Kind of think it is now time to share some of the short stories I have written. The outline that is. The very first story, many would have already known, since it was in one of my earlier posts. Since then, I have written about four more short stories through the years. Written as in completed, and not still in draft mode.
Some time ago, I did say I was formulating a book. Initially, I wanted it to be a novel, but now I think it will be pushing things a bit since I do not have much substance to formulate a novel, thus I decided to start with a collection of short stories. It is going to be a collection of eight short stories, so I only have three more to go. But then again, in all honesty, who will really read my works?
Anyway, for those who care, these are the outlines to the other short stories I came up with.
Story 2 - The Wings Of Fate
This was written before the Millennium Bug, but ranged five years. That point in time, there was this talk about the end of the world approaching. So there was a third World War. The main character had been with her boyfriend for five years, but ever since his family members died in the war, he decided to go be a priest.
Heartbroken, she went to Turkey (Europe and Asia was fighting for territory so she went as a volunteer nurse). She saved two Singaporean missionaries from being beaten to death by the locals, and one of them happened to be her school mate. It was the end of the war and she was due back home, but she spent a week with the two Singaporeans before going home.
A month later, her school mate called her and asked her out for dinner. He and his friend wanted to treat her for helping them out. The country was still recovering post-war so there were not that many places to go. In the end, they settled for a hawker centre near her place. Since then, she and her school mate met up once in a while and got to know each other much better. They went for a course gathering, and their school mates were surprised to see them getting along so well, as they never used to talk, but at the gathering they looked as if they were together.
Two years later, she managed to save up enough money to further her studies abroad. She was hesitant to go as she felt she would miss him, but she made up her mind in the end. He went for dinner with her the day before she left. Even though he wished her all the best, gave her practical gifts to survive overseas, he was really going to miss her, but he didn’t want to say anything as he was afraid she would not feel the same way. In the end, she still left.
They did not keep in touch. But three months later, she came back for a vacation. He happened to know about it from another friend and this time, he told her how much he missed her when she was away, and really wished she would not need to go anymore. This time round, she caved in and said she could finish the course via distance learning, so they officially got together.
He proposed to her nine months later, they had a nice wedding and settled into domestic bliss. However, since both of them are busy, they find it hard to find time to date as before. They took for granted they lived together so did not really spend time talking and interacting. Even their sex life went downhill.
A couple of years into their marriage, he was always working late, so by the time he reached home she was already asleep. She wrote in her diary that she felt something was wrong, but she could not quite pinpoint it, and felt she should trust him.
One day, her mother-in-law bought her movie tickets and asked her to go to his office to surprise him, then they should go for a dinner and movie together. When she reached his office, she saw his secretary kissing him. She was so upset that she went back to her mum’s place for the weekend.
Later on, she realized she was pregnant, and he then came running to apologise to her and said that there was nothing going on between he and his staff. So she decided to forgive him and they started over anew, saving their marriage.
Story 3 - A Winter Love Song
This is my personal favourite. She was an undergrad at London School of Economics. One Easter, she went to Wales to go to the beach side and enjoy the spring breeze. She met an Asian guy and they spent a happy day together. He was listening to a Jacky Cheung CD, which also happened to be her favourite.
Then he walked her back to the hotel, but never got her name. The next morning, while she was checking out, the lady at the counter passed her a package and told her a Chinese guy dropped it off “for the long haired Chinese girl”. She opened it and saw the Jacky Cheung CD, with a note he wrote that he had a great time yesterday and he was now giving her the CD as a “meeting present”.
Few months later, she started school again in her final year. She went to a bookshop in Notting Hill to look for reference books. And she met him again, as he worked in the bookshop during the weekends. He helped her pick out the books she was looking for, then told her she must be a final year Business student at LSE, judging from the books she picked out. Then he told her that he works there every weekend, so if she needs any more books, feel free to drop by.
