The Two Rules

“I’m quitting,” I say to my boss as I hand her my resignation letter. “Working at one of the top publishing companies has been a pleasure, but the kind of values that you have here is not what I’m looking for.” She takes the letter and sets it down her desk, sips her coffee and continues typing on her computer, ever so unbothered. The clicky sounds of her keyboard hypnotize me to stand there suspicious for the non existent reaction.

She takes a glance at my face and then quickly moves her eyes toward the white telephone that she’s got on her desk. She proceeds to pick it up and presses a few buttons. “Hello? HR? This is Sarah and I want you to find us a new financial accountant by tomorrow.” Her tone so flat it puts paper to shame. That was all she said before she hung up. She goes back to typing on her computer. Why is she always typing? I wonder.

I turn around and walk out her door knowing damn well that phone call was the answer for my resignation. Just go and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, easily replaceable. I would imagine that’s what she was thinking 2 minutes ago when I said I was quitting. I turn my back on her, and walk towards the exit that shall deliver me to freedom.There is a trash can right before the door. I take off my nametag and chuck it away. I then order myself a taxi through my phone and wait outside the building for it to arrive.

“A taxi for Fred?” I ask casually even though the license plate clearly matches the one on the App.

“Hello, Fred How are you today? The address of the destination is 23 cornelia street Correct?”

“I’m Fr… I mean I’m good thank you,” I was about to say I’m freed ,because to be frank this is how I feel now, free. “And yes that is the correct destination.” The taxi starts to drive away. I stare out the window and take a last look at that 3 story building and scoffed at it.

All I’ve ever known since I was 7 is to study, work and burn myself out. For the past 16 years I’ve been going to school and then the 4 years I spent working here. All that has burned me into ashes of literature, textbooks, formulas and numbers.

My class teacher used to call me ‘Fred the Nerd’ a classic know it all. First of all, that is totally untrue because ironically there was something I never had any idea on and that is how to have fun or live a life. Now I geth why my old classmates used to always say ‘get a life’ to me.

On high school graduation day when all of the other graduates said goodbye and cried and laughed with their friends all I did was just wipe my glasses and walk away from school with all of the medals I got, without even a grin on my face.

God, thinking about all of that wasted time that I spent not playing, not partying and not living. It fills me up with light rage towards myself and how I let this go too far. I mean, who graduates highschool without even a smidge of fun experiences and stories to tell.

And there, in that taxi drive home a sudden determination fills me up. It is so sudden that even I, myself, am caught off guard by it. I realise that I don’t want to turn into Sarah, always working, always typing, just to get a paycheck to buy a little more distraction on the weekends.

I take my phone out, click a few buttons and just like that, I now have tickets to Singapore scheduled for tomorrow.

Before I go and decide on a new career and just as I’ve taught myself Chemistry in high school, I am determined to finally teach myself how to enjoy life. It is the least I can do for myself, after years of spending seconds of my life for other people.

The next day, I arrive at the airport an hour before my flight — -a white collared habit- — wearing a beige hoodie, grey chinos and black sneakers. I am not a fashion icon, but at least I’m trying. “Thank you,” I say to the taxi driver as I take my little blue suitcase out of the trunk.

I walk through the departure gates to check myself in. The airport looks lively today. Everybody’s faces just seem at ease, and the atmosphere around feels light and happy. I got my baggage checked and I sat myself down at a Starbucks in the waiting room waiting for my flight number to be called. And finally after god knows how long it’s been, for the first time, I try to relax, read a book while drinking a grande cup of cold matcha Frappuccino. I think I’ve chosen a great day to be travelling.

The 45 minute flight to the country nicknamed the southeast asian tiger was quite pleasant. I just continued to read the rest of my book for the first 15 minutes and then ate the slightly bland plane food right after. I closed my eyes for what felt like a couple seconds, flights always make me feel unnecessarily sleepy, and now I’ve landed in Singapore.

I get off the plane and as I enter Changi airport for the first time. My jaw dropped and I swear I can feel my eyes holding back tears.

