Elvin Ng Breaks Down When He Recalls His Dad’s Last Days In Hospital

"The [first] operation lasted for more than 20 hours, but he was okay after that," said Elvin as tears rolled down his face. "His condition only deteriorated after there was inflammation after surgery.”

According to Elvin, his dad didn't wake up until his "whole village", like his aunts, turned up at the hospital. "He loved his family so much. So when everyone was there, he suddenly woke up for about a minute, but he was struggling... It was strange but he woke up. By then he couldn't recognise me or anyone. But he opened his eyes and then he left..."

After his father’s death, Elvin was given time off to settle his dad's funeral. “[My dad] liked things to be lively, so his wake was held for a week... During those seven days, I didn’t know a lot of things. My younger brother and sister were with me and we were worried about our mother," Elvin said. "After my dad was buried, it was late by the time we got home. My family members were all present, but I couldn’t be with them because had to start filming the next day. The schedule was very tight and I filmed from 7am to 1am almost every day to make up for the time lost [during my week off]. I wanted to be with my family and to sort out my emotions but I couldn’t do that because I was so busy.”

In fact, Elvin was so busy with work that during his father's wake, he would often go to a corner to go through his script because he had a lot of lines to memorise.

It was around this time that Elvin almost hit his breaking point. “It was as though I contained all my feelings up and put them aside when I went back to work,” he said. “I was exhausted. I would arrive home past midnight, when everyone else was asleep. I didn’t see my family. When I paid respects to my dad, I’d tell him, ‘Dad, I can’t talk to you for long. I have to go through my scripts. I’ll talk to you next time.’”

The little bit of time he had to himself was not enough to keep him going and Elvin recalled being so mentally exhausted that he thought he was going to collapse on the third day of filming. He then called the EP and told her that he needed "half an hour to an hour" to sort himself out. "And I hid in a corner and didn't dare leave my house," Elvin said.

By the time filming wrapped for the drama, two months had gone by since his dad's passing. Instead of taking time off for himself, Elvin took his mum on a trip to Europe.

“My dad never left Asia because he felt that anywhere further was just too far, and that he would have problems communicating,” Elvin said. “So I said I would bring my mum to Europe 'cos she's never been there before. It was just the two of us. I had to spend time with her to help her sort out her emotions. I didn’t have time to do that for myself.”

It was only four months later when he had a "break" from work that he had time for himself. And so he headed to the beach one night and laid down under the stars.

“My tears started flowing, but I didn’t know that I was crying. Whatever emotions that I packed away gushed out all at once. It was difficult for me because I felt like a robot. I could only start [grieving] four months after [my dad's death]. So it was really tough."

Click here to watch Part 2 of Elvin Ng's interview on Hear U Out.

Photos: Elvin Ng's Instagram