E & E LAU - By Thong Kim Fook

Written By: thong kim fook

Category: Short Story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, Thong Kim Fook presents "E & E LAU," a short story that delves into the intricate dynamics of a couple's relationship. Through the eyes of Eric and Emma Lau, readers are invited to explore the subtle tensions and unspoken conflicts that define their daily lives. Thong Kim Fook's narrative provides a poignant reflection on communication, understanding, and the quiet struggles that can exist within a marriage.

About the Work

"E & E LAU" is a contemplative narrative that weaves together themes of misunderstanding, silence, and emotional distance. Thong Kim Fook crafts a world where routine interactions reveal deeper issues within a marriage. The story's mood is both introspective and compelling, offering readers a glimpse into the complexities of love, frustration, and the quest for connection. The literary style is straightforward yet profound, capturing the reader's attention with its authentic portrayal of relational dynamics.

E & E LAU

Original Submission by thong kim fook

E & E LAU

BY THONG KIM FOOK

“Hurry up, will you?” Eric hollered from the car. No reply. He waited another minute and hollered again. “Are you coming?” The car is already at idling speed for some time.

Without an answer Emma Lau walked out of the door walk, turn around and start locking the door, then from the shoe rack, took two padlocks; one to lock the front gate and the other the grille door. Rolling his eyes, Eric Lau muttered sullenly to himself. “To think this is Fort Knox” Emma then opens the car door and heaved her heavy frame inside, all the time without looking at her husband. Eric reversed out of the driveway and start towards the Guard house. “Wait! Wait!” his wife yelled. “Now what have you forgotten again?” Eric sighed. “My phone, I have forgotten to take it from the dresser.” Eric drove the car around the back and stop at the house. “I will be quick.” Eric did not even look at her while she clambered from the car and started to open up the padlocks and the main door. Some minutes later she came out and re-locked the door and gate again before entering the car. “We are just going to the shops to have dinner. Do you need to lock up the house like that?” he grumbled. “Nowadays there are a lot of bad people around and have to be careful,” his wife retorted icily. And then there was silence all the way to their dinner. Eric ordered clay pot rice while Emma ordered her favorite fried noodles. Both of them did not speak or say anything throughout the meal.

After reaching home, Eric waited patiently while Emma undoes the Fort Knox security system before Eric off the car engine and entered the house, leaving Emma to re-do her Fort Knox stuff. It was already quite common for the silence and the lack of conversation between husband and wife. Been going on for some years. “Sometimes talking to her seems so stupid,” he used to complain to his youngest daughter Elisa. “Either she was not listening or not bother to hear what I am saying to her and when I repeated the words, she would glare at me and refuse to reply. So, I try not to talk anymore. She is complaining to her siblings over the phone about my attitude and I knew from the suspicious looks from them whenever we visited them that a lot of bad comments have been passed over. Not that I care. I do not need their assistance. I have no hostile intents at all to them but if they think I am what my wife is complaining, so be it.”

Elisa rolled her eyes and try to control her voice. “Dad, just let her be. She had been behaving like that for a long time and you are partly contributing to it by pampering her. Sis and me have also been tolerating her for a long time.” Eric knew that both his daughters are not telling all the things between their mom and them to him but he did not press further as he does not want them to think he is nagging about their ever-straining relationship. Compared to Elisa, the elder daughter Elsa was worse tempered and even Eric steered clear of her if she started to get into her moods. Especially when she has a lot of late work to do from the office.

Emma was also bad tempered and when she gets into the moods, she would go into Cold War stance and showed her black face the whole day. She targets Eric the most and would not even look at him. She would avoid him in the house and refuse to talk at all. Most of the time Eric will be forced to ask her if she wants to go eat or to go shop. She will not reply but change her clothes and waited at the door with the key inserted into the gate expecting Eric to catch the drift. She does not want to drive at all and waited impatiently for him to start the car.

“Really sick of him sometimes,” she complained to her sister over the phone daily. “But he seems to be quite loving towards you,” her sister replied, “and he seems quite friendly when he comes over with you. In fact, he was quite talkative to Serena and Simon.” Her daughter and son. “He did not look like rude or coarse as you mentioned.” “You are not living with him twenty-four hours so you do not know about him,” Emma retorted. “I am worried sometimes he will hit me when he loses his tempers. I am beginning to think he has mental problems. In fact, I have hinted to him to seek psychiatrist treatment but he seems not to hear of it.” “Thought he had sought the psychiatrist few years back?” Her sister commented. “Yeah, two times already but he complained that the doctor is not good and so after the second time he refused to go back to his scheduled appointment. He wanted to change another doctor but apparently the second doctor forget the appointed date and he was really cheesed off and did not go again.” Her sister asked, “is that really bad as you said? He was nice to me when we talked and I did not even see him lose his temper once even when we were all talking about bad politicians and government. Anyway, I was not living with him and as you mentioned so maybe…….” The sisters then change the subject and start talking of going shopping and the latest dresses on the internet. They will chat over the phone daily and sometimes talk for an hour if the subject was right. Emma will talk more when Eric was not around like the last time, he was working outstation and when weekends come and he was around, she will not call her sister and ask her sister not to call her too.

