Alexander (2031):
Home. For some reason, this word has been central to me. I know. It's ironic for someone who's a product of three countries: Korea, China, and Portugal. Add to that the fact that my entire life, I seemed to be meant to live everywhere. I was born in Hong Kong, and was raised in Macau. Then, opportunity came knocking and took me to California to study in university. A year later, life would take another dramatic, delightful unexpected turn when I was given a chance to be, of all things, a pop star in Korea with a group called U-Kiss. Through all the places I've been in, this one word is what I kept thinking about. I guess since I really didn't have a clue where home exactly was, I had to set up my own definition. Home, to me, has been wherever my heart is. And this is what I….
Knock knock. "Uh…Daddy?"
"Oh, hi, Princess Beatrice! Come in."
It's so amazing how my nine year old girl makes me smile constantly.
"No, Daddy. I just wanted to say I cooked dinner for you. It might get cold."
"Awww! Sweetheart, you didn't have to! I'll be out in a second….Gah! Watch out!"
Suddenly, this framed photo I've been keeping in a bookshelf comes crashing down. I took it many years ago, in my youth, on a break from rushing from recordings to music shows to world tours. It's of a raven haired young woman with sparkling eyes and a big smile. I took it from far away, as if I was there to capture her candid moves. Since I took it on that autumn day in 2010, I've looked at this photograph every single day. I even put it on the bookcase so I could stare at it everyday whenever I'm in our study. Good thing, my little girl caught it before it hit the floor.
"Nice save, dear!"
"Thanks, Dad! Say…is this….?"
"Yup, that would be her. She looked so happy there, that I had to capture it."
"But does Mummy know…"
"Not a clue. But, yeah, I will have to tell her someday….Just not now?"
"Haha! Okay, Daddy! Well, dinner's getting cold, okay."
Just who was in that photograph? Well, she's someone who still invades my mind 21 years after I took it. I guess she just has that power. Even if the paper's already yellowing and it would have probably been dust by now had it not been for the silver frame it's encased in, the image of her is still fresh in my mind.
I go to a big, white armoire in this study. Inside, I unearth a big carved box I bought around the time I took that photograph that seemed to worthy to store only special things inside it. Well, what's inside doesn't disappoint. Sure, it may look like yellowing paper to you. But what was written on those sheets? They take me back….to her.
