation skills as she asked for a further discount.
When was the last time you've done that?
Never?
Try it this weekend.. maybe you have to wake up earlier.
The rewards are incomparable.

Mavis wasn't in the state of her mind when she was arranging the carrots.
Of all the vegetables, Mavis always liked carrot the most.
Maybe her likeness for rabbits have some effect on her preference for carrots.
She was trying to figure out what had happen between Hanling and Wilson.

“Ah Hui, pass me some carrots”
Mavis's mother yelled but there was no response.

“Hello Miss... Not enough sleep?”
KaiLoke nodded her head from behind.

Mavis recovered from her state of trance and quickly passed the carrots to her mum.
“Shall we go for breakfast since you are almost done with your packing?”
“Orhh... ok”
They went to a coffeeshop nearby to have some toast and coffee.
KaiLoke was take a sip on his coffee when he pointed to the playground outside the coffeeshop.

“Ah Hui, do you still remember this playground?”
“Huh? What's with this playground?”
“Aiyah, all of us used to play here a lot. Not this current playground but the one during our years”

“Yeah... I used to get bullied a lot by you then.”
Mavis remembered.
“Yah loh, you always cried. Then Ah Wei and I have to console you”
“Who's Ah Wei? I don't seems to have any memory of him”

“Ah Wei is my buddy lah. My primary school classmate”
“Hmmm.. no idea”

Mavis continued to think while munching her bread.
“He's helping me out lately but you won't really get to see him anyway”

“Don't talk about this lah, so you got any boyfriend lately?”
Loke asked.

“Boyfriend? No.. I don't think I have the time too”
“Don't worry, during the time when you don't have any boyfriend you can always count on me!”

“Anything you ask I will surely help you”
KaiLoke declared.

“Of course you must help lah! I know you so long already”
“Yeah, it's been so long already since our parents first started out in this wet market”

Loke took another sip in his coffee.

“Don't talk about me lah, Why won't you have any girlfriend?”
Mavis shot back.

“Me? Who would like me? I smell like fish all day long”
Loke laughed.

“Loke, you not young liao mah..you won't want Auntie & Uncle to start worrying about you right?”

“No one will like me...”

“Really, what makes you think so?”

“Then do you like me?”

KaiLoke took a hard look at Mavis.

“I..... I think I need to go to school...it's getting late”
Mavis tried to change the topic.
Mavis got up to make her way home for wash up and prepare for school.
She quicken her steps home.
Mavis didn't understand the meaning of the conversation with KaiLoke.

She don't believe KaiLoke will play such a joke on her.
The problem is bigger if this isn't a joke.
Everything seems to happen so fast without stop.

Mavis received a sms from Hanling.
“Mavis, I'm not going to school today. I'm still feeling sick”
Seems like Hanling had not recovered from the rejection after a few days.
Hanling seems to be devastated by his rejection.
Maybe Hanling really like him a lot.

Mavis walked through the park today.
The quiet scenery seems to aid her in sorting out her over storage mind.
She was admiring the flowers when she heard a voice from infront.

“Late for school today?”

Mavis looked up.
It was him.

The man who broke her friend's heart.
The man who almost drew her best friend into depression.
As Mavis continued her stare, she became more furious.

“You know what you have done to her?”
She finally picked up her courage to scold him directly.
She know it's useless as it won't help Hanling in anything anyway.

She just let her emotions out.
“What happened to her?”
Wilson appeared curious.
“Hanling had fallen sick because of you! She had skipped school for nearly a week”
“Then what you expect me to do?”
“Why you don't show care for her? You know how much she like you?”

“Do you think it will help if I call her now?”
Wilson asked.

“I don't know, don't ask me.. I'm lost”
“Do you think that if someone liked you, you have to like the person back in return?”
“If I like you now, will you like me in return?”

“I......”
Mavis knew what Wilson was saying.

She felt the same way as he did this morning when Loke talked about relationship.
“If you don't like her, why must you be so close with her?”

“I'm close to her? I treat her as a good friend all along..”
Wilson tried to look away.
“You've ruined her feelings....”

