This incident happened sometime last week when I was in town to pick something up....I was just hanging around the outside area of Lucky Plaza having a smoke, when I felt a light tap on my shoulder, turned around and to my surprise, a special friend I've not met for a very long time.
We did the usual "catching up" chat, had a couple of ciggies, whilst standing partly sheltered by the shopping center's weathered out canopy....Few minutes after, sensing some "persuasion" from the street heat, we mutually agreed on adjourning somewhere else more comfortable for coffee........
Our conversation initially revolved around the going-ons of our mutual friends, we had quite a few good laughs about the good old days(mostly about how we used to dress up in the 80s)...Then the conversation got diverted, and somehow lead itself to me asking her about her family(Dead giveaway - the Ring).....That was when "IT" happened.....I remembered, like a freakish turn of the weather, my casual "How's your Hubby?" question, somehow totally changed the "second-ago-sunny" into a "going-to-be-stormy(very stormy)" atmosphere.
At that moment, I could see, somewhat in slow motion, the change of her facial complexion, from a nice blush (I guess it was from containing herself from laughing too loudly) into a, sort of, pinkish pale.......Her hands now in a position, partially covering her face...."Oh Oh", I whispered to myself, "Looks like I've stepped on a(nother) landmine"........Like some strange morbid image from MTV, John Mayer suddenly appeared in front of me, strumming his acoustic guitar, singing to the tune of "My stupid mouth's got me in trouble......"...That went on for quite awhile(felt like ages, actually), and somehow the song seemed to "travel" away from me, echoed around the corner, finally fading into the distance.
"What am I to do to salvage the situation?" The same question constantly rang through my now "derailed" train of thoughts, with no sensible solution at hand.......Finally, I thought to myself , "Hmmmmm.......Well, looks like it's time to play Hero" .....
Like a documentary cameraman positioning himself for his best close range Lion's den shot, I approached her cautiously, gently tapped her left shoulder, took a deep breath, finally gathered some courage to asked her if she's alright.....(Gosh, of course, she'll say "Yes", what else could she say?).....As she uncovered her face, in between soft sobs, she reached out for her handbag, did what looked like a "lucky dip", pulled out a half-opened pack of tissue paper to tidy herself up.
"Ummm...Are you ok?" I repeated my not-so-intelligent question...By this time, her soft sobs(plus her smudged makeup) have attracted quite a few nearby onlookers. It felt super uncomfortable, having to deal with the stares...I could tell from the looks of these "CSIs", I have been wrongfully condemned to be the "Bad Guy", you know...the "bad-boyfriend-giving-some- stupid-excuses-to-break-up-with-girlfriend" look....
Anyway, after gaining her composure, she then began to relate her story....
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