SOMEWHERE

So are you going to cook for me?

Can. Make sure you are properly insured though.

Maybe you should get ……..-insert a list of ingredients here- and we’ll cook together when I go over okay?

Okay…. but I will cook for you more extensively next time. I might just make a sandwich this time round cos I doubt I would have the extra energy after my exam.

Okay, set. Then you also going to pose for me right? (a cheeky reference to the shoot I did for VampTreSS and the product shoot)

What?! You think I superwoman huh? Exam, sleep deprivation, grocery shopping, cook, and still pose?!

Yup! Hahaha.

Gee, oh, I suppose I need to throw in a shag too? Do I need to throw in a free massage, wash the dishes, and a cup of tea, sir?

Actually, the posing and shag can go together. And, I would prefer a cup of coffee, thank you.

………………….. -mutters curses-

***

17th June 2006.

I was supposed to do my shopping in the early part of the day but my stamina didn’t last me through noon.

I caught a long nap before I headed down to Holland Village in the evening, lugging back things that I could remember off the back of my mind.

It isn’t surprising that I did miss out some stuff, and I could only make do with whatever I had.

***

It was a grand opening ceremony. I burnt my butter when I had put the pan over the fire for a tad too long.

I panicked and had to rewash my pan and turner, feeling totally discouraged.

A prompt message was sent out, ‘If my cooking tastes really horrible and bad, will you still finish it and bruff me it is nice?‘

No reply. I thought he chickened out.

A few more seconds passed, and he had called back, “Hahaha, what have you done? Yeap, I will still finish it and bluff you it is nice.”

“I screwed up.” I muttered defeatedly.

“How do you screw up a sandwich?”

“Ah well, I will explain to you later.” I mustered my most pitiful voice.

“Okay, I am coming over now.”

***

Things only got slightly better from there.

Whilst he made his way down, I cut the bread into half(damn, I need a bread knife).

I coated the bread with butter, and panfried it a little, and threw on a piece of cheese onto it.

Not knowing what to do next(??), I cut the tomato up and plucked a few petals(??) from the lettuce(dammit! Don’t they sell just a few pieces of leaves?! I still have 2 huge balls of it in my fridge, and I am no fan of lettuce).

I am one who is very anal about food hygiene, and I made sure I wash, scrub, soak and whatsoever them before using them.

Uh.. so what next?

I chopped some garlic(uhm. I forgot about the onions actually. No, it was more of, the onions came in too big a pack and I forgo it….) and had wanted to chop up the capsicum, but! I had conveniently forgotten about the capsicum as I started become realllll clumsy in the kitchen.

I nearly dropped the knife and chopping board onto my feet.

I was slightly glad I started without him, or else I would be mocked constantly over how hopeless I am in the kitchen(I am not hopeless okay!) in the future.

I thought it would be cool if my sandwich comes with sides… and I bought aparagus.

I soaked the asparagus in salt water.

I fried the garlic, threw in some seasoning, poured a little oyster sauce and threw the few miserable stalks of asparagus(I still have one big pack! I don’t know why I was so stingy that I only used a few stalks…) into the pan to stir-fry.

Oops. Was I overly generous with the garlic and oyster sauce? Uh oh, he might get a sodium high.

Next up, I threw in the sausage.

Uhm, I think I forgot the garlic and oyster sauce was still very much in the pan….

Ahhhh *pulls hair out in frustration*

And my sausage became blackish. Eeek.

Fortunately, I had 2 sausages!

I fried the other one to perfection. -glee glee glee-

I took out some pieces of bacon, threw them into the pan.. and browned them. Threw them onto the sandwich.

Then, I took out the badly-marinated beef cubes(I did my grocery shopping late, remember?), which SBB later insisted nobody ever uses beef cubes in sandwich.

It was when I was tossing the beef cubes into the pan when the phone rang.

“I’m here…”

“Oops! Give me 5 minutes!”

“It’s alright, I will go to the first floor lobby and you open the door for me from there.”

“Okok!” I was eagerly getting him off the phone so I wouldn’t over cook the darn beef.

And when he finally did get to the doorstep….

…. I finished!

He gave me a peck as I greeted him at the door, and I felt awfully self-conscious cos I was coated in a layer of smelly grease.

Don’t you guys dare to laugh at my efforts.

His dinner on the right, and mine, on the left.

I tried a bite and the beef… was tasteless.

Other than that, it was rather edible.

