CHAPTER 7

DR Residential was one of the 20-odd of such boarding schools in the country. First established during colonial times, it had initially served to educate children of the foreigners. During the Japanese occupation, the school was completely destroyed. It wasn't until after the country's independence that the school was rebuilt four hundred miles south of its original site. Every year, about one hundred and twenty new students would arrive at the school, selected from various primary schools all over the country. Its 55ha compound housed some seven hundred boys aged twelve to nineteen. The school was situated on a hill overlooking quaint little houses in the village below. It was well-planned and beautifully maintained. I fell in love with it at once.

My first year at DR Residential was quite uneventful. I found out that being around boys my own age was an overrated idea. They were noisy, rowdy, played childish games, fancied infantile ideas, and they behaved like immature morons. To be fair, they were being twelve-year-olds, but I decided that I was special and did not meet anyone I liked. I missed Tony terribly.

Came the first term break, I could not wait to go home. School would be out for three glorious weeks. I was so excited. Three months of eating mass-produced meals made me long for my mother's cooking. I longed for my own bed in my own room. And I longed for Tony.

On my first night home, Tony stopped by to say hello. He had grown bigger and taller. He could only stay a few minutes, politely refusing refreshments offered by my mother. I took him to my room and showed him my new school scrapbook and filled him in with what happened that first term. After I had turned to the last page, Tony got up to leave. Seeing the protest in my eyes, he quickly whispered: "Meet me at our house. Tomorrow. Three o'clock." I saw him to the door and he left quietly on his bicycle, riding off into the night.

The following afternoon, I arrived at Number 178 Melody Lane at 2.45pm. The house had not changed much, only the weeds and creepers were now taller and thicker. Once upstairs, I noticed that Tony had cleaned up the room and brought some of his personal things over. The mattress on the huge bed was now covered with sheets. There were pictures on the walls. On the mat on the floor were a couple of cushions. Next to them was a neat stack of Tony's favourite magazines. The room looked quite lived in.

I was leafing through one of his magazines when Tony walked in, clad only in his running shorts. I put the magazine down as he came towards me. Without a word, he led me to the bed, undressed me and began touching and kissing me. The urgency was contagious. Within moments it was over. A few minutes later, we were at it again.

Afterwards, as we cuddled, Tony whispered "I missed you" into my ears. I kissed him and we both drifted off to sleep.

The weeks that followed we only saw each other two more times. My mother had decided that she needed to visit her brother and his wife in another town and inisted that I went along with her. "They don't get to see much of you nowadays," she dismissed my argument, reminding me that they were after all my aunt and uncle who happened to love me very much.

The term break came to its end too soon. Tony called to say goodbye and said he would see me off the following day. Uncle Dean drove me to the train station. Mother couldn't come because my father had been taken ill again. My sister volunteered to come with Uncle.

We reached the train station as the station master blew his whistle for final boarding. I quickly kissed my sister goodbye, shook my uncle's hand and boarded the train. There was no sign of Tony.

I did not hear from him until two months later. He apologised for not showing up at the station; he had a lot to do that day, he explained. He had been accepted into a local university and had written from his dormitory. The first couple of months had been rough, but he said he was learning to cope with college life with the help of fellow students. Tony in college. My chest swelled with pride and my heart sang with joy for days.

Tony's second letter came the following month. It was much shorter. He was coping and adjusting well to college life. He had also made friends with a few students, among whom a "sweet" girl named Serena. Tony said she had suggested that they went steady and he liked the idea very much. Tony's first college girlfriend. My chest was heavy, and my heart ached for weeks.

"Come on, it's getting late," I roused Lili as she sipped the last drop of her coffee.

"OK, let's go. Walk with me to the bus stop," she picked up her purse, ready to go. "So, are you going to call Jean-Claude later?"

"May be."