RIP, Aunty May.

She and my mother were as close as can be and we spent much of our time with her, growing up alongside her kids and their neighbours. Sern was Sam's age and their neighbour Jeffrey was mine so the four of us got along very well, sleeping over each other's houses occasionally and having good-natured arguments about everything. Jeen and Kelly had only a year between them and Emily (Jeffrey's sister) was conveniently in their age group. We made a pretty nifty group, of which I was the tallest, therefore the boss.

Aunty May, Aunty Janice and my mother used to spend their time laughing over meals while us kids spent our time playing pranks on everyone around us (once, we went for a Richard Clayderman concert and we were seated right behind the VIPs. There was an older girl seated in front of Sam who kept glancing disdainfully at us children and Sern, who never could stand condescension, pulled out a bottle of fart spray and proceeded to surreptitiously spray in behind her every few minutes).

Two years ago, everything went pear-shaped and we stopped spending as much time together. My mother started shuttling back and forth between KL and the Philippines and somehow, Aunty May discovered that she had cancer. My mother couldn't find it in herself to face the fact that her best friend might pass on anytime. Aunty May, always a robust woman with a cheery smile, lost more and more weight until she became painfully thin. The warm smile remained.

On Monday, I received a call from Jeen. "Her response is very low, she could go soon." My mother cried as she drove us to Gleneagles. We stood there for hours at her bedside next to Jeen and Sern and the rest of their extended family. Uncle Yap made the decision to move her back to their home and she passed away there peacefully, just a few minutes before my mother and I arrived with my sisters.

Since Monday, Jeffrey's family and mine have spent most of our time at Aunty May's home, keeping Sern and Jeen company. Unsurprisingly, this sad occasion has brought all of us even closer together. Sern, Jeffrey, Sam and I were always close buddies. We used to spend many hours whiling away our time in Sern's room, making music or reading or talking or shouting... Nothing's changed. Now at the ages of 17 - 19, we still all lie on Sern's bed. Sern would be using his laptop, Jeffrey would be playing the drums or saying random things, Sam would be singing and waving her arms around while I would be reading out interesting and gross facts from books whereupon everyone will stop whatever they were doing to make the appropriate responses. (Apparently Kelly, Jeen and Emily spend their time doing girly things- none of the four of us ever bothered to find out what)

I will always remember Aunty May as the sweetest woman I had ever known. We grew up calling her "Mother Number 2" and she always listened to us without patronising us the way most adults did to kids. She scolded all of us the way she did her kids and she looked after us the same way too. Mum did the same for her kids by cooking for them and taking us all out together for movies and stuff.

I have no idea to continue. All I know is that the world has lost a rare and gentle person, someone seldom seen in a population with a dog-eat-dog mentality. She never gossiped or said a hurtful thing against anyone. I had never seen her annoyed or irritated in the ten years that I was privileged to be with her. My entire family feels her loss deeply and we all know that nobody could ever replace her and the beauty she had brought us this past decade.

Ahh. No pictures with Jeffrey because he took these.