One broken nose, 3 scared maids and one firm scolding later and I was starting to seriously starting to doubt my fortunes in the world.
Like maids, I get that my mom holds you all to high cleaning standards, but does it really kill you to leave the floor with some friction?? This is a house you know, noT a roller rink. And to top my insane misfortune, my mother was coincidentally at the foot of the staircase lecturing 3 maids for their clumsiness of all things right as her dear daughter tumbled straight down the stairs and landed smack dab onto the granite floor in front of her. To receive only a firm scolding for my folly was honestly not tooo bad considering the context. Thankfully, all was not misfortune as I had miraculously managed not break anything too essential, somehow, though my sense of smell wasn't gonna recover anytime soon.
But but but but I know that not what yall want to hear about, you want to hear the action, the romance, the thriller, the whatever. Well, before any of that could happen, I had to first find my destination. So as planned, I spent about 15 minutes digging around my bedroom to find Jacobine's address before proceeding to spend a whopping 2 HOURS trying to actually plot the place out on the map. And yes turns out long before humans used all these cool and quirky things like gps and Google maps to get around, people apparently actually used to use lines on paper to do that! I know surprising right. What was less surprising was that turns out I had absolutely no clue how to use said lines on paper! Yippee! This problem was further exacerbated by the fact that German addresses are organised radically differently from Singaporean addresses.
You see, in Singapore, addresses are usually organised as such, block number, unit number then street name. Addresses in Singapur on the other hand seemed to only contain the street number, for example, Hermmenchen 13 which absolutely baffled me. It was only after I had worked up enough balls to consult my dad about this did all magically become clear. Turns out the Hermmenschen in Hermmenschen 13 WAS the block itself. I know radical right.
What also turned out to be very radical was my wardrobe. Radically Victorian. Initially, I had planned to wear T-shirt and jeans like the ones I had seen Jacobine had wear when she abducted me all the way back in the hospital chapter. This thought of mind was quickly thrown by the wayside when I opened my cupboard to find rows and rows of SKIRTS, long thick skirts as far as the eyes could see. The kind even Queen Victoria herself might find a tad bit extreme and yet my mom, I assume, somehow thought her teen daughter, ie me, would be down to wear them for god knows what reason.
Seeing that I was once again in a bit of pickle, I once again turned to my dad for help. The miffed version of dad at least, since he was porbably wondering why his dear daughter was coming to him for advice the second time in 30 minutes. It was only when I verbally explained my desire for more fashionable clothes did my dad's look of confusion soften to one of quiet acknowledgement. Motioning for me to follow him, he then, in one fluid motion, quietly slides down the stairs and straight into the driver's seat of the car. Once he saw that I had caught up to him, he then immediately stepped on the pedal and drove the hell out of here. Though being the courteous man that he was, he did at least shout something about father-daughter bonding time to one of the many shocked maids around, probably not expecting their sir to drive his mini cooper like an f1 car. This was for insurance sake as my worried wart mom really tends to worry too much.
Irregardless, now that we were safely on the road, far away from my mother's reach, my father took the liberty to make one hard left turn before driving us straight towards the place famous for high fashion and overpriced food, Orchard road. Turns out even in this universe, Orchard Road is still the nexus of all things fashion and good old fashion capitalism seeing that the sidewalk was packed to the brim with fashionably dressed people and roadside stands selling a whole circus of things. Seeing this familiar sight brought a smile to my face. Seem like some things never change eh. Noticing this, my dad let out a chuckle.
"You know Katherine, you should have told me earlier if you wanted new clothes. I understand if you trust a female like your mom more than me but give your old dad a chance once in a while, okay sweetie?" I nod my head gratefully. Dad shopping > Mom shopping 100%.
Circling around for a bit, my dad finally found someplace to park. The moment he stopped the engine, I immediately leapt out of the car and ran to the nearest exit in absolute glee. Surprisingly, my dad was quite knowledgeable even about woman's fashion, giving me a sneaking suspicion that my dad kinda knew that this day would eventually come.
But no matter that, with my father's keen eye for modern, and by modern in this case means more 80's kinda stuff like jeans and baggy shirts and all, clothing and one fat ass wallet, we quickly amassed quite the collection of clothes. However, in our fervour to get as many clothes as possible, we kinda forgot that mini coopers don't exactly support sheer amounts of clothes being shoved into it. Luckily we remembered that my mom had 'elected' not to join us, we managed to fit the remainder of the clothes into the back seats of our car and quickly headed home.
