Special Tutoring

Harvard Mystery

But that was an issue I would settle later.

Now, all I wanted was that email that Trevor McGill promised.

Five minutes before the deadline, Trevor proved to be a man of his word, emailing a single document which contained all of Qin's online activities. He even managed to sort all the information by chronological order. Overkill much? I pursed my lips, unsure whether to be impressed or acerbic. Perhaps the only good thing out of this whole mess would be that next time I had to do a team project, I now knew who to team up with (I decided to be acerbic after all).

Propped against a cushion on my window seat, I scrolled down the document on the laptop, which Amy had helpfully carried over from my table. I was still mad at her, so I continued to ignore her and concentrated on reading the lengthy document. Amy being her usual unflappable self, was undaunted by my coldness. She just patiently stood next to me, watching what I was doing with the air of a wronged martyr.

I narrowed my search on events that happened from two years ago. I started at the beginning of her summer program. I scrolled through endless walls of chat logs and emails between Qin and other people, firstly discussing the logistics of travelling to Harvard, locating their bearings and then later on their school work and activities that they were going to participate in. Among these, were some dutiful emails that she addressed to my parents, always revolving around the same old motherhood statements, like "how are you and Mai (as if she really gave a damn *roll eyes*)", confirmations that she was studying hard and promises to call home more regularly.

There were also numerous candid photos of Qin and her new found friends posing with their "Veritaffles" (looked like plain old waffles to me) in a place that looked a lot like Hogwarts' Great Hall, serving food at a soup kitchen, strolling by the Charles river, sitting on the grass chatting. In every photo, Qin looked incredibly cheerful, more happy then she was at home even before she went there. I hadn't realized it until then, that perhaps Qin hadn't enjoyed the demands and praises that my parents heaped on her. Being born of the same Tiger parents, I could understand how suffocating they could... wait a second. She was the enemy! I quickly surpressed the first twinge of empathy I felt for her in seventeen years.

Then I came upon that photo.

It was a blurry shot of a man with his back to the camera, and a petite woman smiling upwards at him from the side. From what I could make out, he had chestnut brown hair and broad shoulders. He was much taller than the woman. I peered more closely at the photo. OMG, the woman was Qin! Then again, why was I surprised? This was after all, research about Qin. Stupid me. I noticed some words captioned under the photo. "Chance meeting @ Finale. " A Facebook status update timestamped on 1 Jul 2011. Huh?

I read on. But there wasn't a single photo of the man anymore after that one. In fact, the photos were dwindling to just a few, interpersed with some chat logs and emails about school work. Whoever that man was, he sure was distracting Qin from her true purpose to study at Harvard. Who was he? What kind of magic did he have over my studious sister? I wondered if that person was among her new found friends and scrolled to the beginning of the document again, but didn't see him anywhere either. I did find out that Finale was a dessert place, though great use that info was.

Then I came across Facebook chat message (timestamped in 29 Jul 2011) from someone named Meredith asking Qin why hasn't she been answering her handphone calls and messages? Meredith ended with this thought provoking sentence "I know you are having way too much fun, but don't forget that we will be having exams next week, then it is byebye!" Qin having fun? Who with? I needed more information!

Qin did take her exams, because her grades though excellent, did not meet my parents' exacting standards. I remembered this as Mom and Dad held very serious, late-night conferences with her about them when she returned home (I had been pissed because I wasn't invited to watch my sister meet her comeuppance at last). I'd always thought that was the reason why Qin became so miserable and withdrawn...