Obviously this isn't her. But posts are always better with a somewhat related picture.

True story. I used to stay rent a room in a rather upscale condo, until of course, I shifted to a reasonably priced place of my own.

The place was a cornocupia of fancy continental, European and Japanese cars. There would be stewardesses waiting for their transport. Plenty of expats. Some celebs. My parking lot was next to this other car - a black BMW. I always wondered who drove it. It had a leather interior and nice, tasteful rims.

One day, after clubbing I found out. She pulled up shortly after me, and we exited our respective cars. Both of us smelt of alcohol, her more than me. Of course, I was below the legal limit. Ahem ahem.

So that was the BMW driver. She was a slim, Malay woman, of average size. Just tall enough to be a stewardess.

We said hi. ‘So you’re the one that parks next to me, etc’. Apparently we lived in the same block, so we went up the lift. Then we sat down for a smoke on a bench outside her unit.

She asked - ‘how old are you’? I replied, ‘23′. (Which I was at the time)

She took a drag, and she said. ‘Well, I’m old. In my thirties already‘. She told a bit more, about how she used to be a stewardess.

And how her boyfriend didn’t want her to continue working as a stewardess. So she quit.

I presume she got the allowance, car, condo and even a maid for her trouble. Yes, she has a maid. She told me too.

Once in a while, there would be a fancy motorbike or another BMW parked. I presume that was her boyfriend. It’s not nice to assume things. But if a guy can provide you all that and he isn’t around all of the time (I would see another fancy motorbike or car occasionally), statisically, what are you most likely to be? Of course -

The M word. Mistress. An unhappy mistress one at that.

She confessed: ‘Everyday, I don’t know what to do. I’ll just go to the mamak, have a teh ais. And that’s it. I’m so bored’.

Remember, this is the first time I’ve ever talked to her, so the disclosure was quite surprising. She said it with the air of a cautionary tale, like ‘don’t make my mistake’. Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ll ever find myself in that situation. It’s extremely unlikely that I ever get a sugar mummy and find myself in her position. Really. But if there’s anything to learn from what she said, the lack of anything to do with your life, even though all your expenses are taken care of, is endlessly boring.

And if she’s telling me, a complete stranger, how lonely is her life? That she lacks someone close to her to talk to about this?

She gave me her number, so I took it. Perhaps she wanted to hang out. I called her once after that, but she wasn’t quite as talkative as she was before. We never did hang out though, perhaps she was just drunk when she gave it to me.

Most stories are supposed to have a point, especially sad ones.

If anything, perhaps, it just goes to show that sometimes the choice that seems like the ‘easy way out’, isn’t always  quite that easy.

Tags: truestory