James reluctantly lends money to a friend’s wife. All is well when she keeps up the installment payment. However, the signs of a downward spiral is there, James could see it. Tom may be his secondary school friend, but when it comes to business, you do what you have to.
I’m a money lender. There, i said it.
My friends like to tease me sometimes, they call me ‘Ah long’, or loan shark. However, that is not accurate because i operate a legal money lending business.
There’s a bit of murky area for my industry because of a few black sheeps but by and large, many of the legal money lending business are legit. People don’t borrow from banks for all sorts of reasons, bad credit scores is one of them.
My business depend on a lot of word of mouth recommendation. I do car loans, business loans, personal loans and invoice factoring.
Invoice factoring means i buy over your accounts receivable. You may be a small company, new startup and you need the cash flow. It’s hard for a new company to get loans but for me, i look at the client you have and if it’s a reputable one, the paper work are in order, then all is good.
Say you have an invoice for 10000 for a government agency, you can’t wait 30 days for payment, you need to pay your staff and suppliers, i buy that account from you for 9200.
The money from your client comes to my account at the end of 30 days, meanwhile, i advance you 9200. Simple and straightforward.
Personal loans, i do loans from 300 to 30000, people borrow money for all sorts of weird reason. One of my most regular customer Mr Tong, comes by every month. He borrows money for a different 2nd hand rolex, wears it for a couple of weeks, sells it, pays his loan and he repeats.
Taken in perspective, he end up paying a couple of hundreds every month to have a new watch on his wrist.
I also have regular customers from the neighbourhood, hair salon need new equipment, hawker need new fridge. Fruit stall need to renovate. Most of them are uneducated and not fluent with English. They prefer to deal with someone they know and comfortable with.
I may be a money lender, but i also help them with their letters, CPF contributions, basically, they treat me like a free translator or letter reader.
When i walk around the row of HDB shops in Hougang, i can’t go more than 10 steps without bumping into someone i know. We will banter a bit, sometimes i get free snacks, fruits. Sometimes i help to fix a light bulb, empty the rat trap, you know, somewhat like your friendly neighbourhood money lender.
When i walk around the shops, there is one particular one i like to go by a bit slower.
It’s a dance studio.
One that is operated by my friend’s wife. Xiuyun.
Xiuyun is everything i wished for in a wife.
She had an effortless grace about her, a smile that could light up the gloomiest of days.
Xiuyun is from Ipoh, and she met my secondary school friend Tom through mutual friends.
I stopped briefly outside the dance studio and Xiuyun looked out and she smiled at me.
I waved and reluctantly walked by, not wanting to appear like a pervert ogling at her in leotards.
I can’t tell you exactly when it started, but I know it’s never left me. Maybe it was a childhood memory buried so deep I can’t dig it out, or maybe it’s something that was always there, waiting for the right time to burst out of my chest like some Alien growth.
I remember the first time I saw a girl in leotards. I felt alarm bells going off all over my head.
It’s not just a simple leotard, but the way it moved on a body, how it stretched, how it clung, how it refused to let go.
It wasn’t like a dress or a skirt, loose and flowing. No, this was something different. This was skin-tight, seamless, a second layer that turned a person into something… sculpted. Controlled. Perfect.
The way it hugged the waist, the way it pressed against the stomach, the way it carved out the shape of the body with a precision that felt almost unnatural.
Like the fabric knew more about the wearer than they knew about themselves. Lululemon tights and sports bra can’t compare to leotards. Those can be worn by any girl, even aunties who don’t work out but felt compelled to jump onto the trend of dressing up in athleisure wear.
Leotards are different. It’s on another level, and to wear it, you must be able to bring out that elegance.
It’s not just about the look—it’s the feel. That slick, synthetic material, smooth beneath your fingers, tightening when it stretches, resisting when it’s pulled.
The whisper of spandex as it stretches with your movement, the faint, delicious sound of compression.
There’s something almost cruel about it, the way it refuses to wrinkle, the way it forces the body to conform to it rather than the other way around. And that’s what makes it so intoxicating. A leotard isn’t like lingerie—it doesn’t slip off with a careless tug.
It’s a prison, a beautiful, elastic prison, locking the body in, demanding it stay the way it is.
The person wearing it can struggle, they can shift, but the fabric will always pull them back, hold them in place. It teases. It denies. It resists. And maybe that’s the part that drives me mad.
Once, i accidentally caught a glimpse of Xiuyun putting on her leotards by accident. The studio just finished renovation, the opening ceremony is a few hours away. Since my money lending shop is just around the corner, i came over earlier to see if there’s anything i could help.
Tom, who happened to be stepping out, asked me to help put up the ribbon while he head over to his car to grab the pair of golden scissors.
Tom : Just stick with tape that side first can already. Be right back.
James: ok sure.
I stepped in and happened to look towards the end of the studio where the changing rooms were. One of the doors were ajar and through the mirror’s reflection, i saw Xiuyun changing.
She must have thought there was no one else aside from her husband Tom around, so she did not shut the door.
I froze as my eyes devoured that erotic sight of Xiuyun.
There’s a moment, just before someone pulls on a leotard, the moment where they hesitate and takes a deep breath. And i happen to see that exact moment that Xiuyun had.
The fabric is small, too small, and she know she’ll have to squeeze, shift, force their way into it. And I watch that moment, transfixed, because I know what’s coming next. I know that once it’s on, once the leotard has claimed them, they are no longer just themselves. They are something sharper, something cleaner, something designed.
Something meant to be looked at. And that’s what I can’t stop thinking about—the transformation, the surrender. Because once it’s on, it doesn’t just shape the body. It owns it.
I allowed by eyes a couple of seconds more before i quickly attached the ribbon and left the shop.
Needless to say, that was a scene that stayed with me for a long time, i masturbated to it so often that my mind began filling in details too obscene even for a JAV production.
Xiuyun has this gentle, soft spoken demeanor that that makes people instinctively lower their voices around her, as if anything too loud might shatter the quiet grace she carries.
Her complexion is porcelain-smooth, her hair is long, sleek, and as dark as ink, usually gathered into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, a habit ingrained by years of dance discipline. Yet, when loose, it cascades down her back in a silken curtain, an unexpected contrast to her otherwise controlled appearance. Her lips, my god, i tell you.
Singaporean men classify lips into two category.
The kind that wraps around your penis and make you quiver, or the kind that don’t. Xiuyun’s lips, are perfect for kissing, and even more perfect for, well, doing something that used to be considered illegal in Singapore.
My relationship with Xiuyun is a neighbourly one, i walk past a couple of times a week, i wave if she sees me. Every couple of months, when i hang out with Tom, she will be there, and i get to feast my eyes on her body.
I thought that was the extend of our relationship, one that involves plenty of imagination on my end. I was wrong.
One day, on a rainy Friday afternoon.
I heard the electronic chime on the door bell of my money lending office play it’s melody, indicating that someone just walked in.
I looked up from my computer and to my surprise, i saw Xiuyun stepping into the office.
James : hey Xiuyun…what brings you over?
She gave me a shy smile and i could tell she was both uncomfortable and a little awkward. She looked around my office and i offered her a seat.
James : tea?
Xiuyun : ermm…ok…
I made her a cup of tea and sat down opposite her.
James: everything ok?
Xiuyun : James…i…would like to borrow money from you…
It took me a couple of seconds to register what she just said. She sipped her tea, and avoided eye contact with me. Not that her eyes will meet mine if she happen to look over, for my eyes were already exploring her body, looking at the leotards she was wearing underneath that sweater.
11100 words