Boleh berkenalan ?

I have requests to write an entry of my journey with my husband. I do not know how to start really….. My apologies if I missed out anything or if my friends remember it differently.. HA HA !

Hmm….

Babah and I were school mates. I think I was aware of his presence when we were in form 1. A friend of mine had a crush on him and I was entrusted to take his photo. So we called him to our class, asked him to stand there at the corridor, I crouched and clicked. Girls….

Years later after the camera clicking incident we joined the same extra co-curricular club and somewhat re-newed our acquaintance. We somehow managed to not talk to each other before that. However I hated him. I wondered why my friend could have a crush on him because he was loud mouthed, opiniated and I hated his glasses… he he.. Our feelings were mutual. We passionately hated each other.

How did we make our peace ? Well it was very weird. It was during one of the club meetings and I recounted a story to my dimpled friend of a dream I had the night before. I was on a London bus, and when I got off it, he…(the guy that I hate, Babah le tu) came down the bus with me !

Now, our mutual friend overheard the story and said something to the effect of “Hey very funny, Babah told me of his dream of you and him in London, too !” So this guy called him over and we were forced to talk politely to each other about the dream out of curiosity. However during the course of that conversation I was relaxed and my talons were in check voluntarily. We exchanged stories peacefully.

That was very weird. Weirder still, I had a good look at him for the first time and thought, “Hmmm…. He wouldn’t look so bad without those wretched glasses…” He he…. We somehow made our peace that day and gradually our warring days were over.

He then started to give me attention which I found bizarre. You know… suddenly appearing at my side when I walk or actually caring about what I said without mocking me. Calling me at home….. Hmmm…. I am never quick into thinking that a guy has interests in me. To me the most embarrassing thing people can call me are perasan and mengada-ngada. Therefore I always am very careful to avoid that kind of label. Hence, I didn’t want to think that he was interested. I don’t want to be perasan…. Or perah santan as we used to call it (for what reason I don’t know, our own attempt to be Cockney probably).

At that time my love life was rather busy anyway. I was flirting with this younger guy (he is gorgeous but sometimes accidentally added kakak in front of my name and that could dampen any notion of romance in a jiffy) and was fending off attentions from a friend in the same club (let’s call him A to avoid confusion) and now him ? I cannot be that hot… ha ha. Jangan perasan, jangan perasan….. I told myself.

However at that point I cannot say that I didn’t like his attention, but because I hated him so much before, the sudden affection he was showing me was rather overwhelming when I was just getting used to like him as a person. It was all very confusing.

To make matters worse this other guy A, was giving me hints so crystal clear all our mutual friends could see it and kept laughing at us ! But… at the same time they liked to create opportunities for us to be left alone (for their amusement I think…. the seniors memang naughty). Whenever these impromptu ‘time alone’ with A happened, I always looked around to see Babah’s reactions. It is safe to say I was rather smitten by Mr Babah at that point.

My husband, luckily was very persistent. He kept plying me with attentions and he succeeded in making me think of him day and night. You would too if you have this guy who kept asking “Hai, boleh berkenalan ?” Everytime he saw you ? Tergelak aku sekarang…. Hai, boleh berkenalan ? Hai, boleh berkenalan….

One day during raya a group of us went to visit Shazleen’s house. Isa brought his car but since there were so many of us and I happened to live nearby, I decided to walk home, to lighten Isa’s burden. Guess who followed me home ?

He made his feelings known that day (first day of raya okay… I was lucky my parents decided to raya in Shah Alam that year instead of going back to Penang as we usually did) and although I was giddy with happiness, I kept it all inside. I just can’t believe it, it was hari raya, the best day of the year and now this, a guy who by then I found to be gorgeous beyond belief (he changed his glasses) professing his undying love for me ? I could still remember the way he looked when he described my honkers as 'button nose'. People usually commented on its invisibility so I was duly flattered. He had me at "your button nose..." Haii......

However I played it cool because I did not want to show how happy I was (jaga maruah sikit) and secondly because A is one of his closest friends.

He however had no such compunctions and held my hand. And I let him. Gatal... He he... Unfortunately, our mutual best friend Shazmi’s father saw us from the height of his house, informed his son and Shazmi came down to laugh at us. Uncle waved at us from his balcony. Sigh…. I can still blush when I think of that moment.

On the 13th of April 1993, I finally decided okay, I do want to be with him. People started asking me why they always see us together and those who didn’t ask made the correct conclusions. Zaki (a guy in school that people loved to hate but whom I like very much) informed me while we were drinking near the canteen that he doesn’t understand why all our girl friends could fall for the Malay boys in school. He went on to inform me that most of those boys were ugly (I think Zaki is half Pakistani… well he doesn’t look Malay and is rather cute… or was…. I haven’t seen him in ages) and that “The only Malay guy whom I find is good looking is Babah…” he concluded, without looking at me, then smiled. I take that as his approval of my choice.

Well 6 years after that we got married. And 10 years after that we are still here. How much do I love him ? Well my parents took the same stance as most Asian parents at that time in the daughter-boyfriend issue, which is basically Hell, No ! but my feelings for him was so gargantuan, I bravely took him home. My parents said nothing. They can’t I think because although I could be naughty, my parents trust me. That was what my father told me when I came home during my first summer holidays. He said that he trusts me and that was huge and something that I appreciate until now.

We have never been apart. We somehow managed to be with each other throughout the course of our lives. I don’t think we could bear being apart, so we somehow made sacrifices just to be together.

Seriously, I don’t know how long this will last because we never had the chance to properly look around, but I hope that there will always be the two of together, forever.

PS : Despite our dream, I have never been on a London bus with him. I did with my parents and he got on one with Razif (while I was in Manchester visiting Nani with Cho) but never together. We did take the Nottingham double decker loads of time, though… but they were green and beige and not red. Hmmm.......