The wedding

I woke up, cleaned my teeth, took my bath and arranged my clothes for the day. I made no attempt to comb my hair, allowing it to be wet and untidy and figured it was best left to look like a natural mess.

The morning was very misty and cool. Perhaps the heavy downpour last night lowered the temperature and held the heat in captivity. Everything was normal and it looked like a good day to bring the bride home. Unlike me, the little boy woke up eagerly, with questioning eyes, his smile bright and his hair lustrous.

Six cars started their way to Au Long, Taiping with the intention to bring the bride home. Everyone laughed along the journey, occasionally kept their cool so not to overly distract the driver from the road. I was seated in the front seat of the car and noticed it was going at 100km/h. At kilometer 190.8, we saw many bikers swaying on their bikes. Yes, they were not only riding, they were swaying. All of a sudden, one of the bikers halted his bike and waved his hand in gesture to stop the Volvo in front of us. That stupid biker could have been knocked down by the Volvo if it wasn’t for the prompt action of the driver to immediately break. Thank god for the ABS system in the car I was in, it was also able to stop in time, missing only by one inch from hitting the Volvo in front. So much for thanking God, with a blink of an eye, the car behind wasn’t able to stop. It rammed into the car I was in with a loud bang!

I felt my arm being held by the driver beside; perhaps he was afraid that I might thrust into the windscreen. He saw the car behind by looking at the rear view mirror and knew it was too close to break. After that, we quickly went down to see how bad the damage was. My, what a disastrous day to begin with! The car behind was badly damaged and couldn’t move anymore. There was a leakage at the water tank and the fan was already crooked in an odd looking style. Nonetheless we had to move on to pick the bride as time was running late. We reached quite late and not everyone was smiling anymore. The driver was mad at the bikers, the other driver was mad at the driver behind. Ultimately no one was hurt, only the pitiful cars involved.

We managed to bring the bride home safely. In the living area, I saw many people with unfamiliar faces. At one corner, I overheard an old snow white haired gentleman speaking very confidently to a young chap, “jiang zi bu sing de, ni bu ke yi jiang zi zuo.” Though I have the least idea of what the conversation was about, I thought the old gent has a very distinct behavior. He spoke like a politician, which made me listened with awe and almost missed the tea ceremony procession.

Dinner at night was composed and served with the same incongruous of the barbaric and refined, the oriental and the eastern, the furniture and adornments of the restaurant. The men had cigarettes in the pouting lips and from time to time turned to expectorate. I realized then that there was nothing prettier than the bride; the rose and gold of the brow, the expensive smile, the shimmering dress and the carelessness of her laughter. She was the living beauty and no doubt the diamond that shines, allures and delights everyone at the wedding.