Chapter 6

The next day, I looked forward to work. Actually, it was not work: It was the notion of meeting Lara that stirred me to work.

Lara no longer called me “boy”. Instead, she called me “dear dear” and I called her “Lara”. It was, in fact, a sweet and short name.

We were labelled the “cutest couple” in the history of McDonald’s. Very often, we were teased. Lara did not mind the teasing: Whenever someone teased us, she would just laugh, held my forearm and continued to smile. I would just giggle through the teasing.

Lara told me more about herself. Her father left her when she was very young. When I asked her how young, she did not know. However, her mother is an executive in a small company and has a steady income of $4000 per month, so she was never in any financial problem.

School reopened a month later. Lara got into the Arts class, whereas I got into the Science class. It was better for the both of us: At least we would not be teased that often.

I would call Lara almost every night. Sometimes, on busy nights when I forgot to call, she would call me. It was like… I woke up everyday just for her sake. Sometimes, I would lie down on my bed and thought of her for the entire night without sleeping. First love: Now I knew how powerful it could be.

We would spend our weekends either at the movies or working at McDonald’s. We held hands and joked about anything under the sun. When our results dipped a little, we considered quitting McDonald’s. Xian was assigned to persuade us to stay.

“Come on, dude, the pay may increase. Look at me! I’m at seven dollars per hour now!” he was saying. In fact, the irony was that he was going to quit soon as well, as he was graduating soon.

“It’s not about the money.” I told him. “We’re having our ‘O’ Levels next year. Need to concentrate.”

After about ten minutes of debating, Xian finally let us go. We promised to stay in contact. Throughout my work in McDonald’s, the best friend I had made had to be Xian. He was, after all, indirectly involved in bringing Lara and me together.

After we quitted, we concentrated on our studies. Xian, as he promised, stayed in contact with me. He would often update me on his life and how he missed McDonald’s burgers.

All this went on for a year. By then, ‘O’ Levels was cornering. Lara and I decided to study almost everyday during the study weeks. We would only enjoy ourselves during the weekends.

At first, we went to the McDonald’s that we used to work in to study. The environment was good and we only needed to buy a cup of drink each to stay there for the whole day. Two weeks later, the new Floor Manager approached us.

“Hi, sorry, I’ve been observing you guys. You see, we at McDonald’s…” he babbled on the mission of McDonald’s first, followed by their policy and then a nice sending off. Defeated, we went out of the McDonald’s and silently cursed the new Floor Manager.

“So what now?” I asked. We could not stay in school because the school closed at 7 p.m. The community libraries do not encourage studying there as well. I could not study at home as my neighbour was renovating their apartment.

Lara thought for a while before saying, “My home.”

I was speechless for a few seconds. Up till now, none of our parents had known about our relationship. Somehow, although I had seen Lara’s mother, Joanna, a lot of times, I had a phobia of her. She seemed to be those types who would often mood-swing. Sometimes, I would see her smiling and at times, her frown was so deep that I dared not even look at her.

“Are you sure?” I said. Actually, I would rather fail ‘O’ Levels than to face her mother for the whole night.

“Very sure.” The bus then came and before I could say anything, she held my hand and we were on our way to her house – to hell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lara’s house would be spacious if not for the big LCD television and the larger-than-normal sofa.
Lara had claimed that her mother would not be at home but when she unlocked the door, I heard the television sounds. When I stepped in, Joanna was staring at me.

“Mrs Wu.” I said and then corrected, “Joanna.”

Lara explained the situation to her, magnifying on the details of how the manager chased us out. When probed if I could study at her house for a couple of weeks, Joanna agreed almost readily. “I’ll turn off the television. Use the living room.” she said.

I had not seen Joanna for more than six months. The last I saw her was after I had sent Lara home after a date. She had not seen me. Joanna seemed a bit frailer than the last time I saw her: The wrinkles strained visibly on her forehead and her lips seemed to be dry forever. She walked as if she was struggling with every step. If I was to guess her age now, it could be more than fifty.

“Is your mother okay?” I asked Lara when Joanna went to her room.

Lara just nodded. Knowing that I should not dive too much into their domestic affairs, I started my revision.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I went home at about eleven at night on the first day at Lara’s house.

I pictured Lara out there, explaining to her mother that we were just friends. I knew she would fail: Mothers could understand their daughters’ minds. I dared not call Lara that night: We were, after all, supposed to meet the next day.

Lara said her mother did not interrogate her. Feeling that it could mean a good start, I went to her house the next day. Joanna welcomed us with open arms again.

“Actually, Jie Lun,” Joanna told me that night, “If you want, you can stay here for the night as well if it’s too late. It’s okay with me. Just that you have to sleep in the living room, whereas Lara sleeps in her room.”

