In Taipei
SHE was sent away from home by anxious parents eager to fend off her suitor in hot pursuit.
Undeterred, the suitor gave chase to an island 3,000 km away - only to be separated again after a fleeting rendezvous.
But this ain't a love story.
It was the gripping plot of Malaysia's recent political drama which has kept audience at home and abroad riveted.
"She" refers to 49 lawmakers from the ruling Barison Nasional coalition.
The "suitor", in this case, was Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the party of opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim.
The "parents"? Well, you should have guessed by now.
And aptly, the saga unfolded in Taiwan - the island of political drama.
Anwar triggered the political cat-and-mouse game when he vowed to topple the government on Sept 16. To do so, he has to convince 30 government MPs to defect to his camp.
In a move seen by some as a panic reaction, the government packed off 49 lawmakers to Taiwan on a hastily-arranged "agriculture" tour.
The MPs had vehemently denied claims that their study trip was a ploy to thwart Anwar's plans of forming a new government by his self-imposed deadline.
Afterall, there was a lot Malaysia could learn from Taiwan which is known for its agriculture technology.
"Taiwan's population is about 23 million. Malaysia has about 26 million people. Why is it that Taiwan has no need to import rice and can even export rice?" lawaker Tiong King Sing told this reporter.
Fair enough.
And they did spend time visiting a leisure farm, a fish farm, and a top-notch agricultural school - with lots of photos to prove.
"But isn't the timing too much of a coincidence?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.
It just so happened that it was the "best time" to travel for most of the MPs, I was told.
Coincidence do happen, I mumbled to myself.
But before the lawmakers could complete their tour of fruit orchards and fish farms, six gatecrashing PKR officials came knocking on their doors - literally - by checking into the same five-star hotel they were staying.
All of a sudden, the glitzy Sheraton Hotel in downtown Taipei became the scene for the political hide-and-seek. Reporters in Taiwan - where foreign news seldom hog headlines - were trying to make sense of the difference between Datuks and Tan Sris. All photographers were all set to capture the perfect Kodak moment of the PKR politicians walking slow-motion towards the MPs.
The much-anticipated encounter did not happen - at least not on photo.
Barely an hour before the PKR suitors set foot in the hotel last Friday(sept12), the MPs - who were seen mingling and chatting among themselves at the posh lobby just a day earlier - marched straight up to their rooms after dinner.
Rushing to pack for home, I was told.
And what a rush it was.
At 3.30am on a typhoon night, the MPs quietly checked out, hopped onto 20 taxis and flew out of Taipei reportedly several hours earlier than scheduled.
Till this day, nobody knew what happened under Sheraton's roof that stormy night. But this reporter was assured nothing took place along the quiet corridor.
"There was no meeting along the corridor," said PKR strategy director Saifuddin Nasution, one of the six-member team sent to woo the MPs.
But it remained a mystery who they contacted, when they met, and how they communicated.
"Did you call them? By Skype perhaps?" asked a persistent Malaysian reporter. Nice try.
"How about morse code?" I resisted the urge to ask.
While the saga has gripped many around the world, the Taiwanese - who are used to over-the-top brand of politics - remained unfazed.
"Malaysian MPs take a leaf from Taiwan's pork-barrel politics", read a headline in the mass-circulation United Daily News.
While critics said the episode has cast Malaysia in a bad light, some quipped that it has boosted the country's profile among Taiwanese.
Said one Taiwanese: "In the past, my knowledge of Malaysia was confined to the Petronas Twin Towers. Now, their MPs have really made an impression."