As I pushed open the door to the quaint little bistro Driftwood Ahoy along the wharves on Clarke Quay, a warm smile spread across my face. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and delicious food enveloped me, making my stomach growl with anticipation. I spotted my friends already seated at a cozy table on the terrace overlooking the water. One of them was laughing heartily at a joke while throwing her head back. After all, we were celebrating our success– the much awaited promotions richly earned and a steady rise to the top of our game after hours and days of negotiations with an overseas supplier team for our company and snagging a sought-after coveted project majorly on our terms. Whewww! This truly called for a wind down and a splash of celebration. Taking my place at the table, I couldn't help but notice Willow, our host who had organized this magnificent lunch and suggested...
It was pre-dawn and still dark. The shrill alarm jolted me from the depths of a death-like sleep even as I tried to cling on to the fading vestiges of a sweet dream. I was just within reach of seeing its mysterious ending but it was gone. Like a wisp of smoke! I tried to slowly blink away the remnants of sleep from my eyes---heavily lidded and which just refused to open even a crack at a grim time like this. The alarm was ringing incessantly. Could it be a mistake that I set it to go off so early? At this bleak hour?! Uh! Hold on, it wasn’t the alarm but a phone call for crying out loud!” At this unearthly time, when most of this side of the world was asleep, I dearly hoped that it would be from one of the two sources--Either from **Piny Woods Primary School or **Woody Pines Primary School. Yes, Thank God! I was right! I recognised ** Carrie’s number of **Piny Woods Primary School. Phone calls during pitch-black hours did tend to give me the chills, driving me to think only...