So, did he keep to what he said about finishing it?

Nope!

Hmph. Then again, he finished everything except for the bread, cos he said it was making him too full.

Phew.

And nope, he didn’t help with the dishes either. All I had was a little thank-you peck on the lips.

Oh and he very kindly threw in an invitation for me to dive into his cuddles with his opened arms. A tight embrace feels good.

But well, he did offer to cook for me in return with the leftover ingredients, but I was too full to snap up the offer.

Next time, sweets.

***

I finally had a well-deserved shower right after dinner…

But that rascal cheekily unlocked the door from the outside and gave me a big scare.

Grr……

It became a water fight as I turned the showers at him, but he emerged a notch evil-er when he dashed into the bedroom and held my baby pillow as captive.

***

We contemplated on taking a late night walk to the petrol kiosk nearby, but we were suddenly growing a tad lazy.

We cuddled in front of the monitor and watched the horrific attack on KennySia, and wondered why no one shoved the french loaf into his….. mouth.

Eventually, we did drag our butts out of the house and took a walk under the half-moon.

We nearly did somemore veggie shopping, but I was lucky to escape from all of his crazy ideas.

As we strolled back, my hand in his, I suddenly recalled just how I had reread my archives just a while back.

I muttered, ‘Gee, all XXX’s fault!‘

He got it immediately. ‘Yeah man. -expletives-’

Exactly a year ago on the same day, on a night like this, if not for that blardy 8 and half hour phone call…

Oh well.

“Gee, it has been exactly a year… hmm how fast.” I seriously have no idea what was going through my mind then when I muttered that sentence.

“Hur, yah man.“

-Silence-

***

You know, how a song will remind you of a phase of your life?

Recently, with the trailers of “The Lakehouse” intruding advertising space, the song kept haunting me…

A song I might have mentioned more than once over the past year.

Coincidentally, SBB called when I was listening to MTV, and the song came on air again, not once, but twice.

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?

Ironically, that song crept into my mind as we approached the main gate as we walked back home in the night, and through the carpark, where it all started.

***

Just as he got off the phone, I was thinking about just another song, which I mentioned exactly a year ago too.

I remember my virgin photography session with the guys… which was the start of the friendship I had with the group exactly a year ago too.

I named the album Everybody’s Changing, speaking of changes in my life, speaking of changes, in people’s lives.

Right then, the song came on.

You say you wander your own land
But when I think about it
I don’t see how you can
You’re aching, you’re breaking
And I can see the pain in your eyes
Says everybody’s changing
And I don’t know why

So little time
Try to understand that I’m
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel the same

You’re gone from here
And soon you will disappear
Cause everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel right

So little time
Try to understand that I’m
Trying to make a move to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody’s changing
And I don’t feel the same

***

I am fading out.

I think.

***

We got cuddly, kissy and all cosy to round off the night. It felt good enough for me to drift off to sleep just like this, in his arms.

He did something really kinky to me that it is almost unprintable.

I still feel a tingle down my spine as I dwell on it.

-Wry smirk-

Maybe, just maybe, you need to bribe men with candies and chocolate before they would do what you want.

***

We were just lazing around in bed talking nonsense, childish bickers, spent a great deal of time figuring out which is my master eye, and fighting over which side of the bed to sleep on.

And I actually did throw in a massage too.

Tsk tsk.

***

Whee! I disturbed him enough to get what I wanted before he went to sleep. Muahaha.

I must be really, really tired.

I fell asleep as soon as I could remember, since it was already 6am.

I hope he didn’t realise how I was drooling all over his shoulder.. again.

***

As I cuddled him from behind, his hand crept onto mine and held it.

I drifted back into sleep again…

***

The faint rambles of thunders accompanied the dimly litted room in the afternoon.

I snuggled closer to him, attempting to burrow my head into his neck.

The alarm rang in a slight while, and my eyes could hardly open.

His face was the first thing I saw when I squint my stubborn eyes.

I demanded a wake up peck and cuddle with a scrunch of my facial expression.

He sat up to wash up and gave a chuckle, and teased that he should probably make me walk around the house, and I would probably do it with my eyes closed.

I hid under the cosy and comfy duvet, and got him into bed for another cuddle in my dreamy state.

I sat up to lean on his back, almost dozing off again, before I slumped back into the bed and continued snoozing, until he woke me up to send him to the door.

It was rainy, cosy, and a perfect day to lie in.