2001-09-29 - 1:54 a.m.

This is a tragedy most comical which I'd found from Marcus Wong's homepage...and I feel it is only right to include him in the credits for driving in further my firm belief that love is for fools.

Enjoy.

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A True Ah Beng Love Story. (abridged)

~as told to marcus in the Salabin forest, Pulau Tekong (0300hrs, 14 October 2000) all names have been changed to protect whatever identities which need to be protected~

- It all starts many years ago, in Singapore. A young man, not old enough to drink, smoke or have sex legally. people call him ying, and so ying he shall be known as. a neighbour, jen, a sweet young girl younger than him. they are close, too close to be platonic friends but not close enough to be lovers. they talk on the phone often, go out together, and when ying gets beaten up in gang fights, jen brings him tiger balm and various ointments and helps him apply them on his wounds.

he likes her, a lot, yet can't bring himself to profess his feelings for her. he likes things the way they are, and so long as she is happy, he is satisfied.

ying introduces her to a friend, lenyrd. a playboy, suave, sophisticated, the kind of guy for which a thousand girls would die for, would give up their entire lives to obsess over were he a television star. lenyrd works his charm on jen and soon enough, jen tells ying that she's fallen for lenyrd. ying is saddened by the news but takes it in his stride. as long as she's happy, im happy, says he.

a week later, ying receives a call from jen.

he made me pregnant, she says, crying for her loss of innocence and the violation of her body.

he made me pregnant... he made me pregnant...

he made her pregnant... he made her pregnant!

what kind of sick bastard makes a 15-year-old girl pregnant?

ying calls his older brother to give him a ride on his motorcycle. he makes an appointment to meet lenyrd, all false charm and naïveté. the motorcycle grumbles to a halt outside the coffee shop and ying removes the helmet, raises it in the air over lenyrd's head

you fucking bastard!

the helmet comes crashing down. again and again, until the place is bloodied and lenyrd is sprawled on the ground, spasming and bleeding from every orifice possible. the attack is so brutal that he is permanently paralysed from the neck down.

jen's family accept the child, but decide that Singapore is no place for a child born out of wedlock. plans and decisions are made to migrate to Australia, to a more forgiving society. ying is devastated by the news.

a letter is written. two silver rings inside, one for her. he writes, i hope that when you meet the one whom you will love for the rest of your life, you will give him the other ring. i have and will always love you, no matter what. now that you are going where i cannot follow, may these rings symbolise my love for you and the happiness i wish you in your future life. yours forever, ying. the letter is sealed and sent.

ying sends her off at the airport, with a big plush toy in tow. something he always wanted to get her but could never find a proper reason to. she wears the silver ring on her ring finger. hugs and tears, farewells in shaky sobs. the last image he sees of her is her body, silhouetted in the bright fluorescent and neon of the airport, slim and petite frame still uncorrupted by her pregnancy. he will never see her again.

weeks later, a letter with Australian and Singaporean postmarks arrives in the mail. he open the letter and finds a letter, scented with perfume. her perfume. something round and hard inside. he turns the envelope upside down.

a silver ring drops in his lap.

~FINE~

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What the fuck!

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