James’ father agrees to a fake marriage in return for money. James however, was not aware of that until it was too late. Brokered through an agent, his father married a 19 year old girl from China. Then he passed away, leaving him to deal with the aftermath. James thought Wen was here to fight for the inheritance, but he was in for a surprise.
Ok, you probably think you can roughly guess how this goes just by reading the title.
Young woman working in KTV, want to get PR in Singapore and the usual nonsense. Find a man to marry, so she gets to stay here and continue doing whatever she does.
You’re partially right but in this instance, it’s more complicated than that.
It’s easy to stereotype people from certain country or race or whatever but i assure you, my situation is unique.
First, this is screwed up no matter how you look at it.
I mean come on la.
Yours truly is 26. My dad, is 72.
When Wen became my stepmother, she was 19.
Wah lan eh this kind of combination,i was expecting the government to profile and flag this as a major red flag.
You tell me this doesn’t raise any eyebrow and red flags at the registry of marriage?
The thing is, it didn’t. And i don’t know how.
Maybe back then there was no AI or whatever to crawl though every single registration.
Ok, you can argue say my father is a billionaire. Damm loaded, can marry anyone he wants. There isn’t a law that says he cannot marry someone almost 4 times younger than him.
Here’s the thing, my dad is not a billionaire, he’s not a millionaire too.
As a self employed taxi driver for most of his working years, he barely had any CPF.
Yes his greatest asset was his 3 room HDB flat.
Right, you think Wen is marrying my father for the 40 year old HDB flat in Bedok. She isn’t.
Wen, is loaded. She’s rich. I’m talking properties in Shanghai kind of rich.
She’s not here to work in a KTV or anything, she studied here, started a small ecommerce business but nothing substantial enough to support her PR application. The easiest way?
Marry a Singaporean.
She loved everything about this country and through an agent, a deal was brokered somehow with my father.
This was done before the Covid crisis was fully over back in early 2021. Maybe the red flag was overlooked. Maybe everyone was busy with other stuff.
Who cares if a 72 year old man is marrying a 19 year old when people are dying of a virus?
My dad never told me about him re-marrying, or that i have a 19 year old step mother. He never once mentioned it. I have never met Wen, ever.
All was good until a few years later.
In 2025.
Yes, 4 years has passed. Wen was then 23.
And my dad passed on in his sleep.
He was healthy, everything normal. No usual 3 highs for the old folks, takes walk every morning after retiring. I’ll bring him to Genting a couple of times a year, that was the furthest he was willing to travel.
Then life has it’s way of flipping everything upside down when you least expect it.
One morning , he just didn’t wake up.
I was about to head out to work when i realised he was still in his room. He was usually up at 5am everyday but i saw him turned on his side, facing the empty half of the bed where my mum use to be.
I went in to check and realised he was not responding.
The rest went as you can expect.
Made the necessary reports, and prepared for a wake.
I kept it simple as per his wish, just a single day at the funeral house. He didn’t have many friends and we didn’t have many relatives.
Then at the funeral parlour, just when i finished settling the deposits and all with the manager, i saw this beautiful, amazing woman walk in.
Wen.
Dressed in black top and a pair of white shorts, Wen waited for me to be done with the manager before coming over to me.
I was sure she came to the wrong hall.
I don’t have a hot cousin, and i don’t remember my dad having any friends her age.
James : hi…are you at the right hall?
Wen : Hi James…i’m Lee Wen…
James : Huh ? do i know you?
Wen smiled and gestured to the nearest chair in the empty hall.
Wen : I think you better sit down…
James: huh ?
I don’t know why, but i followed her to the table closest to my dad’s coffin.
Wen : give me a second…
I sat down and my head was already starting to think of the possibilities.
Who is this person?
Why she know my name?
First thought would be insurance agent. She sold my dad some policies, and now she’s coming to help me with mine.
Or maybe she owes my father money?
No, cannot be, more likely my father owes her money and she’s here to collect.
Wen did not sit down, she gestured with a delicate raise of her index finger, asking me to give her a minute.
Wen walked over to my dad’s picture, offered up incenses before walking over to the coffin.
She looked in, touched the glass panel and smiled affectionately at my father in the way a daughter would.
Wen took her time looking at my father’s lifeless body. I could see her tears well up and she wiped them with the back of her hand.
I saw her mouth the words’ 一路走好‘ (Have a smooth journey to the after life)
Then she took her time to walk back to the table i was at.
She sat down across me and i find myself looking at her body, and her legs. Yes, a terrible, terrible thing to be doing in a funeral hall but she is pretty. That is a fact. And there is something about her that is really attractive. I could feel my heart racing just looking at her.
Wen : James…
James : Yes?
Now, i can tell she has an accent, and pretty much guessed where she was from.
At the back of my head, i was half expecting her to say she’s here to lay claim to the HDB, or my father owes her like 50k, or she’s the beneficiary of his insurance policies.
But she surprised me with something that is totally out of this world.
Wen : James…i hope you will remain calm…when you hear this…
James : What is it?
Wen took a deep breath, sat forward a little and looked at me in my eyes.
Wen : I am your step mother…
Coming soon