This airport reflects the peak of architecture and engineering. When they say Changi airport is the best airport in the world, I never would’ve thought that meant that they also have the biggest indoor waterfall in the world, and a butterfly garden? I’ve never seen a butterfly garden in my life and never did I expect to see one in an airport.

I go and get my baggage and then through immigration and customs. This is all so new to me. The first time I’ve ever travelled anywhere, solo. But typical me, I already did a lot of research the day before and I have got everything ready. Hotel, Sim Card, EZ link card and everything. I go to a booth to get my sim card and EZ link so I can move on with an MRT to go to my hotel. I may be going on hopefully a life changing, eye opening, never done before… okay you get me…trip, but we are jobless so we gotta always find the cheaper options.

The MRT system here is quite easy to understand. So I just get in one of the carts and find my way to the Pasir Panjang MRT station located near the hotel in which I’ll be staying.

I arrive, check in, clean myself up for a little bit and then I go out again.One thing Singapore is really known for is their diverse culture and all of the food that comes with it. So, first stop, hawker centres here I come. I am planning to eat and eat and eat until I can’t even lift myself up to walk.

“This is liquid gold,” I say out loud while slurping on the laksa soup I ordered from one of the stalls. “Where have you been all my life?” I say, swooning over the spicy flavour of the soup. The most fascinating thing about a culture for me is its food. Maybe this is the answer to my questions? A happy tummy maybe equals to a happy life. I finish it and get right back up to order and try some more food.

Just as I’m about to scoot to order a portion of the most delectable looking Hainanese chicken rice, a confusing looking girl, and in her hands is a tray of food and drinks that looks just as good as she does. “Hello, sorry to bother you but, the place is full and there are no other seats here. So if it doesn’t bother you can I sit here?” She points to the empty seat in front of me.

“Sure, go ahead.” I try not to sound awkward or annoyed, because eating in front of strangers makes me uncomfortable, but hey, I don’t own the place so technically I can’t really refuse her. Especially not when she just asked me very nicely. “Since you’re here, please save this seat for me,” I point to mine, might as well ask for a favour in return. “I’m just gonna order some more food for myself.”

She sets down her tray and with a sigh of relief she says, “Sure, ummm… I’m Faith by the way.” She offers her hand out.

“Fred,” I accept her handshake. When my hands are touching hers it feels like the softest mink coat ever. I’ve never felt skin that soft before. Our eyes meet, hers are a grey colour, eyes so bright I see my own reflection in them. I got caught up in the moment and lingered for a few seconds. “Gotta go to get that chicken rice now,” I say, trying to laugh it off after the awkward moment left me red and hot in the face.

I come back with definitely more stuff than just chicken rice. I also got myself an order of salted egg chicken, a plate of stir fried egg noodles and also a huge cup of Es Bandung. When Faith sees me and my food, I see her holding back a smirk.

“Hey, a man’s gotta eat right?” I say jokingly. As I say that she doesn’t hold back her laughter anymore and bursts out cackling.

“Is that food for a man? Or food for three men?” We both laugh it off. I am not always the type to laugh with a person I just met, but it’d be rude not to. Then we start to exchange conversations with each other. She tells me a little bit about her and in return I tell her a tiny bit about me. It turns out that Faith is also travelling alone to Singapore from Australia.

“Oh you’re an Aussie? G’day mate!” I try my best attempt an Australian accent. “I’d like to go and see Australia someday”

She smiles, “Nice one.” she says sounding so sincere. I guess my impersonation was quite accurate then. “So what brings you to Singapore Fred?”
“Obviously, “ I point to the plates of food that are in front of me. “And also, I just happen to suddenly find myself having so much free time .” Not wanting to tell her that I quit my job. “And I also wanna teach myself how to have fun”. I then return the question to her.

“I’m here because I just love travelling, and I want to use my time before it’s taken away from me.” Her tone becomes sullen for a second, and then she smiles again. “You know… work, relationships, family. Sometimes I just wanna go out by myself to find something new.”

