• Part One: Dim Sum At 6 a.m.


• Part Two: Faithless Love.


• Part Three: 3 Times A Week.

Music was booming through the twelve speakers in Lola. It was fifteen minutes to closing time when I was sitting at the bar with some friends. A young girl, barely eighteen walked passed the bar. She was lost in a drunker stupor and was carried out by her group of friends. Girls are getting younger and younger, I thought to myself. Bloody hell, I am getting older by the minute.

I laughed, amused by how time has changed everything and everyone. Friends who were with me last year were no longer with me. Eve has since moved to another smaller town on the weekends, keeping Arif company. Some others were settling into marital comfort, thus taking them out of the circuit.

“Do you like lamb shanks?” David asked. “I know of a beautiful restaurant that served delicious lamb shanks.”

”I love lamb shanks.” I replied.

“Great, it’s all settled. I will pick you up at six in the evening.”

“I will meet you at the restaurant.” I said.

I am not in the habit of having men drive me around the city. I enjoy my independence and love the security that came along with the mobility. I could drive myself away from boring dinners and disastrous events. Dinners with David however were far from being disastrous. Conversations were difficult in Lola when music was loud and the place packed.

David possessed a social life that rivaled that of a politician during the election period. He always had many friends and he often complained that he much prefer a quiet night in a place where no one knew him. Which leads me to the fact that I enjoyed a quiet dinner with him too.

With a social life like his, my dear readers, you can imagine that we were hardly ever alone. All conversations were for the public to know. Bar tenders were always around the bar, eaves dropping on every little detail. Patrons came and went, greeting him as they walked pass.


***
After a whole night of drinking and pretend drinking fest in The Datai and LOLA, I walked towards my car at half pass five. The air felt fresh and cold against my skin.

Damn my backless blouse, I thought to myself.

A car flashed its lights and zoomed past at what felt like 120 km/hr on a tiny single carriage street. I smiled.

I stuck my head into my car, through the window, in search of my mobile phone.

"I am hungry. Want to have some dim sum?" I asked. His car just cornered to the right, at the end of the block.

"Alright, I will meet you at the shop down the corner."

Click.

5 minutes drive later I was sitting comfortably in a knitted pink sweater. Hot tea was poured into three tiny teacups of blue and white. The traditional dim sum breakfast with hot green tea felt magnificent against the bluish 6 a.m. morning.

"You enjoyed the night?" I asked. I rubbed my upper arms in an effort to warm myself up.

"Drink more tea. You'll feel better." He poured more hot tea into my tiny teacup. I smiled and thanked him.

What a drastic difference from David, the man who owns the hottest bar in KL.

David. He slapped a DJ once for trespassing into his club with the intention of knicking his DJ. He slapped another who dared to collect parking money from his club's parking bay. Once I saw him dragged two drunks, locked fist in fist, out onto the street and gave them a good-bye kick.

The David that I know was now pouring hot tea into my teacup. He sat to my right, his hands on the table. A small bag, the size of a shoe box was next to his right arm. He always carried that familiar blue bag whenever he closed the bar down for the night.

He asked me about my life and what I did during the day.

"You know I was a nurse." I replied, then etching a smile.

The conversation then moved on to his family life - his little 15 year old sister in particular. Most men I know have a sister protection mechanism going on. He reflected on the reasons why he broke up with his girlfriend five months earlier. He entertained me with little gossips around my mysterious appearances in Lola. He made me giggle with riveting stories of countless speculations of who I was and where I was from.

“What would you like?” He asked me. The lady was at our trolley with fresh dim sum.

“I will have anything that you do with prawns and crabs being the exception.” I replied. “I am allergic.”

Another three sips of tea and probably five pieces of dim sum later, his mobile rang.

"Now? Seriously, you must be joking..." He sighed deeply. "I have to go now. I am sorry. The bar needs opening for the schmucks to take the speakers out... those boys should have done it last night." He explained the reason for his early leave.

"Want me to come along?" I asked.

"No, just go home and sleep."