“Come out! Come out! Come ouuuttt!” My friend sounded like a 8 year old kid demanding for an ice cream.

“No. I want to sleep.” I answered.

“I’ll treat you Starbucks.”

“Not tempting enough.” Trying to sound firm with my answer.

“Fine. I’ll treat you supper. Deal?”

“Keep going. I’m listening.” I replied just to keep the conversation alive.

“I’ll treat you your favourite food. Er… What do you like to eat?”

“Heh. You don’t even know what’s my favourite food.”

“Fine. I’ll buy you few pairs of BBQ Chicken Wings.” My friend ran out of ideas already.

“Don’t want. Good night.”

“I hate youuuu…” Just to make me feel guilty, which failed miserably.

“Like you always do.” I replied nonchalantly.

“Bluuerrghh…” My friend hung up. That’s the last word for the day.

——–

It’s one of those days when I’m so bloody exhausted and refused to go out. Yes, I actually willing to trade free food and / or drink for some private time for myself and some rest / sleep.




My phone rang. Unable to see who it was, I just pressed the green button and then switched on my loudspeakers…

“Yeah?” My (almost) usual first word over the phone.

“Free?”

“I’m driving. Anything?”

“Erm… nothing.” My friend replied slowly.

“Are you sure?”

“Erm… Do you still remember the time when you said I can call you anytime of the day whenever there’s something happened or when I need someone to talk to? And we would meet up to discuss about it?” My friend muttered over the other end of the line.

“Er… I can’t really remember actually but I guess I did long time ago.” But sensing the sad tone, I continued. “Are you alright?”

There’s a short silent pause followed by another question. “What if I am not?”

“Then, I may have said that to you.”

“Great then! Let’s meet up!” A faint cheerful voice to the sad tone.

“Huh? What? Aren’t we talking right now? Why not over the phone?”

“Well… by now, you should know that I prefer to have face to face conversation.” That cheerful voice somehow lost again.

“Alright alright. I’ll pick ya up in a bit.” I hung up.

Yet, I was still trying to recall whether did I say that particular words or not.




I bumped into them a couple of times when I was at Waterfront (beside the Filipino Wet Market) to take some pictures. They were minding their own business while I was doing my own stuff. But on one particular day, they approached me, without feeling shy, upon seeing me holding my DSLR camera. They were kinda awed at what I was holding. When I showed them my photo via a tiny LCD of my camera, they were intrigued of a sunset photo.

Being Cool

“Picture. One.” They said while pointing at themselves. It’s no brainer that they wanted their pictures to be taken. So, I did take one (or a couple to be exact) of photo(s) of them (as shown above and below). Once they saw the photos, they were gleefully smiling till the point of happiness. I’ve got to say, that particular sweet smiles of theirs made my day or even my entire trip. The fact that the simple thing I did made them smile indirectly made me happy.

Being Fun

Besides what hit me the most was the fact that these kids lived in a carefree world. Undeterred with what they didn’t have, they seemed to be happy at all times. Not owning any gadgets or toys, they were playing on the rocks (beside the sea) while their parents were working at the market. And that particular moment did in fact taught me something that I’ve been told all these while; instead of dwelling what you don’t have, let it the latest gadget, or the fastest car or even the wealth that you wished for, be satisfied with what you got and treasure them every moment.

I do sincerely wish them the very best for the rest of their lives and continue to live happily as they were then.