Zen and Greg 2

Thus, Kok Xiong grew up in an extremely doting family. Whatever he wanted, he will get it, money is not the issue as the family is rich. His father is the only son in his family and thus inherited the whole of his family's shipping business. Kok Xiong's sisters being females, were not valued as much as him, in fact, not as all. They were invisible in their father's eyes. It was not clear whether they had swallowed their bitterness and anger and resigned to fate or just nonchalent about it as they have never expressed their thoughts or try to fight for their father's affections before. Towards Kok Xiong, they never question why he have been favoured much more than them and have accepted that it is thus, that their little brother must have done something to deserve this, thus they dote upon him excessively as well. Their mother, a much slimmer woman now due to the stress and the terrible burden of fear she has been carrying with her is just a silent sprite in the house.

***

Two streets away, a family just moved in - the De Cruz. They just migrated from Australia to Singapore as Mr Cruz has been posted here by his company to work for long term. Their's is a happy family, Mr Cruz, Mrs Cruz and Greg. Greg is their only child at the moment, a few years later though they did have a daughter named Christine, but for now, its just Greg.

Greg's Dad met Greg's Mother when he went out to buy a cup of coffee. The weather was bad that day, halfway home, it started raining and Greg's father took shelter underneath a bridge. Moments later,another drenched person seeking for shelter joined him underneath the bridge. It was Greg's mother. Greg's Dad, noting that she seems cold and shivering visibly, shared his cup of hot coffee with her. They spend the next hour underneath the bridge sharing that cup of coffee and talking. After the rain stopped, he send her home and went home, whistling on the way while tightly clutching the piece of paper with her phone number written on it. After a year of dating, Greg's Dad proposed to Greg's mother on her birthday, arranging the whole of the restaurant staff to sing happy birthday to her and kneeing down to propose with a two carat diamond ring. They spent their honeymoon touring the whole of Europe and loved both Paris and Venice the best as the two cities seemed to represent the love they have for each other. Needless to say, it was a very happy marriage and they are very much in love. Nine months later, Greg was born.

[to be continued]