My Longkang

Interesting character: Male early twenties. 1.76m, 70kg. Huge eyes. Nice teeth, slightly tanned and enviable abs muscles.

Melvin : She said she came back to see me once when I was twelve years old but I have no memory. Grandma is dead. I have no way of confirming it. I had to leave school even though I did extremely well in my studies. I couldn’t afford to continue as I needed to work to support myself and grandma.

I asked that woman about my father but she side-stepped the question. I googled the name up on the net but there was no mention of him. Anyway he might as well not exist. Perhaps he doesn’t even know I exist.

I just feel bad that grandma being so old and frail had to raise me up all by herself. We had to scrimp like fanatics, obsessed with money and the meals for the day. I shall forever remember her. She did the best she could under the circumstances I guess.

Now this woman whose name is on my birth certificate claims she has retired and is now back. She turned up at my doorstep with bags and all with her three school going kids and expects me to take care of them all and give them a home. I never knew they existed at all. They are now living on my food and living under my roof but behaving like little princes and princesses and I am the evil step-father.

Oh, I am now renting a single-storey terrace house in Permai. After grandma died everybody was scambling to sell her house. I had no choice but to move out. I am already having a hard time as it is to make ends meet.

Does she have a right to ask this of me? She screamed the other day that without her I wouldn’t even exist. She shouted she had to carry me for nine months and labour was difficult. Life is so unfair. By the time her kids are independent, I would have missed my chance to settle down!!!!!!!!! Life is so unfair.

Interesting character : Su-yin, 1.58m, 56kg, mid to late twenties, salesperson/ street vendor

Su-yin : The way I look at it, high heels do not only make a woman look taller. They make her look sophisticated and classy. I dress simply in hot-pants and brightly coloured singlets most of the time but I have many pairs of high heels. I wear them everywhere. I go shopping for high heels once every few months.

I am not lonely here in Sibu as I have many local internet friends through skype and ICQ. You know what they are, don’t you? We can chat online with people through the net. Sometimes when there are no customers I pass my time by chatting. It is really fun. You must try it. First we give ourselves a fictitious name and describe ourselves, height and weight. It is really so fun. If I like them, I will go out and meet them.

I was meant for this job. I was never like a fragile flower but strong as bamboo even though I look fragile. I eat like a horse and I love meat unlike my other sisters here from China. I have only a few years of education. I am from a very rural place. My dad built a wooden tower hahaha more like a ladder against a tree and we climb up the tree when we need to make phone calls. But the reception is poor even at the best of times.That is why I don’t call home often.

There are two kinds of jobs. Black or white, we all make our own choices. I chose to obey the law and make a decent living without sacrificing my principles. As long as I have my own two hands and two feet, and everything else, of course, my family and I will never, ever starve.

Interesting character: Imelda, late thirties, 1.73m, 65kg. Single mother of two

Imelda : You are probably wondering why I am smiling, Bengbeng. I met my schoolmate this afternoon and she asked me what I was doing. I almost said, ” The other woman”. It has been like this for so long. But now my children have grown up. I just realized now that my career life is stable I don’t need to be the other woman now.

It is true all the men in my life have contributed to my children’s expenses but now I am financially independent. I can now pick and choose. I have never interfered with their lives and for them to be with me indicates their marriage life is not that great either. So why should I let it bother me?

The scraps they have thrown to my side from time to time obviously would not have been enough without all the hard work I have put in to put food on the dining table. I have invested some too to be the other woman. The clothing, the cosmetics and the money on my hair etc. But it can’t go on indefinitely, Bengbeng. I realize too the quality of man who flit in and out of my life has gone down a little too the past few years.

You know what, Bengbeng? Soon I will be a grandmother. Imagine that! I never imagined that one day I would be a grandmother. Life has been good to me. There were mistakes I made, men who took advantage of me and my limited resources. I now think of those episodes as unfortunate turn of events.

I don’t get that much attention nowadays no matter how I dress. My daughter-in-law is even using my cosmetics and wearing my clothes. They fit her even better now. They are now too youngish for me. From now on, I will do what I can to create a nest egg for my children. If God wills that I meet a good man, so be it but I will not despair over it now. My time for that is now over.

Rooftop Prince E07 Raw_clip1 by specialsunny11

I am watching Rooftop Prince now.