Eric was aware of the phone calls and at times Emma was caught suddenly when her sister call when Eric was around and she hastily talked a short chat before aborting the call. At times she would make some excuse that her sister wanted to ask her opinion of some dishes she was cooking. Eric did not even bother to reply as he knows very well that Emma was gossiping things he was not supposed to hear and honesty he does not even care. Sometimes her brother will call from Penang and Eric noticed her discomfort when she was chatting. Emma was hard pressed to end the conversation but since the brother seldom calls, she had to continue for a while. Eric had no idea why she behaved like that as he was not against her talking with her family members and he was well liked with all of them except maybe herself.

Whenever he brings her back to her mother’s house in Seremban, his in-laws are glad to see them and life was normal during their visit. Normally Eric and Emma will return without Elisa and Elsa as both of them are busily working and probably stayed at Seremban for a week. During this time, joyous outing for delicious food at the eateries and his in-laws are totally friendly throughout their stay. Emma will act normally with her siblings including the two more sisters and three brothers who are married but staying nearby. Except for two brothers; one in Penang and one in Ipoh. Sometimes during festive seasons both the outstation brothers and families also made their way back to Seremban to join their mother.

Eric was well aware of the bad impressions that Emma had passed on to her siblings but although he felt the pressure, his in-laws were acting normally and he was getting well with his mother-in-law. He got the message that he was not in their good books when the subtle hints sometimes being levied on him during their conversations. The first time he gets the hint was from the sister-in-law who being not too courteous sometimes blurted out that he should treated her sister better. Eric was shocked but he managed not to show it. Even his mother-in-law laughingly commented that Emma had a miserable life now compared to her unmarried days but refused to elaborate further. There was uncomfortable silence immediately after the comments before the other siblings change to other topics to talk. The looks from the siblings’ spouses will be directed to Eric and for a brief moment, they will flicker and then look sympathetic towards him. Eric was not perturbed at all and act normally.

Emma was always complaining that Eric was hot tempered and at times cannot control himself when he was angry. She told her daughters that their dad was mentally sick and should seek a psychiatrist for treatment but the daughters were too nice to tell Eric. Eric was very time conscious and will be impatient if he is late or if anyone in his family is late getting ready going out. Age was catching up with him and Emma and sometimes when he lost control of his hands, having difficulties to grab the keys to lock the door or having difficulties wearing his shoes, he will really lose his cool. Then he will bang the door and kick his shoes and start shouting at himself. The more he tries to grab the keys to lock the door the more the bunch of keys will drop to the floor and this make him angrier. Emma was really scared stiff at him losing his cool so she tried not to let him do the delicate stuff. But sometimes when he was going out alone, Emma cannot help him and she watched helplessly and terrified at his bad-tempered moves. He will drive the car furiously fast and cursed at other drivers. Emma sometimes will cry silently in the bathroom, scared stiff but at the same time she will not talk to him and start the cold war. This angered Eric sometimes and he was equally silent after that, sometimes for days. He felt he had done nothing wrong and Emma refusal to talk further angered him. Only after some days did he manage to start talking again and always he was the one to re-start the conversation.

One fine day, after another bout of cold war, Emma finally blurts out. “I think you need to seek a doctor or to attend anger management course.” He looked at her and asked, “and why should I do that?” “Because you are mad and bad tempered and it is getting worse.” she managed to squeak out in a tiny voice. “I was not shouting at you or the daughters,” he retorted. “I am only shouting at others, at myself. When did I even raise my voice against all of you?” Eric asked. “You know my job as a manager in a factory and I have a lot of idiotic workers there which need to be shouted at before they can do their jobs. I have more than 30 workers and if they are so smart then I do not need to shout at them.” “But you are frightening us every time you lose your tempers.” She countered back. “Because a lot of things are not going smooth my way and you know I cannot stand delays,” replied Eric. “That is why you need to seek a doctor because you are too stressed out. In times you will lose control and start to get violent. You should start making an appointment now. Maybe the last specialist you refuse to go.” Eric did not reply and just walk off mumbling to himself softly.

