The Help

When parents are in need of someone to focus and drive their children to the grave, a tutor is paid to do so. Almost all tutors in the Little Red Dot is paid at somehow the same rate every week or probably a year, however not everyone could be like Simon Borrison.

Simon Borrison, your 30 something years old guy, is the most paid tutor in the Little Red Dot. Standing at the height of 1.86m and have having such a Kang Chul-esque figure, every female parent wouldn't mind paying a large sum of cheque or anything, just for him to tutor their children regardless of whether they wanted his guidance or not. These mothers would do anything for the man to tutor their children and watched him as an eye-candy.

"Here's your glass of water.", Simon recalled one of his students' mother bringing him an exquisite cup that could have been specially brought out from a package, since the price tag sticker was not removed from the bottom of the cup. No matter how many students' mothers tried to impress this fellow, nothing changed Simon. In fact, he might be Bruce Wayne (whose probable weakness is Selina Kyle, but Simon doesn't have one).

While mothers are the problem in the equation to Simon, even his friends are having the same issue as well. Adric, Simon's best friend since their National Service days, have tried convincing his buddy to get a girlfriend for years. Simon is such a hard-worker that he did not have time to go on an actual date with someone. There was one occasion where Simon went on a date with a female companion introduced by Adric, well unfortunately it didn't went as planned. She was in fact humiliated by him for not understanding her intention (all she wanted was a freaking kiss already).

One day, while Simon was reading Emma, his iPhone beeped. He took his phone from the coffee table and noticed a message from an unknown number, meaning it was not his student or any mother who kept asking him nonsensical question.

"Mr Borrison, I'm Mrs Chue. I'm Ashely's mother's friend, that's how I got hold of your number. I'm hoping you can teach my daughter. Can you?"

There again, another mother interested in his tutoring and Simon felt he was going to be a new eye candy to her. He has a pile of requests from a tutor resource website and has yet to accept any student. The fact that this mother had messaged him personally after her friend gave his number was something he could not avoid and plus who knows how supposedly weak is her daughter in History. Without a second or third thought, Simon messaged back to the mother and he was then given the home address.

•

The following afternoon, Simon was already at the given home address. Standing in front of him was a three storey contemporary house and probably a remarkable house in Singapore he has ever seen. He was then greeted by a maid and told to wait in the living room. Simon then sat down on the comfy brown sofa and observed his surrounding.

The moment he stepped into the house, he already fell in love with the whole house. The first thing he noticed was the huge spiral-like staircase to the whole first storey. It was beautifully crafted and aesthetically coloured. Simon then noticed the outdoor terrance that faced the large rectangular swimming pool which overlooked the sunset or the starry night. The maid, who previously told him to wait, has made her return to the living room with a cheerful looking mother. He then saw her made her way to the dinning room.

"Thank you for coming down, Mr Borrison.", said Mrs Chue. "I don't meant to be rude but I didn't expect you to be erm Asian looking."

"It's alright, Mrs Chue. My father's Eurasian and my mother's Korean. Hence my surname.", Simon replied with hint of carefulness and of course, "grandson kind of politeness". In fact, he could tell that Mrs Chue was already liking him. "Can you tell me more about your daughter?"

•

"I'm sorry that my message is very vague, leaving not much detail about my daughter.", said Mrs Chue, who brought Simon to the third storey where her daughter was at. "In fact, Mr Borrison, I hope you know what you are getting yourself into." Simon nodded, carefully observing her minuet solemn when she mentioned her daughter.

Mrs Chue's daughter, Emma, was more than just needing tutoring from Simon. Unlike most students he took on, Emma was a special case. Emma was a bright student, consistently getting top in subjects like English Literature, English, History and Geography. Most of her friends admired her wittiness and not only to academics aspect but also her passion for violin. While every student has a story to tell, Emma has her own to tell. In fact, a story which she would never want to erase.

When Emma reached 13 in October, she embarked on a year long relationship with a senior from her secondary school. It was her first relationship and she knew she was special with him, never wanting to let her boyfriend go. They went on dates to cinemas, Sentosa, parks and even sometimes dining with their own families to create a closer bond. This was even further approved by both sides and Emma and her boyfriend became even serious. However, not everything was happy as it seems.

While many people admired Emma and her boyfriend's relationship, in fact it soon became a nightmare for Emma. Over the course of their year long relationship, her boyfriend had an anger problem. When things isn't his way, he would vent on Emma and occasionally hit her on her stomach for as long as he felt good. Emma could recall how her boyfriend would restrict her from hanging out with her guy friends and even her best friend, Chloe.

One night in August, Emma experienced something she would always remember for life. The 'picture perfect' couple had a huge argument over commitment. Emma knew her boyfriend was cheating on her with another person outside of their secondary school. Before even hurting their relationship, she resorted to ending things with him. However, things took a different direction from what Emma was expecting. Her boyfriend soon pinned her down on the ground and began to rape her in order to prove he did not cheat and in fact "always love" her.

"I can't tell you how terrible it was for my daughter.", Mrs Chue told Simon, who was already wanting to help Emma without hesitation. "In fact, going to school soon become something she did not want to face and now that she's 15, I don't want her to continue living like this." Mrs Chue broke down in tears, concerning for Emma's isolation since that day. Not wanting to face the world and losing focus in what she wanted was something no parents would want their child to go through.

As Simon calmed down the worried mother, he took a look at Emma who was sitting at the roof terrace. She was wearing her pink coloured pyjamas and her hair was messily done as she looked at the sky. Simon could feel her energy is drained till no juice was left. "How could any child ended up like this?", Simon thought. Even if he has children, he would never want them to succumb to such horror.

"Mrs Chue, I will definitely help Emma.", said Simon. "Whether paid or not, I am willing to help Emma in any way I can as a tutor or any parent like yourself."