Sometimes life is so unpredictable, it is also sad. I can accept anything but deceit and somehow sometimes things don't always go to plan.

We had a common property which we sold back then but without any form of proof, i was told about 4 months later after the OTP that the buyer couldn't get a loan. He was acting as their agent and doing it for free.

As most of my funds were locked into investments and one friend i helped a little had financial issues and i had to pay for him first. I at first offered to refund more but he was upset when i offered to give back 70-80% and said i treated them as a beggar and refused the offer. I told him i didn't mind giving back more than that if they are friends but got a pretty rude response back lecturing me how to do business and not mix personal with business. But then this is business, if it was strictly business, then there should have not been any arm twisting to do a refund as we exchanged more than 10 emails just on the subject. It was clear cut that they missed the deadline. Even this started out of an email to check on the status and it was only after that i got the notice from him about the possible bank loan refusals.

When i missed the deadline on my deals because of my fault, i paid my dues and late interest. Some cases i forfeited the deposits and did not quibble as this is business after all. Even some of my neighbours, if the person cannot go ahead with the deal due to loans, valuation etc, they just didn't show up anymore and when i called them on their behalf, they were even embarrassed to talk further and told my friends that they were apologetic and to please keep the deposit. My real estate friends and even one of them who was his friend privately told me i didn't have to pay a single cent as it was way past the deadline.

He then kindly offered to give me a loan so that i can pay his buyers back but i didn't want to burden him and sincerely thanked him for the offer as he said he also had finances issues. I still believe him when he said, he made full payment back of his share of the deposit. Somehow i got the impression he had promised them a full repayment even for my share if the deal didn't go through and probably without discussing with me.

Subsequently, i proposed a small token sum to be given back, he got upset and said i had promised 70-80, i told him he had refused my offer outright and the circumstances had changed by then. He got very angry and said i benefited X amount of dollars even though he forgot that the amount due to me is before taking off the amount. He accused me of locking in profit when i made it clear from the start that we can give the buyers more time but that they need to ensure they will go ahead with the deal as we will have to forfeit once they passed the deadline.

Regardless, i still wanted to and I even wanted to get a bank loan just to pay back. My wife chided me, told me what my friends said was true, even if i gave back 100% or more, if he continues to chooses to misunderstand me, there is absolutely nothing i can do. Even if i pay more, he is going to think i am using money to insult him. There was a time when i had less than 20 RM in my bank account and i still cobbled together 100 RM to give him as a gift. I just felt i had to show my appreciation and gratitude but somehow the misunderstandings just grew deeper and he said thank you for my "kindness"

Perhaps our friendship was never as solid as i thought. Again, i am not blameless, i was upset by the way i was treated and misunderstood. I felt, to be taken as insulting people with money when one doesn't have any is actually an insult in itself. So i kept my distance after that.

No matter, i guess its a matter of perception, he must have thought i was doing very well but didn't know that a friend of mine played quite a few guys out and i had to help cover back then as i was the introducer and felt compelled to make the deal right.

I even honoured and sold things cheaply even though others gave me a better offer subsequently, a deal is a deal. I guess that is something that only my wife understands about me.

Anyway, if you are still reading this, hope that you are having a much better time than i did.
Back to work for me but wishing you a great weekend.