My cousin just got married!

                                                

           " The Bride" Impossible Poisoned Paradise - Fuchsia 600 colour film

27.05.2015

Gary was excited over Tottenham playing Malaysia XI team in Shah Alam, Malaysia, so I asked him to give my dad a call to tell dad about the game (they are both soccer fans, Dad’s a Gunner).  It was 10.30pm in Melbourne, we just came back from prayer meeting at church and I was cooking instant noodle for supper. Gary put dad on loud speaker, we could hear a noisy background at dad's side.

Dad said:" I am having buffet dinner."

Gary:" Oh where is the buffet?"

Dad:" It's Pik Hong's wedding today! Wei's cousin sister just got married!" 

Gary:" Enjoy your buffet uncle! Remember to watch Tottenham play after your dinner."

I stood in the kitchen and I was thrilled to hear the news. I went into the room and picked up my mobile phone, texted my brother requesting him to send me a photo of my cousin Pik Hong and her husband. 

Childhood memories are flashing back, memories that I have already put aside,  but not forgotten...

Pik Hong is my cousin sister, who is about five to six years older than me. I have no sister or elder siblings thus she is like an older sibling that I admire and look up to. I have never seen anyone like her, she is the coolest person I knew growing up. She's not only very beautiful, she is also bold, brave, adventurous and charismatic. She is the centre of attention wherever she goes. She can play the piano and she can swim too. She is trendy and also a fashionista.  I wished I could play piano like her. So one day I told mom:" Can you ask Pik Hong jie jie to teach me piano?" Mom did ask her. But omg, I was so shy that I kept shaking my head and hid behind of my mom. 

Pik Hong was an icon to me, she has good taste in fashion. I so wished I could have the clothes that she wore. My first time stepping into a Calvin Klein store was with her, because I wanted to learn about her fashion world. She would take a long time trying on jeans inside the fitting room. With the sales person stood beside me, I stood like an ostrich, with my head buried down to my chest, I was so scared to be left alone in a branded goods store in a big city (I tagged along her family trip to Kuala Lumpur).

My personality was completely opposite of her. I was extremely shy, timid, lack in self confidence and I am an introvert. Can you imagine how an introvert little girl who sometimes get to hang out with her beautiful cousin and how much this little girl admires the cousin? Pik Hong grew up with my other cousin sisters but I didn't quite fit in the gang. I still remember she likes to tell ghost story. Me and the other cousins would cover ourselves under a blanket, turned on a torch light, and listened to Pik Hong's ghost stories. I ended up having sleepless nights.

During the age of 8 to 12, me and my brother often had sleep over at Pik Hong's house, but I regretted each time when we arrived at their house, because I would have homesick (I didn't realise our houses were only 20 minutes away, and back then we had no mobile phone). My brother and Pik Hong's brother are playmates, but I was left alone, admiring Pik Hong's collection of toys and storybooks.

Pik Hong has beautiful long black hair. I remember touching her hair, it is very beautiful. Me on the other hand, have curly hair and that time my hair was short. Sometimes she would laugh at my short curly hair. Looking back, I was like an ugly duckling haha! I love playing with the ribbon hairpins of hers, they were beautiful to me. Because of her, I got to listen to Madonna and Faye Wong, and just because she liked Faye Wong, I chose to like Faye Wong too.

During sleep over, Pik Hong would cook us Maggie curry mee for supper. I still remember they had a red cooking pot at home. She cooks the best Maggie mee that I've ever tasted. I am serious. I would never forget how perfectly she cooked the Maggie mee for us. Then we went to bed with a happy tummy. There was one midnight, I had to go to the loo, but I was so afraid of the dark, thankfully this big sister didn't refuse to get out of the bed and take me to the toilet. We were making decision whether to go to the toilet first, or to get a glass of water at the kitchen first. 

There was once all of us went to watch Pik Hong singing in a choir. It might be her primary school graduation night, I don't quite remember because I was too young. It was an event in an open field, maybe it was a stadium. The choir was so so far away from us. We didn't even get to sit down, we were standing at far back behind of the audience. My aunt and other elder cousins had to tip toe to watch her. Which one is Pik Hong? We probably needed a telescope at that time. And the young cousins were begging:" I want to see, I want to see!" So my aunt and the elder cousins lift us up and pointed to where Pik Hong was in the choir group.

Once in a blue moon, Pik Hong would follow her mom visit to my house. Oh that was the happiest moment in my mundane life! You have no idea how privilege it is to get to spend time with your icon. I clearly remember that day, it was a fine afternoon, we lied on my parents' bed, hung our feet on the wall, looked out at the window and the sky, and she would share with me about the boys she met and a few little secrets. Oh boy, during those time, I wished I was as popular as her! 

My aunt, Pik Hong's mother, is a very caring mother. She is elegant, knowledgeable and smart. I think my uncle is a cool and handsome man too. He is always chilled, but I was very shy to talk to him, actually I was quite afraid of him, because he burps very loud and he is hairy. My aunt and uncle played a big part in our childhood. They are a generous couple who brought me, my brothers and other cousins out for good dims sums (yum cha) lunch and trips to Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands. My aunt herself is quite adventurous, she brought us to waterfalls, she taught me how to swim, and we even played water in the drain beside her house (it was a very clean drain where it had spring water from the hill).

When I was 11-years-old, I followed Pik Hong's family for a holiday trip to Hong Kong. There was one night in Shenzhen, we couldn't figure out how to turn off the bedside lamp, so we covered the lamp with the bed sheet and a pillow. The next afternoon when we came back from a site seeing, the manager of the hotel complaint to my uncle that the bed sheet got burnt. Ooops, luckily my uncle got the bill fixed and it did’t resulted in a fire.

The last time I saw Pik Hong was about six years ago, at another cousin sister's wedding. And the last time we contacted in Facebook was in 2014, when she knew my brother had run away from home, she offered help, which really brought huge comfort to me. 

Now, looking at Pik Hong and her husband's wedding photo that my brother sent me, I burst into happy tears. She is still the beautiful cousin I ever had. My beautiful cousin just got married!!! My brother sent me a voice message of Pik Hong thanking my wishes and she would like to have a catch up with me when I am back to Kuantan. Although I was not invited to her wedding (just kidding), I wish her happiness from the bottom of my heart. I am happy to see her find her true love who will cherish her during her ups and downs, and gosh I must say to get my beautiful cousin sister, how lucky her husband must be! 

With tears in my eyes, I told Gary all about my childhood memories with Pik Hong. More and more memories are flashing back.

To my dear cousin, I wish you a very happy marriage, I am truly happy for you. Thank you so much for being my friend and accepted me for who I am :)

* Behind the scene of the Polaroid photos: the veil was a curtain I bought from a second hand shop, the white vintage dress was thrifted from a second shop too, and the flowers were cut by Gary from outside my window (the flowers are actually quite bad in smell) haha!