Oops!

"Is he staring at me?"

She was in one of those fast food drive-thru outlets, waiting for her cheeseburger to be delivered to her when she felt slightly uneasy.

She looked up from her phone and realised someone looking at her. 

A guy. 

An Eurasian guy. 

Okay....

What's going on? Why would a stranger pay any attention to her? She has to be imagining things. 

She turned her attention back to her phone. Just before she refreshed her Facebook page, she surrendered. She couldn't resist.

She casually glanced at his face. Blue eyes, sharp features, blonde. Not bad. Not bad at all. And all that gorgeousness were all still directed at her. She began to feel hot and it was not the Malaysian heat to be blamed. 

She gulped. 

He was obviously staring at her. But why?

He can't be one of those creeps that eye out women's handbags to snatch them at the first opportunity they can get right?

Nah, of course not. 

She was tempted to Google "Why is guy staring at me from afar!?" when she smirked. 

He obviously fancied her. 

"Drats!" she thought almost immediately. 

She didn't imagine meeting the man of her dreams this way. 

She thought she'd meet him in a Starbucks outlet and they'd laugh at how they both loved cinnamon on their caramel macchiato and secretly know they were meant for each other when they find out that they both live and breathe the same indie band or that author that only people with refined taste appreciate... people like them. And she'd seal the deal by being successful enough in her career by then to be wearing that expensive but oh so glamorous fire engine red dress she saw in Pavillion the other day.

But it was not meant to be. Today she was wearing flip flops and was in her oldest pair of denim shorts and in a T-shirt that screamed "GENTING HIGHLANDS THEME PARK". She wasn't even sure if she had combed her hair before leaving the house.

She buried her face in her hands. This is a disaster. 

She looked up. He was still staring at her unblinkingly. She gave him a little smile and looked away. 

Maybe it wasn't all that bad. She might not have a grown-up sophisticated story to tell at their wedding of how they met but she would have one that would put Disney to shame. It would be about a story of a guy who didn't know what he was in for when he entered into a fast food outlet in a foreign country when he spotted the girl of his dreams in the sea of better dressed people. It will be said that he noticed her glowing with confidence to leave the house in simple clothes and his poor heart stopped at how she pulled off the messy hair look so effortlessly. He will tell her (jealous and unmarried) friends about how he just knew from her eyes that she was kind and from her smile that she was everything he wanted in a girl, and more. Then they will toast with champagne in their glasses and everlasting love in their hearts and ride a stallion into the sunset and live happily ever after.

She nodded. She could live with that story.

She checked if her future husband was still paying attention to her. He was. 

So the future is set. But how is she going to get things to move along? It was difficult for her to resist spreading wedding invitations on Twitter but she was not so unwise as to be so impulsive. No, she would obviously have to have some form of conversation with the guy before he would get on a bended knee right? 

 

She was getting impatient. Why isn't he coming over and trying to impress her with a charming one-liner yet? She already had an arsenal of witty responses waiting to be unleashed!

She slapped her forehead. Of course. The guy is Eurasian. He's probably not so old-fashioned. He was obviously waiting for her to make the first move. 

Ah! Maybe this was a test! Maybe he was waiting for her to walk up to him. It was his way of seeing if she was a modern lady that would not be hindered by the conservative restraints of society. Oh how exciting!

Just as she was about to get up to prove herself, her future husband walked towards her table. 

Ah..... he's a gentleman after all. She KNEW he couldn't have expected her to make the first move. Chivalry is not dead after all and all that good stuff! 

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said with a weird accent. 

Okay, so he doesn't sound as good as he looks but she knows a good speaking coach that could fix him in no time. 

"Yes?" she smiled prettily. 

"Are you.....her?"

What? Okay, that has to be the worst pick up line she has ever heard. 

"Her". The not-so-boyfriend-material-anymore guy repeated himself while pointing at a poster behind her. 

She turned around and lo and behold there she was, blown up on a massive poster of the fast food company. 

"Oh...." she realised. That was why she was in the fast food outlet in the first place. Alongside with a small some of money for smiling at the camera while pretending to eat the unhealthy fast food of the company, she was given vouchers to use at any of that fast food company's outlets. 

"Yes, yes that's....me". 

"I knew it!" he exclaimed triumphantly. 

And just like that, he walked away from her, without looking back. 

The troubled mind

Heyo mayo everybody-o!

I am in the midst of exams.

That should explain my absence and the inspiration behind this story. Enjoy. 

With my backpack slung on one shoulder and a ring folder in one hand, I was getting ready to leave the library when I saw James.

“Hey James!” I whispered as loudly as I could.

He waved and gestured for us to talk outside.

I nodded and smiled. I had been looking forward to talking to James. I just watched the YouTube video he shared with me last night and was eager to tell him what I thought of it.

