five | 自制

444 96 113
                                    

AT SIXTEEN, YEN THINKS SHE KNOWS SELF-CONTROL.

It's hard, though, especially when it's Junkai sitting next to her. His hair is floppy, and there's a stray curl that she desperately wants to brush away. The sunlight dusts across his features, bathing him in a gold glow. It's fitting.

He finishes the last mouthful of luo han guo, tips the bottle upside down, and sticks his brown-coloured tongue out at her. Her watch beeps as she stops the timer, and grinning, she shakes her head. "I was faster."

"No way," he says, grabbing her hand for a look. Sure enough, it reads forty-two seconds, a far cry from her twenty-eight. The Yakult challenges from so long ago have paid off, after all.

She hands him a tissue, and he flops backwards onto the chair. "I really hate luo han guo."

"What?" Passers-by stare at her. "We drank it because you liked it!"

Junkai widens his eyes and shakes his head. "I hate it. It tastes like the Chinese herbal medicine my mother keeps trying to get us to drink, which I hold my nose for."

Yen laughs and gets up to throw the bottle away. When she comes back, she dusts off her hands and says, "Well, I'm so glad we never have to drink it again."

"Come on," he says, tugging on her hand. "I know a place where we can get something nice."

It's a school holiday, and The Shoppes bustles with energy. They've spent the whole day together so far, going to the nearby Gardens By The Bay, and now they're in the mall to eat. She's grateful Junkai's holding her hand. It'd be so easy to get lost among the throngs of people.

Just like it's so easy to get lost among a flood of memories.

But there are more important things today - like staying in the present moment. Junkai is slightly taller than her, so she has to look up at him. Dark eyes catch her watching, and his lips pull up into a smile. She thinks she's going to melt - and it's not because of Singapore's hot weather, either.

A thought strikes her, and she stops walking, turning to him. "Hey, I never got to thank you."

His eyebrows furrow. "Thank me for what?"

"Running. The competitions." She thinks of a day not that long ago, when she scanned the bleachers - on reflex, as always - and saw her mother, Jia-Le, Yue. Turning back to the track, heart pounding. Her coach, after the run, exclaiming, Yen, you beat your personal best! Smiling up at him, she says, "My family's never been accepting, but they're finally coming around. They even said I could transfer to the Sports School at the end of this year if I do well enough." Her eyes are bright, excited, filled with the passion of someone just now realising their dream.

"I don't think -"

"I think they're finally realising it means a lot to me," she says. "So thanks for telling them about that."

He shakes his head, but she smiles and grabs his hand, continuing to walk before he can say anything. He's always been bashful. She swings their hands slightly and changes topic, glad to have got it off her chest. "What was your favourite part?"

"Spending time with you," he answers, winking. She laughs and shoves him - and suddenly she's reminded of a very similar sentence years ago, from someone else. How was your day, Jun? Incredibly boring without you.

Stay in the present, she reminds herself.

"Seriously," he says after they've both calmed down, "I really liked the Cloud Forest."

CrosswordWhere stories live. Discover now