Our Blessings: Ch. 06

Three years ago…

Exhausted from the last night of orientation camp, I still manage to reply some messages on my phone. Basic Military Training and Officer Cadet Training have prepared me well in this aspect. No matter how tired I was from the day’s rigorous training, I could still garner five minutes of my energy to filter through my phone and reply the important texts. Even after I disrupted from National Service to study Medicine, the months of training still never fail to pay off. However, this time I am uncertain if it is a boon or a bane.

After the night games, I return to my chalet room, where I finally have the peace and quiet to continue the conversation with Yolene. After a few texts, the mood suddenly plummets. She throws me into a whirlpool of panic as she suddenly becomes evasive and impatient. It is definitely unlike her. Something is very wrong and I am determined to leave no stone unturned.

Throughout the four-year relationship with Yolene, we have never tried to escape from reality. We have always stayed strong and tried to straighten out our disagreement. That is our promise to each other. Yet this time, she is clearly trying to avoid the problem. She is carelessly flinging words which convey her negativity such as “I’ve changed a lot”, “we cannot connect”, “feel like giving up” and “convinced that nothing will ever help improve the relationship any longer”.

I try to question her further but all she’s giving me now are vague replies which keep reinforcing her stubborn belief that this relationship will not work out.

I ask myself, “how has it not worked out for us the past four years?”

We’ve even conquered every couple’s harshest trial – Basic Military Training. The short two months stint where recruits are completely cut off from civilisation, undergoing hours of endless training on an island full of males. She has no reason to leave me now, given that I am a free man again. Then it dawns upon me… Basic Military Training. Am I that naive to think that our relationship still remained strong after taking this horrendous rite of passage?

There is only one way to find out…

“I don’t get your drift. Didn’t we promise each other that we would work our conflicts out? I’ve kept our promise and will continue to stay by them.”

Yolene finally breaks.

“There’s this guy I met at work…”

Usually, I would have felt a sense of achievement when I am proven right. Not this time… For the first time in my life, I wish that I am utterly wrong.

“Let’s break up.”

I stare at these three words blankly.

Confusion and bitter betrayal flood my senses.

All I manage to tell her is “make sure you’re sober and your mind is straight now.”

The conversation ends abruptly without a closure. All I know is that my four years with her means nothing compared to the mere four months spent with the other guy. She leaves me for a law student two years older than me.

I text Clavier, even when I am aware that he most probably will be sleeping by now.

I look up into the shrouded night sky and sigh.

So this is your last birthday present for me huh..?