To Catch A Friend

A girlfriend has popped into town for a couple of days. Bad bad timing. I've absolutely no time to sit down for a chi chi tea session or even a meal because I eat at 9pm nowadays. The only possible space to catch up is when I'm out running errands (like how I did a hit and run with corsage because I just couldn't squeeze time to catch up.) Looking at our schedules, the only possibility of meeting her is when I fulfil roster duties at the homes of my old folks with her in tow provided she's open to it and the old folks okayed that.

The girlfriend gamely came along to scrub and clean. She even became my translator when I didn't understand what a neighbor of a roster was trying to say. He was speaking in Hakka. I didn't even recognize the dialect till the girlfriend piped up a reply. I was blown away man! She isn't even Chinese! I didn't realized she has picked up Hakka in a matter of 3 years and I don't even know why that particular dialect! It made for great conversation.

"You've lost weight. Better. You looked pudgy 2 years ago." She eyed me with a critical look. "Keep it up and you might just look your best when you're 40." So much for kind words from this one. I rolled my eyes.

"Marriage becomes you." I stared daggers at her. That was a redundant, ridiculous statement. Before I could chew off her head, she was very clever to quickly add, "But what's normally applicable to the stereotypes of marriage aren't applicable to you. You're abnormal." Yes, I'm glad she knows that and how much I dislike certain types of conversation topics. Don't give me some auntie theories which the man and I don't subscribe to. I've always been an oddball and nothing will change that. I draw a very clear line when defining who are friends. Hence, that is why this one is a friend.