I ask her again about the places she’s been to, and this girl has literally been to all of the continents. I admire her adventurous spirit and want to know more about the places she’s been to. “But there is one more country I’d really love to visit, Italy, to eat some of the best pizza known to man in naples.”

As Fate would have it, two solo travellers who are both food enthusiasts found each other in a hawker center in Singapore. Now that is a movie I would pay to watch.

30 minutes go by as we talk and share food with each other. I look down and see that both of our trays are starting to clear up. Both of us eating like we haven’t eaten in weeks. Despite that, she still looks ever so graceful as she take the last spoon of her rice to her mouth. As I take the last sip of my Es Bandung, I start to feel glum. No more food means the conversation is coming to an end here. I’m enjoying her company so much to end it here.

I was about to open my mouth and propose we go do something together after this when she says, “Hey, I was thinking about it and If you really wanna learn how to have fun, Allow me, an experienced solo traveler to teach you how to do it.” She smiles again and I can’t get enough of it.

“I never thought you’d ask,” I smile too. “Okay master, where shall we take the fun to next?”

“Okay, I was thinking, First we go to Universal, after that we’ll go to Bugis street for shopping and then we’ll end the night in gardens by the bay?”

“Well Well, I like it, let’s go start now, time is short.” We pack up our stuff and head to the MRT station.

…

Upon arriving, I can see the excitement in Faith’s eyes, and to be honest I am quite excited also, but then Faith suggests something that I never would’ve done if I were on my own. “We are going on the BattleStar Galactica.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I say in a nervous tone. “Never been on a rollercoaster before, and it kinda looks quite extreme, doesn’t it?”

“What?!!” I didn’t know it was that surprising to find someone who’s never been on a rollercoaster. “Okay, the first rule of having fun, expect the unexpected and the second rule is to never say no to new things,well, unless they’re illegal. You get my point. so we’re going.” She looks at me with her side eye and raises her eyebrows waiting for me to answer.

I feel reluctant, “What the hell, screw it let’s just do it!” I’m positive that I’ll still live after going on that thing. It can’t be that bad right?

“Oh FUCCKKKKKKKK,” I shouted at the top of my lungs as we go through the ramps and loops of the rollercoaster.

“Am I dead?” I say after we got off the rollercoaster ride. Faith chuckles.

“Come on, it’s not that bad?” She tries to comfort me. “Now let’s look at the photos shall we?.” We head to the booth where we can print out photos from the ride. In the photos, Faith looks like she’s having the time of her life while I look as if my soul had just left my body.

“Well, I look like I was enjoying it.” I say sarcastically .“Let’s print two so both you and I can keep one each.” We both cackled in what sounds like two dolphins trying to save each other from choking. But man, it was scary but I’ve never experienced such a rush. I gotta admit too, there is some degree of fun in that rollercoaster ride. “ Bugis street next?” I ask her

“After you, Fred.” she answers. I take our printed photos and hand one to her as I put mine in my little black sling bag.

“Now we’re talking,” I cast a look at Faith as we lay our eyes on the shops and the crowds in Bugis Street. The colours around here just scream buy me, eat me, drink me everywhere. “If economy and money weren’t a thing, this is where I would spend my life and die.” I say, not seriously of course.

“That’s quite concerning, but I think you’re starting to get the playful spirit.” She pats me on the shoulder. We take a deep breath before we enter, and then we both run to the shops inside to look around.

The situation in Bugis street is apparently always like this. Aunties and uncles all shouting gleefully to offer the things they sell to the tourists. Everyone is so nice and friendly. Oh and not to mention the free samples they give to you with huge smiles on their faces. Sometimes you just can’t help but to buy the things they offer you, and I end up with a couple table clocks, a bag of keychains, and two bags of chocolate to bring home. I think I’m gonna need another suitcase just for these.

Just as I thought things couldn’t get any more interesting, I see an aunty who sells durian right across from where we are standing. Durian is my favorite fruit ever. Sure half of the population despises it and the other half worships it.I cast Faith a look “Hey, let’s go there and have a taste of the so-called king of fruit.”.

