❪ S1 ❫ 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲. 𝗁𝗒𝖻𝖾'𝗌 𝗌𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗂𝗌𝗍.

[2022] Hometown: The Cousin Staycation

The whole staycation with my cousins was so fun that I totally have forgotten about work which was the real purpose of my short vacation.

It's a bummer that today is our last staycation and we're going to have our last dinner at the seaside. Tomorrow, I will be following my family to return to our hometown, a 2-hour journey from Kota Kinabalu called, Kota Marudu. We're going to the Northside of Sabah where my father's village was.

The town populates below 50,000 people. Necessities? Not much but enough. There are shopping places, the wet markets where you can get fresh and organic groceries if you go there early in the morning.

Street food, traditional Kadazandusun food, various ethnicity of people, we have Chinese, Indians, Pakistan, Kadazandusun, and Malay. The biggest highway has only two lanes. One for each lane. The town is small.

But according to my mother, the town has been doing a project to make the highway larger because the population is getting higher and the use of transportation is increasing which leads to traffic jams during peak hours.

For example, in the morning when people are going to work and students are heading to school. Lunchtime and dinner time.

The town is considered small in Sabah but, there are smaller towns in Sabah that only populates not even 1,000 people. But we'll talk about it another time. Let's continue talking about my town.

My town has a few government schools and probably 2 private schools. Both are Christian schools. We have one hospital which is a government hospital. We have a number of private clinics as well. We have a few hotels or should I say motels? Probably.

There's not much in Kota Marudu. Just business area. No tourist attraction.

Kota Marudu is like a stop by the town when people are heading to the city. People from the deeper area of the town only come down to the town to buy groceries probably once a month. They would come down one time and would buy everything in bulk.

They would stock up and only come down when they are out of groceries.

There is still trouble with the internet line, water, and electrical supply. Villagers who are staying in the mountains have trouble with internet lines and electrical supplies constantly.

Water is not really troubling because they have water supply from the river. But still, it is probably not really safe to drink except if they boil it first. But in terms of washing and not being consumed, they don't have trouble. But clean water and electricity supply is a problem.

Some even still use lamps. Oil lamp. Especially the villagers who are living very far from the town.

Well, that's what my mother told me. Ministers also focus on upgrading things in the town and city but never care about the villagers who don't even know a smartphone exists.

Aren't you shocked? I was shocked. Really shocked actually.

So, I'm going to follow my father on his work trip into the village far from the town which probably takes about a few hours' road journeys. The road is also not cemented. It's not tar road. It's just ground and stones. If it rains? The villagers will have to carry their groceries on their backs and walk for hours.

Villagers would usually hire drivers who drive the 4x4 cars, especially during the rainy season. But sometimes, using a four-wheel-drive car and using low gear also doesn't help when the road is muddy.

Anyways, let me stop my rants here, and let's get back to the resort where I'm getting ready for our last dinner at the resort.

⎯⎯🌻⎯⎯

"Girl, that golden hour literally hits you perfectly," Belle said as she looked at her phone and then showed the phone screen to me. I chuckled, "Send it to me."

"10 bucks first," she said. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at her.

"I'll bank it into your account. Now send me the photos. I need to post it on my Instagram." I told her as I picked up my phone.

"Damn, that looks really good as a lock screen wallpaper." Kiara said when Belle showed her the photo that Belle had just taken of me. I chuckled and simply shrugged with a grin.

"Damn, no wonder Sunwoo is so whipped for you..." Belle said before placing her phone down.

"Did you send the photo to me yet?" I asked her but then continued, "Oh, nevermind. Saw your text already." I grinned and chuckled. "By the way, yeah. He has lots of reason to be whipped for me."

"Tsk, confident ass bitch." Kiara and Belle said in unison before saying jinx, in unison again.

"Double jinx!" They said together again. "Triple jinx!" Again.

"What's after triple jinx?" Jayden asked and the two of them frowned.

"But that was special. Triple jinx is rare." I told them before sipping my drinks.

A few minutes later, our food arrived and we started to eat together. We spent our last afternoon simply swimming in the pool and then returning back to our suite to rest and get ready for dinner.

"After your concert in Singapore, you're going to America, right?" Samuel asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. I'll be there probably for two months." I told them.

"I'll be going to New York in December." Kiara said.

"Really? For?" Six of us asked her. Surprised that she only told us today.

"Holiday with my family," she replied. All of us then nodded, understanding her statement.

"You're going to graduate next year, right?" Jayden asked me and I nodded, "Yes. Next year. I'll be having my exam in October. This October." I told them.

"Wow, aren't you busy with your tour?" Belle asked me.

"I am. Cross fingers. I will probably not excel with flying colors for this last semester." I said.

"Girl, it's gonna be alright. Just do your best. It's understandable that you're super busy. Plus, it's the end of the year and you surely have lots of things to do." Jason said.

"Just do your best. It's gonna be okay."

I smiled and nodded. 

♡