Because I have a brother, I'll always have a friend.

“Because I have a brother, I’ll always have a friend”

At the back of the bus on the way to Orchard road from Marsiling, we used to imagine we had imaginary controls to steer the leviathon of a spaceship we were on. Mum would occasionally interrupt our mission to save the galaxy with the tumblrs strapped around our necks because it was “always good to drink lots of water”. I made noises for the engine and he would make the screechy ones from the wheels as we banked a hard corner around an asteroid. Why we needed wheels in space, is probably a mystery for our kids to one day solve.

Life hasn’t always been a bus ride to town for my brother and I but it has always been an adventure. Many a time, a misadventure. We ate together, watched all the same cartoons and movies together, went to the same primary school together and practiced our wrestling moves on each other - shortly before spending half a day at the hospital to cast his broken arm.

As we crossed the bridge of time, different schools and different friends shaped us differently. I was fonder of Tim Burton and the guitar while he took to the world of anime and cars. Regardless of how far apart our narratives would take us, there were always chapters that pulled us back together.

Some of these chapters taught me to grow, some to love, some taught me the value of pain and others taught me the priority of family.

In retrospect, many of these chapters turned out to be the most significant moments in my life. All of which I survived because he was always there to protect me, afford a listening ear and hearty laugh.

My brother not only helped define me, he has defined the best of me.