The 15th Year of Ee Suen

By De Ming

Rain felled at an average ferociousness and the wind blew slightly against the trees giving it a peaceful atmosphere. Inside the Old Town Kopitiam which was lit with dim yellow lights and was spread out with marble and red wood chairs and tables, the atmosphere was in pace with that of the outside. Most of the customers were enjoying a peaceful lunch and Ah Siong was savoring his too, until a couple of annoying teenagers came bustling in.

The moment these teenagers walked through the door Ah Siong could tell that the peace he had would be short lived. Ah Siong stiffened up a little as they sat right in front of him, divided only by a one centimeter-thick glass, he raised his eyebrows at his girlfriend and took a puff at his cigarette, maybe he should have went to a more quiet place for a date, but then how was he going smoke then? As much as he hated to admit it he was addicted to smoking, it made him feel confident.

Ah Siong continued attacking his nasi lemak as he tried his best to keep his girlfriend interested and to ignore those people. After a while noise started to emit from those kids, he rolled his eyes but could not help but to notice that a guy and the girl kept staring at him. Was he being paranoid? He licked his teeth, was there anything stuck there? A moment later those two begin staring at the outside as if waiting for something. What? He could not guess. This people reminded him of how he was when he was a bit younger. There was the same pattern where there would be some talking among themselves, some playing their hand phones and occasionally they would remember they came in a group and would laugh together.

Suddenly he realized that his girlfriend was saying something, he momentarily forget those people as he listened to her talk about her day. When she was done, he began to consider placing his arm around her shoulder. Why not? She’s his girlfriend. As he was debating he realized that the group over there had a cake. Were they waiting for someone? Just as if they could read his mind the guy closest to him began to point excitedly and talked little quicker. The girl in front of him ignored him and the rest started to look out. Ah Siong made up his mind to focus on the important matter, how was he going to put his hands on her shoulders? She sat a little too far.

He raised his arm in attempt to reach out to her, but suddenly someone knocked against his chair as they walked through the door. He pretended to be stretching and stared at his romance spoiler. More of those kids! He blew his cigarette in frustration as the singing of Happy Birthday started to reach his ears. Ah Siong sat up, paid his bill, grabbed his girl and walked away. Such annoying people.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY EE SUEN!” we screamed as she stepped foot into the Kopitiam, I raised my camera and set it to the recording mode, I faced it at her face as she came in. She was not shock. That’s not right! This was a surprise party. Was she so perasan to expect us to prepare her a birthday party?

She laughed as she sat in between Xia Shuen and me. At least she was happy, I thought as I pointed the camera to her. We started singing as she sat there momentarily lost, then we asked her to blow the candle. After doing so, she took a bottle and started swinging it from side to side shouting again and again that she wanted to say something. At last she got everybody’s attention.

“Today I’m very happy. But lea… I know I’m very Ah Lien, but that does not mean you have to choose Old Town Kopitiam.”

“But wouldn’t it be more meaningful and-“

“Also this place is very expensive. One more thing, yesterday I went out and I bought a…”

“HANDPHONE.”

Suddenly all the customers turned around as screams of ‘supportiveness’ broke out. Xia Shuen started to point at Ee Suen and kept repeating, “I knew it! I knew it! You know why? You see I’m so smart!”

The rest of the day passed on pretty quickly as she ate her cake and as we took picture together. The thing about photography that I learned today is that if it is indoors, a flash is a must. It was fun actually and I could see that Ee Suen was enjoying herself. Maybe enjoying herself a little too much, especially when she went all high about being the birthday girl. Definitely using her birthday girl rights to the maximum, but it was her birthday, so I’ll have to be nice! Not to forget, this girl actually ate cake with soya sauce! That was well... very disgusting

All in all, it was good that this party was a success; the surprise part was a failure though. I guess it’s ok anyways. Personally I hoped that there will be many other parties like this to attend. It is not about the food or the venue or even the plan, but it was about who came and how it affected them. Before I end this, I would like to say, HAPPIE BIRTHDAY EE SUEN!

PS: The reason the guy and the girl above was looking at Ah Siong was because they needed a lighter and seeing that he was smoking, they considered sending in Hui Ting.