Cheers to the future

"Are you serious about this?"

Prior to this auspicious occasion of momentary madness, he was the most defensive minded person in the known world. He never wanted to make the first move, never wanted to put his pride on the line. The reason for this was something that was unexpected.

Out of the blue, he had this desire in him, the desire to reinvent himself totally, and he knew deep down, his biggest flaw as a human being was his inability to express his feelings.

He figures, the only way to do that, is to face one of his biggest fears in life, and thats confessing his feelings of "love" to Anna.

In his mind, Anna was the one, the only one worth being vulnerable for. You know the girl that each man has constructed in his mind, the girl perfect to the tee, that met the guy's every fantasy, well for him, it was always Anna.

He met her in college. Anna was a friend of a friends cousin by way of marriage. In short, they didn't meet directly. He remembered that day, the day he found serenity in a world of chaos. That sounded over the top, but that was what he felt whe he saw Anna for the first time.

He and his friend Shah (the friend who had the friend who was cousins with Anna by way of marriage) , were walking through the cafeteria that day, like any other routine filled day in college, when someone called out Shah's name. It was some chick who he's seen Shah talk to a few times before. Her name was Tasha. She was always scantily dressed and a bit too "gedik" for his taste, so he never bothered to make too much conversation with her. While waiting for Shah to finish his conversation with Tasha, he was fiddling with his phone, trying to look busy. At one moment, when he looked up, he caught the eye of a girl walking gracefully towards him. She was amazingly gorgeous. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, and she's still walking towards him.....and whats this?....now she's waving at him. At that moment in time, he was thinking what possible reason would a girl that perfectly catered to his taste, a girl that beautiful, wave to him?......

Of course she didn't wave to him

Turns out, she was waving to Tasha. He felt a familiar feeling, the feeling he gets when a girl ignores him which he didn't mind before but did at that moment because it was her. She walked past him, (she smelt amazing by the way), and proceeded to kiss Tasha's cheeks, like the Arabs do. Still feeling annoyed, he gave Shah a look that translated to "introduce me...now!", and he obliged. So, Shah immediately asked Tasha to introduce the girl to us. So it was, "Oh yeah, how rude of me, Shah, this is Anna, Anna this is Shah,....." and proceeded to him, where he shook her hand and said hello nervously. Tasha continued by explaining that Anna is actually her cousin. And that wasn't full stop yet. Anna is Tasha's first cousin's wife's cousin. So they're second cousins by marriage. But, they were already friends before that because they were classmates in high school. Wouldn't that have been easier to describe?...

He and Shah were late for class at that moment when he didn't really feel like going, but they were tardy too many times, and had to get to class. So they said goodbye to Tasha and Anna, but not before Tasha said "eyh Shah, we're still on for tonight yeah?", Shah said yes and they hurried off to class. When they got to class, he asked Shah what's he up to with Tasha tonight, and Shah explained that Tasha and her friends were going to watch the new movie that was premiering tonight, and she asked Shah to tag along. Shah immediately asked him to follow tonight, because Tasha said to bring a friend. He said no at first, but then Shah brought up the right incentive...Shah said, "Anna will be there tonight". He said OK!

That night, he would be categorised as someone who was trying too hard to impress someone he didn't even know. He trimmed his beard, put on double doses of deodorant, and wore his 3rd best looking shirt, all that for sitting in a cinema for 2 and a half hours. But he didn't care about that, he was focused on Anna, and how good an impression he would make. So, Shah picked him up, and they were off to the cinema. They arrived 10 minutes before the movie started, and thought they were late, but in actuality, the girls were late. Girls.....go figure. They came running in 20 minutes late. He didn't really care about that at all, he cared however, that Anna was nowhere to be seen in that group of "gedikness". Now he was upset. He gave Shah a look of murder. He asked Shah, and he said, "I told you that so you would come tonight dude....my bad". He was pissed. Now he has to sit through 2 and a half hours of movie, with those girls.....and not Anna.

