breathe
CNY was okay.
I met Justin Har by sheer coincidence on the second day of new year. He was booking in at Pasir Ris. There was lotsa army boys clad in the new pixelated uniforms. There I was walking through a crowd of them when suddenly I heard someone shout ‘Aretha!’
I wasn’t exactly stunned. I mean it wouldn’t be a surprise to find some of my friends in the crowd. However, as my eyes trailed the direction of the shout from behind, I found myself staring up a clean shaven man with a chiseled face. At the back of my mind, I was trying to fish out an appropriate response. I do not know him, I thought. Who is this guy? I almost blurted “Sorry, but who are you?” Thank goodness I did not. 6 seconds later, I glance at his name tag. It read- JT HAR.
‘Justin!!!’ I exclaimed. My goodness. How could I have not recognized him? We see each other almost everyday in school. We worked together for R-CUBE. We see each other every Saturday for tuition. We took prom photos. What was it about him that I couldn’t recognize, boy? I was so excited to see him after 2 months! I asked him to take off his cap so I could see his botak head. And then, I looked at him once more to register his face. He seemed so different. I don’t know why. I really don’t. Maybe he morphed. Perhaps another reason why I didn’t expect it to be Justin was because I wasn’t used to him calling me by my name. Often, he’ll call me ‘lao da’ or ‘boss’. Names I hate by the way. Hah.
More and more of our guy friends are going off to army. I’m gonna miss them terribly.
These days, I find myself immersed in Taylor Swift’s songs. The reason behind it all: her emotions feel real. The honesty embedded in her songs makes them worth listening to. Often, I feel so in tune with them because I share many similar emotions in certain periods of my life. Each song tells a specific story in each phase of her growing years. It’s like a little biography told in musical notes and lyrics.
Our song is the slamming screen doors,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window
When we're on the phone and you talk real low
'cause it's late and your mama don't know
Our song is the way you laugh
The first date "man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have"
And when I got home ... before I said amen
Asking God if he could play it again
