Seeing him off at KL International Airport was much harder than i had thought. Considering that his flight was scheduled at midnight, 11:59pm to be exact, we didn't expect to say our goodbyes at 9:30pm when the officials rushed them pass the immigration counter and away from our sight. My brother simply turned around and told my family that they needed to check in within 10 minutes' time. It was the hardest ''oh'' i ever said in my life as i struggled to reply him in a manner that seemed normal in public.
We took some pictures with him in his smart coat since formal attire was required for these promising scholars. After hugs and saying goodbye we could go no further and thus stood our ground as we saw them pass the immigration officers. I had to harbor strength in order to fight back the tears which soon accumulated at the corner of my eyes.
In those few moments when we waved goodbye, i began to have some FLASHBACKS and remembered how much he had impacted my life...
Jonathan Choong, a.k.a. Kor (Brother) was the first to teach me how to somersault! Yeah, believe it or not. We were in primary school at that time and when we got home from school one day, he told me that he had learned something cool in school. I taught it was something to do with studies but that was well before we ended up cartwheeling across our parents' bedroom. Haha, i suppose that's how i started out gymnastics, at home with Kor.
Drawing dinosaurs and sketching animals on a drawing block won from CIDS church we would host our own TV show called ''Heart Attack'', the pirated version of Art Attack, where we would teach our studio audience (the soft toys) how to draw horribly or at least until they got a heart attack. Haha. On such innocent afternoons and in a rather weird way, he introduced me to the world of art.
Undoubtedly, he also brought me closer to the music 'cause he was the first to learn it from our teacher. I got curious looking at the white and black keys and got interested at the funny noises they make. I was not long after i too started piano lessons. *Then of course he is the better pianist :)
An inspiration in studies he is to me. Acing his exams with straight ''A''s and recently being awarded by the University of Notre Dame with a certificate of distinction for English. And the most amazing part to me is that he can still remain humble.
The memories play on and on in the little tape recorder in my mind, but i soon snap back and waved my very last goodbye before he left for Frankfurt, Germany. Although, we had verbal arguments and disagreements, he was like a brother to me. No wait, he's more than that, he's my Beloved Biological Brother! And I thank God for him.
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