Few days later, while she was strolling in the streets of London, an old lady happened to collapse near the Thames river, and someone on a bike came by and said he was a medical student and went to help her. It was him! She then ordered takeaway food from a Chinese restaurant in London and he came delivering her food. She then realized that he was also working part-time four evenings a week at a Chinese restaurant. After that she found out he was a medical student from Hong Kong, studying in Cambridge University, and taking on several jobs to make ends meet.
He started dropping by her place, giving her leftovers from the restaurant, giving her books she needed. Then he asked her to meet him at the entrance of Trinity College of Cambridge University, where there is a very nice lake and cosy environment to study. They started meeting there often. Feelings were abundant but unspoken.
Their first Christmas together, he told her he was giving up his dream of being a houseman at the Royal London Hospital, instead he was following her back to Singapore to apply for a job there after graduation. She was so happy to hear that! On New Year’s Eve, he was supposed to propose to her officially, but her scarf flew away and he went to retrieve it for her, but a car skidded on the snow and knocked him down. He died instantly. She cried her heart out and brought back mementoes of their time together.
Many years later, she is now the head of Business Development at some local listed company. She is engaged to the Chief Executive Officer’s son, the Vice-President, who pursued her for five years before she finally agreed to be with him. But somehow her smile is gone. She is no longer her bubbly self.
One day, there was a new colleague, and once they were introduced, there was a sensation in her heart which she had never felt for a long time. She and this new colleague had to work on projects together, and they often went out drinking with clients until quite late at night. One night she was crossing the street when a car almost came and knocked her down, but her colleague pulled her back.
They locked eyes for a second and it was then both realized the extent of their feelings for each other. They went home and both started listening to Trademark’s "Only Love" at the same time. Because it was two in the morning, and rain was falling, they were at some crossroads when he pulled her back and they fell in love.
Both went to Shanghai for three months for work, and started an affair. However, since she was still engaged and he had a girlfriend, they called the whole thing off before returning to Singapore, so as not to hurt their respective partners. Shortly after he returned, he broke up with his girlfriend, but she resolved not to hurt her bf ever again, so decided to carry forward the wedding plans.
On the day they were supposed to take the wedding photos, the boyfriend received a call saying that the guy had been hospitalized due to a traffic accident. She panicked and rushed to the hospital to take care of him. She was there throughout the time he was there. Her bf was not happy of course, but he left her alone and not tried to pressure or bug her in any way.
In the end, she recounted to him her experience in England – how she witnessed the guy she loved being knocked down and died and she could not do a thing, and how she did not wish for the same thing to happen. They then decided to break up totally – as she did not want to continue being unfair to him, and he did not want to hold on to someone who never really quite loved him.
She continued taking care of the other guy in the hospital. Unfortunately, because she felt guilty to have hurt so many people, when the guy recovered and expressed his feelings to her, she decided not to be with him and went back to England to further her studies.
A year and half later, she went to New York to attend the wedding of her ex-fiance, who managed to move on with his life and started another relationship soon after she left for England. Seeing him happy lessened her guilt. In the airport about to board the plane to England, she met that guy again. This time he decided to go to England to be with her and she decided to give him a chance after all.
Story 4 - Against All Odds
This needs a bit of fine tuning. Somehow something does not feel right. Its about this two neighbours who grew up together. He went to Police Academy after his university studies, and she went overseas to study. He always thought she was the girl whom he would end up with, so he was quite upset when she came back from her studies and introduced her boyfriend to him.
She and her boyfriend decided to get married shortly after. However, on the day of the wedding, she discovered her husband was actually two-timing her with her room mate back in college, so she ran away from the wedding reception and filed for divorce. He tried his best to pursue her back, but to no avail. Even her neighbour asked her to give him another chance, but she refused to forgive.
Then she discovered she was pregnant. She wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but her parents scolded her out of it, so she decided to keep the child. Her ex-husband found out about her pregnancy and again tried to win her back, but she did not want to have anything more to do with him and decided to bear the child on her own. The only thing he did was to give her a chequebook and supplemental credit card which she could use for the child’s living expenses.
