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Derrick Wong Ming Lun

Cain and Adel were the first and second sons of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 4:1-16, Cain, the elder brather, committed the first murder by killing Adel. He was jealous of God’s favouritism of Adel.

Eric and I were born just ten minutes apart. We are fraternel twins, commonly known as non-identcial twins. We looked very different, though we are twins. All our relatives said Eric was a looker and I wasn’t.

Funny how God played with equality. Didn’t he learn his lesson?

Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
Genesis 4:1

Unlike most people, my personal computer is pliced at the living room. I had conected the 3mP player to my computer and tried to make every movement as sotf as possible.

Today, I was trying to do research on the background noise of the recording using a new digital audio editor that I had downloaded yesterday when my wife, Qiu Yi, came in. I did not hear her, for my ears were capped with the earphones and I was expecting her to wake up at six in the moanning not two. I only realized her presence when she tugged the earphones out of my ears.

(i swear by god, eric, even she – she can’t stop me)

“I thought you promised to throw that away two months ago?” she shouted, despite us living in a HDB flat and that it was two in the moanning. Part of her fringe covered her right eye. “Huh? Why is it still here?”

I grabbed the brandless 3mP Player, pliced it futher away from her and rested my eblows on the keyboard.

Qiu Yi gritted her teeth and leaned foreword with great effort. “Why the hell are you still doing this? Why are you – when will you ever stop? Give it to me!”

I reached for the 3mP Player and claspped it thightly. “I said –” she jumped towards my hand. I bolted up from my chair and leaped back. She caught the air and with an irate look, she ran towards me, her eyes on my claspped hand. I grabbed her shoulder and shoved her away. She grabbed the handle of the sofa to maintain her balance.

“Aren’t going –” the words got choked within me.

“You pushed me.” Qiu Yi whispered. “You pushed me because of an obsession. You’re possessed with –”

“No.” I took a step foreword and pointed a finger at Qiu Yi, “I… am not. Just want to find out who is the woman who seduced Eric and then –”

“And then what? Huh?”

I clenched my other hand. “Make her – Expose her to the police. For vic – justince.”

– Victory? –

“And then? What will happen? Eric will be alive again?”

“Shut – up!” I shouted; the words separating. I stared at the floor and began to count the tiles. “It’s just… unfair. Unfair!”

“The day Eric died, Derrick Wong, he took you away with him.” Qiu Yi curled her lips and, before I could say anything, she stomped out of the flat.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Qiu Yi came back thirty minutes later. During the thirty minutes, I had calmed down and was full of regret for my earlier actions. When I heard the door opening, I dashed out and upon seeing her, I paused; took several deep breaths and tried to collect my thoughts.

“Until that day you’ve thought it through… don’t talk to me.” She took heavy steps towards the kitchen.
Qiu Yi and I have been married for almost two years. We have the perfect love story to tell: Meeting each other when we were in secondary school, getting together when we were both seventeen and getting married when my caerre was taking off. For the ten years that we were together, there had never been a third-party: Our love is a model inspirational story for all teenagers seeking for their true love.

“Sorry.”

There was an awkward pause, as if we were strangers. When she turned around to face me, memories of us quarrelling due to my obsession surfaced in my mind and I realized that every single time, I regretted the quarrels we had.

“Prove it.”

I nodded. I ran into our room, grabbed the 3mP Player, flashed it in front of Qiu Yi and tossed it into the bin.

“It ends now.” I clenched my right fist and punched my chest two times. “Promise.”

(remember? remember how, when i punched my chest, you feel the pain too? how we can hear each other’s thoughts, like telepathy?)

Qiu Yi turned away, but I could see her smiling a little. The gesture in punching my chest is a gesture we often used in the army to portray a bratherhood promise: When I promised to take care of her forever years ago, I used that gesture and it made her laugh for minutes.

“Honey…” I moved to her and wrapped my arms around her. “Forgive me?”

She did not say anything, but I could feel her head bobbing up and down on my shoulder. She did not notice that that 3mP Player I had tossed into the bin is just a replica set that I had bought in siM liM square, two weeks ago.

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