He finally emerged and with not even a hello, or how are you, he said “How did you find the Chemistry paper?”

My smile ran away from my face. For a second, I felt the living daylights sucked out of me once again. I clenched my folder even tighter and released a soft sigh.

Chemistry. The Chemistry paper. That DARN CHEMISTRY PAPER.

“Um…..” I began. “It was…..”

“Unbelievably easy right?!  I can’t believe they’d set the standard SO LOW this year! I mean I expected it to be much worse, honestly!”

I smiled weakly.

“Actually…”

“And it was so easy that even EMILY thought it was a piece of cake! I mean, that girl sleeps in class!”

“Um, James? I, uh, need to um, go. I’ll catch you some time this week?”

“You alright, Susan?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just that… I forgot I needed to do something”.

I said a hurried bye and headed the opposite direction of where James was heading. I didn’t know where I was going. I just wanted to be anywhere that was not beside James.

Sigh.

I can’t even think about Chemistry or look at my Chemistry lecturer without feeling my heart pump a little faster, shoulders hanging a little lower or my spirit feeling a little dampened.

It was bad.

It was so, so bad.

It’s not like I didn’t work for it. In fact, before the paper, I felt so ready. I did all the preparation I could. I stayed up late for many nights trying to memorise everything and I did. In fact, I spent so many nights studying that it felt like it was just last night I was downing Red Bull desperately trying to memorise just one more thing before I called it a night because it might just make the difference in grade. I really wanted to do well in it. I was desperate to, in fact, because Chemistry is my favourite subject. I worked so hard for it. I have pages and pages of practice exercise to prove it. Colour pens that I’ve exhausted to show my hours of labour. Mountains of notes to show how I took this seriously.

Suddenly, my phone rang. I snapped out of my day-dream and realised I didn’t know where I was because I was so lost in thought. James’ name flashed across the screen. I gulped and pressed the red button on my phone. Why, James. Why?!

When the exam came, I just…. I don’t know. I had forgotten things that I knew even before my first day in Chemistry class. For some reason, the hours just flew by so quickly and I was only halfway through my paper when the invigilator said that we only had 15 minutes left. After that, I experienced the worst 15 minutes of my life. After the exam, I just picked up my bag, avoided all eye contact and went home to  bawl my eyes out  watch TV . I was so sure I was going to fail and unless you've been in this situation before, you wouldn't know how infuriating and depressing the whole situation is. If only I could turn back time.

Speaking of time, it was only then I realised how dark it was getting. I then realised just how alien this place was to me. Where was I? James tried calling me again. I ignored it. I needed to find my bearings. The streets were so unfamiliar and I had no idea where I was. I wiped a tear on my face and made sure I boarded a bus that would bring me home.

It’s so unfair. I worked so hard for it. I know my Chemistry textbook inside and out. Ask James. Ask my lecturers. Ask my classmates. Ask the Paul the janitor or Emily the kind canteen lady. They’d tell you how dedicated I am to my work. I work harder than anyone else and now I’m the only one that found the paper hard? Sigh.  I just wish all that effort wasn't so wasted, ya know?

I eventually reached home. I took off my boots, removed my coat and dropped my bag on the floor. It was frustrating that all my effort didn’t show itself on its paper. I don’t know what went wrong. Why did I do so badly? Did I not pay enough attention in class? Am I not smart enough to call myself a Chemistry student? Did I not prepare hard enough to get through the questions quickly enough? Suddenly I wasn't sure why I thought I did badly for the exam. What ACTUALLY happened? All I felt was the familiar frustration build up in me again. Maybe my anger was blinding my memory. 

My phone rang. This was the third time James was calling me. My frustration rose again as I thought that I wouldn’t be in this emotional turmoil if James simply didn’t bring up the whole Chemistry paper. GAH! I threw my phone on the sofa. The ringing stopped immediately.

I sat myself down on the sofa. It was only then did I realise just how exhausted I was roaming aimlessly around town and wrestling with this emotional turmoil. I began to relax a little and eventually fell asleep.

“RING! RING! RING!”

URGH.

I woke up from my sleep. It was James. For the first time I felt bad for ignoring his calls. Maybe I should answer his call now. But must be midnight now, so what business does he have calling me at this hour?

“Hello?”

“Susan? Susan? Hello?”

I suddenly woke up. The sun was blinding and my neck was aching. It was....day time? What happened? Where am I?

“SUSAN WAKE UP!!!”

“Huh?”

 “Susan, please get up! You have only 15 minutes left!”

“What?”

I sat up straight immediately. Around me were rows and rows of tables. Everyone was frantically scribbling on their papers, papers were viciously flipped, there was a strange sense of silent tension around me. A bearded man at the front of the room was shaking his head at me. Mr Patrick James, my lecturer was beside me with a bewildered look on his face.