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After a bit of a jam, we were back and once those wheels stopped, I along with my dad instantly commenced the move all the clothes back to my room operation before my mom came back and found out all the shenanigans we were up to. Fortunately, wayyy before we had even left, I had the foresight to take out this huge warchest I had just randomly found under the bed, think that it would be a pretty good dumping ground. And that we did, using it as a place to throw all our carried loot into before running back down to take more. After about 3 more rounds of running and we were finally done, a very tired dad then gave me a quick nod, an acknowledgement of my privacy before slowly stumbling out of the room.
Now alone, I immediately stripped down to my undergarment and started to hastily search for that ideal clothes. This unenviable task was not helped by the fact that I and my dad had hurriedly dumped all my clothes into that large ass chest like 5 seconds ago. But with time, I eventually managed to fish out my compromise choice, a simple jean type skort and blue overalls covering over a simple blouse. Now you might be wondering why compromise? Wasn't your completely theoretical plan with minimal basis in reality so flawless that no compromises were needed?? Well dear viewer, this is because jeans and t-shirt in this world are only made for men apparently and in accordance with my dad's 'modern' take on clothing, he absolutely refused to buy that for me, deeming it too boyish so that's that.
But at least with my clothing decided, the final piece of the puzzle was now in place. And thus on 23rd of August at 1pm sharp, I waved my goodbyes to my parents and maids and then set off towards Jacobine's house. To be very frank, I was a little scared to face Jacobine after the whole calling her peasant thing. But I resolved to go on. I had already put wayyyy too much effort into such a simple task like this and if I, for whatever reason, didn't go through with it, my mind was for sure going to make me pay. But I digress. Navigation to there was actually pretty easy since the DOB station, Singapur's version of Singapore MRT, is literarily spitting distance from Jacobine's house and it only took me 5 stops and a 5 minutes walk to already find myself at the mouth of her housing cluster.
Stepping in for the first time, I finally got my first glimpse of what Jacobine's dwelling was like and turns out that her place was pretty run down. Like for one the buildings were dilapidated af, their paint peeling at places or even straight up non-existent after years of neglect and use. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the building itself was a walking talking safety hazard since every single pillar had a whole bunch of cracks tattooed all over them. You know like the pillars that just so happened to be supporting the building!!! The floors too were nothing to gawk at, having been covered by years of grime, dirt and a grey-green goo that I can only assume to be moss.
Yet despite all this, the atmosphere of the place was quite lively. Just below the building in a space which in Singapore we call a 'void deck', there were just a group of young boys having a lively game of soccer with a half-full water bottle as their ball, completely ignoring the fact the area itself is probably not fit for human habitation. This fact too didn't occur to their grandparents as they too were joining in on the fun, cheering their grandchildren on as they chatted with each other and chewed on baguettes. Heck, even the trash lady, just there to you know collect the trash actively participated in the fun by pumping her fist up whenever one of the boys scored a goal.
As I stood there watching from afar in my freshly bought blouse, skorts and a wallet stacked with cash, I couldn't help but feel a sense of alienation from all this and understandably so. They and I lived in such different worlds, their worries, their goals, their dreams were thus naturally going to be different from mine. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that what I was seeing here was truly something special. It is just so heartwarming to see a bunch of people coming together to have the fun of their life in spite of their surroundings. Like ya, it's not like I am ungrateful for my lifestyle or anything, but somewhere deep down I kinda yearned for this kind of lifestyle. A lifestyle where there was no pressure, no worries, no 'bad neighbours'. Where everyone just lived life to the fullest, together. I envied them, really, because I know even with all the wealth and power in the world, I would never be able to replicate what they have here. Ever.
"Katherine, is that you?" A voice rings out "W...what are you doing here?"
Hearing this very familiar voice, I turn over to see my one and only Jacobine drop everything she was carrying and rush over to where I stood. But my Jacobine looked a bit different. You see, the last time I saw her, I remembered her wearing something more along with the lines of jeans and t-shirts, which might have kinda also made me think that jeans were sold for woman.... This time however she wearing something rather girlish, sprouting a simple blouse and wool skirt combo. Suffice to say the change in her clothing was rather unexpected.
"I...I" I stammer, trying to form some semblance of a sentence.
"You know you are not supposed to be here right Katherine?" She says more worriedly now, hastily sweeping her head around making sure no one was watching us. Seeing confusion, Jacobine rather frustratedly said "Oh come on Katherine we had this conversation before, you are not supposed to be here unless I bring you here." Hearing this, I started nodding my head, still not really knowing what was going on. " TheN?" At this point, I wisely decided to exercise my right to remain silent, having run out of ideas of what to say to her.
She for her part, intensely stared at me for a bit before finally relenting "Oh come on we'll talk this through back in my house. You are already here anyways" hearing this, I nod my head once again, though more enthusiastically this time. Seeing this, Jacobine made a small 'tch' sound before leading the way back to her house, I following closely behind her.