My Boyhood Crush on Kaira Gong

It was in 1999. I saw yet again, the b ball girl bounced into the school canteen for a drink.

She's always bubbling around, energetic, a smile so demure and shy that will melt any guy's heart. Haha ok I'm exaggerating. But it's not common to find a serious sports person who has such a smile. And that was what made me notice her whenever she crossed my sight in school.

Nah she wasn't the prettiest of the girls in school then. There were tonnes of other pretty girls around. We had new face of the year, we had a school "flower" by the name of Rui-En, we had Mel Chng too. To make things worse, her complexion then was not very nice. heh. Her face was not very smooth then, had pimples. And she was always playing sidekick to another b ball girl from her sec school. (Cannot say her name. All I could say she was from S03A.) Her friend was much prettier, or maybe she made her friend look better. I think I'm too harsh here.

But I just noticed her more than her better looking friend. Not for her beauty, not for her figure, (ok lah, her figure was good too. B ball player couldn't be that bad right... I better stop if not you will think I'm a lecher. Alright, I admit! I'm one. heh. I'm already a lecher at age 18!),

Using an old cliche, I got attracted to her of her smile! It's corny I know, but as with all things that make boys stir, a smile of a girl works wonders on a boy. To top it all up and make things worse,

I didn't know her name.

So I just got by and remembered her as "LS's sidekick".

I never picked up enough courage to approach her. Anyway I was too much of a mugger then to be bothered too much by such things.

Years went by. After army, after NUS, after army again, after NIE, after one year of working, LS's sidekick disappeared from my memory totally. I was preoccupied with other people and work.

Then I stumbled upon some archived national day songs recently, and kinda liked the song "My Island Home", cos I think that will be the song I will most probably listen to very frequently in the future.

Then I began researching on the singer for fun. It was odd. I didn't pay attention to her 2 years ago when she was singing the song on NDP, though I watched the parade on TV.
Maybe I wasn't so meticulous then.

But from the research that I had done recently, I discovered that she is the same age as me, so there was a high chance that she was from my batch in school.

I quickly dug out the dusty year book and scoured the pages for her photo. Yup! 2AO3B! I saw her face, the same old face that was in my memory. LS's sidekick. heh.

Compared to then, she is much feminine and prettier now! Complexion has improved! heh. Lecher self reactivated.

I must admit I am a true blue stalker.

But after all these years. There is just anguish left in me.

Why didn't I try to talk to her then?

Why didn't I try to ask LS for her contact, or to intro us?

But anyway, it has been so many years. If I hadn't had the chance to know her then, it's rather hard to know her now too, given her status.

Right now I'm just glad to be able to admire her from far,

the shy and demure LS's sidekick then,

is the confident and glamourous Kaira Gong of today.







P.S. Looking at her now is really an inspiration. I believed she didn't plan to be in showbiz all along. Just that opportunities came knocking and she got into showbiz.

Putting things into my perspective, it is heartening to know that someone amongst us, a peer, is still chasing or has already fulfilled her dreams.

Why can't I do so then?