We looked like a perfect family.

It was the third day of Chinese New Year and there was nothing much at work. I went to the office and left after an hour or so. With nothing to do, I went to HMV to pick up some CDs and DVDs. Bought Jay Chou's live DVD - F would love it although she was not exactly that crazy of Jay Chou. Also bought a japanese DVD (horror) - sigh, why was I doing? Still thinking of her. And bought 2 CDs for myself. And then I went home to watch the Jay Chou live concert on DVD. It was not a bad DVD and even at my age I can appreciate the fact that he is so popular although I could not make out what he was singing about. Then F came back and she watched the DVD with me. Get the maid to make some noodles for them and after that, got them to finish their homework and kumon. We were supposed to visit eldest brother in the evening and I asked the maid to cook early dinner so that we can go there earlier as F wanted to swim. As planned, we had early dinner and everything was in rush but we managed to leave the house just after 6pm. On the way, I SMS her about our visit and to confirm that she will be playing mahjong and will not join us. Told her it was OK. We reached my brother's house at around 6.35pm and the children changed immediately to their swimsuit. I put on my swimming trunk as well as F had prepared for me. It was a cold day and the wind was very strong. S was shivering even as the wind was blowing and she was not in the water yet. F was already in the water. To encourage S to go into the water I have to jump in first. It was shivering cold and I had to jump around to generate some heat to keep out the coldness. S jumped in to and she was so shivering cold that she had to hug me and I carried her around in the pool. And F was swimming. She was just a strong girl - beating off the coldness easily. After a while, the wind was not so strong and it was not too cold. I swam a few laps with F while S was playing by herself at the edge of the pool. I got up to check my mobile and realize that she was joining us as there were too many kakis for the mahjong session. It was a cold evening but I felt happy with the two kids round. We got out of the pool and went up to my brother's apartment. It was a long night and time passed so slowly. They arrived one family at a time. And she came too. We already had dinner and so we just took some soup. F was watching TV and S was playing PS2 game. And she was there playing with the little one. The little one was so cute and playful and went around playing with all the uncles and aunties. We looked like a perfect family. It was almost 10pm and it was time to leave. The children hopped into my car and we left the carpark almost at the same time - her car was behind me as we turned out of the carpark. It was quite a drive home and I actually got passed her car along the way. I felt my heart ache a trifle as I saw her at the steering wheels. When we got home, the children all went to sleep except the little one. She refused to sleep the whole night and I was up the whole night trying to grapple with her. At long last I fell asleep and I woke up to go to the toilet. Then I realized that the little one has created a mini-havoc - throwing things round the floor and had in fact removed her own shorts and pampers. But at least she was sleeping and I put back the pampers for her. And I slept well after that.