Back to the future, and back to the story today. Despite that non-meeting way back then, they had a more than a few encounters up till today, which is mainly because, his close buddy Shah, ended up with Tasha, so when he tagged along with Shah, it was prolly a good bet that Anna was tagging along with Tasha. So they were aquainted and he thought he made a good impression through the years, up till the time when he went off to study in London, and her in Perth.

It was noonish, and he was sitiing in his dorm room in the frikking cold of merry old London, when he had that sudden desire to better himself, and call Anna to confess his love. He picked up his mobile phone, called Shah up, and asked him to ask Tasha for Anna's number in Australia. When he got the number, and keyed it into his phone, and taking in a long whiff of air, pressed the green colored button.

It started ringing. After the third ring, she picked up. He could have swore, it was the sexiest hello he's ever heard in his life.Immediately he started talking....

"Hello? Anna....umm ...its actually me, ******** from Malaysia, umm, Shah's friend, your cousin Tasha's friend, we hung out a few times..." he paused

Just when she started to talk.....he cut her off

"Wait, wait wait, before you say anything, I'd like to explain why i'm calling you"...and he did explain. He explained the sudden burst of courage and all of the above.

Again when she wanted to say something, he cut her off

"I was thinking, maybe when both of us finish our studies, maybe we could go out?...on a date?..." he continued by confessing his love.....whatever his heart felt, he expressed it, and finally he said...."So how's about it Anna? Shall we cheers to the future?" he paused feeling relieved and free for the first time in a long time.

She finally spoke and said.....

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCKING TIME IT IS HERE? AND WHO IS THIS AGAIN? BUGGER OFF YOU FREAK"

She hung up.

-end-

Clash

He takes a puff of his cigarrette, and blows away the smoke with a restless vibe. " So.....how now?" he says with a relaxed tone. They were standing in a carpark beside an abandoned building in the center of PJ town. The night was quiet but still there was something in the air that night that made you feel as if a storm would strike.

The two men stood face to face in the center of the carpark each with a cigarrette in hand. Everything seemed alright for the time being, but that can change.

Its funny how history always seem to have a way to repeat itself. This situation has happened time and time again, from the time of troy, up till this moment here in this abandoned carpark, a confrontation between to adults because of a woman. If history really repeats itself, this situation always ends with one or both sides bloodied up.

This meeting has been the product of 3 months of taunts, unwanted phone calls, and uncalled for name calling. It has boiled up to this, a one on one meeting ( meaning one guy with backup againts one guy with his backup) It all started when Harry met Sally at a mutual friends party. Both of them just off a serious relationship. Both of them single, and both of them looking. Harry, being the sweet talker that he is, has always made courting women easy. Its probably a blessing, but in this relationship, it has been a curse for him. A few weeks gone by and what started out from being a hopeful "rebound" relationship, bloomed into something bigger, something special. Of course there is always a antagonist in these kind of love stories.

Enter Seth, Sally's ex-boyfriend. Seth is the kind of guy who gets what he wants, everytime, anytime he wants since he was born. He was probably the kid who never got slapped or severely scolded by his parents for anything wrong he's done. In other words, a spoilt rich brat who lives off his daddy's fortune all his life. So true to his nature, not getting Sally was not an option for him. In his mind, if he can't have her, then no one can. Doing what he does best, which is being a coward, he starts hassling Harry and Sally everyday. Starts off by calling Harry and telling him that Sally is not worth Harry's time and that he should just leave her. Harry being the "i'm a lover , not a fighter" kind of guy, rubbished Seth's claims and ignores Seth's taunts.

These things always have a way of escalating into something no one wants....especially over something mindless like this. 3 months into the relationship, Seth ups the ante. He calls up Harry and without any greetings says " I'll give you RM 15,000 to fuck the hell off and tell Sally that you don't love her anymore". Harry was obviously shocked to hear that statement. A dilemma arises. Is his love for a woman with obvious baggage enough to pass up the chance to get more money that he has ever had? I would personally take the money and fuck off.

