Chapter 10: A new life – 8

Liam alighted the train at Tiong Bahru, so I was alone for the remainder of the journey to the east. I didnʼt mind the solitude, though; studying is best done alone with minimal distractions. 

This stop is Kallang…Kallang. 

The train finally exited the tunnel and the late afternoon rays flooded the carriage in an aureate glow. I jotted down the final line on my notepad and swiftly packed my things up before disembarking the train.

Since it didnʼt rain the entire day, the heat was so intense I could see the hot air shimmering above the concrete pavement in the distance. The incessant chirping of cicadas only fueled my annoyance as I trudged along the pavement. 

“Iʼm home.” 

“Are you hungry?” Mother asked from the kitchen. “Iʼm cooking dinner now, you can wait, right?” 

“Yeah, Iʼm gonna go take a shower first.” I entered my bedroom and tossed my bag onto my bed while switching on the air-conditioner. The blissful gust of cold wind hitting my face was akin to a gift sent from Heaven. 

“Todayʼs homework…” I mumbled to myself as I checked the class group chat on my phone. “Math Exercise 1, 2, 3 and 4, Biology prac, GP Paper 2 practice. Letʼs see…I should do Math first, then the easier ones can be done at night.”

Honestly, if I rushed through my homework, I could probably finish everything before dinner—but Mother and Father would see that Iʼm not studying and question me about it; the trick was to leave some trivial work to be done throughout the night so I can use my phone in secret while acting like Iʼm studying. 

Turning over to a fresh sheet of foolscap paper, I shook my pen a little before filling in the blank fields with my name, class and subject title. Although there were four exercises, most can be solved easily using a graphing calculator, so it was simply a matter of pressing buttons and copying the graph drawn on the digital screen onto the paper. I managed to finish everything by 7 p.m., just in time for dinner. 

“Is Dad not home yet?” I asked, glancing at the wall clock. 

Mother seemed unfazed as she picked her chopsticks up. “He has an important meeting with the shareholders today, so he wonʼt be back home until after midnight.”

“So heʼs going drinking again…” 

Mother didnʼt say anything, but the atmosphere felt colder than before. I ate my rice in silence. 

“Avery, how did your Chem test go?” she asked solemnly after I had finished about half of my bowl. 

I swallowed and averted my eyes. “...good.”

“Mm.” She took her phone out and showed me a photograph of someone I wasnʼt too sure if I should recognise. “Thatʼs my ex-colleagueʼs daughter, sheʼs two years older than you this year.” 

I glanced at the smiling face of success. “And?” 

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“She got back her A-level results last month—a perfect 90 rank points, you know?” Mother smiled brightly, as if that person in the picture was her own daughter. “Now sheʼs going to study Law in Califonia. Your dad and I didnʼt even have the chance to study in the US in our student days, if you can achieve what she achieved, weʼll be so proud of you, Avery.”

“Oh…” I nodded my head in disinterest. “Law sounds like a good idea, yeah.”  

I finished my dinner and carried my bowl and chopsticks to the kitchen sink to wash them. Mother also finished her meal, but when I offered to help wash her bowl and utensils as well, she simply told me to go back into my room and study. That was the end of our interaction for the day. 

Before I settled down at my desk, my phone began to vibrate—it turned out to be a call from Liam. 

“Hello?” 

“Yo, sup.” Liamʼs laughter came through the receiver. “I sent you the link for the Google Slides just now, why donʼt you take a look through them, President?” 

“Youʼre finished?” I checked my phone and indeed, there was a message containing a link from Liam. “Iʼll check it later and message you if thereʼs anything to be changed…thank you, by the way.” 

“Not a problem. Oh, right, did you hear anything loud outside just now?” 

“Loud?” I recalled what happened during dinner and pursed my lips. “No, not exactly. Why?” 

“There was this big explosion somewhere out in the sea, you know? I think half of Singapore heard it,” Liam said excitedly. “Apparently people are saying that a shooting star fell from the heavens and plummeted into the ocean so fast it vaporised the water upon impact!” 

“Is something like that even possible?” 

“I donʼt know, maybe the news will report it later or tomorrow. Anyways, I gotta go eat now, see you tomorrow!” With an abrupt ‘clickʼ, he hung up. 

“An explosion, huh…” I sighed and sat down on my chair, gazing at the sheets of foolscap paper laid out on the desk. “...first Liam, then Seraphine, then that weird sec school girl, and now this—whatʼs next? The world coming to an end tomorrow?” I chuckled to myself as I continued doing the rest of my homework. 

If I had known what would happen the next day, perhaps I wouldnʼt have jinxed myself. 

 

 

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