My name is Diagnosis

Mr and Mrs Tan could not be any more ordinary than the average Singaporean. There was little room for hiccups in the lives of the couple even before they knew each other. Since the day they were born, everything in their lives has been drafted out by forces beyond the dogma of the tiny Asian city. From the kindergarten they went to the university they studied, the career they were expected to build and the type of partner they chose, mediocrity had no place in the lives of the Tans.

Mr. Tony Tan was a lawyer at one of Singapore’s top law firm. His rise to as the top lawyer of his company was evident in the form of a gradually growing mid section; spending the nights coming up with brilliant strategies to help his clients turn black into white.

Mrs Tan, whose maiden name was Jessica, worked as a teacher at a top secondary school. A lanky and tall lady with the poise of a crane, she was also a stern discipline mistress. She maintained a firm grip of the order in her school, filled with untamed, rebellious youngsters..

Holding highly esteemed jobs, Mr and Mrs. Tan were at the top of the food chain. The couple’s chemistry reacted like friction and matchstick. Their relationship escalated quickly from the day they first met. After a persistent courtship for two years, they decided that they could not continue their lives without each other’s presence. They soon got married. The fruits of their love and labor soon followed. Mr. and Mrs. Tan had a son named Seng Kai or Kai for short.

As the son of a lawyer and teacher, Kai was expected to be just as successful or surpass his parents. Even if the Tans did not put any pressure their son, the rest of his clan and society at large anticipated a lot out of Kai. In other words, the young boy was brought into the world with huge shoes to fill. There was not much room for Kai’s aberration from conventional paths socially accepted by the world he lived in.

Fate however had other plans for the boy; a plan that would set Kai away from the path most humans have walked before. This path would branch out from the norm like the stalks of plants. It was neither approved by his society nor within the plans of his parents. Either way, it would either make him extraordinary or break him beyond repair.

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