As I slowly came to my sense, I looked down on my table and saw in large, bold, capitalized letters:

CHEMISTRY FINAL YEAR EXAM.

My Cassie

The alarm clock rings.

I'm already lying awake in my bed. My husband is deaf to it, as he has always been for the past 10 years. I turn the alarm clock off without even looking at it and the morning is still again. I push my feet off the bed and allow them to be greeted by my warm, fluffy slippers before I make my way to another room.

I rub my eyes. I was up all night, tired but unable to sleep. I walk through the corridor, quietly turned a familiar brass-plated door knob and pushed the door, praying that it doesn't creak.

And there it is, the most beautiful thing in my life.

Cassie is still sleeping like a rock, peacefully tucked in thick blankets with elephant prints. The story book that my husband reads to her every night is at the foot of the bed and I look for signs of late night Fruitloop treats that I specifically prohibit my husband from giving her but he gives her anyway. He spoils her, I tell you. And sometimes they turn off the lights in her room to make me believe that she's already sleeping but my baby can't laugh softly, only capable of exploding with ecstatic fits of laughter, just like me, and I hear my husband 'Shhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!'-ing her like he always does with me. Goodness knows how often I hear them giggling and agreeing not to tell me about their little snack. Sometimes I burst in the room and catch them red handed. Sometimes I just let it go. Most of the time, I join them and tell them while laughing "THIS IS THE LAST TIME, YOU HEAR?!"

I take a few silent steps forward and sit at the edge of her bed, careful to be silent, just admiring every detail of her. Her mouth that looks like her dad's is slightly opened. I look at her little nose and sepet eyes that she got from me with wonder once again. Her hair is soft and messy and her skin fair. I count the number of times I see her tiny chest rise up and down, reluctant to wake her up.

I sigh. Life passes us by too quickly. It seemed like it was just yesterday I married my high school sweetheart, got pregnant and reassured my clueless, sobbing hubby that just because Cassie vomitted on him it DOES NOT MEAN that she hates him. And now, here we are.

"Hey dear....wakey, wakey," I soothe as I patted her belly. 

"Mmmmmm........." she silently groans and turns away from me. I don't blame her.

It takes awhile, but eventually she's sitted up. Sleep is still in her eyes but I'm glad. At least she won't see my puffy and swollen eyes. 

"Mummy??"

"Mmm?" I replied. 

She doesn't continue, almost as if she forgotten what she wanted to ask. It's a trait we both share and I smile to myself as I kiss her forehead.

"Come dear," I say, guiding her to stand up. However, she sleepily, instinctively and maybe even stubbornly lifts both her hands in the air, expecting me to carry her. I know the books tell me I shouldn't give in and let her walk herself and I always have been doing that, but today, I make an exception.

"Mummy?"

"Mmm?" I replied, wondering if she's going to remember her question this time. 

She doesn't. 

"I love you, Cassie,"

"I love you too, mummy".

It was only then I notice my husband standing by the door of our room, smiling at us as he watches. I smile back.

"Mummy?"

"Mmm?"

"Will you be with me on my first day of school?"

My heart jumps to my throat and I grip her tighter, feeling fresh tears welling in my eyes.

"Yes, honey. Of course!" forcing myself to sound more cheery than I felt. I kiss her cheek hurriedly, wishing I could immortalise moments like this before she grows up too quickly.

Kor (Chinese for older brother)

Hey guys! MZ here and this is my first entry. To be honest, because I've not written anything creative properly in a very long time I found this incredibly hard to write and even harder to start, though I must say I enjoyed the whole process. I initially tried using prompts like how Jerrenn did but that proved to be too difficult for me so I decided to write something completely of my choosing. It's a very simple story but I suppose it's a start. Enjoy! And comments are much appreciated!


Tiny feet approached the room and a tiny head peered in. There he was, in the dark room on the couch, pushing the buttons of his console with his thumbs and his eyes glued to the screen. BANG! BANG! BANG! blared the speakers. She had no choice. Inhale, Jen. Inhale.

Here goes nothing.

“Kor?”

“Go away or I’ll tell Mummy you talked to a stranger when you were outside”.

 “But I didn’t!!”

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!!

“But she won’t know that, will she?”

“I, er, need you to help me clean my fish tank when I’m away at grandma’s place,”

“STUPID CONSOLE, WHY AREN’T YOU…!”

“I said…” “Argh, can’t you get MOM to do it?! She always does it, doesn’t she?”

“Um…she’ll be away too. You’ll be the only one at home and so you’re the only one who….”

“DIE YOU ZOMBIES! DIE!!!!!”

“IF YOU DON’T CLEAN IT MY FISH WILL DAAAIIII!!!! IN ITS SHEEEEEEET!!!”

The little feet began jumping anxiously.

“Jen, can’t you see I’m a little busy?”

 “IN!!!!”

“ITS!!!”

“SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE……..!”

