Our Paths Remained Intertwined - Part 2

Continued from Article 1

I could still remember the events that took place during that ordeal. Mum was crying profusely, blaming herself. I hugged her hard and tried my best to make her understand that it had always been me, and had nothing to do with her. When dad came back, giving me his final words to either stop or get out, the look in his eyes were something I could still remember clearly until today. The next day I sat at the steps outside the lab at school, with wetty eyes, and Mr. E walked to me. I could see him crying inside, through his facial expression. I asked him "So what now...?". He took my trembling hands and whispered to me, "We take things as they come, k?" I looked at his face, crying for me to believe him, begging me to just let him take care of things, whatever that may happen, and not expect anymore answers. That was all he could offer at that moment. I nodded.

Months passed and we continued our relationship in secret. We knew from the beginning we were not ready to end this, regardless how tragic it was for my parents to find out about us that way. But soon pressure sipped in from every corner. Everywhere we went we were never at rest, our eyes would be busy looking out for anyone especially my parents, we were always hiding. His parents were also starting to question him about me. All his friends were staring to explore dating girls, while him, Mr E, the notorious rebel in school, still stuck in a shameful relationship with an effeminate boy. Peer pressure was constantly on his back. Teachers were also starting to talk and question about us.

There were already signs, I saw them coming, but I just did not have the courage to tell myself it would soon have to end. He would slowly reduce his calls to me. He would gradually make more excuses to cancel our dates during nights and weekends. One afternoon we were at his home, kissing on his bed. He started to kiss me ravishly, almost with anger, and I soon felt his warm tears trickling down my cheeks. I pulled him away and asked him why. He would not reply and buried his face next to my face, into the pillows. It took me more than 10 minutes to coax him to talk. He finally confessed to me the pain he had been enduring. "I don't know what else I can do, honey. You're the only boy I have ever really loved in my life, and I don't know how to go on like this." It was after several ordeals like these where we shed tears and discussion that I knew it was soon ending. I knew I had to let him go, he was a straight boy after all.

But never did I see it coming, the way I had to accept the kind of ending to our relationship. One day I heard from our mutual friends that Mr. E had started dating this girl called Lilly. Some of them were actually telling this with ridicule intentions, Lilly was not a very attractive girl, someone no one would expext Mr. E to be going for, without any question. Mr. E soon ended all ties with me without any closure. He stopped calling me, stopped talking to me in school, stopped everything that we ever had between us. He would not answer any of my calls. Hell took another level lower for me and I cried for nights. I knew what he was doing, he was forcing me to forget him, and he just did not know any other sensible ways to handle our situation anymore.

And that was it. As much in love as we were at such tender ages in high school, it ended with equal amount of tragic and tears. Years went on and he remained one of the most passionate lovers I've had. After moving to KL to live and work, I started moving into my new apartment in PJ, and one day fate played its tricks on me again, when I suddenly bumped into his name in our apartment's resident email list. I was shocked to find that Mr. E was actually living in the same block with me in my apartments. It was only a few more years later after this discovery that I finally saw his face again in the car park. He was walking to his car with another woman (possibly his wife by now, and in case you were wondering, no it wasn't Lilly). I saw his face looked up and was as surprised as I was to see each other. We pretended we did not know each other and continued walking. From that day, I have actually bumped into him for a total of 4 times, twice in the car park, once in the lift and once in the restaurant nearby. Each time, we ignored each other, but knowingly aware that we did see and recognize one another.

Of course, at this stage, I know for a fact all these mean nothing. It's just fate, that we were meant to bump into each other again, this time not as lovers, but just strangers who share a common past. And yes, life goes on....