Wouldn’t you feel so bad when your friend was having a problem, the only thing you could do was to comfort him through instant messenger?? I just couldn’t believe it, I felt so useless. There was the urge inside of me… wanting to sit down with him and helping him every way I could. But I knew it’s impossible. We are separated by two different continents. The only thing I could do was to listen to (or read?!?) his stories and to imagine how his face and reaction would be when he described it.

It was the FIRST time I met him through MSN messenger ever since I said goodbye to him two to three months ago. I felt bad, I hadn’t been in touch with my friends in Australia for quite long. I use Facebook a lot, but some of my close friends refuse to use it. So MSN is the only way to keep in touch with them. And God knows how many times a year I sign into MSN Messenger! One day, I was extremely bored. I had no one to chat with and MSN Messenger was a good solution to this as I knew many of my friends were online. Then I saw Chris was online with a “busy” status — as always. I decided to chat with him. He was so surprised that I was online and it was great to be able to talk with him again! Then he suddenly said, “sigh… on a lousier note… much has happened since we last talked, amalia.”

He started telling me about something that made me so shocked! He told me how his relationship has ended unexpectedly and how hard it’s been for him to go on. I could not believe it. And we certainly did not believe that an arranged marriage was still being “implemented” by the people in China. It hurted me, and it still hurts me. He certainly did not deserve this. I knew his girlfriend, three of us lived in the same apartment, though in different buildings. They were a sweet and funny couple and they were serious about their relationship. I figured it was quite hard for both of them because of their cultural backgrounds. Although they are Chinese, both of them come from different countries. And I think that’s one of the obstacles in their relationships. Chris even told me that he was serious enough to want to propose but he told me that: “it was just that I felt that I was not financially stable enough to promise her anything or offer her any future together… that I held back.”

And now the girl is going to marry another guy. He was very very disappointed. He even had the time to travel to China to meet her and settle everything. Of course, there were some other things happened during his visit, but I guess.. I shouldn’t write all of them here. It’s going to be even harder for him when he goes back to Brisbane and has to face her one more time. I wish I can be with him and help him to move on… or just perhaps cheer him up. But I was helpless, as usual

* Chris is the second guy from the left.