The damned COVID19 -- which should rightfully be captured, stored in an air-tight jar and tossed into the burning flames of Hell (Chinese Hell to be precise -- we have 18 torturous levels) -- has been affecting lives all over the world.
Closer to home, it's caused one of our National Service (NS) brothers to nearly go bankrupt.
Roger owns a relatively successful events organising company, providing his clients a range of services from putting together their annual D&Ds and running ad hoc roadshows to planning corporate events.
As you can imagine, nobody who wants to live to see his next birthday and Christmas is venturing into crowds.
Roger poured his sorrows in our NS group chat the other day.
"Bros, I'm leaving this group for a few days to clear my head and walk away from social media noise for a while... just wanna let you know that I'll get Adam to add me back to the group soon".
Roger's cryptic post naturally stirred up concern in the Red Berets group chat.
Being Roger's appointed spokesperson, and my ties to him as his official buddy in NS, I shared the context with the rest.
For the fourth month in a row, Roger's company has been bleeding.
Not only does he have to deal with his overhead costs which include paying the salaries of his staff, he's had to cope with clients cancelling or postponing events for the rest of the year and at least the first three-quarters of 2021.
It was all too much for Roger to bear.
After all, the business is all he has, and the savings in his bank account are evaporating -- and he has two school-going children and a wife who's only starting to look for a job now.
"Oh dear..." Stanley my sex bunny friend said in the group chat.
"He's fucked" came Stanley's private message to me two seconds later.
"And not in a good way either."
"I can't even tell him to sell backside -- that's bound to fail amid a global pandemic," said Stanley, Career Adviser.
Just then, back in the main group chat, Saiful, who works as a consultant in a big-name oil company, suggested we pooled money and helped Roger tide over his difficulty.
"I'm in!" responds Freddy.
"Me too!" says Jon Fang seconds later.
"I'm in!" Nick says.
"I'm in too," Wei Quan adds.
"By right," Stanley says to me privately, "I should be sexually excited that so many men are saying 'I'm in', but given that I'm not on the receiving end, and quite the contrary, the giving party, I'm not sure if I am enthusiastic about this exercise," said Stanley, Financial Controller.
In a matter of 20 minutes, Saiful had managed to gather the commitments of 18 of us in the group, who each made donations separately to Saiful who would consolidate the money for Roger.
It was a particularly moving gesture.
Most of the brothers in our group chat who spoke the least on most days, were some of the first to offer help when our brother is in need.
I shouldn't be surprised.
The Red Berets had been through thick and thin as a group.
Individually, I too had seen Stanley the sex bunny go through thick and thin -- he usually tosses out the thin ones and goes for the extra thick.
The group of us were acquainted as conscripts as part of our mandatory National Service.
The unit we were assigned to was a gruelling one, which Stanley often says is training ground for future career assassins.
Because of the demanding nature of our unit, it bonded most of us.
My favourite memory of my NS days are the nightly gatherings.
Before bedtime, we would sit around to chat, passing around childhood snacks like Mamee and making a mess on someone's bed.
Stanley's favourite NS memories also involve nights and beds and mess.
For Roger, he once told me that the best thing that happened to him during NS was getting to know a "good bunch of bros".
Fast forward to 20 years, it's amazing that most of us are still in touch, albeit linked to just one group chat, and just a handful of large-scale gatherings once every few years.
Yet, Saiful's kind thoughts and suggestion that day is enough to remind us that we don't need to always contribute good morning messages in the group (Derrick, that's you!), or share porn (Chan -- you gotta stop it. Or at least share gay porn for Stanley and my sake), or chat openly to show that we care for one another.
Today, it's Roger who's down.
Tomorrow, it could be me or anyone else.
"You can count me out," Stanley says to me.
"I'm always down -- on my knees, on my fours -- and trust me, that's a good thing."
"And when I'm down, and I say I'm fucked, girl, I truly mean it."
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