Next week saw Eric at the specialist hospital making appointment to see Professor Sarafuddin again. He has seen him few years back and at that time Eric was sure he was wasting his time and money. The reception fixed the date to next Monday saying the Professor will only come in once a week and that is on Monday. Eric was fine with it. Next Monday at the appointed time, Eric waited at the reception and saw the Professor walked into his room before the receptionist called him to enter. So far, he is the only patient for the day.

“Good morning Mr. Eric,” the Professor gets up to shake his hand. “Been some time that you have not returned to see me.” Eric noted a bit of sarcasm from the Professor. “Eh, yes. Thought my discomfort have not deteriorated since the last visit and was thinking not necessary to come back for checkup.” “Ah ha, so you mean it is getting worse now?” the Professor countered, more of a curious statement. “Actually, my wife was adamant and keep pestering me to come back because she thought I was going mad.” Eric replied laughingly. “Alright, then we go through the questions again before I can evaluate your situation.” the Professor said calmly. “How was your relationship with your wife currently, your family, your relatives?” “Basically, I think it was going fine.” Eric replied. “You do not think the daily conversation, communications are getting less?” the Professor asked. Eric was silent for a while, contemplating how to reply this difficult query but the Professor continued without waiting for his answer. “What about your workers, your bosses, your colleagues? Any recent disagreement with them on work matters?” “But that is normal to have confrontation there, Professor.” Eric protested. “It is a running factory and mistakes will be made so bound to have arguments.” “On a personal level then,” the Professor was quick to barge in catching Eric unsuspectingly. Eric did not reply or did not bother. The Professor continue to look at his computer screen and a good second pass before he quips. “What other things that you do not like? Crowds, strangers, relatives, authorities?” “That is a difficult query you are throwing at me and it is so general that I think I cannot have an answer.” Eric responded. “On the average, do you like crowds? What about driving? Do you cursed other drivers, honking at others? And do you get mad when you are late?” Eric was a bit ashamed to answer as he was always in a rush and shouting at slow and he considered stupid drivers was his norm. “I do not normally honk at other drivers,” he replied, “and yes I hate being late especially when I am rushing for a scheduled appointment.” “Well, you can start maybe earlier?” Professor Sarafuddin suggested. “This way you will not be late. You can plan your appointment well ahead.” “Yes, if the delay is mine but the delay normally is caused by others, like my partners. Have to wait for them to get ready and which I cannot shout at them.” Eric replied. “So, you fumed and fumed and hated all of them?” the Professor prompted. Eric replied softly. “Not all the time. Unless they are really late and making others wait.” “And that includes your wife too? So, you shouted at her also?” “No, no. I do not shout at my wife or my daughters.” Eric almost shouted. “Even they are super late in getting ready?” the Professor countered. Eric replied. “No.” “And afterwards you fumed and fumed and refused to talk to them? And they were scared of you too so they do not talk too, right?” the Professor make some remarks in his computer. “One more question and I want you to answer truthfully. Have you had any intention of beating your wife? Or others who you disliked?” Eric was horrified. “No! I will not beat my wife. I do not even shout at her. What makes you think I will beat her.” “Alright,” Professor Sarafuddin looked at Eric solemnly. “I guessed I will evaluate this session and if possible, I will see you again maybe by next week and I will suggest some treatment for you. Are you alright with that.” Eric did not reply and just get up to go and pay at the reception before walking out. He was confused especially the last question that caught him in suddenly. He was sure he had no intention to beat Emma.

Emma does not know that Eric have seek the psychiatrist and Eric did not bother to relate the session with her. Nor did he tell Elsa and Elisa. Emma was sure Eric’s mental problems are getting worse and she watched him kick the door sometimes or his shoes when he nearly tripped over them. Once he lost his cool, he will kick the obstruction hard and continuously, sometimes hurting his leg but he did not notice until later. Often, he will slam his mobile phone hard onto the table because it was sl0w to respond to his frantic poking of the screen. He thought no one notice his actions and tried to keep it under wraps upon cooling down. At times Emma thought he had fallen down due to his stomping and kicking especially when he was getting into his clothes and got stuck halfway. She will rush up only to see him red faced and pulling his shirt and trousers frantically. She then eased downstairs silently to avoid him seeing her. “I am really, really getting scared of him now,” she confided to her sister during her daily chats.

