Paul in Siem Reap

Paul departed for Siem Reap a couple of days ago, and I just cannot help but find myself rapt in thoughts about what those many Saturdays to come will be like without his presence. Of course, it is true that Siem Reap is just one phone call away and that it is just a 6-hour drive from Phnom Penh. But this realization does little, if any, to lift off the weight on my chest. Without him, our gang shrinks even further, leaving behind only three regular members. Three. Or perhaps five, at most. I hate this number! I am anything but looking forward to those meet-ups when we sit slumped in our seats being drowned in the reverberating silence in his absence.

Paul has always been a big laugh, given his natural flair for his verbal articulation spiced up with a sprinkle of dirtiness. Oftentimes we laugh so hard at his jokes that we get stitches. And speaking of this, I could almost vividly see the bewildered looks on Nory's and Mo's faces, who always fall victims of Paul's "deep" applied linguistics jokes. And yeah, Tha makes a perfect couple with Paul. Not in the romantic way, though(lolz..), but in the "ball" game, and I think to date, Nory is still clueless as to what we mean by that (lolz).

Anyway, Paul does share with me. Mostly it is about something that comes from his innermost feelings, and that is how we get even closer. As far as my head can remember, during the "break-up season", a critical transitional period when most of my friends found themselves trapped in love-inflicted pain, he texted me almost every night sharing his sadness. And believe it or not, I could feel sheer magic when I saw him come back to life once again appearing unscathed in its aftermath. What he had been through must be a hell of a struggle! And now that he is working in Siem Reap, I start to doubt whether he can possibly draw a line between his now and his used-to-be. All I can do is to wish him luck, and hopefully he will not let the old haunting memory in Siem Reap eat away at his fresh newly-grown heart ever.