Voids Fill Up Differently by Students of IACT (books for students to read txt) 📕

“Mummy, why are you crying?,” Kayden’s sweet voice doesn’t just break the silence but also breaks Evelyn out her trance of flashbacks. 

A sudden wave of nostalgia hits Evelyn when she entered the border of Kemaman and while making each familiar turn. It’s been a while since she saw these shop lots, these road signs and unique designed street lamps. Though she was giddy with excitement, it was also difficult to ignore the sadness at the pit of her stomach. The brokenness she felt was deeply rooted in her that nothing could make her feel better at that moment.

Evelyn stops at a gas station ten minutes away from home and guides Kayden to the restroom. He's growing so fast. Too fast in fact. He didn't want his mother to follow him in and insists he's capable of doing things by himself now.

The petrichor emanating from the green grass surrounding her greets her. Immediately she feels calm, she takes in a few deep breaths. Kayden comes out quicker than expected and takes his mother’s hand as they amble their way back to the car.

Evelyn’s heart pounds as she pulls up in front of the house and gathers all their belongings. With Kayden’s and her luggage in one hand and the beautiful bouquet for her father in another, she calls out to Kayden to ring the doorbell next of the all too familiar faded light blue gated house. Evelyn didn’t have the keys with her and she didn’t inform both her parents upon the spontaneous visit.

I guess it’ll be a surprise then. Just hopefully, not a bad one. Kayden jumps and presses the doorbell and a few seconds later, she sees a dishevelled white-haired man peek out from behind the door.

“Pa!” she shouts, hoping he would recognise her voice.

Evelyn sees him squint his eyes a bit before calling her back with an “Oi.” He disappears for a bit and comes back with the keys in his hands. He pushes the gate open in excitement and rushes to put on his sandals. Evelyn being afraid he’ll fall tells him to slow down.

 “What are you doing here? No work meh?” he excitedly asks her as he rushes towards the front gate and unlocks it.

 “I came to surprise you la,” she teases him, her smile wide but was hidden with sadness she couldn’t hide.

 He steps out to help her with her bags and proceeds to ask her why she had brought along so many things, how long was she going to be here, why and it goes on. Evelyn didn’t even get a chance to answer him as questions line up.

 “Eh! Evelyn and Kayden are here!,” Evelyn’s dad yelled out to her mom, his voice booming with excitement.

 “Ah? What now! I told you not to yell at me from the living room right, I can’t hear…,” she stops mid-sentence at the sight of Evelyn standing at the front door.

 “Evelyn, what are you doing here? Where’s Mike? Doesn't Kayden have school?,” she looks at Evelyn up and down with a frown on her face. Anger is boiling inside of Evelyn. “What a warm welcome,” Evelyn thought. Evelyn came all the way there and the first thing she was greeted with are questions about why her cheater of a husband is not there with her.

Evelyn was about to answer her back but takes deep breaths. She’s older now. She should have expected her mother to react this way. Evelyn tells Kayden to help bring their bags to the room. He tries to be macho and puffs up with chest to carry all of them at once. Evelyn couldn’t help but smile at her little rascal.

“She just came all the way here, stop complaining lah. Your own daughter comes to visit you, be nice lah,” Evelyn’s dad voices out once Kayden is out of sight.

“No, I’m just asking her where her family is, is it so wrong? Haiya! Chi sin yen!” she grumbles and stalks off back into the kitchen.

“You know lah your mother, always like that,” Evelyn’s dad patted her on the shoulder and gave her a smile. “Why don’t you go put your things in your room first and freshen up.” She smiles back at him and suddenly remembered the flowers in her hand, “Oh pa, this is for you. I missed you.” Evelyn’s father smiles widely as he took the flowers and thank her. “It’s beautiful, baby. You didn’t have to. Next time keep the money for yourself please,” He places the flower in a vase before sitting on his bamboo chair to continue with his newspaper.

Evelyn decided that she could do the unpacking and freshening up later. She needed to talk to her father first. She takes a seat on the old sofa beside his chair and her father looks up from his newspaper.

“Pa…,” she starts off, nervously, picking at her nails.

“Yes, baby?,” He continues to stare down at her but she didn’t know how to start. How does one tell their dad that their husband’s cheating on them? Where does one even start?

Evelyn’s dad must have noticed she was struggling to tell him something because when she looked up, he had his papers folded in his lap and his glasses taken off.

