Mr XX

I have been thinking about Mr XX lately. Well, not in a bad way lah. Bukannya nak curang etc. It's just that Mr XX used to be my very 'closed but distant' friend. .hehe.. Our friendship started way back in 1994 when both of us were in Form 4. Both of us went to non co-ed boarding schools; he was in KL while I was in Seremban.

We kept in touch via letters. Well, we were penpals. We talked on the phone occassionally. I think our first meet was after we finished school (or was it during one of the school holidays when we were in Form 5?). I couldn't recall. We used to write long letters to each other, and I remember there was once, we challenged each other to see who could write the longest letter. He wrote to me first that time, with many of his friends 'tumpang sekaki' writing inside the letter to make it longer. When I replied him, I made a few of my friends write, too, but I wrote most of the letter's content. It came to 20 pages of A4 papers, front and back, with my small writing (his writing was BIG)! So, eventually I won the challenge. No prizes, but it showed them boys GIRLPOWER...konon...keke....

Our friendship continued to bloom after that. This time, less letters but we talked on the phone every single day, and a few times each day. I was back in Klang, and he was back in PD, so you could imagine the telephone bills, but normally he was the one who would call me using public phones. We shared secrets, problems etc and we became the best of friends. He sent me gifts for my birthdays, and we would meet up once in a while (mana boleh selalu, masa tu mana ada duit) hehe..

I went on to do my matriculations, but he refused to further his education. We continued our friendship through phones. One night, when I called him from hostel's public phone, his father answered the call. Somehow or other, he knew who I was (apparently Mr XX didn't have any other girl friends). So, his father asked me to advise Mr XX to at least try to join the army if he really didn't want to further his education. He was worried because Mr XX always 'lepak' and came home late everyday. I was shocked at that time, but was quite honored that Pakcik XX trusted me to advise his son. So, I talked to Mr XX. Of course I didn't tell him that it was his father who asked me to advise him!

I don't know how, but suddenly one day, when Mr XX called me, he said he had already applied to join the Malaysian Army. Well, it was a special training course, where he would become an army officer if he successfully finish the course. I was happy for him (and secretly pride myself to have successfully talked some sense into him).

He was successful in his application and was admitted to an army camp in Johor, then. It was for a short time only for he was then chosen to further his training in Singapore. By this, it meant that he would be bonded by Malaysian Army to serve the country until he retires. We never failed to keep in touch back then. He would come to visit me at the hostel when he came back to Malaysia for holidays. Call it coincidence or what, but I could almost sense that his letters were coming a few days before they actually reached me. Back then, I believed the old folk's saying that if your eyelash dropped, it meant that someone was missing you..hehe... When my eyelash dropped that time, I would surely receive his letter or phone call, either on the same day or the next day..hehe...

When he finished his training, I has already attended university, taking the course that I have always wanted even before I know what that course was really about (tracing way back when I was in primary school). Both of us achieved what we wanted in life (education-wise) and our friendship continued to grow stronger, although we were once again separated very far apart when he was stationed in a camp in Kelantan, while I attended university in Bangi.

(to be continued)