Long awaited!! 3rd Sneeze~~


Okay, who's this fella? He's the Birthday Boy for today~! With 1 hour still remaining, let me wish my dear classmate Lixun (LX)

Happy Birthday!

Hahaha, anyway he's the person who inspired the next episode of Sneeze, which I will post below as a personal birthday present to him (because he inspired it what).

How he inspired The 3rd Sneeze
1st Sneeze
2nd Sneeze

Special message hidden for Lixun in...

The 3rd Sneeze

Weekend arrived invitingly as the week wore out. Orientation had been eventful; fun but tiring. YM had met many new friends but he has not forgotten the old ones, after all, old wine is the best.

The main event of this week is the IT fair everyone has been talking about, and YM is eager to replace some of his older, less-up-to-date hardware; hopefully at a cheaper price at the IT fair.

YM woke up early that morning and set off for the Fair after having a light breakfast. He was due to meet Alex (aLeX =P) at the Expo MRT station by 9am, hopefully beating most kiasu Singaporeans to cheap deals and great items before they were all sold out. But even as he boarded the train headed towards Expo, which was just a few stops away, he already had a bad premonition about the crowd there; because his train, headed away from town, was so packed with people that he could barely get on.

As he expected, the train emptied most of its load at the Expo station. YM went straight for the meeting point with Alex at the ticketing machines, and found no one there, as usual. Alex just cannot be punctual unless his life depended on it.

But YM didn’t have to wait very long as the next train brought Alex along with another throng of people.

“Hey YM!! Sorry I’m late, but I cannot find my dog to feed her you know?” Alex winks.

“Yeah yeah, anyway let’s go. There seems to be a huge crowd lehz.”

“Really lahz! Don’t you believe me?” Alex sounded a little crestfallen.

“Nevermind…”

“Honest…!”

Alex is a longtime friend to YM ever since they were in the same Primary school. Alex likes to talk whereas YM don’t mind listening, but don’t mistake Alex for an empty vessel; he’s wise and witty even if he likes shooting his mouth off.

They flowed with the crowd to the entrance of the exhibition hall and were greeted with a sight of absolute chaos that was the IT fair. Gigantic speakers blared out names of winners of lucky draws, catchy techno music and other indecipherable noise mixed among the music. People squeezing with each other as they attempted some sort of order while moving along the various stalls inside. None of the senses were spared; as the movement towards stalls brings them close enough with other people to smell perfume or sweat.

YM and Alex looked rather lost as they tried to locate the enormous balloons printed with brand logos that hovered above their respective stalls. In any case, they made some progress into the exhibition hall whether they liked it or not; the crowd effectively forcing them in before they could even get some sort of bearing.

As they looked around intently for the balloon that read ‘Microsoft,’ YM felt his nose starting to itch terribly. He covered his nose and mouth...

And sneezed once.

When he opened his eyes, he saw this familiar person walking across him. (Need me to tell you guys who or not? =P)

YM surged on ahead of Alex, reaching out for Vivien’s shoulder.

But somehow, Vivien also managed a slight sneeze, and immediately after that turned to her right, catching YM in her gaze.

“Vivien!”

“YM! Oh my, what a place to see you.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Came here to look for parts for my computer… How about you?”

“I’m signing up for something over there” Vivien points a finger in the general direction where she was heading towards.

They moved to a less congested and ‘off-the-road’ place before carrying on their conversation. At this time, Alex caught up with them.

“Hey, YM… You moved on so fast I nearly lost you sia… Never wait for me one lehz… Some sort of frie… Hey! Who’s this babe here?

“Hi!” Vivien waved.

“She’s Vivien, my schoolmate. Vivien, meet my best friend, Alex.”

“Hi Vivien!” Alex seemed to have already forgotten to berate YM for throwing him behind.

Vivien smiled, “Hi… Hey, anyway I catch up with you later okay, YM? I gotta go before the queue starts to get really long.”

“Alrighty Viv, take care.”

“Yup you too!”

Vivien walked off into the crowd as YM looked on, perhaps hoping she would turn back or something. Meanwhile, Alex is studying the expression on YM’s face and looking back and forth as if tracing a line of YM’s sight.

“Hmmm… It looks like someone’s in love…” Alex observed sagely.

“Huh?! Wh… Whaa… What are you talking about?” YM stammered, his thoughts interrupted.

“Hehe, you like that girl don’t you?” Alex chirped.

“What makes you think that way Lex? Anyway she likes someone else already.”

“So? It doesn’t mean that if she likes someone, you can’t like her… She doesn’t need to like you for you to like her you know?” Alex pointed out.

“True…”

“Ah ha! There! You admitted it! You like her! I’m so glad for you pal!” Alex was beaming already.

YM looked shocked that he actually fell into the word-trap.

“Hey, no, Lex! I didn’t mean that! I don’t even know whether I like her or not…”

Alex shrugged, patted YM’s back and moved off towards ‘Microsoft’, leaving YM dumbfounded with a quietly said, “Actually, you DO know the answer pal…” ghosting back at him, despite the dreadful noise.

It was usual random banter after this conversation as YM and Alex continued with their shopping until 1pm, when they left the GSS (Great Singapore Squeeze) for lunch. Before they headed back to their respective homes, Alex told YM this.

“Anyway YM pal, if you really like the girl, give it your best shot, I support you all the way!”

“……”

“Reach for the stars man, you may not quite reach them, but you wouldn’t end up with a handful of mud either…”

---------------------------To be continued (?)---------------------------

Yangming