Speaking to reporters yesterday, friends and family of Ms Liu Rui Chun remembered her as a Manchester United fan, a chatty lady, and a loving wife - but above all, friends of Ms Melisa Liu Rui Chun remember her for her hearty laughter.
This will be sorely missed by all who knew her, they said. 34 year-old Ms Liu was killed in a bomb blast that ripped through the evening crowd at Ratchaprasong intersection in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday night.
Her 35 year-old husband, Mr Ng Su Teck, and her brother are among the 7 Singaporeans injured by the blast. Mr Ng worked in sales, and Ms Liu was an employee at AXA Singapore. They had travelled to Bangkok with some companions for a holiday.
Mr Ng was mostly quiet as he lay recovering in Ramathibodi Hospital yesterday afternoon. His hearing has been affected by the blast and he was cut by glass shrapnel. He asked reporters whether news of his wife's death had been reported in the media already.
Ms Liu died on the spot when the hidden bomb exploded some time around 7pm that day, the Thai authorities said.
Her body is being kept at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in central Bangkok. Her relatives turned up at the institute yesterday, but did not say when her body would be flown back to Singapore.
Yesterday, the couple's friends reacted in shock to the tragic news.
"I still don't want to believe it, I'm still hoping they have the wrong person," said 31 year-old Mr Marc Than, a sales and marketing manager. He had met Ms Liu in 2011 as a colleague in DBS bank. "She was always laughing, very loud and outgoing. I saw her as one of the boys. Just a few weeks ago, we were complaining about (Louis) van Gaal (referring to football club Manchester United's manager)."
Than added that Ms Liu had the kind of winsome personality that could make anyone like her.
"She could talk to anybody. If a customer came in speaking proper English, she could speak with him. If an aunty came in speaking Hokkien, she could talk to her too," said Mr Than, adding that Ms Liu was like an older sister to him.
He said that Ms Liu and Mr Ng had a strong relationship, and he knew the latter as the "strong, silent type".
Another friend of the couple, 35 year-old Ms Serene Boey, said they did not have children, but wanted to conceive and were planning to sign up for a fertility programme this year. "She just attended my baby's full month (celebration) in March. We've been keeping in contact. We're very close."
Ms Boey has known Ms Liu since secondary school and described her as always "friendly and cheerful".
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