For his part, Eric did not seem to bother that Emma was getting less and less talkative to him, neither did he bother that she had seldom smiled nowadays and seems to be fearful of him. He still thinks that he has done nothing wrong, he was helpful to her and help to do the housework around the house and assist her to climb up and down the stairs. “I am worried she may fall and break her bones or legs,” he will confide to his friend during their usual coffee breaks, “but she seems very hostile to me. Sometimes she will push me away when I get closer to her and seems not to want me to assist her. I do hope she do not go around trying to clean the windows and climbing up the stepladder. If she has an accident, it will be hard on her and me, as I need to take care of her for a long time.” Elsa and Elisa did not seem to be perturbed with their dad and when Emma complained to them privately on his behavior, both of them play it down saying it was his nature all his life. In fact, to placate the mom, Elisa volunteered to bring her dad for a detailed medical check-up. “He will listen to me,” she said. None of them knew Eric have already consulted the psychiatrist and that he did not even bother to come for the next appointment. Both Elsa and Elisa continued to chat with their dad when he comes visit them and although he has grown quieter, both the daughters thought it was fatigue due to his age.

Eric was now more careful driving Emma around and try not to show his anger or displeasure when the idiotic driver in front refused to go faster. He controls his patience driving behind the slower car but he tailgated the front car all the way until the car decided to move left and let him overtake. He then sped off at top speed showing his displeasure and not looking at the driver he overtook or at Emma, not a word of curses coming from him. Emma was silent all the way to their destination, whether to home or to the shops, her face a mask. Emma cannot complain to anyone except her siblings when she returned to visit them. Eric’s suspicions keep growing when her niece will come and seek him out in a corner and start talking about their lives. There were subtle hints of her conversations linking to his state of health and she did say a few times, “Uncle Eric, if you are not feeling too good, it is better to seek a doctor to check. Sometimes stress is a silent illness and may be serious without you knowing. At least get the assurance from the professionals and no need to worry about it later.” Eric was stunted but he was nice enough not to show that he was suspicious and treated it as a normal topic. Besides he was quite attached to her niece and she was one of her few relatives who always chat with him. He did not fall into her charm and did not respond positively or negatively and he noticed her distress when he did not respond so he will change the subjects to other things.

Both of them slept quite early as Eric normally need to get up to report for work. Over the years he had been inflicted with OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) and have done the tests twice at the hospital. He cannot sleep soundly and keep waking up so the specialist recommended for him to use the sleep pump, which was costly and managed to give him slightly better sleep. He did not sleep soundly with it, only wake up lesser than before. After some years he found the mask to be troublesome and it smells probably because it was made of rubber so he discarded the whole thing and refused to use it anymore. To this Emma did not say a word. Anyway, they were already sleeping apart for years although it was only known between both of them. Sometimes when Eric wakes up in the middle of the night, he will start thinking of the family, of work and of the future. Normally he cannot resume his sleep and will soon get up sometimes as early as 4am. He will go down to the hall and play with his phone before getting ready to go to work after 2 hours of idling. Emma never knew of this and if she does, she did not bother to care. As long as she got her sleep, she will not be bothered what happened to Eric. She once told Eric bluntly much earlier when they were younger after both Elisa and Elsa had moved out. “You have to remember that you give me the creeps nowadays if you are thinking of getting cozy.” Eric was stunned and he was silent for a while. Now he understands why she seems so uncomfortable with him around and he was not even aware of it! He did not ask for the reason as he was too shocked at her comments.

Two weeks after his appointment with Professor Sarafuddin. He did not bother to return for his next schedule and he did not call up to cancel it too. The calls from the hospital to his handphone was not responded also. One day Emma received a call from the hospital reception to the house phone “Hello, is Mr. Lau here?” “Eh… no, he is away at work. Who is calling?” “Hello there, this is the clinic of Dr Sarafuddin calling. Mr. Lau was supposed to come for his scheduled appointment last week but he did not turn up and neither did he answer our calls. Are you Mrs. Lau?” Emma was taken aback. “Eh, yes. What is the problem with Eric? He did not mention about a hospital appointment at all.” “He had a medical appointment with the Professor and was supposed to come back for a post medical evaluation but he did not come so we have no choice but to call the house phone when he did not answer his mobile. Can you ask him to call us when possible?” “Oh sure, when he returned from work, I will inform him,” Emma replied. Mystified she replaced the phone and pondered her next move before he returns.

Later when confronted on the matter, Eric said calmly. “What does the quack want? I have paid the fees already.” Emma replied, “but you are supposed to go back for the post medical evaluation last week.” “He only wants to take more money from me and besides I did not agree to go back.” Eric responded. Emma was silent at his response. “But what if you really have problems?” Eric looked at her for a while. “I do not have any problems and I do not need any treatment.” Emma did not argue with him and both of them simmered for some time without talking, each with their own thoughts.

