Twins

The Ensemble

Like any group of friends no matter how small or big, there will always be that one or two persons that will be closest.

If Henry is to Fiona, then Harold is to Pauline. Henry had always been consumed with getting in to Oxford, and climbing his way up to the corporate ladder in the family business. He sees himself as their righteous heir. For me, he is the golden son. It is probably why he's named after kings of England. Fiona is pretty much like Henry's female counterpart, she cares a lot about getting in to medical school - a tough school to get in to as UKCAT is a massacre of an exam. Medicine is not a profession simply for passion, but one must have the acme of both passion and practicality both needing high level intelligence.

Harold and Pauline are both lives of the party. People are drawn to Harold because of his friendlier ways, and more open personality. Pauline is the same, and through her mother's connections - she can party in London even before turning twenty one always with Harold. Their friendship is like Pauline is the sister Harold wished, he will be the person who will hold her hair back and her hand as she gets sick of alcohol. Harold is like the older brother Pauline has never had. He goes to her when a girl turns him down. She would confront her on his behalf. Nobody hurts Pauline's Harold, and nobody hurts Harold's Pauline.

I am perhaps the glue of the group. As we get older throughout our adolescents, and as people mature with a lot of life experiences and hopefully wisdom follows - they'll eventually learn their place in society. Their role in the family they're born in. Their role in their friend group. I am the confidant. No group of friends is perfect, we quarrel and we fight, we argue and we give silent treatments. I have grown to be the diplomat of our friend group.

The formal introduction of Harold and Pauline to Lili, happened a one week after, as they had to be in after class supervision study, having been absent in their classes. During that time of 2004, DJ Tiesto was a thing (so do Nokias and Ericssons, and AOL and Yahoo - the era when you forget passwords not because you have a smartphone to remember it for you to forget. But the lack of mass internet in that time, makes you even forget you have created those funny email addresses. A lot of them, because you had forgotten the passwords and you couldn't care less) and Pauline's mother who's a PR executive in the creative industry have gotten them both tickets to his gig.

When Harold and Pauline, have met Lili they already have encountered her in GCSE Chemistry. They only became warm to her when they saw Lili's acceptance of myself, Henry and Fiona, as well as of Wesley, Benedict and Georgia.

Lili isn't much of a party animal, but she can be swayed. Studious, and sometimes a little too hardworking that even her father encourages her to have some fun but not too much fun. She dreams of being a barrister, thus an excellent university is her aim. This is perhaps, what bonded Henry, Lili and Fiona very closely.

Harold often overlooks Lili and Fiona, she isn't a good time gal pal. But when they need a fall guy, Harold is to the rescue. When they need a guy's point of view as to why this guy they liked never called back, Harold was their confidant.

Lili and Fiona's beauty is not Harold's liking, brunette and serious. He prefers the company of Pauline's other female friends from a private school in Gloucestershire, where Pauline's childhood friend from her former school attended. Blonde and fun. They were Harold's thing.

Since Pauline and Harold also shares the same class as us, it is not unusual that we will help them get through revision, notes and coursework, as they party in London under the supervision of Pauline's mother's second executive assistant.

During summers we would join Pauline and Harold's ventures, whether it's a other DJ Tiesto gig albeit in Greece, or a music festival again with Pauline's mother's events and PR company. After all, we were only young once, even though at that time youth felt eternal.

Harold and Pauline would also joined formal private dinners, normally hosted by the twins' parents. Sometimes at French cultural events courtesy of Fiona's parents - we enjoyed the cultural immersion, though Harold and Pauline enjoyed the alcohol immersion.

Lili's father is generous to her friends, a financial sector CEO and single father, his generosity extended to us. He is fond of Fiona and Pauline and of myself despite being gay as I will never be a threat to his precious Lili, but wary of the twins. He noticed how Henry's admiration for his daughter, that thanfully came with respect. Lili's father knew it's just a matter of time Henry will date his daughter, and appreciated him for not immediately jumping onto his only child. He was wary of Harold as he sometimes smelt trouble when he is around. Pompous, but not articulate, but with a big heart under his shirt. He would host us a party in his chalet near Zurich, and on occasion at their villa in Italy.