Once upon a time there was this little girl with dimples. She grew up looking like pretty much like any other girl. She learnt how to put on a little makeup and put on pretty dresses. And immediately transformed her pretty but average face into a glamorous photogenic siren.
Her name is Soong Ai Ling.
Pic from Talent Factory.
Before I was exposed to the entertainment industry, I pretty much knew of no Malaysian celebrity. Even Amber Chia was a vague name in the distance. I remembered interviewing a candidate during my retail headhunting days and she turned to me and stage whispered "That's Amber Chia!" and I was like, who?
Fast forward one year later I'm suddenly throwned into this whole shingdig and I got to know maybe not all the names, but at least more than "Who's Amber Chia?"
Soong Ai Ling is another name I probably should have known.
When this person I knew started going to her nail parlour in Bangsar Village, she was raving to me about Soong Ai Ling and how she's a friend to her now, and that she does great work on nails. I won't bore you with the details of my "Who is Soong Ai Ling?" conversation.
I started going to the shop when it moved to the Victorian looking outlet on the 1st floor. I loved the ambiance and service, and my nails looked prettier after than the other nail places I've done in One Utama and The Curve outlets.
Pic from femmething.com
Chic Nail Spa soon became a regular manicure place for me.
I stared at Ai Ling with curiousity from the moment I met her. Since that girl raved about her SO much, I wondered exactly how famous was this chick. She seemed pretty normal, running around doing nails like any of her staff. She would just jump in and do your nails if she felt like it. Shaping and painting and engrossed in every moment of it.
I later gathered the courage to ask if I could do an interview with her, and post it up on VenusBuzz. Long story short: I did the interview. Photog took some awesome shots. Photog never came back with photos. Couldn't run story as no photos.
It was dead embarrassing to look at her in the face after. I thought about asking her for some of her photos so I could publish the story. The thought of doing that was even more embarrassing.
So I never ran the article. Ai Ling got pissed off. Till today she refuses to talk to me.
I don't blame her really. I would be pissed off if I were in her position too.
But I was still determined to write something about her. Since Venus is a thing of the past, I would rather write a colloquial article about what I really think of her.
Xavier and Ai Ling during his interview with her. Pic from xaviermah.com.
It was hard interviewing Ai Ling. With all the other people I've spoken to, I managed to get a glimpse of something that wasn't a rehearsed answer, but a part of who the person really is.
Ai Ling is a veteran. She had done so many of these interviews, she knew exactly what to say, how to say, when to say.
I was completely uninspired to write anything about her for the longest time. There wasn't anything different that I could focus on that other's had written about her already.
Then one day as she was doing my manicure. She took one look at my stumpy manicured fingers and said "I LOVE my job SO MUCH."
In that one statement I finally understood her passion.
She doesn't plan for tomorrow. But once she sets her mind to do something, she does it, and she does it well.
She didn't have a lot of cash reserves to start her business. But she is goal focused. And she loved it. She loved the art of nail painting. She loved dishing out quality work. She was willing to get down and dirty to do that work herself. She let go of her glamorous perception people had of her, and mostly her perception of herself, to achieve one main thing: Running a successful business.
She said in a tone I now recognised as her prideful humbleness, "Many people in the industry wouldn't be able to do what I did. I let go of my image. My business is what matters. That's my baby."
She suffered for her work. She always did. But the business took more out of her. There were months when she first opened in Bangsar Village that she couldn't afford to pay the rent. She didn't just shape and paint nails. She also called her customers constantly to get them to remind them to pay her shop a visit.
Imagine a high profile Malaysian celebrity, who is used to people kowtow-ing to her, begging her to attend events, having to beg nobodies to come to her shop, so she could make ends meet.
Knowing what I know about the perception Malaysian celebrities have of themselves, it was a humbling image to imagine.
It didn't break her. It made her stronger. Her business seems now successful. She no longer needs to paint nails. She no longer needs to call people to return. They come back themselves.
She still greets her regulars. Most of which are the rich if not so famous. She never gives a discount. Her work sells itself.
Her pride has returned. It never left, really.
So imagine my surprise to hear of the rumours of some high flying businessman who paid RM10,000 to have sex with her.
Those rumours spread far and wide enough to even reach Ai Ling's own ears. She brushed them off. I'm unsure if she realises just how much people speculate about it.
I only heard of the rumours after I knew her for about a year. My colleague whispered them to me furiously, claiming it's her father's good businessman friend, but I could only raise my eyebrows in wondering disbelief.
The one thing I've learnt through my dealings with Ai Ling is her pride and her focusness on her goals. On one hand, for the sake of paying her bills, she may just have done so to take the money. But on the other, much bigger and heavier hand... Its just RM10,000! Even if someone were to come to me, a normal nobody, and ask me to have sex with him for RM50,000 I'd probably spit in his face. I can't imagine her being able to throw her much-bigger-than-my pride aside to spread her legs to a hamsup old and gross businessman who just wants to be able to go around telling people he managed to lay The Soong Ai Ling.
Pic from picturesof.net
So my vote is no, she didn't do it.
I don't blame the businessman for trying to create these rumours though. When I first met Ai Ling I thought she looked pretty normal. But as time went on I realised it was her personality, her confident sexiness that made her so much more appealing.
Every time she brushed her fingers through her hair, when her shirt falls over her shoulder, or when her skirt slides up her thigh as she lifts her leg to make it easier for her to stroke the nail colours on... every bit of her oozes sex appeal.
Ai Ling on HerWorld Dec 2007 issue.
Her fashion sense follows her airy personality. Lightweight clothes that flow around her body. She doesn't care about brands. So long she likes the outfit, she'll pay for it, be it RM20 or RM2,000.
As for her lovelife? She's currently dating this cute guy with a great bod. I don't know who he is or what he does, but if you want to check them out, just head to her new luxury outlet at Bangsar Village 2nd floor. They are both there all the time.
The little glamorous photogenic siren later became a successful businesswoman who knew how to fight for what she wanted in life. Her life wasn't always a fairytale, and who will know whether she lives happily ever after or not? The most important thing is her happily now. And that was good enough for her.