The next day, Emma called her daughters and relate what happened. Elsa called up the clinic and make an appointment to see the Professor and he was accommodating enough to see them tomorrow. Both the daughters picked up Emma when Eric was away at work and reached the hospital soon after. After being ushered in, the Professor was pleased to see them and he relate to them that Eric was really having mental issues but he does not think it was really serious enough to go for further therapy. “Besides I have observed that he was really stressed with daily life and maybe it was better for you all to respond to him. He was thinking that all of you are not happy with him and he do not know what is the cause by the way he respond to my tests. And I believe he is too egoistic to talk to you about his problems or maybe he was devastated about some issues. Actually, I wanted to suggest some mental procedures for him when he comes back but I guessed he was not happy to return. I do not think he require further medical treatment, maybe some understanding to his suspicions. Sometimes,” the Professor paused for a while and then continued, “misunderstanding do happen and each individual was thinking that they are in the right and resulting in suspicions. This normally happened to a lot of marriages. Early days, early sweet days I should say, life is fine as the toleration level is very high or maybe to one of the partners. Much later in life, both of you already understand each other very well and sometimes one or the other take for granted that it is alright to do things without consulting each other. The other party will be unhappy but was pressured to keep the matter under stress. The built up stress could one day explode due to other matters probably and arguments start ”

The Professor then looked at Emma and said to her. “He told me you keep pestering him to go seek a psychiatrist as you keep telling him he is having mental problems, right?” Emma replied without hesitation. “Yes, I believe he is getting more violent and I am getting scared of him.” “Based on your assumptions? So did you voice your concern to him and talk to him openly about this?” the Professor asked. “Of course I did,” She replied. “And what is his reactions to your accusations?” countered the Professor. “Of course, he denied it but I can see clearly that his behavior is getting worse and worse.” Emma replied. “You did not think he is under stress?” prompted the Professor. “I do not care. I just do not want him to get worsen so I pestered him to seek medical attention. Day by day I am getting more stressed too,” she replied. “Anyhow I see no reason of treating him as I have deemed him not to be mentally stressed,” the Professor said with finality.

Leaving the hospital, both the daughters and Emma were silent, each with their own thoughts. Neither Elisa nor Elsa offered any recommendations to the problem and Emma was glad of that. She had no intention to admit she had problems with their dad although she had suspicions that both the daughters knew about it but avoid the topic. She could not be bothered whether both of them will try to solve the problems with their dad. Both of them sometimes will keep quiet and pretend not to hear her complains about their mad father. She find it frustrating that both of them seems to get along well with him.

After dropping off Emma, Elsa and Elisa drove back to their apartment. Elsa was looking at Elisa about the issue. “Do not think it was a problem.” Elisa responded. “Think Mom is not too fair to Dad too and since this is no big deal as the Professor said, I suggest we do not bring it up. Dad was talking to me sometimes over my personal line and I was sure he was too tired to complain anymore and he was sure I was too tired to listen to their problems. Mom could be bored and only keep complaining to her siblings which Dad said to me that he was aware of.” Elsa was quiet and she replied. “Yeah, dad talked to me sometimes too but I guessed he was too nice to complain as he thinks we are too busy and besides he thinks he can handle it. We cannot tell Mom off too so guess we have to leave it like that. Only thing was I will talk more to Dad when he comes over so as not to make him feel neglected. Mom too but sometimes Mom was overly suspicious and long winded. I have found it hard to keep listening to her complains too.” Elisa sighed. “True. What happened to happily ever after.” Elsa looked at her sister and replied. “Those only happen in movies. This is real life and nothing ends happily ever after.”

_____________ THE END _______________

- the above short story is a work of friction and any reference to anyone, intentional or unintentional is deeply regretted. -

Hi everyone, my name is Jan Thong and I loved writing stories and poems. The stories I had written so far were short stories and includes science fiction, real life experiences and stories of military genre. Feel free to contact me at the following email address:

Jan2thong@yahoo.com.

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About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious event celebrating the art of storytelling and poetry. This global platform brings together writers and poets to share their creative voices and explore a diverse array of themes. It offers participants a unique opportunity to showcase their talents and connect with a worldwide audience, fostering a vibrant community of creatives.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Thong Kim Fook for his insightful contribution, "E & E LAU," to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. This captivating short story highlights the nuanced challenges within personal relationships, leaving a lasting impact on its readers. We are honored to feature Thong Kim Fook's work and appreciate his participation in this creative celebration.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.