Teach

Chapter 1A

The next day, I woke up alone.

When I say alone, I don't mean that no one was by my bedside. I'm not a little kid. When I said alone, there was literally no one in the house. Ma was out working at Cadbury while Pa had probably left the house at 3a.m. to catch fish at the Jurong Fishery Port. Abel's door was closed. I suspected he would be waking up in an hour as well, to take his bus to TJC for his 8.30 classes.

I was used to this. For 2 years and counting, day in day out, I never saw my family on weekdays. And I had gotten used to it, the game of hide and seek where my family members were non-existent where and when I was. Out of all 3 of them, the closest one to me had to be Abel. A form of remote, unexpressed concern that was shown by quiet check-ins on the way to our rooms on Saturday nights just before we closed our doors and got to our own business, small mutters of "Things alright?" and nods of assent. It was partly because he was the closest in age, being in JC and perhaps being able to engage in conversation that was more relevant to me and sounded less like incessant nagging. But with him entering his second year and being swamped with work for A levels, our interactions were also slowly limited to weekends.

I left the house half expecting Yi Xun to not be waiting outside. It was 6.26 which was a bit early, I acknowledged. Who knows, he could be on time. So I decided to wait for him and sure enough, at around 6.29, the same figure of yesterday slowly began to descend down the stairs. I kind of still felt bad about teasing his cat's last name, so I made up my mind to make the first move.

"Hi...Yi Xun." It might have just been me, but the greeting sounded a tad warmer in my head. But Yi Xun kept a neutral expression. "Hey..." He looked down at the ground shyly.

"...Sorry about last night..." I didn't want to look like a coward. "It's fine...Thanks...So, are we going?" The entire situation was just honestly awkward and I couldn't wait to steer the conversation out of these confusing waters.

"Yes, sure." I immediately walked to the lift buttons and pressed down, itching for something to do in order to break the ice. When the lift doors opened, we just entered without a word and I held open the door for him. He seemed to appreciate it.

When we had left the void deck and walked a good way along the covered walkway, Yi Xun broke the deafening silence by asking, "So you come on your own all the time?"

I decided to elaborate a bit more. "Yeah, my parents are always out at work early and my brother has class at 8.30, so he doesn't wake up as early as I do."

"Where does your brother study?" Yi Xun suddenly paused in the middle of the road and looked at me. "TJC." I carefully replied.

"Oh." He turned around and continued walking. "I live near there. Sennett Estate's just south of the place. No, because I have a friend who knows someone from there. He's always talking about how the TJC boys are an absolutely terrifying sort."

I decided not to comment on that. "Well, okay." It suddenly made sense to me why Blackie's fur coat had intrigued me so bad. Sennett Estate was a private property neighbourhood, which meant that the inhabitants of that area could afford the houses there which in turn meant that they were probably, very, rich. I could only imagine that Blackie would be eating and living well in that sort of space, which explained how he managed to look so clean and proper even in a backward neighbourhood. "So, what stall did your father open? I mean, which one? There are many stalls in 50A Market."

"Oh, he sells kopi and kaya toast. Our stall is famous for selling great kopi-o. Featured across Straits Times even, you know? Actually, I don't think he will mind if I bring you to try it someday." Yi Xun's eyes immediately lit up as he talked about his father.

"Well I personally wouldn't mind. And it would be good marketing also." I didn't tell Yi Xun that I had yet to find a good kaya toast place in the east. Deep down, I knew that if Yi Xun wanted some publicity, I knew the right people to ask. But that could wait as well.

By now, we had reached the X junction where we met the main road, which was Marine Parade Road. The other side belonged to the private properties - like Sennett Estate, they all looked the same to me on Google Maps - while our "grimy old 1970esque" flats were on this side. I appreciated the clash of cultures and SES things, but I was probably considered too young for any adult to discuss any of these things with me. Anyway, it was deep.

One thing I was thankful for was that Yi Xun seemed to be more at ease with chatting with me. I liked this because it was a step towards friendship. I was afraid that if nothing else, the trip would be silent and all the more awkward since we were walking side by side and I had literally initiated this. "So, what about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah...I have a younger sister, her name is Shi Ming!" At the mention of his sister, Yi Xun seemed to break into a smile. "She's P5 this year, and very chatty, and she loves Blackie very much...Actually, do you want to visit one day?"

I was slightly surprised that the offer would come quickly, seeing that we had, like, one day of acquaintanceship, but why not. "Okay," I said happily. We were approaching the junction of Still Road South and Marine Parade Road, where Marine Parade Community Centre as well as my alma mater, Tao Nan School, was located. "Have you eaten breakfast yet? There's a vending machine inside Marine Parade CC, which is in front, that sells sandwiches." I thought of my favourite schoolday morning hangout.

"I only had a glass of milk. So, fine."

We crossed the road and entered the foyer of the CC. The vending machine just stood in a corner, a breath of light juxtaposed against the place's dark interior. I went over, discussing the multitude of flavours with Yi Xun before choosing my usual chicken. Placing 1 dollar 20 cents into the machine, a chicken-and-egg-mayo sandwich was quickly released. Yi Xun bought his tuna one before the two of us headed out into the pavement again. The finest indication of a sun's rays was just beginning to emerge from the horizon of the many roofs of those Tanjong Katong private estates which seemed to be in an alternate universe.

The bus came just in time and we boarded it. Thankfully, it was not noontime and we were not scorched by the lack of air conditioning on the bus, but rather could talk with reasonable amount of engagement and interest.

"Are your parents at work yet? I know stallholders have to get up to work very early." I couldn't help but ask with strange inquisitiveness. "Yeah. Today's his first day, so I could hear him muttering already at 4am in our bathroom, "一天之计在于晨。" I don't disagree. Mornings are when you wake up with a fresh mind." I had to nod at that.

"What about your mother then?" "Oh, she's just my dad's stall assistant. She's always been his assistant. Serving kopi and all that. I know it's uninteresting."

"I don't think it's in any way uninteresting." In fact, I was very interested to hear about what his parents did, because it would mean knowing more about him. "Personally, I've never had hawkers for parents before, and I'd love to know what it feels like. My dad is a fish supplier at Jurong Fishery Port, meaning he has to get fish from the fisheruncles at 5am every day and distribute it to markets across the land. My mom's a factory worker at Cadbury Chocolate, on the other hand."

At this, Yi Xun looked up in thought. "Mmm. I wonder what it's like to have a mom who makes chocolate. You guys must've had a lot of chocolate growing up, right? I'd like to know."

I laughed. "Not exactly. We aren't exactly the richest...and besides making chocolate doesn't mean getting chocolate...and I haven't really even seen my parents that much since, like, kindergarten.

"Yikes..." Yi Xun sighed. "Kids always have it the hardest when they can't understand why their parents keep working..."

"I suppose." I replied. "One simply gets used to it." We were already approaching our stop for Dunman High School. "It's here. Time to get off."

"Right." We clambered out of our seats and alighted the bus in a jiffy. By now, it was around 7. Roadrunner and 阿哲 were likely to be here already.