The NDP had already started when Keline reached home. Normally, she wouldn’t miss the parade as she had always enjoyed watching the performance and the firework. But this time, she couldn’t get herself settle down to enjoy the celebration liked she used to. A feeling of uneasiness clouded her mind. She couldn’t explain why and she couldn’t wait to meet BK at Maple.

Keline had already logged on into Maple for more than half an hour but there was still no sign of BK. What could have happened to him? Could he have been too tired to log on after the exhausting searching game? She was dozing off herself but kept telling herself that BK could be appearing the next second. Seconds turned into minutes and soon she couldn’t hold up anymore and decided to contact him the next day.

She asked Pauline to sms BK to find out how he was doing. There was no reply from him. Keline was puzzled and she didn’t like the suspense. She decided to call him directly but wasn’t able to get through. He didn’t turn on his handphone. It seemed that BK had suddenly become unreachable. Soon, her feeling of perplexity gave way to one of anxiousness. She was worried that something bad could have befallen BK.

'He is avoiding you lah,’ said Pauline in class the next day. She reasoned that he could have spotted Keline at the mall and had decided that she wasn’t his type. He was playing the avoidance game. She knew the game too well as she had been a victim of such a trick. Keline didn’t agree with her. Her BK wouldn’t be so cruel to her. But what if Pauline was right. What if……… Keline was confused and wasn’t paying attention to the ongoing English lesson.

'Pss……. Keline. Look at the slide. It's about BK.’

'BK?’ Keline snapped out of her confusion and tried to catch up on what her English teacher was saying. Ms Lim was discussing a two-day old news article on a teenage boy who had died in his sleep in yet another case of ‘sudden death syndrome’. When Keline looked at the name of the victim, she was dumbfounded.

Tay Boon Kim.

Wasn’t that the name of her beloved dear? And the day when he didn’t wake up from his sleep, National Day, wasn’t that the day when he became non-contactable? Keline couldn’t help but burst into tears.

Keline decided to go to the ‘wake’ to verify the truth. She couldn’t believe that her BK would suffer such an abrupt end. Pauline tagged along just in case Keline needed the moral support. Based on what BK had told her about his family, Keline mingled with the deceased family. She almost turned black when her fear was confirmed. The guy lying in the casket was indeed the virtual husband she had longed to meet. As she peeped into the coffin, she saw her BK both for the first time and also for the last time.

It was National Day again. But to Keline, its significance wasn't the same anymore. The day Singapore was born, was also the day her BK was gone. As she looked at the firework, flashes of BK’s facial expressions appeared. How she wished that she could reach out to touch his face. Her vision was soon blurred by her tears but she could feel the presence of BK deep in her heart where he would remain for the rest of her life.