this unkempt, disheveled chinese national-looking man suddenly looms up and says in chinese "little miss, can you come here for a while? i want to ask you something."

i smile quickly, shake "no" and clatter away into the ensuing darkness. my heart nearly had stopped for the tiniest fraction of a moment.

aljunied: the way- fraught with wariness and adrenaline, ending once i reach the civilisation of the mrt station.

there're cyclists ringing their bells irritatingly at obstruction of their way. old faded mangy men stumbling, shuffling, croaking. a middle-aged woman cackling to herself at the underpass. who are they? the Other. no, no, not me at all.

i shudder at the memory; yet it draws me in and i will yet return.