“It's not that I want to anyway, I already told her before that both of us won't have that kind of chemistry between us.”

“I don't want to see you again...”
Mavis walked past him.

Wilson tried to defend himself but Mavis went further ahead of him.
Soon the sight of her was lost as the stretch of the park went.
Wilson just carry on his journey as they parted ways once more.
The park was back to peaceful state once more.

---------------------

Mavis tried to spend her concentration at her school work but it didn't work out.
Hanling, Wilson, Loke seems to be on her mind throughout the day.
Her exams are not far away and Mavis is trying all her best to stay on track.
Her school ended as how it began.. confused.

-------------------

Mavis walked back to the park after school.
Her thoughts were mainly on the words that Wilson said.

“Do you think that if someone liked you, you have to like the person back in return?”
“If I like you now, will you like me in return?”

As she walked, she somehow came to the place where they first met.

It was the telephone booth.

All the memories that happened that day went back to her.
Mavis smiled.

Her smile was greeted with some disturbance as her mobile phone rang.
“Ah Hui, where are you??”

Her mother sounds stranded.
“I'm on my way home, Ma, what happened?”
“KaiLoke met an accident, we're on our way to the hospital now”
“Ok, tell me the ward. I go there now”

[To be Cont ]

{ 雨の天使 }

Rain Angel

Chapter 8

[ The Rain that drenched her friend ]

Have you ever heard of a Rain Angel?
She is the guardian angel that pours down the rain down when the sky is dark.
No one ever see her at work and no one understand why she had to pour rain down
Some people believe that she pours rain for those who've cried.
The rain covered their tears as they flowed together
I don't know whether it's true.
It rained last night, did I cried in my sleep?

[Hanling If I need a favour from you, you will help me right?]
Wilson asked over the sms.

[Oh well.. that depends how you are going to reward me? Hee hee..]
Hanling seeked.

[Can you be my girlfriend?]

[For one day only....]

“Awww....Why only for a day?”
Hanling moaned as she replied her thoughts.

[Cos I need you to come down to my pub tonight to help me]
Wilson replied.

[On one condition..]
Hanling paused for a while before she continued.

[I can be your girlfriend for one day but you have to be my boyfriend forever!]

[What kind of request is this???]

[ This is my formal request mah.. you can take it or leave it..]
Hanling looks to have locked her target.

[Ok, ok.. we'll talk when you come down tonight, I've got to settle something now]
Wilson replied his last sms.

Hanling came to Mavis and broke the news to her.

“We're together... Mavis!”

“Huh?”
Mavis looked at her frenetic friend.

“Wilson asked me to be his girlfriend...”
Hanling said as she showed Mavis the sms.

Mavis didn't know how to react to her friend, all she could do was to say.

“Wah...looks like I'll have to watch movies myself already”

“No lah! All three of us can still go out together!”
Hanling bubbling with excitement.

“Yeah, maybe we would...”

-----------

Mavis walked through the park that evening.
It was quiet with gentling breeze blowing towards her.
Something was not right with her but she could not explain that feeling.
It felt as if something is lost and it felt like it's gone forever.
The last time Mavis had felt this way was during her secondary school days.

She had a crush on her class monitor but dare not expressed her feelings.
All she could do was to observe him from afar.
She would ask him all the questions regarding her homework.
She had always liked the way he explained things to her.
It was as if seeing a guy doing the things which he is most confident in.
Mavis had always think that guys looked the most handsome when they are serious in doing something.

No one know about her crush, not even her best friend Hanling who was same school with her.
No one ever came to know,
when she saw Hanling and the guy were together.

She remembered she had cried throughout the night.
The rain outside was pouring like no tomorrow.
It was as if the heaven's had shed her tears.
It was at that time when she begin to like rain.
The rain was something Mavis felt through the connections between her and the heavens.
She knows logically and scientifically no one will believe her.
It doesn't matter to her.

Mavis felt this feeling again today.

“I liked him......?”

The thought was on her mind throughout the whole night as she laid on sleepless.

-----------------

Hanling entered the smoke filled pub as she ventured into the bar counter to find Wilson.