Apparently, to Harry, love is more important. Well, to each his own. Anyways, Harry, being offended by the notion that Seth thinks that he can be bought off, finally had the courage to call Seth out.....initially to settle this problem once and for all....but...not without consulting Amir.

Amir was the high school senior that we hung out with. He was maybe 4 years older than us. He hangs out with us, maybe because he likes to feel young, or we're just fun to be with. In high school he was always in trouble for fighting and built up a reputation for this. After school, he hung out with the wrong crowd, not because he couldn't take care of himself among those crowds, but because the crowd was wrong. They were called forty4, self proclaimed saviours of Malaysian youth.....what a joke. Although thier resolution were bollocks, they were genuinely the real deal gang bangers. They were though as nails. Amir wasn't a part of this, he just hung out with them.

The reason Harry is consulting Amir is that Sally says that Seth is a very influential man. Hey, its Malaysia, Money=Power. He has the backing of a few gang members as well. That's why Harry is worried. Men who are not thinking sraight does wild things for women. Take Emporer Shahjahan, and look what he did for Mumtaz. I know its supposed to be the most romantic story of our known time, but building that beautiful structure for the deceased, is something you do when you're not thinking straight, however romantic the gesture is. What if Seth has that same gesture but with a demented twist? Would he actually kill for Sally?

Amir heard Harry's story, and immediately in front of all of us, said "mamat tuh kote ah!" which made us laugh. He told Harry what I told Harry, which was, "Harry, you have to meet this guy face to face, and give him one tight slap", no one laughed...go figure. Anyways, Harry re-explained the fact that Seth was influential blah, blah, blah. Amir sat still for a while and then finally said to Harry, "you have two choices, one, you keep taking his crap, and ignore this fucker for god knows how long, or two, you meet this guy, and confront him politely, and hope for the best. Either way, we're here.", everyone nodded, even Izad and Chap, the two smallest guys in our group. I acctually had a third option, but in the spirit of brotherhood, never brought it up. Harry sat there, dazed and confused, thinking and said "I'm gonna meet him".

This brings us back to the present. Two men with respective backups, meeting in a carpark beside an abandoned building in the center of PJ town. Cigarrettes in hand, seriousness in both set of faces. Seth starts " So how now?" he says with a relaxed tone. "Well, its never been me who has a problem with this, its you who is the one who can end this." Harry responds nicely. That statement automatically changes Seth's facial expression, from calm, to cross. "I told you before, If I can't have her, then no one can. This can only end when you fuck off out of her life!".
Harry squares up to him, (even though Harry is short, Seth is shorter) and tells him, " Look, this decision should be Sally's decision, not ours. So now, Sally has picked me, not you, so you can Fuck Off!". After that last statement, the storm has come.

Both set of backups are ready to Clash. Me personally, am scared shitless, as I have never been in a fight before.....I hope that none of them use weapons. It was now up to the two main characters in this drama to throw the first punch. We agreed that was the signal.

Harry and Seth look ready to explode. Just when fists start clenching, both of thier phones ring at the same time. Normally, at situations like these, no one will bother with thier phones, but somehow, like fate, they both check thier phones. We were standing a few paces behind them, are obviously confused, are they throwing a punch, or not?. Suddenly after both checked thier phone, and read the SMS, both look at each other, and gave each other and acknowledging look. Both shook hands and both turned and walked toward thier own group.

When Harry joined us, everyone was obviously curious and asked him hastily what happened. He didn't say anything. He just gave his phone to us as if to read. I took the phone, everyone grouped behind me to read the message. The message read

"2 my belovd lovers. I hope dis msg reached u in time. I'm sowwy 4 d trouble i cozed u 2. both of u fighting 4 my love is very romantic, but I have fallen out of love with both of you. I met someone else, and I luv him dearly. His name is Tengku John, he's 28 and is kerabat Pahang. This is my true love. Thank you guys for the great times. We can still be friends right? love Sally xoxoxoxo"

Immediately, the song Goldigger played in my head.