Ying Hui's Scrapbook: Tonight, a candles lights the room

Last night’s dinner was SUPPOSED to be perfect.

Me and my Sluts in a homey little café, with woody interior and furnishings, painted window panes and leather couches and cushion sofas to sink into for tea. And there was Xe Linn, who was initially invited to surprise Jing Hua.

Ah, it was such a pretty circle of friends for an age-wise-significant celebration. I wish it was just that simple and beautiful. It was SUPPOSED to be that simple and beautiful.

But oh no, SHE had to turn up somehow.

The bee-atch from the dark times of my Form One life.

Ursula had resurfaced.

And I had to spend the whole evening on the edge, biting down my tongue while keeping the daggers out of my eyes as I stared at the two-face sitting diagonally across from me.

Hello, eye-liner does not make your eyes any less squinty and calculative; neither does the glossy coat of your sickly pink lipstick make your voice any less whiny. Hmmm…You know what would fit that thin neck of yours and complement your outfit? A sparkly yellow ribbon-choker. I would be more than willing to put it on for you. Don’t worry, I would make sure that before I get to the bow part, I would tie the knot real tight and tug mercilessly at both ends, so that your shiny necklace would never come loose.

Of course, I had to keep my disgust for her presence in check. Jing Hua was the special soon-to-be-birthday girl and if what’s-her-face being there made her happy, I would do anything to make sure she stayed happy.

But I did lash out at her once, when she was displaying her single manicured fingernail to everyone. I feigned admiration.

“Ooo…I have friends who manicured their fingernails too, like yours!”

She just eyed me while Eu Chern went, “Really?”

“Yeah! Long, painted nails with sparkly stuff sprinkled on them. But only a small number of them. We call them ‘Princesses’.”

“Why? They’re pretty?”

I raised my voice just enough to reach her. The radius that included both of us was disturbingly small. “Nah. It’s our school’s secret code for bitches.”

God, I felt so much better, whether it slapped her or not.

But the rest of the night improved slightly as we both studiously ignored each other. Or at least that was how it felt like.

Anyway, Jing knew about our surprise. No surprise. Our forte is spontaneity, not planning. She said it was predictable, though she never thought for the world that we would buy her cupcakes instead of a proper cake. ~~Not that the cost of 36 tiny lots of them was cheaper than a huge Secret Recipe one~~

The Cuppacakes were sinfully delicious. The designs on top were swoon-worthy and earned a round of “AWWWWW!” The look on Jing’s face was priceless (:

And Jing loved the CD I got her, the gift that I had hunted a whole day for. Or, as she put it, ‘put so much thought into’. I can hear Eu Chern clearing his throat.

Took a break during our present-shopping