All Thanks to My Bending-Tongue
It was the second day of my stay in
Singapore for the International Friendship Week and we were having ‘Tea
Appreciation’ in a little tea-house across China Town. After we had prepared
and drunk seven kinds of tea, we were given time to mingle with our tablemates before
heading off to shop. My tablemates—three European girls and the girl I went to
Singapore with, didn’t have much to talk about. That made me envious of the
table next to us because they seemed to be having fun with their ‘Can you do
this?’ game. I started bending my tongue in response to the other-table’s game
which made the three European girls—Anja, Louise and Chiara, including my
colleague, Fe, gush loudly in amazement. The others from the next table got
intrigued and inquired what the commotion was all about then some of them decided
to join us in our table after being impressed with my circus act.
While they were all trying to imitate my
little exhibition, and I laughed at how silly they looked, someone poked me on the
shoulder and whispered, “Melissa, can you show me what you did with your tongue?”
For some reason, my heart was overjoyed because the beautiful-poking-Danish-boy
knew my name and said it with a different kind of ring only he could do. I
gladly complied with his request and he moved to our table. I thought it would
be the first and last encounter I would have with him because I didn’t think
that he would have any interest in knowing me further. After all, I was just an
ugly Filipina with nothing to boast but her bending-tongue exhibition. But I
was wrong.
After the tea appreciation, we
walked together to Chinatown and on the way he asked things about my life, my
family, and other stuff that is very unusual for an uninterested boy. We parted for a while when he tried to search for
a pair of sunglasses that looked just like mine—I shopped for some souvenirs
too, and we hung out once again after his failed search. We had a lot of fun
that day especially when he joked about having a crush on a half-naked fat man
sleeping on one of the benches outside the temple. He dared me to get the
fat-man’s number for him thinking I can’t do it. But when I started walking
towards the fat man, he grasped my forearm and begged me to stop. I froze. I
did not expect that his touch would be that electrifying and I was pretty sure
he was surprised with what he did too, but instead of letting go, he caressed
my forearm and said, “Your skin is so soft,” then caressed it some more before
letting go. The day was nearing an end when I found out his name—Lauge, and at almost
the same time the bus collected us.
The next morning, he asked me if
I wanted to hear something funny—I said yes, he told me that his host-partner
asked if we were in a relationship. We both laughed but after a while, his face
turned anxious and he blurted out the words, “…but if it’s fine with you, we can
be like boyfriend and girlfriend for like three days or…” he didn’t have the
chance to finish his sentence because I walked out in pure embarrassment but I
was grinning like an idiot the whole time. I expected to have an awkward
atmosphere with him after that but it only made us closer.
There were a lot of questions and
teasing about us, but I admired how he didn’t mind all that fuss. His best friend
kept on reminding him that he had a girlfriend at home but he continued to
treat me like he wanted to prove those rumors right. There were times when I
tried to keep a distance from him—keep my guard up, just so I wouldn’t fall for
an already committed man, but he would make a way to destroy my shield and we
ended up enjoying each other’s company while it lasted.
During the last day of
the event, we spent the whole day in Sentosa. That place was the witness of all
the wonderful moments I had with him before we finally bid goodbye. There was
an awful sadness I felt when we went back to the hosting-school in the evening.
After we took group pictures, Lauge asked me if we could have a picture
together just the two of us. Before I could say yes, the principal from a
school in Germany said, “Yes! You two should have a picture together. I’ll take
it!” It was quite embarrassing to stand next to him and to have our photo taken
by a school principal!
It
was dinner time when everyone started to get everybody’s email addresses. While
I was typing mine on the iPhone of Jan, a German participant and friend, Lauge
moved in and hugged me in front of everybody long enough for Jan to say “Yes,
you should hug your wife, Lauge”
When
we finally bid our goodbyes, I hugged each and everyone. Lauge was crying and
fretting about how gay he was with what he’s doing. When it was my time to hug
him, I was hesitant but it was good that he initiated the move. It was really
long, and I joked about how he’ll miss our friend, Karla, the most. “No, you’re the one I’m going to miss the
most” he rebutted and with a soft slightly parted lips pressed against my neck,
he hugged me tighter and I gloried in his arms for the last time.
We
all left Singapore the next morning— my companions and I headed to Malaysia and
the others back to their hometowns. Lauge had asked me, the night before, if I
can come and see him before he goes back to Denmark, but I didn’t make it. I
felt a silent ironic painful numbness when I finally realized that we will
never see each other again.
