As Ms Tan peered around the class, waiting for the kids to finish copy down the answers on the board, she had her eyes fixated on one particular student with interest, whose posture was starting to look more and more like a ski jumper in midflight.


That boy was me.


She had then proceeded by using her droning voice which had amplified throughout the classroom and out to the halls, catching the attention of the kids who were originally scribbling away industriously.

I took a few seconds to register my situation and looked up. With a deep long breath and my hands glued to the sides of the table, I stood up and said “You are beautiful “. I realized how idiotic that sounded but I knew her weakness.


She was single.


You could see Ms Tan taking some time to digest the information. The impression of a forever-angry-and-unkind woman I knew was gone; she was now undergoing some sort of mental tremor. I toyed with my fingers as she tried to string words into sentences.

She frowned, unable to fathom what kind of joke could set everyone laughing so insanely.

Of course I did not meant what I said because it would have given a new meaning to the word “beautiful”.


Of course, the ending is obvious, I was led to that air-conditioned room again or the detention room which I had mentally changed the name of the room to Hell Room: The room where Ms Tan, the gatekeeper, will seek food like me….


.