She gave birth to a son, who bore her surname, and was raised by her parents, and the neighbours, who became the god father and the god grandparents. One day, when her child was about a year old, her dad got a stroke and was hospitalized. She became close to the doctor treating her dad and he actually wanted to pursue her, but she did not want anymore romance in her life and just wanted to raise her son on her own.
A while later, she was robbed on her way home and the robbers accidentally pushed the baby into a ditch. He could not be saved and she suffered a breakdown, which she had to be sedated for a very long time. It was her mother and neighbour who helped her and comforted her throughout that period of time.
She went for therapy, managed to get over things and went back to her bubbly self, all the while keeping her son’s baby photo with her. One day, she told her neighbour he did not need to accompany her anymore as she had fully recovered. She thanked him very much but she said he should go on with his life and find a girlfriend, instead of always keeping her company.
Finally, he asked her, what would she do if he said he already found the girl he liked, and if he wanted to accompany her always? She was stunned and avoided him for the next few days. In the end, she realized that he has been there for her all these while, he never wavered in his care and concern, supported her in whatever she did, always being there when she was down. What more would she need? So she finally decide to accept him, and they got married and had a child a year later.
Story 5 - A Musical Romance
I wrote this when I was fantasizing how my final relationship is going to be like, and what I would do when and if I ever enter into another relationship. The main characters met each other at a singing group. They performed together. She is an amateur opera singer and he is singing as a hobby. She liked him first, but they never really got together despite spending time with each other and chatting online often.
One day, before the rehearsal for another performance, she went to Europe for a journey of self-discovery of sorts. She came back on the day of the rehearsal. He realized he actually missed her a lot when she was away. Anyway, the performance ended and they went clubbing to celebrate. He asked for a dance and they were doing the salsa together, when the music suddenly changed to a slow dance.
So he grabbed her hand and they were dancing close to each other, when suddenly he said they have known each other for a while, maybe they should progress further? All she gave him was a big smile and that confirmed their relationship. They then went out for supper with their friends and they started holding hands in front of everyone.
When she went home in a cab with her friend, he sent her a text asking her to let him know when she reached home. That was what she did. The next morning, he woke up early and sent her a text, saying he could not sleep and asked if she would like to go to his place and meet up with his friends in the evening. So she agreed. She then spent a day at his place, just accompanying each other.
Since then, they behaved like any committed couple – he got to meet her parents and go her place quite frequently, she went to his place and did the housework for him, like cooking, ironing, laundry, etc. They even bought a car together. And they still hung out with the people from the singing group. She even went to give him supper when he had to be stuck overnight in the office rushing his work. She sent him off and picked him up each time he had to go for business trips. They get along very well with each other’s family and friends.
One day, after another round of performance of which she was the main lead, he proposed to her in front of all their friends. She agreed of course. Then he had to go on a business trip. Upon coming back, they met their friends at a lounge and started drinking. One girl bumped into them and hinted on a great time she had with him overseas.
He was sorry, and tried to shirk the girl away. The fiancée kept her cool, and while driving him back, he was so drunk that all he said was he did not want to get married, but he proposed to her because he knew she wanted to. She was so upset and heartbroken that after helping him into his bed since he was drunk, she put the proposal ring on his desk and left.
The next morning, he could not contact her at all. He saw the ring which she put on his desk and rushed to her place. Her mum said she was still in the room. He went to her room, but she refused to let him in. But she did not want her parents to kick up a fuss, so she let him in, and he saw that she had been crying her eyes out the whole night.
He apologized sincerely, but she refused to listen. He had to continue coaxing and apologizing, convincing her that he really really want to marry her and promising that he would never fool around again. She, loving him deeply, agreed to give him one chance and forgave him. And hence they got married.
