Chapter 2

" Three bowls of pork noodles and three bottles of beer, please!"

This was a familiar voice to me after awhile.

I learnt that he was a student at the acting school when I overhead him talking to my mother one night while he was paying for his noodle. He came over to the noodle store almost every night.

"Aunty Sam, your pork noodle is the best in Hong Kong. I cannot get enough of it," he would always compliment my mother.

Sometimes, he would come alone but most of the time with his other classmates from the acting school.

Some of the girl students who came with him were very pretty. I knew they would be famous one day. My mother told me that this acting school produced some of the most famous actors and actresses in Hong Kong. Some even made it internationally.

"Hi little girl. What is your name? Are you Aunty Sam's daughter?" he asked me one day when I served him his noodle.

"Yes, I am Aunty Sam's daughter and my name is Tiffany Yan," I answered him.

"I am Louis. Nice to meet you," he introduced himself.

"How old are you?" he asked again.

"I am eleven years old," I answered him.

He pinched my chubby cheek while saying, "You are such a cute girl."

"Are you tired? Have you finish your homework?" he continued asking.

"I am alright. I took a nap in the afternoon. I still have a few more pages of history to finish. I can manage," I answered.

"If you have any problem with your homework, you can ask me. I was quite good in my study last time," he said while smiling at me.

I smiled back at him.

This was the starting point of our friendship.

Every time when he came by the stall, he and his friends would talk to me. Once in awhile I would ask him for his help in some of my homework.

I am known as Yan Yan among his friends. I was a chubby girl who wore a pair of round spectacles and I like to wear my hair back in a pony tail. They loved to pinch both my cheeks when they had the chance to.

During the weekends, I would sit with them and listened to all their stories.

Sometimes he would bring me to the nearby park for a walk or accompany me to sit on the swing when there were less customer at the stall. we would talk about a lot of things.

Louis was a hard working man. He worked harder than his peers. He was a very good actor.

Once he told me that, "Nothing in this world comes for free. You have to work hard for it."

Soon Louis was cast as extra in a few movies.

I was very happy for him as his hard work paid off. This inspired me to study hard to.

"Yan Yan, one day you will see my face on all the billboard in Hong Kong. I would obtain the Golden Horse Award for the best actor in all the movies I acted in," he told me one day.

He became busier when he got more roles as extra in movies. He did not frequent the stall as often. I got to see him less.