She tightens her lips, and a little bead of sweat trickles down her forehead. I don’t know if it’s because of the stuffiness of the crowd or some other reason, “Ah, Durian huh?” She pauses for a few seconds. I reckon she’s not sweating because of the heat. She’s just a part of the former half of the population. I raise one of my eyebrows at her, “but it just smells like a corpse’s feet.” she continues and blows a breath as if relieved to get the words out of her system.

I tap my fingers together and give her a villainy look, “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks me.

“Well, you did make me go on that roller coaster in Universal, so…” She already knows what is about to come, and before I finish my sentence she agrees to eat some durian with me. I get my phone ready to record the look on her face as she tries her first bite.

“Two please,” I say to the aunty who was selling the durians. She then hands me two containers filled with the most delicious looking durian I’ve ever seen and also two pairs of gloves to protect our hands from smelling. I go back to the table where Faith is already waiting for me, looking even more jittery by the second.

“Oh my god,” her eyes open wide as I open the container. I hand her the gloves and she quickly puts them on. “I never smelled a dead cat, but that’s what I would say it smells like.” she says sarcastically.

I take my first bite and It just feels like utter bliss. The creaminess and the flavour of that fruit is just to die for. And for Faith, I just think she is about to die for real, not because she likes it but because she would rather die than touch that fruit. But I then remember the first and second rules of having fun. Expect the unexpected and Try new things. I hit record on my phone and look at her. With one fell swoop, I grab one of the durians and feed it right into her mouth.

She startles, at first her mouth curling up just to confirm that her body kind of rejects it, but then she calms down, shrugs and then laughs. “So how is it?”

“Actually…. Surprisingly… it does not taste like a dead cat,” she says, a little bit annoyed not wanting to admit that she actually likes it.

“Rule number two, don’t be afraid to try new things.” We both giggle until there are tears in our eyes. “Okay let’s finish up, the sky’s getting a little dark now, so I guess it’s time for Gardens by the Bay, but we’re gonna need some mints before we leave,” I said jokingly, but kinda serious too considering the strong stench of the durian.

Our stomachs grumble as we reach the Supertree Food Hall at Gardens by the Bay. We decide to eat first. And boy we’re having just as fun of a conversation as the one we had this morning. It’s funny how this morning we were just complete strangers in a full hawker center and now we’re talking and eating our fried rice and mapo tofu like friends who’ve known each other for years.

“Let’s go to the OCBC skyway after this,” Says Faith. “And let’s have just a relaxing little walk for the rest of the night.” and then it hit me that today is coming to an end. I try to shake the thought off of my head to prevent it from ruining such a perfect day.

“For sure, if we can walk after all this.” I say teasingly as I point to the heaps of empty plates in front of us. We sit again for a few minutes.

We walk through the OCBC skyway. It all looks so fascinating to see the combination of nature and architecture here. It is as if looking at something that the earth and humans made together. technically it is exactly that. Man made buildings combined with mother earth’s plants. Each one beautiful in their own way.

We walked in silence for the most time, probably too full to even hold a conversation. I turn my head to face hers as she walks. Her strawberry blonde hair shines beneath the moonlight and her grey eyes gleam even brighter. She curls up her lip into a smile and that manages to melt me. I try to open my mouth to break the silence but I’m just so dumbfounded by her pretty face that I can’t even say a word. Before the silence becomes overwhelming, she decides to speak first.

“You know what Fred, today was supposed to be me teaching you how to have fun, but boy are you a good student.” she says to me. “You may be a fast learner or maybe fun, has just naturally been within you all this time. If anything, this is the most fun I’ve ever had in a long while and I have you to thank for that.” Her words are as sincere as can be.

This is the part I’m dreading, we are having so much fun that I’m not ready to end it and say goodbye to it all. As she talks, the Taylor Swift song Enchanted plays in my head, adding to the hopefulness within me to naively wish for the moment to last forever. “No, Faith,” I finally manage to say. “Just the day before I was just a guy with no joy, and then we met here today, and all of a sudden you turned me into this cheerful person. You didn’t just teach me, you showed me and inspired me, Faith.” My words echoing in my own mind.

