The Long Way Home

A black Toyota Rush cruised along the Singaporean streets. It had a destination, it was not just a plain journey that it was leading. The man driving looked to his left, brown tresses with deep purple highlights were those that met his view. It had been a day since she really spoke, so he decided to lighten up the situation. No matter what he said, the lady did not budge or even make a sound.

Her dark brown eyes set outside the window, though she was looking at not more than the patch of dust on the screen. The lady named Rose was apparently still in shock. Everything was going fine three days ago, she was getting married to her fiance in three week's time. It was until one night, when it all became clear.

Rose turned to look at the man beside her, how nice of him to accompany her. Rose was fully aware that this journey may turn into a wild goose chase if anything goes wrong. She had told him before, it was her own journey, her own fate that she was about to face. Home is where she heads to. Evenso, he insisted on coming, to be around when she needed her most. That was the reason why she loved him, her fiance, Aden.

The car came to a turn and then a swift halt, nicely parked in between two cars. Aden locked the gear, then he looked at Rose. They did not speak, instead they exchanged smiles and went up to the address given by Rose's foster parents. As soon as the lift doors opened, Rose walked out so quickly that it really seemed that she had walked through the door. With the address copy in her hands, she walked towards the house she was looking for.

Until she found it.

Aden finally caught up behind her and breathed slightly harder. Rose knocked the door lightly at first, but harder the next time because of no response. The door opened slightly, an upset man greeted the couple.

"What?" he asked rudely, as if angry because Rose had awoken him early on a Sunday morning. "I don't want to buy anything!"

"Are you Mr Rasheed?" Rose asked politely, her voice wavering with nervousness. "Dato' Kamarul and Datin Kelly told me-.."

The man furrowed his eyebrows and waved it away, he almost shut the door when Rose held the door with all her strength.

"No please don't shut the door!" Rose plead, tears were rolling out of her eyes. "I'm your daughter!"

The man hesitated for a moment. Next thing Rose knew, Aden and she were in the house. It was a small flat, with only one room. Rose was facing the couple that was watching her from a moment ago. Rose did not know where to start, she did not know how to explain why she had come all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore to find them. She looked over to Aden to help, so he did the introductions, having Rose's biological parents' acknowledgement for the marriage was what brought them to Singapore.

The older woman then hugged Rose and they both had tears pouring out of their eyes, though Rose did feel something was missing in the touch but she did not care. She had found her parents now, that was what most important. Nothing else could replace this strong feeling of finding a long-lost family.

Rose was happy to have met her parents. They were a nice couple, always acting nice to her and Aden. At times, they seemed to be too nice. Then one day, Rose awoke with hollerings from the outside. She could hear people quarelling, curiosity brought her to investigate.

The man caught sight of Rose then he walked towards Rose in three quick strides, desperation all over his face.

"Rose, my child," he started. "We're in great debt, we need to pay up or they'll kill us. We have nowhere to run!"

Rose had to fulfill her duties as a daughter. She withdrawn huge sums of cash from the nearest ATM machine and passed it to her father. Then she withdrew some money to pass to her mother, thinking she might need it. This reoccurred almost every other day, they would ask for some money at breakfast and get it by lunch. Aden was getting impatient with what was happening.

"Something is not right," the man said, looking at the grass patch beside them. "Something is just not right."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, confused by what her fiance was saying.

"Go for a DNA test, Rose," Aden suggested. "You really should. It isn't that i don't trust them or anything but you can take it that we are just cross-checking."

Rose did not agree, causing a misunderstanding. Rose then thought about what Aden had said over the night, then she decided.


Rose was sitting in her car, the DNA reports in her left hand, the steering wheel in the right. After gathering her all her courage, she went up to the house.

The reports were thrown on the table, in front of the couple whom she had thought were her parents. Aden was by Rose's side, sitting at the edge of the seat, while Rose was leaning back to the backrest of the sofa. Nobody said anything, but Aden's eyes were those that demanded for explaination.

"We're sorry," the man said. "We really didn't mean to cheat you. We just needed cash."

"To pay off your debts," Aden concluded the sentence. "Don't you people know how hard it is to find her parents, and it turns out this way?"

"Please, don't say that," the woman cried, crocodile tears rolling down her cheek. "We were really in need of cash. We had no intention of toying with you, Rose."

"No need to plead because the police are coming in," Aden said, his tone was bitter and ruthless. "How about that?"

The couple looked pathetic. They turned to Rose, as if to plead. Rose had no more tears to cry, she felt empty inside. Never had she seen such great actors, playing along with a helpless orphaned child, that too just to get her money. Rose had promised, she would let Aden do it his way now, as a sign to acknowledge him as a future family-head.

Men in blue uniform appeared at the door, ready to take in the accused couple. Cuffed and ready to be taken into custody, the couple gave up pleading and left with the policemen. Then Rose's phone rang.

"Rose, mom here!" Rose did not know how to phrase what she felt when she heard her mother's voice, or rather her foster mother's voice. "We tried to contact you time and again through Aden's phone, but it won't come through! We forgot to tell you, the address we gave you aren't your.. Well, parent's.. But their close relative's. They should know where you parents are!"

Rose whirled around immediately, the policemen had already left the house. She ran into Aden who was at the door, seeing to the policemen taking away the two cheats. Aden caught Rose swiftly.

"They know where my parents are!" Rose said, trying to get loose of the hold. "They know where my parents are! Let me go, i need to ask them!"

Aden ran after Rose who took the stairs down when she realised the lift had already gone down. She ran after the patrol car, luckily the couple were not taken yet. Rose did not even have any thoughts to the policemen that were there. She wrenched the door open and went level to the man's face.

"Where is Rasheed and Farida?" Rose asked, her voice were a compulsion of anger and desperation. "Where are my parents?"

It was not a question, more of a demand. The man's eyes flickered from the officer, to Aden then to Rose and then to the ground.

Before sunset, Rose and Aden decided to set out for home. The real home, where Rose's real parents were. Really were. The Toyota went through the Singaporean checkpoint, then the Malaysian. Rose was crying so hard that Aden did not know how to coax her. Hours passed, Rose fell asleep in midst of all the climax. Aden was up with the help of a bottle of coffee.

In the first rays of sun, they reached home. Rose was already up, and she was really looking forward to this. It seemed such a long way home. Her parents had been found, her friends back in Kuala Lumpur helped her find the address the imposters gave. Now, the parents are at home, where Rose's foster parents are.

When she reached in front of the bungalow, her hopes fell slightly. Only her friends and foster parents were there to welcome her. She watched from inside the car as it moved in closer to the rich property. Then the crowd seemed to part, revealing a couple. A man with greying hair, and a woman with a Muslim headdress. Rose stepped out of the car, Aden following suit. Tears formed in the eyes of the young lady.

"Rose?" the woman said, tears falling out of her eyes, but a her lips curled sideways. "My daughter.."

"Mother.."

Rose ran forwards to embrace the woman. It was returned equally. This was what had been missing in the embrace Rose had with the impostors, warmth unexplainable. Warmth of a mother, warmth of love. Now, the family is complete. After the long way home. Now, the marriage should soon take place.

After warm conversations of the families, questions were asked of what they had been doing all the while. Questions were returned to Rose too, by her parents. Jokes flew lightly and hearty laughs rang through the house.

Then Rose asked one simple question.

"Where were you all this while?" Rose asked, her head on her newly-found mother.

"We were not anywhere," her father answered. "We always had been in Kuala Lumpur!"