PART III
All these while, Aunty Sam has been of most help. She was the one who accompanied Mei to buy her first Bee Dees bra and panties, taught her about using sanitary pads, etc… all the woman stuff whom Mei couldn’t and wouldn’t ask her father… Although Aunty Sam is the sister of Mei’s mother, she never sided with anyone who was in the wrong – she was this righteous and impartial.
One day, Mei vaguely remembered that her mother asked to meet her at Tanjong Pagar. She didn’t know where they were going, until they stepped into a law firm. Her mother has changed her mind and wanted to gain the custody of Mei. Mei’s mother was nudging her to tell the lawyer in charge the “truth”, that Mei wants to be with her mother. She could only hear that “Girl! Tell this uncle that you want to live with me! Quick, tell uncle! C’mon, if it’s coming from the kid’s mouth! Surely the judge will believe! Don’t you want to come live with me?! Tell Uncle you want to do that! ” She couldn’t remember what happened next, but she gets to stay with her father, and her two brothers.
The impact on the entire trauma took toil on Mei and her brothers. Mei and Hao barely made it to Secondary school as they only got the passing mark for PSLE. Yong did not do well for his GCE ‘O’ Levels that year either.
One day when Mei was about 12, her father brought her and Hao to a Funfair! Mei couldn’t remember the last time their father brought them out so they were really excited! They were also introduced to an Aunty, they greeted her and were presented with one big box of Roche’s chocolate each – Mei thought “WOW!” For the first time, they were in a Funfair ride with their father! They sat in the Ferris wheel and exclaimed in joy how fun it was!
Aunty Guay later became Mei’s stepmother. Things were uneventful until one day Mei’s mother wanted to return to her father. It was rather crazy, Mei actually welcomed the idea, or renting a room to her mother, so the whole family can be back to before! Except that Aunty Guay was lawfully Mei’s mother now. Anyway, this didn’t materialise and many years later, Mei was thankful for that.
Mei’s mother later remarried and had a boy. Their relationship strained when she felt that her mother was showing double standards for the young boy. Being 15years younger than Mei, she was trying to instil some discipline into the toddler, but her mother and her husband interfered. When Mei was about 17, she remembered telling her mother that she will washed her hands off the boy’s matter since they didn’t like her disciplining their darling boy. And she did just that – the daughter-mother relationship just went downhill from that point onwards.
All these while, Aunty Sam watched Mei and her brothers grow up. She was their pillar of support whenever they needed someone to talk to, needed a parent’s advice. Aunty Sam had another daughter, Ming, who was 12 years younger than Mei and Cousin Bi. When Ming was three, Aunty Sam and Uncle Yong got a divorce. Reason? He had taken a liking for a younger girl, 6 years his daughter’s senior- hopefully to boost his chance of getting an heir for this family name. Hah! People can come up with any reasons just to get away with bad things they do! Despite Aunty Sam’s painful experience, she remained a strong woman, bringing up her two beautiful girls!
When Mei was working already, she often spent time at Aunty Sam’s place. Despite their age gap, Mei looked to Aunty Sam as a close friend, her soul mate, her confidante. Mei remembers Aunty Sam taking a long bus journey to buy the yummiest Mango cake from the now-defunct Jack’s place at Kovan Heartland Mall. She NEVER forgets anyone’s birthday, because she genuinely cares for the person. Mei was even closer to Aunty Sam then to her two female cousins, of course, she was closer to Aunty Sam than to her own mother. On one occasion, she decided to tag along with Aunty Sam to meet her mother for some shopping. Mei’s mother not knowing that she will be going was 15minutes late without informing Aunty Sam. When she finally arrived, Mei told her own mother off for being late, irresponsible, inconsiderate and disrespectful of other’s time!
Mei had always felt guilty about not visiting her mother as often as she visits or goes out with Aunty Sam. She could not hold a proper conversation with her mother without flaring up. Especially when her mother mocked her by saying that Mei was mixed up with Cousin Bi at birth (since they were the same age!) and that’s why Mei was closer to Aunty Sam and Cousin Bi was more like her.
Mei was 28yrs old when Aunty Sam passed on suddenly… that August, Mei had received a call at night telling her that Aunty Sam had fainted at home and was sent to the nearest hospital A&E by ambulance. When Mei rushed down, Cousin Bi and Ming were panic-stricken. Aunty Sam was unconscious and had slipped into a coma. We were later told that she suffered a stroke and could not even be moved to the ICU as her conditions were not stable enough to even move ward. Mei and Cousin Bi had the permission as next of kin to see her in the A&E ward, just in case … she dun make it. After a long wait, her blood pressure finally stabilised and was transferred to the ICU, she had not regained conscious. For the next 10 days, Aunty Sam remained in the ICU, there were no brain activities and she was on life support system. The doctors had consulted Cousin Bi and Mei about their intentions, to pull or not pull the plug. They decided to reduce the medication that sustains the blood pressure level and if her body can fight back, there is a chance; else she will leave in peace.
Within a couple of days, Aunty Sam left. Not without her nephew, niece and daughters (Mei, Yong, Cousin Bi and Ming) bidding their farewells first. Mei and Yong being the older of the “children” promised Aunty Sam that they will look out for Cousin Bi and Ming always and that Aunty Sam can leave in Peace. This was the first time Mei see her eldest cool headed brother cried so badly.
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