Torment of Forbidden Love

By Kheng Chiang Si

Chin Po is a successful medical doctor working in a private practice in Perth, Australia, and struggling to adapt to an unfulfilling marriage—an attempt plagued by thoughts of a long-lost love. Originally from the island of Borneo, he left home as a teenager after he lost his first love under strange circumstances. The trauma of the forced separation left him unable to feel deep emotion for any reason, whether joy or misery—a circumstance drastically affecting his marriage and his life as a whole.

One day, however, a psychic patient sees through Chin’s camouflage of smiling calm and senses his empty inner world. Working with other psychics, she reveals details of Chin’s past that he had not known and helps him unravel the reasons for the loss of his first love more than forty years ago. Will this newfound knowledge help Chin find peace?

This tale of romance and psychological intrigue explores the power that thwarted love may exert in a person’s life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Apr 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483425726

Book preview

SI

Copyright © 2015 Kheng Chiang Si.

Cover art work painted by Mrs. Sylvia Busby.

Any similarities in this book to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2573-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2572-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015901434

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 03/11/2015

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1   Reflections

Chapter 2   New Year Excitement

Chapter 3   Meeting Mei Hua Alone

Chapter 4   A Wedding And Babysitting

Chapter 5   A Bombshell

Chapter 6   Further Help

Chapter 7   Meeting Big Auntie

Chapter 8   Back To School

Chapter 9   Australia

Chapter 10   Student Days

Chapter 11   A Patient’s Advice

Chapter 12   Meeting Mei Lan

Chapter 13   The Practice Is Established

Chapter 14   Psychic Revelations

Chapter 15   The Search Continues

Chapter 16   Asiana

Chapter 17   Resolution

About The Author

To my wife and family,

who have put up with me all these years.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To Dr. Denis Lawrence and Dr. Anne Lawrence, I thank you both very much for your constant encouragement, guidance, and patience in the writing of this book. I am also very grateful for your invaluable help in organizing my manuscript in the preparation for publication.

A very sincere and special thank you to Mrs. Sylvia Busby, who for many years has enchanted me with her wonderful artwork that is displayed in my office and home. She had kindly painted the picture for the cover of this book.

There are a few other people I would like to thank, but suffice it for them to be anonymous. They know who they are.

CHAPTER 1

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REFLECTIONS

It was 4:30 on a hot and muggy afternoon in Perth. Dr. Chin Po’s office was ice cold, and he had seen a full schedule of patients whose ills ranged from trivial to terminal. He treated all of his patients with serious and gentle attention. The patients received his attention gratefully and always left the office feeling as though they had been listened to. They felt cured in some way, often as if by magic. They all felt that they had benefited from his calm, understanding services. It was no wonder that Dr. Po was popular.

Only a few more patients remained in the waiting room before he was free to go home. But the thought of that return home produced a fleeting sense of stress. He had never been able to feel the usual love and warmth of a normal family home. The thought of helping to prepare dinner after eight hours of continuous work had affected his self-confidence and self-esteem.

Before leaving the office, he would organize the papers on his desk and try to relax. He lay back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let his mind drift back to a time when he was in his home country of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The days and nights in Sarawak were continuously warm and humid, without a breath of cooling air. There were no fans or air conditioning there. He was happy in those days. But what is happiness? he thought. When he was a young student, things never seemed burdensome. Studying was the main thing, and home was life simple, with three basic meals a day.

His parents were always busy. His brothers were also busy working and studying. Everyone seemed to be doing their own things. He was very much a loner and would approach his mother for his needs rather than asking his father. Father was the head of the house, and Mother had to get his dinner first at precisely six every evening. The father deserved the best cut of bread or chicken. He was a good provider.

Dinner time was serious. There were no conversations—only the sounds of chewing, munching, and the clank of the knives and forks on the porcelain plates resonating over the large rectangular table—one big enough on which to play table tennis.

A knock on his office door brought Dr. Po back to the present. Gloria, his secretary, had come to remind him that there were two patients still to be seen. Dr. Po nodded and attended to the remaining patients.

Once he was outside in the piercing heat of the late afternoon, he decided to drive to the local beach for a swim before returning home. He hoped that his wife would turn on the air conditioner to cool their home prior to his return. Glancing at the mobile phone, he heard an inner voice say to him, ‘You are putting off going home because you need to feel the love and warmth of people around you. You don’t want to feel lonely. You have worked hard and are successful, but you are lonely. Although you have a wife, you can’t get close to her. She seems a thousand miles away from you, even though she has great respect for her family and friends.’

Why does she have such an attitude? he thought. What have I done or not done?

As Dr. Po lay on the beach, the breezes were soft and warm. The humidity of the day had been dispersed by the late-afternoon sea breeze. He smiled as he watched the families around him. The squeals of happy children rang out as they plunged into the churning sea where the waves were breaking on the white sand. It was now evening, and many parents were gathering their belongings before their long trek home. Some were shouting instructions to their children to come out of the surf to dry off and help carry their gear to the car.

Memories of his own childhood came to the fore as he recalled the mixed feelings he had had when first taken to the edge of a river in his native homeland. He had been through a traumatic event as a four year-old- boy He had never been a lover of water. But he was attracted by the white sandy beach and cool sea breeze.

