Sirfercauress (my cousin) just smsed me reporting that his brother, Ah Xiang (also my cousin lah), has just entered the departure gates at Changi Airport and will be leaving for France in a short while time. This boy ah, is the super smart type one lor and was picked (amongst all the other overseas scholars and peers in his cohort at NUS) to study in Lyons for 1 year (or 2? forgot..) Sigh....I hate seeing close relatives/friends leaving Singapore for > 3 months one....like very very 不舍得 leh. And even better hor, I had wanted to send Ah Xiang off today one lah but his brother informed me (in hush hush tones) that his brother absolutely abhor seeing big parties during such events. Sirfercauress then added he will ask him for PERMISSION to let me see him off. Wah sai....tua pai leh!

Needless to say, I did not get to visit our nice airport at the end cos Ah Xiang later called and while thanking me for my kind intentions, firmly insisted that there is no need for me to send him off. Aiyah...this boy ah...really hard to decipher. And last week's F9 gathering was actually organised by Sirfercauress to signify some sort of farewell party for his brother. But knowing Ah Xiang's character, we were all warned beforehand not to mention anything about this real reason, and to just casually remark that the gathering was to celebrate the birthday of my aunt (Sirfercauress and Ah Xiang's mom). Funny right?

Hmmmm....I've never been particularly close to Ah Xiang during our younger days, as he was always the quiet and 难以琢磨 type. But I remembered that whenever we had some disagreements with his actions (while playing lah), his ever-protective brother Sirfercauress would be there to speak up and defend him (even I'm not that nice to my sis! Hah!). But because these 2 brothers stay very near to my place, so whenever the June and December school holidays descended upon us, we would frequent each other's homes to play together. And plus, because they also attended swimming lessons together with my sister, we would see one another almost every Sunday during the class (I did not learn swimming with them, as my mom was kiasu enough to have gotten me started long before that).

For some unknown reasons, Ah Xiang started becoming more chatty after he went into JC and since he also attended the same JC as me (albeit 5 years later), we finally had some common topics to talk about. He became really friendlier and more approchable as he went to NS and later university. My mom commented he's like his mother cos my aunt also used to be very quiet and reserved in her younger days. But later, dunno for what reason, she suddenly became more talkative and sociable and continued to be like that till now. Interesting huh?

So Ah Xiang, I'm not sure if you'll get to read this but I really wanna tell you that had you 'allowed' me to see you off this evening, I would have definitely gone to the airport, armed with my newly baked durian swiss rolls (which by the way, turned out really fine and dandy!) and made sure you leave Singapore with a nice durian aroma in your mouth...haha! But anyway, since that did not materialise, I still wanna wish you a safe 14hrs journey on the plane and ah boy, you must do Singapore proud ok! We F9ers are already very proud of you! 要加油 ok!

I look forward to seeing you return during your school holidays....and maybe you can help me buy a LV bag while on your way home? =P