Mrs. Sonali- Liu Yifei

Yesterday afternoon was probably the most memorable time for me since I came to Singapore. My host family took me to experience both the Chinese flavor and the European environment. However, it was not the scene impressed me, but the tender warmth between the lovely couple.

Jackson is from Singapore and Rachel from Korea. They met each other in a church in their university years in America. The first time I met them, I found them more like sister and brother than husband and wife since they looked alike. Maybe that is so-called a husband-wife look. Every time I see them in their Facebook profile photo smiling next to each other, I hear them really saying “I love you”.

We first arrived at the Chinese Garden. We saw the turtles and huge fish in the lake. But since a heavy rain arrived, we decided to drive to a western café in Dempsey Hills to have an in-door tour. After entering the café, I thought Rachel and Jackson may want to sit face to face with each other. But Jackson asked me to sit opposite to Rachel and he sat next to her. When having coffee and snacks, Rachel shared to me about her embarrassing school life in America. She was sent there at 10 year old without any English basis. Since she did not understand what other students said, when one of her classmates asked her if she was relative to Bruce Lee since her last name was also Lee, she just answered “yeah”. Rumors flew in the entire school, even her teacher came to her for confirmation.

We were totally amused by that story. I noticed Jackson’s sight was on Rachel from beginning to end and he also laughed out loud with love sparkling in his eyes. I guess he must have heard about this story for many times but he still laughed so passionately and happily as if he never knew it before.

After we went back to the car, Jackson reminded everyone to check if we have left anything in the café. Rachel suddenly found her mobile phone missing. As we were worried whether we had left it at the Chinese Garden, Jackson gently smiled, saying:” your phone is here with me.” He slowly took out it of his pocket, “I just like to fool my wife.” Rachel smiled back and tenderly pinched Jackson’s face, "Jackson always makes me feel silly like this!”

I wanted to say “you are going to be great father and mother when you have kids!” but I finally just thanked them for the unforgettable journey and the rain even made it more interesting. Every time I hear they call each other “sweetie” or “honey”, I just can picture Jackson hugging Rachel from her back, laughing and walking together clumsily in my mind.