“Hi mum and dad, I am back,” I spoke in a whisper.
I carried of my shopping bags in one hand and tried to close the door with my remaining free hand, hoping my parents wouldn't pay too much attention to me.
Please let them mind their own business and don’t look at how much unnecessary stuff I have purchased... I repeated this over and over again in my brain.
“WING YI!” My dad shouted and his eyes were hardened and narrowed into slits.
“Shit…” I spoke in a low voice.
“Look at your hand! How come you are holding so many shopping bags again?! Please control yourself and stop buying useless stuff, try to think if it is appropriate to spend so much money every week!!” My mum yelled and her face was contorted with rage.
“Okay…" I have heard this request nearly a million times, it was getting kind of annoying.
"I am just bored after finishing my HKDSE examination. There is nothing else for me to do, except shopping!” I replied impatiently.
“Huh! Remember to be polite!! We will cut your pocket money in half, to one thousand HKD per month! Control yourself, money won't fall from the sky! Understand?!” My mum pointed and shouted at me.
Then, I, who felt fidgety rushed back to the bedroom and went to get away from their angry voices.
When I just stepped into the room, I looked at the calendar immediately.
“May, June, July, August… May, June, July, August… May, June, July, August…” mumbling by myself. I kept counting and counting, refused to accept the fact.
“Why there are four more months to go to until the HKDSE results day. I am bored to death!” I spoke hopelessly……
“Ding!” An idea suddenly popped into my head. There's always a solution!
Click, click, search!
“Part-time studio assistant ($75/hour), teaching assistant ($65/hour), sales($50/hour), tutorial teacher($45/hour) …” I looked at details on the website, trying to find a job with high salary without a heavy workload.
I kept surfing the internet and drafting emails to different companies, even firms that could only provide $40 per hour, just to maximize the chances that I could be hired immediately.
“Yours faithfully,
Krystal Lee,
3rd May.”
Sent. I was filled with hope after submitting my application/
I hoped I could receive a job offer by tomorrow, I hoped that I could get a high salary, I hoped the workload won’t be too heavy, I hoped…
I checked the mailbox every day, looking forward to receiving news from those firms, but there wasn't anything… I was like a dog who couldn’t find its bone: lost and disappointed.
“Getting a job is not easy… I couldn't even receive offers from the firms only provide $40 per hour as wage...” I tried to speak calmly, avoiding myself to choke with tears.
Until 16th May, there was finally an update!
“Ding! Ding!” “Happy Educational Center sent an email to you.” A notification popped out.
"Congratulations Krystal! you are being hired as a tutorial teacher! Please bring your identity card to our firm tomorrow afternoon to complete the procedures!” I read the email out loud excitedly.
“It is real? Am I dreaming?” I said in a shaking voice and kept rubbing my eyes.
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at was real and what I had looked forward to finally came true, it was more like my imagination…. But I will take this chance seriously, this rare chance.
The next day, when I arrived at the front door of the educational center, my heart was beating very very fast, like I was trying to hold an energetic rabbit in my arms. I almost took a thousand deep breaths trying to keep myself calm, keeping my mood stable and cheerful, as I wanted to present a good image to the employer.
“Knock, Knock” I Knocked on the door.
“Good afternoon! Are you Krystal? Please come in.” The employer said gently and use her hand to guide me in.
“Please sit. Here are the documents for you to view the details of your job offer. All you need to do is to take care of the students, check their homework, help them to revise, and teach them. The money that you can get is $45 per hour, please work as hard as you can! See you tomorrow afternoon again!” Said by the employer.
“Thanks! I will try my best and look forward to working here!” I said excitedly.
“Beep! Beep! Beep!... Beep! Beep! Beep!” I looked at the watch, and it was time for me to wake up and get ready for work.
When I just stepped into the classroom, numerous students started attacking me with noises. The classroom was full of screams.
“Miss Lee! I am going to have a dictation tomorrow, please help me to revise.”
“Miss Lee! I have completed seven homework assignments, please help me to check all of them.”
“Miss Lee! I want to go the toilet.”
“Miss Lee! Kelly drew on my worksheet!”
“Okay, please wait. And remember to put up your hand before talking.” I tried to reply to them calmly and started to tackle all these situations.
“Tick, tick, tick! Good job Robert, you have finished all the questions correctly.” I said and I was doing their homework once in limited time to make sure their answers were correct as there are not having any answer book.
“Sam! You have spelled the word astronaut wrong, it should be a-s-t-r-o-n-a-u-t, not a-s-t-r-o-n-a-n-t.” I explained.
“Kelly and Kitty!! Stop arguing, or I will tell your parents that you're misbehaving!” I asked the students to stop.
“Peter, please focus on your work and stop talking to other students. You need to try to do the homework on your own first, you can’t just wait for the answer from me without any trial! Understand?” I told.
“Kelly, you shouldn’t…. Sam, please try to…… Kitty….” I was buried in work.
“Ding Dong Ding Dong…” the clock suddenly rang, and it was finally time for me to get off my work. I was totally slammed in these four hours, not even having time for me to go to the toilet or drink some water.
When I was on my way home, I kept looking at the $180 that I had just received from my boss. My tears started dropping and I held the cash tighter and tighter, not willing to loosen my hand again.
“Mum, Dad, I'm sorry. I understand.” I spoke.