He came to my uncle wedding ceremony (my uncle, not me) holding hand with a young beautiful lady who looked around my age. I told myself “this guy looks familiar”. I flashed back my memory to 6 years ago. Yep indeed “We used to play football together when we were in 10 January high school”.

He probably saw me but we didn’t talk until the wedding reception. He came with the lady as guests while I was at the reception. We smiled like we just met old friends. “Vireak, you look very different”, he said by clearly pronoucing my name. My head tried find words to response. I forgot his name. Damn! I told him “I tried to remember but I couldn’t recall his name”. “Bunsak” he responsed. Oh ya! After the darkness, I could see the light now. “Here is my wife” he pointed to the young lady. I thought wow! impressive marrying at such young age. I congratulated him and asked how long had he been married. “3 Years” he said. “We even have one small kid” he continued.

That was even more impressive for someone that young to have such family responsibility. I wasn’t sure about his age but he should be around 24. Most guys in my generation are at least 2 years older than me. That means he got married at 21. I had nothing but admire him and more so his beautiful wife. We exchanged some more “Sai sabok?” before the couple went inside.

Oh ya, I found out that his wife was a friend of the bride - my aunt-in-law who was actually only 1 year older than me. No it’s not his marriage or the wedding of uncle that I want to emphasize. It’s the fact that I totally forgot an old friend name. I can say “Well, we were more like schoolmates who knew each other at only the football playground”. “We never hung out or studied together as classmates”. But when he clearly remembered my name, there is no such excuse. I felt embarassed and offered no excuse. Afterall, not remembering a friend’s name constitutes a Crime against Humanity. In other word, I just commited a crime against humanity.

But that was not the only time I got away with crime. A few weeks earlier, some singaporean friends came to visit Siem Reap. I took them around. While we were at Ta Prom Temple. A young man around my age in his Tour-guide uniform approached me. He looked with a bit of grin and said “You are Bong Vireak, right?”.

Bum!! I thought huh! although with my long hair and glasses, someone recognized me yet I couldn’t recall who he was. “Yes…hmmm do we know each other?” I asked him with a smile. “Errr…perhaps you don’t know me but I know you” he responsed. “You were in higher grade than me in Angkor Junior College” he added. Angkor Junior College, I thought huh! that was almost 10 years ago and someone from the stone age still recognized me. That was impressive. He had known me but I hadn’t known him. Who was I to be known when I was just like any other students? I never was class president or student representative. If he knows me, at least I should have seen him. I admired his memory and I knew I just got away with a crime against humanity.

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