Reminiscing Part 4 - The Asam Pedas Story

If you think my affair with MrNordin was all lovey-dovey, you are wrong. We do have our trying times. Lovers’ quarrels were quite the norm, especially when the friendship turned from platonic to something more serious. Where feelings were concerned, this would usually be the case, right?


In the beginning, our quarrels were mostly centred on my insensitivities. Ok, I admit, I was still seeing other guys in the early stage of our relationship, purely because I didn’t see anything wrong with it. The guys I was seeing were mostly friends whom I’d known for a long time, so I didn’t see any reason why I should stop seeing them after I met him.


The thing was, I didn’t know the extent of MrNordin’s feelings towards me at that time. I thought he was cool about it. Rupa-rupanya, our friend was a very jealous man...


One fateful night, M called, asking me out for dinner. M was my ex-BF. We broke up a long time ago but remained friends. I only met M on rare occasions, once a year perhaps, because he was always travelling. That night, we decided to go to Sheraton because he wanted to eat “something Italian”. Please bear in mind, this particular restaurant was the place MrNordin brought me for my first birthday with him. So, it was a special place for him (but I didn’t think much of it at that time).


So, off we went. I was supposed to meet MrNordin later that night, so I called him on my way to the restaurant and told him that I’ve been invited for dinner at my friend’s house, Gina, and that I’d see him later after the dinner. I figured, the dinner would finish by 10pm; so I’d still have time to see him for late-night coffee or something. That way, I won’t disappoint him.


But on the way there, somehow I felt something was not right. MrNordin kept on calling me on my mobile phone. I had to make up stories to cover my line because he was not supposed to know that I was in Sheraton with my ex instead of at Gina’s house. M kept on asking who’s been calling, but I just said it was a friend.


Anyway, we reached the restaurant and ordered our food. Tengah syok2 bersembang, my phone rang. It was MrNordin again. Alamak… apa dia nak lagi ni?? I dah suspen dah masa tu, but I picked up the call anyway.


“Hai… you kat mana ni?” he asked.


“Hi!!!” I answered, nervously. M was scrutinizing me closely. “I kat rumah Gina ni, tengah makan.” I added.


“Oh ya? Makan apa?” he asked again.


“Hmm... macam2 lah lauk mak Gina masak (my mind was busy trying to recall the dishes that Gina’s mum always cooked up for us). Ada ayam goreng, ikan masak asam pedas, sayur kangkung… bla… bla … bla..” (I hentam saja!)


“Asam pedas? Mmmm… sedap tu. Siapa lagi ada kat sana?” he probed further.


“Semua orang ada. Gina’s mum, her sister, Chepul, her brother… ramai kat sini!” I reiterated dengan bersungguh2nya.


"Ok, I'll see you later." he ended the conversation.


Since I didn't suspect anything amiss, I continued with the dinner and finished it off in a hurry. M sent me home after that, where I changed into my t-shirt & jeans (of course tak boleh pakai the baju I wore for the dinner coz nanti MrNordin suspect I went out elsewhere instead of at Gina's), grabbed my car keys and drove off to Ampang to meet MrNordin.


Upon reaching his house, I saw him standing outside the gate, with his arms folded. He had that serious look on his face, something which I had never seen before. He got into my car without saying a word, and I drove off. In the car, I tried to make conversation with him but he was very quiet. I tried to sound chirpy, but still no word from him. I panicked. So, I stopped the car near Coffee Bean at Ampang Point and began the interrogation...


"What's wrong ni... why are you so quiet? Are you angry with me coz I was late?" It was about 11pm that time.


"Where were you just now?" he asked.


(Hoooo... the man has finally spoken.)


"Rumah Gina lah." I said.


"Are you sure you were there?" he asked again.


"Iya... kat rumah Gina lah... Why?" (I dah berdebar2...)


"Are you very sure?" he pressed again.


(I kept quiet. Apasal pulak dia tanya macam ni? Takkan lah dia tahu I tipu dia...)


"Yes...I swear. Apasal ni, yang? What's wrong....?" I tried to dismiss the question.


(He kept quiet.)


"You sure you were at Gina's?" he asked again.


"Iya... I was at Gina's..." I said.


Suddenly, he turned to me and said,


"Yati, I was at Gina's house when I called you, but your car wasn't there... !”


Oh my God!!


At that point of time, I felt the whole world had come crushing down on me! I was like, What?? How could that be? How did he know?!! I pictured him standing outside Gina's house with a phone in his hand, listening to me bluffing my way with the asam pedas story, when in reality, he knew I was lying all along. My car was nowhere in sight, Gina's house was quiet...


It was mortified! I dared not look him in the eye because I knew he was very, very angry. I was caught red-handed and now I had to come clean. But I tell you, it was the hardest thing to do! I just didn't know what to say. I felt as if I was this little semut which he had picked up from the ground and was about to crush in no time! I had even thought that would be the end of my friendship with MrNordin because I was very sure he would never forgive me for what I'd done!


So, he started bombarding me with questions, demanding explanation as to why I had lied to him. Nothing I said satisfied him. All I could say was sorry, sorry, sorry... (tak putus-putus!).


It turned out, after I made that phone call, he somehow felt "suspicious" of my behaviour (Tuhan tu nak tunjuk, kan?). At that time, he was on his way home from work. Somehow dia rasa tak sedap hati after talking to me, so he went home, bought food for his children and went out again, heading towards Gina's house. Upon reaching Gina's house, he saw that the house was quiet and my car was nowhere in sight. So he called me (thinking that maybe we all went out for dinner), and that's when he knew I was lying....


Di pendek kan cerita, it was the worse "pujuk memujuk" session I had ever encountered. Punya lah susah nak pujuk... he was very bitter and sad. It took me a long time to convince him that I didn't do it intentionally. The reason why I didn't tell him the truth was because I didn't want to hurt him... plus I didn't think it was such a big deal anyway. But to him, it was a very big deal. He was so heart-broken and felt really cheated for what I did. What made it worse was, we went to that special place he took me for my birthday.... how insensitive could I be...


I was afraid I would lose him that night, but thank God, we did not break up. But thereafter, hari2 lah I berulang alik ke Ampang to meet up with him and convince him that I still loved him, I still wanted the relationship, that ex meant nothing etc, etc. I severed all contact with M after that night and promised that such incident won't happen again. A good 3 months lah I think, baru dia cool down sikit. I siap buat pulut kuning and sedekah pisang kat office!! Tapi sekali-sekala, dia akan ungkit juga cerita tu and I'd feel really shitty. But what to do... had to bear with it lah. Sendiri punya salah, sendiri tanggung!


That episode thought me a very important lesson in love, i.e. never take your spouse/lover for granted and never lie! That's the rule of the game.


Whenever I recalled this story, it always brought smile to my face. Funnily, we never talk about it anymore and never joke about it either. I guess it was just too painful to recall. But once in a while, when I meet up with my girlfriends, this story would definitely come up and we would have a good laugh at it. This story adds colour to my love life and it surely gives us something to talk about... :)


How many of you have the same "asam pedas" story ?