i woke up more than an hour ago, perplexed. i had had the sweetest dream ever. i remember asking myself a long time ago if sweet dreams existed cos i've never had one.

i can't recall the first part, but at one time, i met you outside a large museum and you were holding a two white plastic bags with tupperwares filled with an orange soupy thing and a large ladle. you had made the best pork rib stew, you said. your mum said it looked and tasted as good as the one on the 11 o'clock weekday morning cooking show. i said i had to try it then. so i did, and it was really good. so we walked into the museum and after a while, i lost you in the crowd. i got a bit down cos i was left alone but i took the many flights of escalators down to the real entrance anyway. after what seemed liked ages, i was finally standing at the gantry where this woman was tearing tickets to let pple in. she was fretting cos she couldn't get the serial numbers right, so i thought i'd spare her the extra work and tore a ticket for myself. but then i accidentally tore 2. i was gonna lose my cool when you turned up behind me, like as if you had always intended to come at tt time.
past the gantry, there were more escalators just going down, down, down. i would've wondered where they all led to, but i was too busy enjoying my time with you. when you weren't looking, i took a step higher on the escalator and gave you a peck on the cheek. naturally, you turned round, shocked. i stuttered a lame explanation bout how i had to stand a step higher so it was easier to kiss you. the blank look on your face scared me because your unpredictability always does tt to me. i guess i was expecting a reprimandation followed by an awkward silence. instead, you smiled and said, Two words: i am the happiest man now. i would've told you tt tt sentence was 6 words, but then you put your lips on mine and we started to make out on the escalator.

[i know this sudden twist almost turns my dream into a cheesy chapter out of a mills&boons bk, but fortunately for me (and everyone else reading this), it didn't.]

at the bottom of the escalator there was a garden terrace tt overlooked a beach. it was raining outside and everyone (there were a lot of angmoh tourists) was crowding under the shelter. but we decided it'd be romantic to walk out in the rain (together with our two plastic bags of stew). i was suddenly aware tt i was wearing my u.c.o.b. jumper and my sister's puma cap. the rain trampled on the beach and made the sea look threatening and grey so we held on to each other and i turned at a funny angle to kiss you again. you kissed me back, though it made you uneasy to know tt there were pple watching.

after a while, we retreated to the shelter and a little further inside the building, to where there were pple sitting at small round tables and eating daintily. you pointed out an angmoh couple and told me they looked like the perfect example of a pair of PMEBs. i said where? oh tt one. you went on to explain what PMEBs were but i told you i already knew; i learnt it all in advertising.

the sound of the forks and knives clanging against the ceramic plates became louder in the background. i tried to ignore the sound, but eventually i woke up to find my parents eating nasi lemak with utensils. i was almost wide awake but images and sounds from the dream were imprinted in my head so clearly. i felt so strangely good inside; i wonder if it showed on my face.