Our surroundings go quiet, and it feels as though we are the only ones there. We lean on the railings and our faces look up to the sky. The stars twinkling like little disco balls, and at that very moment deep within my heart I realise that I have sprouted feelings for Faith, and I fear that our time together may really be short lived. I see a glimpse of a shooting star and as the sparks fly I wish for a beautiful goodbye as beautiful as our ‘Hi’.

Then, like a miracle the flower domes around us light up and we are surrounded by a stunning light show. We both look each other in the eye, without a second thought we both grab each other and hug, and then lightly kiss. A part of me is flabbergasted, but a bigger part of me just realise that she is a big part of my happiness at this moment.

Maybe there is a reason why the word failing-and-falling’S only difference is just a dot in the letter I. I am that dot, failing to find happiness in my life before and then falling to a pond of fun and love that I feel with Faith. We smile and then we look up to the stars, and she says “The stars have a way to make a moment beautiful don’t they?”

“Who cares about the stars, when we are together right now, shine much brighter than any star could ever wish for.” I close my eyes and thought Thank you rule number two for bringing me to this moment right now.

I grabbed my phone, turned on some classical music. And there beneath the moonlight and the cool air we dance lightly in what feels like a very amateur waltz. As we step, I feel our swift movement become lighter and lighter. And just like a balloon being cut from its tether. At that moment, we feel like we’re floating and dancing like a couple of Pixies in a garden of poppies.

The infuriating thing about life is that it’s just like a roller coaster. Full of ups, downs and loops that make you feel nauseated.

After that beautiful night, we both parted ways because no matter how hard I wished for it, time cannot stop for the both of us. I have to go back home and she has to go back to Australia. We traded contacts, of course. But neither of us has contacted the other for the past 3 months.

Now I found myself a job as a journalist. It is a job that brings something new to the table everyday. To be a journalist is to get see the unexpected everyday as you try to report on the news.

I just got home from my office. I get changed and sit myself down in my apartment to turn on some TV. I go through the gallery of my phone to discover the video of Faith eating that Durian for the first time.

Are we really doing this again? I mumble to myself. If there is anything she taught you is to go and get your happiness. And If she’s the one that makes you happy then go and get her. The determination fills me up again all of a sudden. And then I remember that she still wants to visit Italy. I’m thinking that I should ask her to go to Italy with me and ask her out while eating gelato and pizza there.

Here goes nothing I think as I push call on her number. The call beeps for 3 times until I get an answer. “Hello?” I say to the person on the other line.

“Hello, this is Faith. Who is this?” she says and her voice still sounds as angelic as ever.

“This is Freddy, How have you been Faith?” I ask her.

“Oh Freddyyy, It has been so long buddy.” that word buddy bugs me a little bit.

“Hey I have something I want to ask you.” I say to her, I pause for a couple seconds.

“And you have called me at the perfect time, I too have something I want to ask you.” she says.

“Okay you go first,” I say.

“I was about to ask you, If you would be so kind as to come to my engagement party next month.” Upon hearing that, my hopes and dreams of getting together with her shatters like broken glass.

I am quiet at first, bit then I finally bring myself to say “Sure… sure thing Faith.” trying my best to hide the hurt in my voice.

“What did you wanna ask me about?” she finally asks.

“Oh, that.” I try to improvise a question. “What’s your favorite colour?” and like an idiot that jumped out of my mouth.”So I’ll know what kind of gifts to bring to you on your special day.”

“Oh never mind that” she says, Your presence is the best gift I can ever wish for. Look forward to seeing you, and you’re finally going to come visit Australia.” She says excitedly. “Rule number one, remember?”

“Of course I remember Faith.” I say as I grab and look on the framed picture on my desk of the time we went on the rollercoaster. “I’ll be sure to come and give you the second best gift in the world.”

“Oh and why is that?”

“Because the best gift in the world has already been taken.” yes It has, the best gift in the world to me is her. And it has been taken by someone else.