At that point, i knew i had to... kill... (part 1)

The Last Resort (Part 1)

As i exited the cyber cafe, i found him outside waiting anxiously for me.


"Hi Jun Beng! How are you?" he exclaimed with a thick Malay accent.

He had huge eyes, his wavy hair was short and curly, his nose was flat, and his skin, kuning langsat. He dressed up rather casually and had this matter of fact tone in him but was covered up by a superficially generated friendliness and warmth.

"Get straight to the point" i thought but i dismissed that attitude and was civilised enough to practise patience.

He invited me to have dinner at the mamak just right outside and offered to give me a treat. I wanted to hesitate but i wondered " Would this offer last after i clarify my stand?"

As the saying goes 'curiosity kills the cat', i just had to know. Furthermore, this would strengthen the perception i already had of him; the only motive he had in mind when he called me and insisted to meet up with me.Since i returned from Melbourne, we had met up thrice. The first was a pure coincidence when i saw him at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) station. That was our first meeting after three and the half years of separation. We exchanged numbers and he sent me a few short text messages at random times talking about the past and this reminded me of the old times. He even called me on Saturdays and asked me to venture to One Utama shopping mall with him to play bowling and meet up with his friends at night; offers that i have never once accepted as i felt rather awkward and my intuition somehow told me not to.

I brought my god brother along as we met up for the second time. I didn't know who to call as i doubted that the schoolmates i normally hang out with will actually remember him. We basically had lunch and caught up with a movie at Imax theater (Batman was cool by the way!). After the movie, he continued talking about the activity he was involved in, picking up what he had left before the movie. He spoke quite silently and he seemed rather surreptitious, occasionally looking around to ensure that nobody was in an audible range apart from us. I felt rather sceptical about his attitude and was uncomfortable with the situation.


Over the next few days, he called me and my god brother and tried to persuade us to join in his activity. He was very persistent about meeting up with each of us personally, claiming to be interested in how we are and wanting to know more about what we have been doing. Clearly, his motives were obvious and this had devastated me; i was initially overjoyed by the event of having met up with a good, genuine long lost friend, but he bore another intention in mind. However, he faked and carried out his acting in being concerned pretty well. I would seriously give an Oscar in persuasion (if there is any) and in acting to this group of people!

I was stranded in ambivalence as i finally struggled to push the thousand and one questions i had in mind aside to wisely end all these nonsense. I consented to meeting up with him again and i decided to choose the place in fear of him voting for a place i am not familiar with. Somewhere crowded and bright, and the mamak outside the cyber cafe near the place i am currently learning culinary arts was a good option.