So here there, my collection of short stories so far. Seriously, I do not think they will ever make any bestseller's list - if they even get published in the first place!
Some time ago, I did say I was formulating a book. Initially, I wanted it to be a novel, but now I think it will be pushing things a bit since I do not have much substance to formulate a novel, thus I decided to start with a collection of short stories. It is going to be a collection of eight short stories, so I only have three more to go. But then again, in all honesty, who will really read my works?
Anyway, for those who care, these are the outlines to the other short stories I came up with.
Story 2 - The Wings Of Fate
This was written before the Millennium Bug, but ranged five years. That point in time, there was this talk about the end of the world approaching. So there was a third World War. The main character had been with her boyfriend for five years, but ever since his family members died in the war, he decided to go be a priest.
Heartbroken, she went to Turkey (Europe and Asia was fighting for territory so she went as a volunteer nurse). She saved two Singaporean missionaries from being beaten to death by the locals, and one of them happened to be her school mate. It was the end of the war and she was due back home, but she spent a week with the two Singaporeans before going home.
A month later, her school mate called her and asked her out for dinner. He and his friend wanted to treat her for helping them out. The country was still recovering post-war so there were not that many places to go. In the end, they settled for a hawker centre near her place. Since then, she and her school mate met up once in a while and got to know each other much better. They went for a course gathering, and their school mates were surprised to see them getting along so well, as they never used to talk, but at the gathering they looked as if they were together.
Two years later, she managed to save up enough money to further her studies abroad. She was hesitant to go as she felt she would miss him, but she made up her mind in the end. He went for dinner with her the day before she left. Even though he wished her all the best, gave her practical gifts to survive overseas, he was really going to miss her, but he didn’t want to say anything as he was afraid she would not feel the same way. In the end, she still left.
They did not keep in touch. But three months later, she came back for a vacation. He happened to know about it from another friend and this time, he told her how much he missed her when she was away, and really wished she would not need to go anymore. This time round, she caved in and said she could finish the course via distance learning, so they officially got together.
He proposed to her nine months later, they had a nice wedding and settled into domestic bliss. However, since both of them are busy, they find it hard to find time to date as before. They took for granted they lived together so did not really spend time talking and interacting. Even their sex life went downhill.
A couple of years into their marriage, he was always working late, so by the time he reached home she was already asleep. She wrote in her diary that she felt something was wrong, but she could not quite pinpoint it, and felt she should trust him.
One day, her mother-in-law bought her movie tickets and asked her to go to his office to surprise him, then they should go for a dinner and movie together. When she reached his office, she saw his secretary kissing him. She was so upset that she went back to her mum’s place for the weekend.
Later on, she realized she was pregnant, and he then came running to apologise to her and said that there was nothing going on between he and his staff. So she decided to forgive him and they started over anew, saving their marriage.
Story 3 - A Winter Love Song
This is my personal favourite. She was an undergrad at London School of Economics. One Easter, she went to Wales to go to the beach side and enjoy the spring breeze. She met an Asian guy and they spent a happy day together. He was listening to a Jacky Cheung CD, which also happened to be her favourite.
Then he walked her back to the hotel, but never got her name. The next morning, while she was checking out, the lady at the counter passed her a package and told her a Chinese guy dropped it off “for the long haired Chinese girl”. She opened it and saw the Jacky Cheung CD, with a note he wrote that he had a great time yesterday and he was now giving her the CD as a “meeting present”.
Few months later, she started school again in her final year. She went to a bookshop in Notting Hill to look for reference books. And she met him again, as he worked in the bookshop during the weekends. He helped her pick out the books she was looking for, then told her she must be a final year Business student at LSE, judging from the books she picked out. Then he told her that he works there every weekend, so if she needs any more books, feel free to drop by.