“Ermm…,” Evelyn pauses. “Mike's cheating on me,” she blurts out, feeling the lump in her throat and trying to swallow it down. “I found pictures of him and……,” She could not mutter out the words as she feels her nose stinging and her eyes tearing up. The last thing she wanted to do was cry. She has done enough crying for the past hour. “Oh honey,” he gently stretches both arms out and pulls her head close to his chest to give her a hug. She feels so safe as she didn’t want him to pull away. But he did.

“I…,” he stutters then he sighs. “I’m not the one you should be looking for. Go talk to your mom, she’ll be a better help to you.” He looks down at his paper dismissing her quickly. She was surprised. “Has he changed that much? Is he mad that I haven’t visited him for a long time?” Evelyn was confused as she thought.

Speechless, Evelyn gets up and cautiously walks over to the kitchen where her mom is busy preparing lunch. Evelyn could smell the strong and nostalgic aroma of her mother’s famous Asam fish steaming. She missed the spicy and soft meat of her mother’s Asam fish, it was her favourite. Her mother is by the sink, cutting up some tomatoes and potatoes.

“Mee,” She calls out softly. She didn’t want to startle her mother. “Can I talk to you? I…… uh…... need to ask you something. That’s why I came…… without Mike.”

Evelyn’s mother continues cutting the vegetables while asks, “ Ya, what?” Evelyn nervously went over to the dining table to sit.

“Mike is……. seeing someone else. I caught him. I uh……. pa asked me to talk to you,” Evelyn blurts out with all her might.

Her mother immediately stops moving the knife as she froze. She did not move for a good 5 seconds. Evelyn started to panic and was on the verge of tears. She knew talking to her mother would not help, it would only make things worse. Her mother will end up blaming her for not doing enough that made Mike cheat on her. Evelyn knew too well yet she hoped anyway. She felt so stupid for approaching her mother, she thought she learned better growing up.

Her mother turned to face her and to her surprise, it was the first time in her entire life that she saw her mother’s face soften. Her mother looked at Evelyn with such painful eyes as she let out a sigh. She takes a seat next to Evelyn while her left-hand presses against her pelvis area, the overwork during her younger days definitely got to her.

Her mother sighs as she replies, “ Haih…... I know you may feel like your whole world is ending now but think about Kayden. Focus on the good things you have in life right this moment. It will help you get through this. It’s okay if you want to divorce or you want to give him another chance. No need to think so much now. Stay here for however long you want okay?”

Dumbfounded, Evelyn stares at her mother distraught, confused and definitely speechless. It was the first time in her life that her mother felt more like a friend than just her biological mother. But why?

Evelyn has never experienced her mother being so understanding, caring and maybe even relatable. Her mother was the most cold-hearted human being she has ever met but here she is, opening up to her. Evelyn started to question herself as she connected the dots. She blurted out, “Pa cheated on you, is it?”

Evelyn's face is plastered with question marks. Her mother looks aghast and beaten as she answers, " I know how it feels. I was you. When you were 6, your aunt told me she saw him with another woman walking into the hotel but he told me he was at work.”

Evelyn stares at her mother and as for the first time in her life, she sees her mother as a woman who has been working her life off to raise seven children, never failing to put food on the table for nine people three times a day, keeping the house spotless clean, and most importantly continuing to stay in the family for her kids even as she knew her husband found someone better outside. Her mother suddenly felt like a hero to her.

“I never wanted you to know because I knew how much you look up to your father and how much you love him. I didn’t want you to see him different. He is still a good man lah….. I know it is very painful but you can get through this. You’re a strong Lui. I believe in you.”

So, her mother wasn’t heartless after all and she actually loves her. “How did I not see it……,” Evelyn thought to herself.

Bros Before Hoes

Zoe Lee, Hur Men, Shorin Ghosh, Rowena

“Where the hell have you been ah? I’ve been calling you for days!” Shawn raised his voice at Chin Jian.

-BEEP- “The person you’re calling is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep.” -BEEP- “Uh... Chin Jian... It’s Shawn. Again. Where did you go? I’ve been trying to contact you for so long already...” Shawn sighs. “Just call me back okay... I need your help. Bye.” Shawn hung up the phone.

It had been days since he had tried to contact Chin Jian, his childhood best friend. Shawn was confused as to his whereabouts and why he was ignoring his calls. That was until he bumped into him while he was walking past a quiet alleyway in Petaling Street.

“Oh, uh, Shawn…” Chin Jian’s eyes widened and said nervously. “W-What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? Where have YOU been ah? I called you so many times and you never answered any of my