‘You think I should move in with him?’
I looked up from the computer screen, slightly taken aback. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘With my ojisan (uncle in japanese, nickname for her boyfriend in this case)’.
I tried to think of a proper response. ‘Oh… why not? It’s only natural, I guess.’ Considering you’re both 60 years old and widowed. What are you worried about, parental disapproval? I refrained from sharing this last thought.
‘You think so? It’s just that I’ve been thinking…’ she continued, leaving me to wonder for the n-th time throughout the past two weeks why my boss finds it appropriate to discuss with me the most intimate details of her relationship with her newfound love, Mr. Ojisan. How he proposed to her after only five months of dating (but then again, when you’re sixty, I assume you’d prefer things to happen quickly), how he bought her a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch, how she hasn’t been able to sleep properly since dating him… Because she’s not used to having someone lying next to her after sleeping alone for the past five years. NOT because they’ve been doing the deed every night, OMG it’s so much more disturbing than imagining my parents having sex.
She tells me how much he occupies her thoughts day-in-day-out, how she has lost her interest in everything else even work, how she wants to start driving again so that they could meet more often (she hasn’t driven for more than twenty years, and not once in Malaysia), how she plans to learn golf to accompany Ojisan coz he’s such a good golfer…
She’s confused by how much he consumes every part of her life, and more than a little embarrassed to realize how readily she’s been to change herself for the man, especially how she has lost her drive to maintain the business. These things don’t seem so important anymore, she confided in me, it’s like everything pales in comparison to him.
After getting over the shock of hearing the intricacies of a 60-year-old couple’s love life, I realized that the idea of having something in common with me makes her feel young again. She used to roll her eyes at me and sometimes even visibly disapprove of me getting off work right on the dot, giving snide remarks about how young girls like me care too much about dating and not enough about work; now she waves me off with a knowing smile, casually bringing up the date she has planned after work as well. Whenever she talks about her boyfriend problems, she speaks in hushed tones and gives me the you-know-what-i-mean winks like we’re the only members of an exclusive club.
I suppose young or old, we all act the same when we first plunge into a relationship. Irrational, impulsive, and hopelessly out of control.
I’m just glad she got a boyfriend to keep her happy in the clouds till my last day or work here.
