April 19, 2008

interludes to a prelude to a goodbye: oh hum..

sugar sat at her desk, aimlessly browsing the net.

2 months passed by almost without them realizing it. they spent lots of good times in these past two months. sugar also went along with wiseguy on his trips to arrange the details and black and whites of his forthcoming trip. visa applications, passports, etcetera. wiseguy had already submitted his sabbatical request, which was approved pretty easily because the college felt it would be good publicity for the college if he was chosen to go on an international course having studied photography there. everything was going as planned.

sugar felt she was feeling better. over these past 2 months she began to cope with wiseguy's impending departure. she felt a little less sad, although deep down her heart still echoed whispers and songs of sadness.

but these two months! oh what a wonderful time they had been having. despite busy college assignments and coursework, amongst other things, they have been spending a lot of time together. sugar would smile when she thought of those spontaneous dates they had gone on. one early weekend morning wiseguy picked her up from home.

"where are we going?", she had asked.

"tengok je la", he had said.

4 hours or so later they were in Penang, just in time for lunch. they spent the day jalan-jalan around Penang, taking photos together, eating, having fun. they stopped by the beach, where sugar had taken a stick and written "wiseguy+sugar" in the sand. wiseguy had taken the stick from her and written "wiseguy = sugar". they went driving around Georgetown for a couple of hours. just after maghrib they took the drive home, reaching KL at almost midnight. sugar scolded wiseguy for not telling her earlier thay they were going up north. he had just laughed it off.

then it was her turn to surprise him. she had called her over to 'pick her up' at her house on weekday. when wiseguy arrived, she beckoned him in, saying wait a while she had something to do with mama. when he had come in, it turned out he was being invited for lunch with her daddy and mama. an obviously embarassed and bashful wiseguy(who at first refused until sugar made puppy dog eyes at him) sat at the dinner table with her parents, talking and having lunch. after lunch sugar's mama served coffee, and she, sugar and wiseguy sat in the living room looking at pictures of sugar when she was younger, and chatting.

"pandai ye awak?", wiseguy said when he finally had to leave.

"why is that wiseguy?", sugar asked back with a cheeky look in her eyes.

"last week i tricked you to going to Penang.. now you tricked me to coming over for lunch with your parents. malu ok?"

"ngee", was all sugar said, and she smiled until he smiled back. they touched hands then wiseguy went back.

and the endless talking on the phone. text-messaging. IM sessions on Yahoo! Messenger. they were inseparable.

yet, sugar thought, the beauty of it all was that, as cheesy as it was to be young and in love, it was 'real'. it was real in every sense of the word real. she felt true, and she knew wiseguy felt the same. this wasn't a high school crush. this wasn't puppy love or cinta monyet or whatever animal love they called it.

this was real. whenever wiseguy said 'i love you' to her, she felt every bit of strength, will and truth in those words and in the way he says it. and whenever she says the same words back to him she poured every bit of her heart out in those three little words.

three little words, so simple a meaning, so powerful a feeling.

sugar sighed a little sigh, and smiled.

she thought about wiseguy. he was always gentle with her... although the playful banter they had shared before they started dating still persisted. she found him irresistibly charming. the way he casually shrugs when he says "i dunno", and the way he cocks one eyebrow at her when he's being sceptical. sugar thought how he was always patient when she dragged him window shopping, although in his eyes it was painfully obvious he was bored.

she loved the way he would link her fingers with his when they walked; it was something he did almost sub-consciously, without thought. and on occasions he would tenderly slip an arm around her waist as they walked, and she would feel this urge to just rest her head on his shoulder and be swayed by the moment.

sugar sighed again, still sitting at her desk. she clicked open a folder where she kept the pictures they had taken together. she flicked through them, smiling as she looked at each and every one.

another month to go.

she felt a palpable sadness build up, as always when she thought about his forthcoming departure. 12 months to be thousands of miles apart.

her will resolved. this was a love worth being patient for, she told herself.

and yet the impending goodbye will be so hard to do and say.

another month to go..

--


No comments: