Ever wondered what happens when a person is radiated with too much Chinese romance novels ? Here’s an example to give you an idea :
*a very long post, don’t bitch
That was many years ago. I was only 9 years old or something (I can’t remember the exact year). The night was serene and all of my family members were sleeping, when the goddamn phone rang. It was those old phones that uses a mechanical bell as it’s auditory alert and was kinda loud (note: there wasn’t any mobile phones around yet).
Thinking that it could be one of those lewd teenagers again (that has been prank calling our homes ever since my sister reached her puberty), everyone sort of ignored that call and continued with our sleep. But then, the phone continued to ring until it has became a real nuisance, as none of us could actually sleep with that perpetual ringing going on. Then somebody yelled “HAIYAAHH!! [cue in some unintelligible profanities in CAPS]!!!”. That was my mom. She can be awesome at times.
She got up from her sleep and stomped towards the phone while mumbling something under her breath. Curious like any 9 years old, I took a peek into the living room to witness my mom creaming somebody’s ass through the phone. My mom petulantly picks up the phone and started shouting (following conversation was translated from Hokkien)
Mom : “WHO IS THIS ???”
Caller : “….”
Mom : “[insert more unintelligible profanities]. YOU BETTER SPEAK UP YOU @#$%&X+/@ ! ”
Caller : “Aunty… I am Ah Seng…”
Alright, I’m gonna have to pause here and do some introduction about Ah Seng. Ah Seng was my sister’s friend (Ah Seng = a very stereotypical name akin to ‘John’. It is said that if a meteor were to be struck right in the middle of Penang, there will be at least a 50% of casualty named ‘Ah Seng’, no shit). God knows where she befriended him, but he seems to look like a nice guy. Been to our home before, in pretense of borrowing our toilet or something, and my mom kinda feel comfortable with this Ah Seng guy. My perception of him as a 9 years old ? He’s just another dimwit that’s stupid enough to date my disastrous sister (let’s give my sister a name, shall we ? Let’s call her Beancurd).
Now back to that ass creaming phone call
Mom : “AH SENG !!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S THE TIME NOW !?”
Ah Seng : “Aunty, I’m sorry. I need to talk to Beancurd right now… please let me talk to her…”
And my mom proceeded to yell for my sister (’wake up bitch’ or something), passed the phone over and went back to sleep. When my sister took over the phone, she began to shout at Ah Seng like a skank who had just been mugged off her libido and slammed the phone down. It was cruel and fast … and got back to her bed, covering herself with her blanket.
After about a short while, as expected, the phone rang again. This time, my sister already sound asleep like a dead log and again, my mom had to answer the phone.
Ah Seng : [wailed on the phone]
Mom : [freaks out] “WHO’S THIS ???”
Ah Seng : “Aunty [sob sob] … it’s me Ah Seng… [sob] Beancurd ditched me…[wails out loud]
Mom : “JUST GET ANOTHER GIRL AND STOP CALLING THIS PHONE NUMBER, YOU @#$%…”
Ah Seng : “Aunty, [sob] I’m now at your apartment’s lobby… can you ask Beancurd to meet me ? If she doesn’t, I’m gonna kill myself right now” [SLAMS PHONE]
It freaked my mom alright. Apparently, Ah Seng has been calling from a public phone right below our apartment block and as the conversation have hinted, yes, Ah Seng’s beancurd… I mean, my sister, has just dumped him and he’s threatening to commit suicide if he doesn’t see beancurd “right now”.
The reaction ? My mom frantically digs Beancurd up from her slumber while shouting “sei lor ! sei lor !”. And that’s when my sister started to freak out as well. Ironically, I was very amused by the whole thing, as I don’t think Ah Seng would be successful that night - in both killing himself and winning Beancurd back. Even if Beancurd were to mend back the relationship, she will eventually dump him again. She’s so predictably cruel.
Alright, I saw my mom and Beancurd discussing about some plan. I didn’t get to hear what they were discussing as I was being shooed back into my room by my mom. They went out to negotiate with Ah Seng about 5 minutes later and didn’t get back for another hour or two. (as I’m already sound asleep when the whole deal was over).
But from my mom’s description (the next day) about Ah Seng that night, she said that he’s crying like there’s no tomorrow and was holding a broken bottle shard against his wrist (what a sissy way to kill oneself). My mom said that she had to spurt heaps of bullshits (like some reasoning or old people advices…) to calm that agitated prick down until he finally dropped that glass shard. Beancurd ? Well, she was basically petrified watching the whole episode of bummer unfolding before her eyes. But on the next day, I saw her boasting about “someone who’d kill himself for her love” to her imbecile cronies on the phone. For hours. [Girls...*shakes head]
Many years later (still years before present), as I suddenly recalled the whole funny incident, I curiously threw Beancurd some questions :
Me : “Hey, you remember that stupid guy Ah Seng that tries to kill himself for you ?”
Beancurd : “Yeah, the guy who lives in XXX Road” [XXX is a road name which I wouldn't want to reveal for confidentiality's sake ...]
Me : “That was like … happening right in the middle of the night, right ?”
Beancurd : “Yeah”
Me : “The bus stops it’s service before midnight, he’s too poor to hire a midnight taxi. And he didn’t own a motorcycle or any transport either… do you think he actually WALKED to our place ?”
XXX Road was in the city area and our apartment was situated about 10 - 11 kilometers away. o_O
Beancurd : “Hmmmm… come to think of it, most likely… yeah.”
Me : “And after mom settled him off, he has to …like … walk all the way back to his own place ?”
Beancurd : “Damn ! that’s like … 10 - 15 minutes’ drive from there !” [dumbfucked]
Hasn’t it occurred to him that he could have :
1) taken a bus to our place in the morning or afternoon ?
2) not to kill himself but kill my sister ?
3) or better still, felt thankful of ridding my disastrous sister and take a bus to somewhere else to celebrate instead ?
4) with another hotter looking girl ?
You know what, I suspected that Ah Seng read too much Chinese romance novels. He fantasizes his own life as if it’s happening in some fictatious romantic story … and was finally awakened by the sore blisters at the soles of his feet for walking a distance too long.