Chin Po was born in 1950, the ninth child in the family, and he had four brothers and four sisters. His father worked as a clerk in a government office. Their house was a very basic dwelling made of palm leaves and timber in a one-acre block surrounded by rubber trees. He could not remember much of his early life except for this one traumatic memory.

He had been troubled by a toothache, and his third brother, Sar Po, took him to the dentist at the local government clinic by the river. He was unaware at the time that fifteen years later, he would be visiting the river many more times under vastly different circumstances.

Sar Po took him to the dentist’s office. A nurse in a white uniform opened the door. His body went numb when he saw the dental chair and various shining instruments.

I want to go home, he pleaded to his brother. Sensing no response, he took the opportunity to escape and ran for the exit. His brother went after him, but by that time, he was outside. His brother tried to persuade him to return, but he refused. Eventually, his brother said that he would take him to the riverfront to see the boats and birds. He readily accepted his brother’s suggestion to visit the river, and they walked down to it together. He felt very happy to see boats and birds, and eventually, he agreed to see the dentist again.

His brother helped him get up into the dental chair. After that, all he could remember was a tall white man, who he later learned had been an English dentist. The dentist had a very large needle in his hand. Seeing that this needle was meant for him, he promptly fainted. Upon waking, he felt an excruciating pain in his mouth, and he was bleeding. The dentist had extracted two molars. Dr. Po wondered if that event was the reason he had always felt insecure as a child.

He recalled following his mother around the house and wanting to be near to her. Whenever Mother was out of sight, he would call out to her, and if she didn’t respond, he would cry.

One day, Mother said to him, You are going to school with your sister in the new year.

Not realizing what it meant for him, he agreed. He was five years old. His sister was six years old, the normal age for year one.

The first day at school was disastrous. The eldest sister, Twa Po, accompanied the two of them. The siblings had the privilege to be seated next to each other in class. However, a full bladder made for a disaster. He was so nervous and anxious that he wet his pants. A huge puddle of urine was evident under his desk, threatening to flow towards the teacher’s table. Twa Po was promptly summoned to take the two children home. As a result, the first day of school lasted only two hours. This was a Mandarin school, and he studied there for three years.

At this school, he was a loner and did most things by himself. He learned to ride a push bike in primary school. With his left hand on the handlebar and right hand on the horizontal frame, he managed to ride his brother’s bike after numerous falls and many abrasions associated with bruising. He learned that riding his sister’s bike was easier. At the time, he was not tall enough to sit on the saddle and reach the pedals at the same time. With this awkward method, he managed to ride to the local shop, and he later on rode to school.

After the fourth grade, he transferred to an English school at the recommendation of his third brother, Sar Po. This was the brother who later won a scholarship to study in Tasmania, Australia. At his new school, Dr. Po studied in English and found it was much easier then Mandarin. He did well and was among the top three in his class every year.

At the English school, he also excelled in sports. He played basketball, soccer, badminton, and table tennis. In particular, he loved and did well in hockey. He was chosen to play hockey for the school team.

One day before practice, he could not find his hockey stick. His fourth brother, See Po, said, Father used it as firewood to cook the rice!

He shouted back in horror at not having his hockey stick, Tomorrow is our grand final hockey match, and I am playing right wing!

See Po told him that only the handle of the stick could be seen sticking out of the burner. He went on to say that their father did not like him playing sports. Father had also said that a man could not earn a living playing sports and that doing so was a waste of time.

CHAPTER 2

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NEW YEAR EXCITEMENT

As Dr. Po gathered his towel and decided to leave the beach for home, his thoughts began to stray to the forthcoming Chinese New Year. He could not help but reflect on the traditional celebrations of Chinese New Year in Sarawak. Most of all, it was a time for the family and friends to be together. He thought back with relish to those days.

When he was a young student living at home in Sarawak, he remembered how at various times of the year, he would check the calendar. Another month to go, he would think, looking forward to the time when he would help his mother to bake traditional cakes and biscuits. Those were the days when there was a lot of routine. Besides making those sweet cakes together in the kitchen, there were special prawns and fish crackers to prepare. His mother would bake all day with one of the other household members helping to take over while she took a break to eat her lunch or dinner.

The house also had to receive attention. They had moved to a house with seven rooms; it was now a two-story wooden house surrounded by fruit and rubber trees. He and See Po had the job of repainting the home every year. The sisters were busy sewing new curtains to adorn the many windows. Red was the colour to attract good luck, health, and prosperity for the family.

The Angel

He was doing well at school. After all his examinations in form three were completed, he discovered that he had received distinctions and was promoted to form four science class. However, the study of pure mathematics and science took its toll. There was endless homework, and he often had to study late into the night, slaving away in the family room upstairs. In this room, he would sit studying at a huge rectangular table. When sitting at the table, he would sometimes cast a glance out of the window where he could see another house across the road.

This other house had twelve rooms. Each room was rented out so there was a family living in each room. There was an open air community wash area, and every morning, he could see ladies in the wash area doing their laundry. Others could be seen cooking their breakfast in the covered communal kitchen.

Late one night, tired and bored from solving mathematical problems, he looked aimlessly towards the window of the house across the road. Suddenly, he noticed a pretty smiling face framed by the window. She extended her hand out of the window with a brief wave and then gave him the most loving smile he had ever seen. With that, she closed her window. She must have been enjoying watching him study by the table every night.

An angel had suddenly