“Hello dear!”
Hanling expressed her cuteness.

“Oh hi...”
Wilson took a peek before concentrating on mixing his drinks.

“So what can I do for you?”
Hanling sat down at the bar counter and admired his seriousness.

“I need you...”
Wilson passed the drinks on to his customers.

“You need me? Really?”

“No, I mean I need you to help me for awhile later”
Wilson moved closer to her.

“A lady will be here later, I just need her to be here. I will say the rest”

“What lady? Your mum?”
Hanling asked.

“You just play your role tonight ok?”
pleaded Wilson as he place a drink on her counter.

Hanling just sit there and looked on.
The environment didn't suit her as she's not known to be a serious clubber despite her outgoing character.
Or maybe it was the other way round as she's not fitted into this environment.

Moments later, a women walked past her and sat beside her.
The women was in her mid twenties as Hanling looked on.
She was well dressed with a fashion sense of office lady, neat and tidy.
The lady make a gesture to signal Wilson's attention.

“Wil, how are you these days?”

“Well... I'm still alive and kicking I guess”

“Wil, we are filing for divorce”

“So? What does it got to do with me?”

“Wil, I thought you said we will be together forever?”
The women held his hand which Wilson let go.

“You also said you cannot leave your husband right?”
Wilson tried to move away.

“Why are you doing this to me...”
The women began to sob.

“I think you've got it wrong. It was you who treated me this way”
The women didn't replied, she just sat there and cried.

Wilson walked over to Hanling.

“This is Hanling, my current girlfriend. Wen, you were right, we are only together because we needed each other's attention. We never liked each other.”

Wendy turned her eyes to Hanling.

“You bitch! How can you do this to him?”
and she slapped her right infront of him.

Wilson grabbed Wendy's hand.

“Wen, it's you who are in the wrong right in the beginning. You've betrayed yours husband. What did Hanling do? We were only together when you broke off with me. I hope you'll never forget that”

“BUT I LOVE YOU!”
Wendy wailed and got the attention of the crowd despite the music background.

“STOP IT! DIDN'T YOU LOVE YOUR HUSBAND WHEN YOU WERE MARRIED?”
Wilson shouted before he came out and pulled Hanling out of the pub.

---------------

They walked along the roads for awhile. There was nothing much to say.
Hanling came and did her role.

“Thanks”
That was maybe the appropriate word to say at that time.

“So you will be my boyfriend forever?”
Hanling joked

“Hanling, I didn't promise you anything. I only wanted your help because it was the only way that could stop Wendy from coming back to me...”

“But didn't you loved Wendy? You almost killed yourself over her like what Mavis said”

“I don't know, I feel that love is a strange thing. When you are in love with someone you can do anything for her. Maybe even to die for her. Then you realize that all is meaningless.”


“Wendy has to go back to the place where she belongs, I'm not her place that's all.”

“Then why can't I replace her?”

Wilson looked at Hanling.

“I'm sorry, Love is something which nothing or no one can replace. I liked you as a friend, as a confider, as a person who can listen to my endless whine but I was never in love in you”

“So it's an one-sided affair all along right?”
Hanling tried to hide her tears.

“Hanling, you are still young right? Studies should come first right?”

“Right?? Who are you to lecture me? Are you my father?”
Hanling stormed off leaving Wilson behind.

She tried to run but she was just too tired.

--------------

Mavis's phone's ringing melody had woke her in her deep thoughts.
It was raining outside and Mavis had got a bad feeling as she answered.

“Hello...? Ling?”

“Mavis.....I'm very sad now...Waaa!!!.”
Hanling burst out crying over the phone.

“Oh my god?? What happened?”

Mavis had rushed down to her friend who was wandering in their neighborhood.
Hanling had told her what happened that night.
Mavis consoled her and accompanied her home.

As she walked back her home...the rain haven't stopped.
Mavis felt her heart.
The sad feeling wasn't there anymore.
Was it a relieve to know what had happened?
There was no answer.

There was only 1 question on her mind as she walked in the rain with her umbrella.

“Do I Really liked him?”

[To be Cont]