“TAKE THAT YOU HORRIBLE MONSTER! AND THAT! AND…”

It was getting harder to see with the tears blinding her eyes.

“KOR!!! I SAID MY FISH WILL ….!!!”

 “And I should care because……….?”

“AHHHHH!!! YOU’RE THE WORST BROTHER EVER!”

 “And you stink! HAHA!”

The last thing Jennifer remembers of that incident was the sound of a door slammed in her face. That incident took place years ago when she was 6 and her brother, John, was 10. After the deafening door slam, everything went silent, and I mean everything. Her senses ceased to work momentarily, she was unable to move and the only thing functioning was her brain, and this left room for a quiet, powerful epiphany to form in the little girl’s mind: Did you see the way he treated you? How little he listened? How he DIDN’T listen? How can you deny the brutality of his words? I mean, come on! He's going to let your fish die in its waste!

Right there and then, she saw nothing but an invisible barrier that was built between her and her brother, him being the builder who was evidently incapable of treating her with kindness or respect, much less love. A barrier that she could do nothing about. In fact, it was just as impossible for her to do anything about it as it was for her to knock on the door in front of her or turn the door knob open even if she wanted to.

 You see, dear reader, Jennifer was born without arms.

 That is why she couldn’t clean the fish tank when she was 6. That is why she still couldn’t clean a fish tank when she was 20. That is why she couldn’t wipe away the salty frustrated tears from her eyes or the snot from her nose with a tissue paper after the shouting match like how people with arms can.

And that, my friends, is why she felt that there may have been some truth when her brother said that she stank. It was for that same reason the epiphany in her head was that her brother couldn’t, and so didn’t, love her.

 ********************

“Can you PLEEEEEEEEASE hurry up! The match is going to start any time soon! 50 bucks is at stake here, mom!” he impatiently drummed the steering wheel.

“Be patient, John! Your sister’s not decided if she wants the blue or red bag! And it’s her birthday!” Jennifer’s mom shouted just as loudly on the phone, 10 years after the fish tank argument.

“Can’t you just go on Facebook or something while waiting? We’ll look for your car in the parking lot. We’ll be done in 15 minutes! PROMISE! ” Mrs Wong then turned to her chuckling daughter and mouthed “TAKE YOUR TIME!”

 “WOMEN!” Mrs Wong heard John exclaim just before she hung up.

“Thanks mom” Jennifer smiled.

 “No problem, sweetie. You just decide which bag you want. I’m going to the toilet for a bit and if you’ve not decided by then, I suppose we could get you both bags”.

“REALLY?!”

Mrs Wong winked. “Just don’t tell your dad. It will be our little secret. Will be back soon, honey!”

Jennifer laughed. She’s 16! Finally! It sounds like SUCH a big number! She shoved both the blue and red bag into the shopping basket. It felt like it took eternity for her to be this grown up! Speaking of growing up, maybe her mom wouldn’t mind buying her one of those fountain pens…

“HEY WEIRDO!” someone hollered in her direction.

“Huh?” “What happened to your arms eh?”

“Oh, hi Alex”.

Alex was the captain of the football team of one of the high schools in the area, and yes, he was tall, dark and handsome and yes, Jennifer had a huge crush on him.

“Um, I never had arms, Alex”

“NAWH! That can’t be right! Everyone was born with arms! Come on! Show me where you hid them!” 

“Quit it, Alex,” Jennifer’s lips started to quiver.

“HEY EVERYBODY! LOOK AT THIS FREAK!!”

“Alex, stop. Please".

"Hey! Hey! Maybe you could join the circus or something! That would be sooooooooo cool!!"

Then out of nowhere, “HOW’S THIS FOR COOL, YOU LITTLE PUNK!!”

 *BAM!*

Before she knew it, Alex was on the floor writhing in pain and screaming something about his nose being broken. You should have seen his face, guys. It was bloody.

“YOU STAY OUT OF HER WAY AND YOU NEVER COME CLOSE TO HER AGAIN OR I’LL FIND YOU! YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! YOU DON’T EVER! EVER TALK TO HER LIKE THAT EVER EVER AGAIN, YOU UNDERSTAND ME??!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! ARE YOU LISTENING!?”

Jennifer gasped.

“KOR, STOP!”

************************

You know how sometimes you can’t sleep because something’s on your mind? Yeah. It was 2AM and Jennifer couldn’t sleep. She kept thinking of her little epiphany when she was 6 and she couldn’t stop replaying what happened in the mall earlier that day. She had never seen John so violent and frankly it scared her a little. She got out of bed.

His room door was open.

 “Kor?”

Silence.

“Kor.”

“WHAT! I’m trying to sleep here!”

 “Thanks for….um, you know”.

 “Ee-yer! You stink! Get lost!”.

She smiled.

“Love you too, kor. Love you too”.