A few weeks ago, I was informed by Yap that Andrew will be leaving Brunei to UK for good.



Now, if you don't know who Andrew is, Andrew is a long lost ang moh kia Caucasian friend of mine who speaks fluent English, Mandarin and perhaps even Bahasa Melayu. We were from the same class in Primary 3 and were good friends. But after Primary 6, we lost contact and I have no idea which school he went. I have never met him since then.

Yap also told me that the farewell party is actually a surprise party for Andrew, organised by his girlfriend. This also means a lot of his friends from JIS would be going to the party, and heck, I don't even know Andrew is in JIS all these years!



Anyway, the party that night is definitely not the party I'd enjoyed the most.

Why?

Because there were too freaking many JIS people and I totally feel out of place!

Even Yap, who reached there as early as 6.30pm did not dare to walk into the restaurant himself, and had to wait until I arrive.



Initially, Yap told me that there would be other people from CHMS joining the party. But none of them came. Even Raffy ditched us. I also thought of PPK Yap, but I decided not to.

As we walked into the restaurant together, I was shell shocked. There were already more than 15 unfamiliar faces sitting on the same table that I'd eventually share with.

Yap then 'introduced' me to Andrew's girlfriend. She greeted me with a smile and said nicely, "$17 please,". My jaw almost dropped. Shouldn't the capers all-you-can-eat dinner costs only $14.80? I did not pause any further to prevent embarrassing myself, so I took out my wallet and paid Andrew's girlfriend.

And then, Andrew's girlfriend gave me this.



That, if you're wondering, is a 'form' asking you to answer 3 questions, "What do you think of Andrew?", "What do you think is the coolest thing about Andrew?" and "The greatest things you can ever say to Andrew before he leaves".

To me, that paper is even more difficult to answer than the AS Papers, especially when I haven't met Andrew for so long.

More and more people then came. There are probably more than 25 people there already by that time. As more people sat on the table, I felt even more awkward. There's no one I could talk to except Yap and another guy from MD called Jason.

At some point of the night, I was even asked questions like, "I'm sorry but, did you pay just now?". Another girl then came and when she saw me and Yap, the first question she asked was, "Who are these guys?".

I have never felt so humiliated in my whole life.


Who are these people??

After waiting for so long, Andrew finally came, escorted by his girlfriend all the way from downstairs. Everyone expected him to be surprised but no, he knew it all along. I was partly to blame because Andrew saw the little reminder of the farewell party on my phone a few days ago when we were playing futsal at Harun's Gym.

Soon, we were allowed to order our foods. This is the most unsatisfying part of the night. I ordered lamb shanks and lasagna for myself but it never came until I reminded the waitress more than 3 times.



The foods take very very looong time to arrive. Trust me, I'm actually the last person to eat that night! Everyone else was gobbling their pastas already except me. What grudge do the waitresses have against me??



Surprisingly, the pizzas came a bit faster. Throughout the night, I only get to eat 3 pastas and a slice of pizza. That's way too little compared to how much I'd usually eat at Capers.

Then, one of the girls (whom I presumed to be the one of the organisers), requested everyone to stand and gave a toast to Andrew using water in place of beer or wine.

And when we toast, we don't say 'Cheers', 'Amen' or 'To Andrew,'. So what do we say?



Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam Seng!

I almost thought the farewell party turned into a wedding dinner.

And then, there's also a cake! Upon seeing the cake, it is easy to forget that we were actually attending a farewell party because someone even tried to sing the 'farewell song' in the tune of the birthday song.



Nevertheless, I still feel happy enough to be able to attend Andrew's 'not-so-surprising' farewell party. At least I still get to eat with him for the last time before he leaves for UK.


From L to R: Me the Short Guy, Andrew the Ang Mo Kia, Yap the Big Friendly Giant.

To Andrew, buy a Manchester United jersey in the UK and be a lifelong supporter of the Red Devils, okay?
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:: Posted by DENCORPORATION at 2:29 PM |

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