Few days later, while she was strolling in the streets of London, an old lady happened to collapse near the Thames river, and someone on a bike came by and said he was a medical student and went to help her. It was him! She then ordered takeaway food from a Chinese restaurant in London and he came delivering her food. She then realized that he was also working part-time four evenings a week at a Chinese restaurant. After that she found out he was a medical student from Hong Kong, studying in Cambridge University, and taking on several jobs to make ends meet.
He started dropping by her place, giving her leftovers from the restaurant, giving her books she needed. Then he asked her to meet him at the entrance of Trinity College of Cambridge University, where there is a very nice lake and cosy environment to study. They started meeting there often. Feelings were abundant but unspoken.
Their first Christmas together, he told her he was giving up his dream of being a houseman at the Royal London Hospital, instead he was following her back to Singapore to apply for a job there after graduation. She was so happy to hear that! On New Year’s Eve, he was supposed to propose to her officially, but her scarf flew away and he went to retrieve it for her, but a car skidded on the snow and knocked him down. He died instantly. She cried her heart out and brought back mementoes of their time together.
Many years later, she is now the head of Business Development at some local listed company. She is engaged to the Chief Executive Officer’s son, the Vice-President, who pursued her for five years before she finally agreed to be with him. But somehow her smile is gone. She is no longer her bubbly self.
One day, there was a new colleague, and once they were introduced, there was a sensation in her heart which she had never felt for a long time. She and this new colleague had to work on projects together, and they often went out drinking with clients until quite late at night. One night she was crossing the street when a car almost came and knocked her down, but her colleague pulled her back.
They locked eyes for a second and it was then both realized the extent of their feelings for each other. They went home and both started listening to Trademark’s "Only Love" at the same time. Because it was two in the morning, and rain was falling, they were at some crossroads when he pulled her back and they fell in love.
Both went to Shanghai for three months for work, and started an affair. However, since she was still engaged and he had a girlfriend, they called the whole thing off before returning to Singapore, so as not to hurt their respective partners. Shortly after he returned, he broke up with his girlfriend, but she resolved not to hurt her bf ever again, so decided to carry forward the wedding plans.
On the day they were supposed to take the wedding photos, the boyfriend received a call saying that the guy had been hospitalized due to a traffic accident. She panicked and rushed to the hospital to take care of him. She was there throughout the time he was there. Her bf was not happy of course, but he left her alone and not tried to pressure or bug her in any way.
In the end, she recounted to him her experience in England – how she witnessed the guy she loved being knocked down and died and she could not do a thing, and how she did not wish for the same thing to happen. They then decided to break up totally – as she did not want to continue being unfair to him, and he did not want to hold on to someone who never really quite loved him.
She continued taking care of the other guy in the hospital. Unfortunately, because she felt guilty to have hurt so many people, when the guy recovered and expressed his feelings to her, she decided not to be with him and went back to England to further her studies.
A year and half later, she went to New York to attend the wedding of her ex-fiance, who managed to move on with his life and started another relationship soon after she left for England. Seeing him happy lessened her guilt. In the airport about to board the plane to England, she met that guy again. This time he decided to go to England to be with her and she decided to give him a chance after all.
Story 4 - Against All Odds
This needs a bit of fine tuning. Somehow something does not feel right. Its about this two neighbours who grew up together. He went to Police Academy after his university studies, and she went overseas to study. He always thought she was the girl whom he would end up with, so he was quite upset when she came back from her studies and introduced her boyfriend to him.
She and her boyfriend decided to get married shortly after. However, on the day of the wedding, she discovered her husband was actually two-timing her with her room mate back in college, so she ran away from the wedding reception and filed for divorce. He tried his best to pursue her back, but to no avail. Even her neighbour asked her to give him another chance, but she refused to forgive.
Then she discovered she was pregnant. She wanted to terminate the pregnancy, but her parents scolded her out of it, so she decided to keep the child. Her ex-husband found out about her pregnancy and again tried to win her back, but she did not want to have anything more to do with him and decided to bear the child on her own. The only thing he did was to give her a chequebook and supplemental credit card which she could use for the child’s living expenses.
