Voice Changes

Alo, alo. Chiak pah beh?*

Mona's cell phone rang during lunch. She sauntered to her desk to answer it and gave me a wink, "Yes, everything's under control. Oh, I'm having lunch now. What's up?"

Her voice was bland and monotonous. When she hung up, she asked us, "So, who wants to guess who the caller was?"

"The Datin!" said Jenn.

"Your sister!" said Al.

My first thought was that it was her hubby - based on her first sentence. Turns out that I was right

"Eh, that sounded like a business call lar. How come you talk to your husband in such a ... boring way?" said Jenn, our lunch partner in puzzlement.

Mona shrugged, "That's just the way it has always been between us. I'm not the mushy gushy type, so I can definitely live without the 'darlings', the 'honey buns', the 'muaks' and oh, those dratted three words." She shuddered and continued to munch voraciously on her lunch.

"Al, what about you? Do you go all mushy when talking to your wife?" I asked the only guy present at our table.

"Of course not! I am like Mona, I don't go all gushy over the phone with my spouse. Don't see a need to."

"Awwww, come on. Surely your voice changed over the phone when you were on the phone with her during courtship days?" I teased him.

Al stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, now that you mentioned it, I was rather mushy towards her back then. But that was before she agreed to become my girlfriend. After that, no more Mr. Mushy lar."

We could only hoot in laughter and shake our heads at that all-too-true statement. And I wonder, do I go gushy all over the phone when I'm talking to someone I like? Hmmmm...

* - typical Hokkien greeting. It means, "Hello, have you eaten?"