special friend...

hey tuls, you wanna hang out sometime?

whoa, havent seen you like, what, 8 years?

hahaha.. yea... you free?

erm... yup, not doing anything at the moment...

yumcha?

ok!

and so i drove to a nearby cafe to meet up with this high school friend whom i have not seen for years.. well, ever since high school i guess...

o m g!!!

you are so fat!!!

you are so thin!!!!

-.-

-.-

so, how are you?!

so we did lots of catching up... talk about my life, his life, about me when i was in UK and him and work... just the usual...

you smoke? since when?

er....

such a bastard

hahaha...

there was a pause... i feel like he wants to tell me something but he doesnt know how...

you got something to tell me arr?

....hm.....

and then he came out to me..

i knew it!!!! o m g!!!! so, are you with someone now?

yea... for 3 years already...

o m g! awesome... Carter and I in our 2nd now too..

and so we came out to each other... so lame... and we go on talking about our new topic for the next 30 mins or so...

ice latte after ice latte until we had the whole table filled with empty plastics...

i've got something else to tell you...

hm..... i know already....

really?

yea... youre so skinny now...

hm.....

it's ok, i don't judge... 

i sympathize him somehow but i know that these social stigma wont go away with my sympathy and so i embraced it and knowing that people living with the disease will need support from anyone they can get and have...

so he came out to me and told me this shocking truth all in the same few hours.. it is not hard to process.. but just the desperation you can feel that he really need someone to hear him out, like as though it is going to explode and eat him inside out if no one understands him...

your bf.....?

he knows...

and he is ok about it?

yea... he is the one taking care of me....

o m g. like this kinda bf already extinct d...     how long liao?

hm.... 2 years?

mm... treatment?

mm...... just started.

o.O 

i was not ready....

ok... ok.. as long as youre ready then good, cos you must eat meds on time... not ready also no point cos later will make it worse...

yup...

and is your bf?

no...

oh...so.... like how did you ?

hm... we dont really have sex much... so one day when we wanted to do it, he went down, and saw that my knob was red with spots and he was shocked so he asked me to go get checked...

ok.... then?

i have syph ... and also the virus..

hm....

he was really supportive and went back and forth to the hospital to help me in and out...

you better not take him for granted!

:)

so we chatted on for awhile more then headed off for dinner after that....

HIV is a disease, not curable at the moment but there are ways to prevent it. being gay is already a social stigma like it or not, and people always relate being GAY with AIDS... -.- that is so 20 years ago.. AIDS is now rarely heard of anymore because of the advancement of medicine.. you will get full blown AIDS if you dont get treatment...

we need to always educate ourselves. dont despise those who have the disease. dont be afraid of those who do have it. often, they are afraid of themselves and you don't really need to add that burden to those who already have it. if someone were to confide to you, you must have done something right that made them wanna share it with you, not for your pity, but maybe just an outlet for them to express. 

the response from the first person whom they tell it to, will either make them or break them. so please dont overreact and think before you say anything. if you dont know what to say, just dont say anything and let your friend finish what he needs to say. the last thing they want is to get judged and feel as though they are a disease and should be isolated from society.

with that, i have myself my first special friend.