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HE SLEPT with another man's wife and the two men came to blows two weeks ago.
Now, pork seller Ong Ah Lien has apologised to the husband of the woman he had an affair with.
He did so through a notice published in the Classifieds section of The Straits Times yesterday.
It read: "I is (sic) a butcher working at Ang Mo Kio Central.
"I hereby sincerely offer my apologies and tea to Mr Koh and his family for my inappropriate behaviour towards Mr Koh's wife."
Mr Ong, 50, sells pork at a wet market in Ang Mo Kio Central.
The New Paper had reported earlier that on May 18, Mr Ong got into a scuffle with Mr Koh, the husband of a woman who works at a vegetable stall at the market.
Mr Koh works in the construction line. The vegetable stall is owned by Mrs Koh's elder brother.
That morning, Mr Koh, 55, had stormed up to his wife and demanded that she point out her alleged lover.
Before she could reply, Mr Koh grabbed a 20cm-long knife from the vegetable stall and waved it threateningly at Mr Ong.
The two men had a heated exchange in Hokkien, then Mr Koh rushed forward and punched Mr Ong's face.
The two men exchanged further blows, cooling down only when Mr Ong repeatedly apologised to Mr Koh.
Mr Ong, who is married and has four children, sounded weary when The New Paper called him yesterday.
He said he placed the apology notice in the newspapers because Mr Koh had asked him to and also to "put the matter to rest".
"With the notice published, I've nothing more to say. This is the last time I want to talk about this matter," he added in Mandarin.
He admitted to having slept with Mr Koh's wife.
The Kohs have been married for 30 years and have three children.
Mr Koh had seen his wife typing a lovey-dovey SMS to Mr Ong days before the confrontation.
At the time, both Mrs Koh and Mr Ong denied having an affair.
They claimed that their SMS exchanges - which included phrases such as "I miss you", "I love you", and "I want to kiss you" - were purely flirtatious and did not translate to physical intimacy.
But in a report published a day later, on May 19, Mrs Koh admitted to Shin Min Daily News that she had had an affair with Mr Ong.
She said she had slept with Mr Ong twice in the first two weeks of May.
They started communicating with each other in March or April, after Mr Ong got hold of her mobile phone number.
He had sent her text messages often.
The messages had initially been quite innocent, but they soon became flirty and contained intimate suggestions, said Mrs Koh.
She added that she had been "wrong" and said that she "regretted" her actions and wanted to salvage her marriage.
In the days after that report, neither Mr Ong nor Mrs Koh turned up for work at the market.
Mr Ong's stall was not open, while Mrs Koh's brother was seen manning the stall alone.
When The New Paper spoke to Mr Koh over the phone yesterday, he said he was not aware of the apology notice.
When we read it out to him, he scoffed: "I'm still not very happy. So what if you apologise?
"Things have already happened between him and my wife. How would you feel if you were me?"
When asked how his relationship with his wife was now, Mr Koh replied testily that it was "none of anyone's business".
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