Girl talk

"You have beautiful eyes," gushed Lena, a former colleague and dear friend

who had zipped back to Singapore from Shanghai for a quick visit.

Oh, thank y..."

"When you close them," she interjected, while squinting intently at the screen

of her Lumix. She was trying to capture an artistic shot of my dissection of the salmon tart.

"It looks like you have some nice strokes of eyeliner along your lash lines when you are staring down at the food."

Ah. I see.

So, I have beautiful eyes.

When I close them.

Wow.

Since I wasn't wearing eyeliner - or even the flimsiest coat of mascara - on that fateful day, I am still considering if I should file away the comment in my

THUMB-UP, THUMB-DOWN or TBC* folder.

At the same time, I am reconsidering our friendship too.

Just kidding, of course.

*Blinks aforementioned beautiful eyes innocently*

Seriously.

After all, Lena and I go back a long way.

Back in the days when we were practically babies trying to survive in the strange world of the grown-ups, we had clung on to each other for dear life

as we fought to keep our fire and sanity intact while battling various archetypical villains.

Such as the Wicked Witch and the Big Bad Wolf.

And of course, Lena has been nothing but nice to me whenever she returns.

She never fails to buy me rose wine.

The first time.

The second time.

The third time.

And she has even added lovely vino chocolates to the goodie bag now.

My profuse thanks have been extended. Now, there's just one more thing I like to say to her.

"Lena, I am not an alcoholic**."

*To Be Confirmed.

**The last time I checked, downing 1 - 2 beer in the middle of the afternoon in a tropical climate at an alfresco cafe is scientifically known as "quenching the thirst", according to the rule book of Alcoholic Anonymous. But oh, do keep the rose wine coming...I am not complaining.