I nipped my arm with my fingers and felt the pain. I was not dreaming. Staring up at her, I just smiled and said, “Thanks.”

Joanna, before going back to her room, said, “You know why I allow that? Because if you two wanna do anything funny, you would have done it outside and not in the house. So, why should I stop you from staying here?”

Somehow, I felt as if the old Joanna was back when she said that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I could not sleep on my first night at Lara’s house.

Actually, I did not intend to stay overnight. When I looked at the clock after we had done our Mathematics Ten-Year Series, it was close to one in the morning. There would be no more buses and Joanna was asleep. Lara suggested the staying-in and I hesitated for a while before agreeing to it.

“Don’t - no matter what happens - open my door. You hear me? If my mother sees you near my door, she’s going to kill you.”

I agreed. The sofa was so big that it could fit two people. At around two in the morning, Lara went to her room and when I was alone in the living room, I tried to sleep.

I could not sleep. Lara came out at around two-thirty and saw my eyes wide open. When she came out again at three and saw me flipping around the sofa, she came to sit beside me.

“Can’t sleep?” she said, as she began to toy with my fingers. I nodded. “Me too.” she said. “I’m scared, dear dear.”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared of ‘O’ Levels. My mother has high expectations. I wanna pass with flying colours. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime examination.”

I stood up. “Are you very stressed?”

She nodded. “Freaking stressed with all the numbers and words. My mind is going to explode.”

“Come with me.” I said. I grabbed my wallet and pulled her out of the house. She was still in her pyjamas but she did not resist. By the time we were outside, it was three-thirty in the morning. The only cars on the road were empty cabs looking for passengers.

“Where are we going?” Lara only asked when we were at the void deck.

I took her to the road, raised my hand and a cab stopped immediately in front of us. “To the past.” I said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lara knew exactly where we were going when we got into the cab. I had instructed the cabby to bring us to Jurong Bird Park.

Less than ten years ago, Lara and I were lost in the Bird Park. I had promised to look after her during the stint and we had seen a rainbow. There, I explained to Lara about the rainbow theory. I had told her that rainbows were actually pathways to heaven: Whoever passes by a rainbow will reach heaven. We then threw a soft toy towards the rainbow.

“Oh.” Lara said, as we were in the cab. She must not have forgotten that day: We were both standing next to heaven then. We would have starved to death if not for the rescue efforts by our teachers and the Singapore Police Force.

“Remember our little promise?” I said. She nodded.

We were, then, only eight. Now, we were twice that age. When we reached our destination, a jolt of familiarity hit me. Lara gasped. Nothing had been changed so far.

We sat on the exact spot where we made our promise. It brought back memories: Both good and bad.
“Eight years ago, we made our first promise. Wanna make another promise?” I winked at her. It felt strange that she was in pyjamas.

She shrugged and smirked. I stared up at the sky but there were no stars. The clouds had blocked the stars.

“Why not we make another silly promise, just like last time?” she said.

I nodded, almost too eagerly.

“Promise that eight years from now, we will sit here and make another promise?” I said and then laughed. “We will be twenty-four then.”

Lara joined in the chuckle. She patted my back and said, “Ideal! So, every eight years, we would come here and make a promise together? Till we are… eighty?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “We have made a promise when we were eight years old. Now, we had made another promise at sixteen years old. We’ll be here again when we are twenty-four, right?”

Lara nodded and stroked my hand. “Yes, then thirty-two, forty, forty-eight… till we are eighty.”

“I will be here.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When we got back, it was six in the morning.

The moment Lara opened the door, we saw Joanna sitting on the sofa. She was staring at the television which was not switched on. She had changed into her working clothes. Lara gasped and dropped the keys. I inspected myself. I looked neat. Then, I inspected Lara. Pyjamas.

Oh, damn it.

We said nothing when Joanna said nothing. Lara bent down to pick up her keys and I could hear her breathing: She was breathing so hard that I could smell her breath.

“Stop right there.” Joanna said. I prayed for my survival. Then, I promised myself that I would stand up for Lara.

“Mrs. Wu, I-”

Joanna stood up and pointed to the coffee-table. There was a fifty-dollar note. “That’s for the taxi fare. Next time, if you two wanna play Romeo And Juliet in the middle of the night, wake me up. I, driving my car, am a lot cheaper than taking a taxi. Breakfast’s ready.”

I pinched myself. Lara was placing her right hand on her left chest, as if she was having a heart attack. I felt pain on my cheeks.

“And Jie Lun, call me Joanna. Not Mrs. Wu.”

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