“A girl always on a chocolate sugar high,” my study mate described me as such.
Those were the pre-A Level days when we only went to school to do self-study. There were no lectures and tutorials. I and two schoolmates formed a study group. We stayed in the Reading Room at Hwa Chong from morning to night.
I brought chocolate and fruit everyday to share with them. I needed snacks to keep myself attentive and awake. I only brought two kinds of chocolate, Ferrero Rocher and Hershey’s Kisses. I had a problem when I first brought the Ferrero Rocher 3pc pack. Everybody was entitled to one piece. I quickly finished mine, but the two gentlemen did not rush. They left their shares resting on the table. The golden wrapping paper gleamed in the light. I relished the strong fragrance of cocoa in my mouth. Swallowed hard, I could not take my eyes off the untouched delight.
“Do you mind if I eat your chocolate?” I finally asked with one hand reaching over to the nearer piece.
The boys were too amused to say no. Since then, I learnt to bring more than one pack of Ferrero Rocher. When I forgot to bring more, the gentlemen learnt to donate theirs.
To supply a variety of fruits, I bought different kinds of grapes, red globe grapes, green grapes, and black grapes. Some were seedless, and some were not. Occasionally, three of us went to the Fairprice at the Coronation Plaza together after dinner to shop for grapes. Most of the time, they let me decide. Before long, we exhausted all the choices in the supermarket. We arrived at conclusion that Red Globe was our favorite, despite the fact that both of them disagreed.
Gone are the days when we studied together and made fun of each other. We sat for the examinations. The results were released. The boys have gone to serve the nation. I feel nostalgic about the past, but I believe true friends will never be lost.
My phone vibrates. A new message sent from Tekong asks, “Do you still eat chocolate everyday?”
