The Commoner Route

When Mr Wilde gave out cards, only two of the three children understood what they were for.

"What's this?" Alex asked.

Scarlet giggled in response. "It's a travel card, silly."

Alex blinked. "Why do we need travel cards?"

Mr Wilde was patient. He had a long discussion with his wife the night before about how much freedom they should allow the children. Now that they were ten, it was about time to give them some responsibilities to ease their transition into young adults. Jasper and Scarlet had no difficulties stepping up to it, but they were slightly worried about Alex.

"We don't have that many servants in Singapore, so you will have to learn to act as Singaporeans while we are here. Of course, if you get lost, you have your phones. Claire will give you directions from the phone, but all three of you need to learn how to travel using the public transportation system. Daddy has checked, the public transportation system here is very reliable. This is special training for when you have to go to a different country in the future."

Alex was stunned to hear such seriousness but when she saw that Alex and Scarlet didn't think much of it, she kept quiet. After resolving herself to become better so she can become a sister that Scarlet could be proud of, the Wilde princess was less wilful and tried to become more independent. It was more difficult than she thought it would be to become less reliant on others. She never knew exactly how much Jasper was helping her until she did it herself. Having to pack and carry her school bag all by herself yesterday was a highly stressful event. Alex didn't know where anything was and didn't have a checklist to tick off the items she packed so she had to redo it multiple times to ensure she didn't miss anything out. As if that wasn't hard enough, Mr Wilde was even expected her to travel to school without a chauffeur. The Wilde princess could only resign to fate and accepted the card.

Mr Wilde was proud of Alex when she took the card without complaints. Scarlet and Jasper wondered how they were going to maintain the balance of their cards, but neither of them dared to voice out the question. Claire noticed the troubled expressions and found it adorable.

"Master, perhaps you would like to explain how the travel card works. I'm sure the children would love to know more about how the system in Singapore works. From my knowledge, only cash is accepted for buses back in Malaysia."

Mr Wilde nodded and explained the concept of the card. Scarlet was fascinated by the level of technological difference between Singapore and Malaysia. The card was easier to use than expected. With this, as long as it has credits inside, they could go just about anywhere on any train or bus. Also, there isn't a fuss about how much change they should bring because it is automatically deducted just by a tap on the scanner installed at the train gantry gates or on the bus upon boarding or exit.

"I will maintain your card balances monthly so if it falls below twenty dollars for whatever reason before the month ends, please let Claire know. Don't lose it."

The CEO didn't say much more and allowed the children to research how to travel from the penthouse to school. He was slightly worried about letting three children travel by themselves without any adults to supervise, so he had Sue secretly follow them when they left the next morning. Still, the patriarch couldn't help but wonder if he should have engaged professional services and placed bodyguards to follow his children discreetly from a distance.

That night, the three children turned in early, excited about starting the first day of school. Alex was very nervous about travelling by train as she had never been in anything other than a car, save for that one bus trip to Scarlet's old house. Jasper knocked out like a light, tired from such a long day, and Scarlet tried to update her blog.

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Ahoy Scurvy Scums!

How is it going for you? For me, it's been quite the week. This entry is going to be dedicated to the best kind of sister in the world - the soul sister.

Let's call this soul sister - Sister Merry.

Sister Merry didn't start out as a soul sister. There was some really bitter rivalry going on that resulted in an all-out brawl. Now, don't judge so quickly! Let's listen to the full story.

Sister Merry was initially friends with Sister Kelly (I made their names rhyme a little). The two were best friends and inseparable. One day, an unfortunate event occurred. Sister Kelly's parents had to go to a faraway place and little Kelly was left to the care of Merry's home.

Merry's parents treated Kelly really well. However, Kelly was afraid of becoming a burden and getting thrown out by Merry's parents so she did her best to be the most well-behaved kid in the entire world.

Kelly wasn't originally well-behaved and Merry knew that. They were best friends after all. After Merry saw her parents praising Kelly for being such a nice child while she got scolded for pulling mischief that the best pals would normally do together, Merry felt betrayed.Her loving parents were turning hostile on her and favoured her new sister.

Things escalated and the best friends turned sisters fought. In the heat of the moment, Merry accidentally hit Kelly in the head, causing her to bleed. Merry's parents rushed Kelly to the hospital. That night, little Merry starved because everyone was too worried about little Kelly in the hospital. In all honesty, that wasn't intentional. It was a children's fight gone wrong but nobody listened to poor Merry. The adults thought that Merry was a horrible child whose jealousy had gone too far to be considered harmless.

When Kelly found out that Merry was getting punished for hitting her, she immediately went to beg Merry's parents for leniency. Initially, Merry hated her for continuing with that good girl act but when Kelly admitted that she only put on an act due to her insecurities as a child who wasn't born into the family, everyone opened their hearts. To make Kelly feel belonged, Merry made a pledge and the two became soul sisters after burying the hatchet.

So here's a thought for everyone reading the post. Is blood truly thicker than water? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Adventuring starts early tomorrow so your captain is going to turn in first. To the last person on watch, don't forget to put out the light!

Fair winds!

Pirate S.

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It was nearing eleven at night when Scarlet typed the last word and finished editing the post. She yawned and scheduled the post before climbing into bed. So much has happened over the last few days, the blogger simply forgot about Claire's heads-up about the new person she was about to meet.