She gave birth to a son, who bore her surname, and was raised by her parents, and the neighbours, who became the god father and the god grandparents. One day, when her child was about a year old, her dad got a stroke and was hospitalized. She became close to the doctor treating her dad and he actually wanted to pursue her, but she did not want anymore romance in her life and just wanted to raise her son on her own.
A while later, she was robbed on her way home and the robbers accidentally pushed the baby into a ditch. He could not be saved and she suffered a breakdown, which she had to be sedated for a very long time. It was her mother and neighbour who helped her and comforted her throughout that period of time.
She went for therapy, managed to get over things and went back to her bubbly self, all the while keeping her son’s baby photo with her. One day, she told her neighbour he did not need to accompany her anymore as she had fully recovered. She thanked him very much but she said he should go on with his life and find a girlfriend, instead of always keeping her company.
Finally, he asked her, what would she do if he said he already found the girl he liked, and if he wanted to accompany her always? She was stunned and avoided him for the next few days. In the end, she realized that he has been there for her all these while, he never wavered in his care and concern, supported her in whatever she did, always being there when she was down. What more would she need? So she finally decide to accept him, and they got married and had a child a year later.
Story 5 - A Musical Romance
I wrote this when I was fantasizing how my final relationship is going to be like, and what I would do when and if I ever enter into another relationship. The main characters met each other at a singing group. They performed together. She is an amateur opera singer and he is singing as a hobby. She liked him first, but they never really got together despite spending time with each other and chatting online often.
One day, before the rehearsal for another performance, she went to Europe for a journey of self-discovery of sorts. She came back on the day of the rehearsal. He realized he actually missed her a lot when she was away. Anyway, the performance ended and they went clubbing to celebrate. He asked for a dance and they were doing the salsa together, when the music suddenly changed to a slow dance.
So he grabbed her hand and they were dancing close to each other, when suddenly he said they have known each other for a while, maybe they should progress further? All she gave him was a big smile and that confirmed their relationship. They then went out for supper with their friends and they started holding hands in front of everyone.
When she went home in a cab with her friend, he sent her a text asking her to let him know when she reached home. That was what she did. The next morning, he woke up early and sent her a text, saying he could not sleep and asked if she would like to go to his place and meet up with his friends in the evening. So she agreed. She then spent a day at his place, just accompanying each other.
Since then, they behaved like any committed couple – he got to meet her parents and go her place quite frequently, she went to his place and did the housework for him, like cooking, ironing, laundry, etc. They even bought a car together. And they still hung out with the people from the singing group. She even went to give him supper when he had to be stuck overnight in the office rushing his work. She sent him off and picked him up each time he had to go for business trips. They get along very well with each other’s family and friends.
One day, after another round of performance of which she was the main lead, he proposed to her in front of all their friends. She agreed of course. Then he had to go on a business trip. Upon coming back, they met their friends at a lounge and started drinking. One girl bumped into them and hinted on a great time she had with him overseas.
He was sorry, and tried to shirk the girl away. The fiancée kept her cool, and while driving him back, he was so drunk that all he said was he did not want to get married, but he proposed to her because he knew she wanted to. She was so upset and heartbroken that after helping him into his bed since he was drunk, she put the proposal ring on his desk and left.
The next morning, he could not contact her at all. He saw the ring which she put on his desk and rushed to her place. Her mum said she was still in the room. He went to her room, but she refused to let him in. But she did not want her parents to kick up a fuss, so she let him in, and he saw that she had been crying her eyes out the whole night.
He apologized sincerely, but she refused to listen. He had to continue coaxing and apologizing, convincing her that he really really want to marry her and promising that he would never fool around again. She, loving him deeply, agreed to give him one chance and forgave him. And hence they got married.
So here there, my collection of short stories so far. Seriously, I do not think they will ever make any bestseller's list - if they even get published in the first place!
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