Photo by Serghei Savchiuc on Unsplash
When Apei was a little girl, her mother–for the sake of the family economy–would never buy chocolate for her. Thirty years ago in Penang–a tropical island off the coast of Malaysia– chocolate was very expensive. Other candies made of coconut and durian are readily available. Apei had plenty of those, but her heart is always on chocolate–it’s exotic, it’s dark, it’s rich. Its expensiveness only adds to its attraction and the fact that she couldn’t have any made it the most desirable thing in the world.
Apei grows up and attends college and then becomes a bank manager. She can afford chocolate now and she buys it regularly. She also gets married to Jun who works in the same bank, but in a different branch.
One day, after dinner, Jun tries to find a tool and searched all over the place for it. Apei says she might have placed it somewhere a while ago, but she can’t recall where she placed it.
Jun comes to a cabinet space at the corner of the kitchen. He’s surprised that it is locked. He has never paid much attention to the kitchen and doesn’t know that there’s a necessity for locks.
“Why do you lock this cabinet?” Jun asks.
Apei looks back at him wistfully. She wants to say something, but can’t make up her mind what to say. She wants to prevent Jun from opening it, but Jun’s interest is piqued now and he insists that he sees what it is inside. So Apei reluctantly gets the key and opens it up for him.
Inside, it is stacked from top to bottom with chocolate of all kinds. It must have more than one hundred chocolate bars and packages. And there’s a big container too with gooey indeterminate substance filling up half of it.
“What is this?” Jun points to the big container and asks.
“I try to lose weight.” Apei says.
“So? Why do you buy chocolate then?”
“I love chocolate.” Apei says. “All right. All right. Stop judging me. I love chocolate. So I buy them and chew them, but I don’t swallow for fear of gaining weight. So I spit out into a container.”
“Oh.” Jun says, staring at his wife as if she’s crazy.
Haoyan Do 
Wow, I hope this person can be cured.
LikeLike
This story prompts me to write about this:-
https://chensp.org/2021/08/08/oesophageal-cancer-wanting-a-taste-of-food/
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t say no to chocolate either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, chocolate makes people crazy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I absolutely love quality chocolate! Thanks for this lovely story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I am glad you like it.
LikeLike
Wow , I like strawberry 🍓 yummy 😋
LikeLike
This post somehow made me drool haha
I love chocolates too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL. Chocolate can be an obsession. Me too.
LikeLike
It’s amazing how she worked for her childhood desire. I didn’t expect that much of it though 😅
LikeLiked by 3 people
LOL. Yes, some people retain such desire all their life. LOL. This is from a true story, but in the true story the woman is more complicated than this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t if that’s good or bad. But the first part is definitely good. 👌
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL. The love of chocolate. Hahaha.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“I love chocolate.” Apei says. “All right. All right. Stop judging me. I love chocolate. So I buy them and chew them, but I don’t swallow for fear of gaining weight. So I spit out into a container.”
Such a devotion!😅
Great enjoyable post!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Tanishq. I am glad you like it and you have encouraged me to keep on working on stories. LOL. This is a true story and it really happened. LOL. Thank you for commenting. 😜😍😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure.
Yeah, I uhh enjoyed it a bit more coz I already have gone through a similar story in the past time.
But, this is was much more fun to read.
Keep coming with the like of these gems!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apei is literally me 😂 I binge chocolates but watch my weight. So sometimes, if the cover is fancy but the inside isn’t satisfying enough, I spit it out- it’s a two way win. You taste it, as well as don’t gain weight. I thought I was alone in the world 🤣 Chocolate is my drug so I can empathise with Apei so much. This is a wonderful and unique story.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, Samsahana. I am glad you echo with it and this is exactly a girl I learned about from my friends. LOL. Some of us really has a craze for chocolate. I had childhood friends who got into a bitter fight due to chocolate–they only had enough money to buy one package of chocolate together, but they got into a dispute on how to divide the sweets. LOL. That’s pretty funny too.
LikeLike
ha ha! Her passion for chocolates and the plan to control her weight. Locked memories craziness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, she is addicted and obsessed. She needs some psychological help to get over this addiction. LOL.
LikeLike
Yah, she must needed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL. That’s true.
LikeLike
We had chocolate once a week when I was growing up. Our children always look at us with bemused expressions whenever we tell them these type of stories, because they have experienced a much different situation.
LikeLiked by 3 people
That’s so true. Nowadays chocolate are more available than before. Yes, many young people will think people older than them are incomprehensible and they have good reason to think that way. LOL. I heard the news that due to climate changes, goods like chocolate, coffee, tea are going to have a hard time to maintain its current production level and the price of those will certainly rise.
LikeLike
Lololol…my doctor will be happy that I will no longer be able to eat chocolate. I haven’t had coffee since Easter 1982. The issue for me will be tea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unfortunately all the tasty stuff is bad for us. Isn’t that a terrible thing? My friend is diagnosed with high blood pressure and now she’s afraid to even put salt into her food.
LikeLike
This is quite different……
Beautiful imagination…… I liked it so very much….
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, that’s high praise indeed. I am glad you like it and your message is such an encouragement to me. LOL.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Mom had a locked cabinet in the kitchen so she could dole out the treats to her six children in moderation. Of course, we would take the hinges off the door and raid it.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Oh, yes, that’s exactly what several families I knew did when I was young. The problem is that the padlock is very easy to be cracked open. I had a childhood friend who was punished by his mom (his mom is the severe one while his dad is quite laid back) because he licked all the sesame paste before his mother could stop him.
LikeLiked by 1 person