The Story of Po Hwa (Part 1)

Once there was a boy named Po Hwa, born in Sandakan, Sabah. Its a coastal town in the east of Sabah near to Mindanao, Philippines. 

This was in the year 1985, November 1st to proud parents of Mr. and Mrs. Teng. 

His family was not the well to do sort of but they still provided the best in life for Po Hwa. However, in the midst of his growing up, the parents decided to leave for Taiwan for greener pastures. Left with his grandparents, Po Hwa grew up without ever knowing how a proper family should function. 

However, he was doted by his grandmother and spoilt silly most of the time by her. 

His grandfather on the other hand was quite the stern one, never providing the actual fatherly love but more of stern headmaster. His other family members like his uncles were not particularly his favourite either. 

Po Hwa with his grandmother

He grew up having wanted a lot and he envied how normal families function. When he saw how other kids had parents coming to fetch them from school, he envied those kids simply because he had none to come do the same for him. As such, he just sat back and looked at how privileged other kids were. 

Having no actual "normal" family support, he grew up rather bitter and also at times wanting to earn that family love he had been deprived of. I suppose you can say he grew up in the format of how his grandparents have shaped him to be and still this is not enough because what you can impart from grandparents are totally different from a normal family. 

You can say he had a dysfunctional set of values. 

He would be beaten up when he was in his teenage years simply because he was a rebel in his own right. There were many things that he wanted to have but due to his unavailability in finances, he was hindered. However, his parents still sent money back from Taiwan for his upkeep all through the years but lacking was the actual love that one can essentially get from parents, which money cannot obtain. 

Po Hwa had an ambition to be a designer but because at that time, and due to the small minded of the rural folks, that profession was considered too effeminate. 

Instead, they steered him to go into finances like accountancy but he wasn't interested in them. Instead, he chose to take up interior designing
and after his Form 5, enrolled in the Lim Kok Wing University. 

That to him was the best time of his life, as he had to fly from his small rural town of Sandakan to the big city, Kuala Lumpur. 

When he was cut off from his grandparent's stern care, he felt like he achieved an independence; and independent lifestyle which he could embrace. 

I'm free now @pohwa1985

He was a closet door gay, having a lot of attractions for the same sex but having that urge suppressed most of his living years. 

That same new found independence also led him to eat whatever he wanted as he was barred mostly when he was living his grandparents, as they practiced very clean eating, meaning no fried food, oily or just simply unhealthy food. 

Thus, began his life in the bright lights of KL. 

To be continued...