yeah....Things will only get better

R leaned against the wall, staring blankly into space. In his arms was his ever precious Bible and a string of rosary given to him by a dear friend.

The silence was broken by message tone. Almost instantaneously , he reached into his pocket and retrieved a E51. It was the weekends and he was eager to know if there were any invitations to any functions. The text received was just another publicity stint by some credit card company, eager to push their sales volumes. He tried to locate the very last message from someone he would consider his friend. They just doesn't seem to around anymore. Taking the initiative, he keyed in a few words and hit the send button.

******************************

Stacks and stacks of files awaited him. He had little difficulties in clearing all that has been laid before him. Or so it seems. That was the past. Haven't we all immersed ourselves with tonnes of work when something didn't work out right in other aspects of our lives?

"Things just don't seem to be the same anymore..."


*******************************

He has close to 1000 contacts on his contact list, but he would not consider all of them his friends. Then again, nobody would. I'm not too sure who would you consider to be the most popular person on earth, then again,whoever he or she might be, I don't think he would have 1000 close friends?? I know I don't.

"Give her a call, just for a chat or to see how she's doing?" I pointed at a name randomly.

R pondered for a moment. " You know, we used to be such good friends. But ever since she got attached, we seemed to have drifted apart. Well, I can understand why..."

"Do you have a wonderful guy friend that you have always been close with? A good buddy or sorts?"

He nodded. " Similarly, we grew apart ever since he found a girlfriend."

Oh well, this is so familiar. Hands up those of you that have had a similar encounter.

I remember a certain J back in my JC days. Not the best looker around, not the best in EQ too, stepped on some toes but nevertheless a sincere person. We use to hang around quite a bit, studied together, went out sometimes so on and so forth. This carried on till NS days.

Then all of a sudden, he disappeared. Vanished into thin air.

Several months later, I was taking a train from Boon Lay back to Bishan (yes.. after book-out la.. what else)when I noticed this very familiar person. He was with a girl. Hugging her in fact...Lovey-dovey. Yes it was him alright. I refrained from calling him but he saw me nevertheless. Almost immediately, he shifted his gaze.

His gf was the one that realised that someone was looking at them and asked him if he knew me. Sheepishly he turned around and introduced me to his gf.

Fast forward 2-3 years. I received a call from someone whose name that did not ring a bell. After some exchanges, I realised that it was from his gf. Well, ex gf. I shall not go into details of the breakup but that phone call was basically asking me to spend time with J.

I gathered some close friends organised some outings and very soon, he's back with us. It was awkward though but somehow we make do. We accepted him and very soon, all's well.

But as the story continues, some 1 yr later, this friend of ours pulled off another magical escape. We soon found out that he's seeing a mutual friend of mine. Well.. happy for him. But well, what so amazing is that both of them decided to play this vanishing act as a couple. Phone calls unanswered, sms not returned so on and so forth.

I'm not sure what so shameful or why is there a need to be so evasive. But you know.

Fast forward another few more years, yeah... got to know from the press that they're married. Some lavish and spectacular wedding. Glad to know they tied the knot and doing well. But sad that this friendship had to go in this very weird direction.

************************************

R sighed. He nodded.

" You know Mal, I fear of losing my friends too. There are 1001 ways to make friends but they are just as many ways of losing them. Weird ways included too.."

************************************

Yes, indeed. Have we been too caught up with some other "pursuits" and neglected the people around us? All it takes is a little effort from everyone... it might not always be possible to get everyone together , but it's the thought that counts more.. really.

*********************************

Thank you for another wonderful lesson in life