fate and four feet

it's a funny thing, fate.

when rizal and i were dating some time ago, i gave him a mugshot of myself when i was young. i'd say it was a picture of me when i was about 5 years old or younger, possibly. it was in black and white.

when people would ask him what his girlfriend looked like, he would whip out that little black and white print and show it to them.

not too long after i had given him the photo, he started questioning me on my favourite haunts when i was a young kid. he, like me and others of our generation, used to frequent ampang park (the shopping complex) with his parents. i remember with alarming clarity the Angel Department Store that we used to go to once a week; the cinema where my dad brought me to watch Travolta gyrate his hips in Saturday Night Fever; and any kid's ultimate fantasy: the toyland/theme park that was situated at the top floor of Ampang Park where all manner of games and gadgets could be found. my particular favourite was the huge air-filled "house of air" where kids can bounce and jump and play to their hearts' content in a gigantic air-gilled playland. i used to continue my jumping sessions at home on my parent's queen-sized bed but was always disappointed that the bed never held as much bounce as that air-filled platform.

so, my favourite was that "house" (so called because it resembled a house and i remember parts of it were painted red). i found out that that was also his favourite. and so i told him there was one time when i was the only kid in there bouncing away and was joined in my mischief by a boy. so we were bouncing and bouncing and bouncing and having the time of our lives (it is not often that we can get the whole "house" to ourselves because it also seemed to be a favourite with other kids and was full to the brim with bouncing kids most of the time) till our parents came to take us away when they'd done their shopping.

"hey! i remember i was jumping around in that thing with this chinese girl!"

it can't be such a coincidence, could it?

"come to think of it, when i saw your photo, i thought you looked familiar."

is this guy for real? maybe he's a bit barmy.

"i think it was you lah, in there!"

"you sure ah?"

"yalah! i'm pretty sure it was you! in fact 100% sure!"

yeah, and he would remember because that was almost 20 years ago from the time he was bouncing around in that thing to the time we met at college.

yeah, right.

"that chinese girl was definitely you. i couldn't mistake those chinese eyes. see! we're fated to be together."

hmm...

until this day, he still insists that i was the girl who shared the house with him.

it's a funny thing, fate.