Continuous Writing – Separated in an exhibition

One day, you went to an exhibition with your younger brother. There were many people at the exhibition. You were looking at the exhibits and did not notice your younger brother walking away from you.

I have always found Alvin pesky. Sometimes, I just wish I can turn him into dust or vapour. It was only last Saturday that I realized how dear this younger brother is to me.

We were at Harbourfront City for the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Exhibition. Alvin’s artwork was awarded Gold. So proud was he that he kept pestering me to take him to the exhibition. To silence him, I reluctantly gave in.

The gallery was thronged with parents and their children. For fear that Alvin might be separated from me, I held his hand, much to his dislike.

He was eager to find where his work was exhibited. We weaved in and out of the crowd to the Primary School’s section. Frustration built inside me. Unlike Alvin who took great delight in drawing and painting, I showed zero interest in either of them. Going to the exhibition was more of a chore than an outing.

“It’s over there! I can see it!” Alvin said, jumping in thrill.

I shrugged my shoulders and let him lead the way reluctantly.

Finally at the less crowded Primary School’s section, I loosened my grip on his hand. He immediately burst off to admire his own masterpiece, a painting depicting world peace. I followed behind him, still feeling grouchy.

“What do you think?” he asked for my opinion.

“I don’t think you know much about world peace. You can’t even give me a moment of peace,” I answered in sarcasm.

Not at all affected by my comments, he went on to view other exhibits in the same gallery. I looked at some of the exhibits with little interest.

When I was done with the Primary School’s section, I scanned around for Alvin. He was nowhere in sight. I was not the slightest worried. He could be somewhere near but out of my view. I walked on, tipping my toe and craning my neck to spot this irritating brother of mine.

Ten minutes passed. There was no sign of him.

“Where could he go?” I mumbled softly, anxiety slowly seeping into my bones.

I circled within the gallery a few times to make sure I did not miss him. Venturing into the Secondary School’s section, I despaired at the larger crowd. I jostled through the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alvin but to no avail.

Anxiety mingled with anger, I combed the section. There was no Alvin.

Another ten minutes ticked by. My anger was overtaken by pure panic, crumbling my composure little by little. I did not like to entertain the thought of going to the information counter to request for an announcement to look for my lost brother but was left with little choice.

I strode to the information counter. In the distance, I saw a familiar figure gesticulating wildly at the receptionist. Never felt so relieved in my life, I picked up my pace. As you might have guessed corectly, that familiar figure belonged to Alvin.

“Hey! I have been going around hunting for you! Where were you?” he shouted at me, his voice trembling a little.

“What do you think I was doing? I was searching high and low for you!” I answered, seething with fury.

We glowered into each others’ eyes but not for long. We burst into laughter of relief of our reunion. I took his hand and we went back to the gallery together. This time, we held not only our hands fast but also our hearts .