Free To Decide (part 1)

"Welcome!" my friend said with open arms as we arrived at his house for house-warming. He had just bought a new house at Bukit Timah.. a beautiful private house with a garden. "A fucking rich guy man.." Sheng whispered to me as we enter the living room.. where there is a spread of good food waiting for us. We just smile. Although both of us are not as rich as Hui.. we are not jealous of him. We are proud to have him as friend instead. And he is a good friend indeed.

"Let me show you my collection of crystals!" Hui beamed excitedly as he led us into his room. In a show cabinet there are a huge variety of beautifully made crystals of different shapes and sizes. "Here is a collection of the 70's automobiles.. I collected them from Germany.." Hui rattled on. But I'm not listening. A cute little crystal monkey had caught my attention. It seemed to have a life of it's own. I immediately like the little monkey. I wanted to ask him where he got it... but Hui keep on talking about his collection of others. I wanted to ask him if he will be generously enough to give me the monkey. Anyway it's just a crystal monkey.. won't worth much I thought. But I'm embarrassed to ask him. I'm afraid he will say no. He will laugh at me for being poor... not able to afford it.. so on. Before we leave the room... I turned and took a last look at it.. and left quietly.

"Thank you and hope you all enjoy yourself!" waved Hui as Sheng and I took our leave. "Hey you looked distracted.. what happen? Sheng asked.
"Nothing.. nothing at all," I replied. In my pocket there hide the crystal monkey. I secretly went back to the room and took it. Hui won't find out... There are so much collections over there and he will not pay attention to it.. I thought. Fuck.. but this is not right! My moral friend inside me screamed at me.. I am having second thoughts. Am I doing the right thing? The answer is obvious. But I really like the design and would like to keep it as my own......