Life without my hubby in those early days of our marriage

I will never forget my loneliest moment without my lovely husband around me.

We got married in August 2004 and was staying with my in-laws after our wedding night.

I thought I will be the most happiest wife after I got married because I did not have an easy life before my marriage, but I was wrong.

Staying under the same roof as my in-laws was not the same as staying with your own parents as they say two women can never be together in the same kitchen.

My parents-in-law had a sudden change of attitude towards me after we stayed together.

Nothing I did could make them happy. Neither did they like the things I did. My husband works on shift and most of the time he is not around with me.

I really felt lonely as my in-laws always scolded me for the little things I do. My dear husband knew what I went through and always told me that no matter what happens, I should not leave him.

My husband is working in the airline industry so most of the time he is not around with me when I was being scolded and shouted at by my in-laws.

It is the strong will of our love that makes us strong till today. We are no longer staying with our parents.

After six months after we got married, we moved out to our castle house and there we had two lovely kids. A princess and a prince.

My hubby has meant everything to me as he patiently listened to all my sadness, helped me, loved me and cuddled me when I needed him.

I will never ever forget the loneliest moment in my life when I was without him.

Ekral Begum

Miles apart

May 2005: I decided to move out of Singapore to work to have a wider exposure and challenges. I landed in a place called Tanggu, a small oil and gas town 200km from Beijing. I started my first ever expatriate lifestyle. There I met my beloved Rui.

August 2006: As many have expected, my stay in China finally came to an end. Our relationship has never been optimistic in the eyes of others especially her parents. Despite her mum's objection, we struggled through. When the news of no contract renewal came, our love was tested. Leaving her a promise that our love will go on forever, I moved on to my next job in the Middle East.

February 2007: Life in Middle East was tough but with her love and support I survived again at work and love for eight months. She visited me once in the desert land and we enjoyed every moment we could for two weeks. It not only grew our relationship, it gave us more faith in the future we are building. My next trip was for the land of smiles, Thailand.

July 2007: It was on the day 07/07/07 that we decided to tie the knot. Throwing a banquet in Goodwood Park Hotel with her parents, grandma, and uncle who flew from China to attend the event. We moved into our next stage of life. Until this day, our lives are still separated by miles of ocean. She keeps her job in China and I work alone in this land of smiles without much on my face.

April 2008: April fool's day, Wynn is born. The fruit of our love. Now our love was not only bonded by our heart but held tightly with two little hands of our little cute baby. Enjoying weeks with them, I returned to sad, lonely working life again.

Nov 2008: In Dubai, it was a city full of dreams but when will my dream come true? I was back to staying alone for the sake of work. Though I was able to fly back every six weeks for a 2-week break, I still miss them day and night.

Looking ahead, we wish that one day we can stay together forever as a family. Our love will go on despite the obstacles, and our dreams will turn reality one day.

Ray Toh

Life has to go on

V-day has always been a day to celebrate the joy of love. Everybody bounds to have heartbroken moments and the heart hurts most if it falls on V-day.

There was this one year when I had broken up with my girlfriend. The mood had set in long before the arrival of V-day. As the days passed by and the closer it got to V-day, the more the apprehension set in. I felt that it will be surely the loneliest V-day since I fell in and out of love many years ago.

Other than feeling lonely, my thoughts went wild; who will she be with? Where will she celebrate V-day and will she remember me?

The day had finally arrived. It was a usual work day where I needed to go to work. Everyone at work was cheerful and how hard it is to pretend that I did not care about the love that is in the air. Trying to be busy the whole day was a challenge and the sight of flowers were delivered to the office by the DHL guys made it worse.

The day finally ended and I thought I could go home and hide away. Then came the journey home, I regretted not taking a taxi like I regretted I had the fight with my girlfriend days ago.

At home, at last, I could take a bath and seek refuge in my room. My familiar room had also turned into the loneliest blackhole. All the negative thoughts and feelings lingered and there I was alone, lonely in my own room.

Without much effort, the sadness and loneliest triumphed over me and tired me out. I fell asleep eventually.

Another day has began, the fact still remained. I was lonely. But without her, life goes on.

Lee Kian Wee