I blame the recent chain of events, especially my wife’s abrupt passing that caused things to spiral out of control. It’s no surprise that
Adek’s studies took a hit; he used to be top of his class but now he’s struggling just to keep up. My parents, too, have been badgering me to get him help with his grades. What’s worse is that
my son’s attitude, especially towards me has changed drastically and I can’t help but wonder why? Recently he has been
rude and insolent towards me. Have I not been a good father? Have I not been trying my best to give him whatever his heart desired?
Like the average Singaporean, I turned to friends and acquaintances for referrals, seeking the perfect tutor for
Adek but I seem to “find fault” with all the recommendations presented to me. My main gripe was the one that stood out – Chester, the prized recommendation of my dear friend, Fred, who seems to worship the ground he walks on. But what he sees as a “champion”, I see as a bigoted, self-entitled person who was lucky to be born with a silver spoon in his mouth. How else can you explain a full-time tutor zipping to classes in a two-door Tuscani?
“He very experienced one,” remarked Fred during one of our conversations,
“he got many years of experience under him.” Wasn’t he merely repeating himself? Sometimes I wonder why Fred was content being a bookkeeper when he could be in sales? With his skill of persuasion, or at least his insensitivity towards criticism, he would no doubt be a top salesman in any industry.
“Somehow he doesn’t feel right,” I replied,
“do you have someone else to recommend?” I wasn’t going to give that flashy playboy a chance to earn my hard-earned money. It’s infuriating enough that
Adek corrects me by telling me his school teacher says this or this is not the method his school teacher taught him. I did not want to bring in extra “competition”. Fred shrugged, as if to admit defeat or a show of defiance – his way or the highway?
“Got girl teacher or not?” I asked,
“I feel that Adek will listen to girl teacher better than guy teacher.”
“You or Adek?” Fred’s response seemed more like a challenge to me than a question.
“I think you better find on Adult Friend Finder better la! Some more you can show the profile pic to your son and see if he can under-stand to her or not?” Fred raised his eyebrows as he chuckled loudly.
“Under-stand? Get it?” If anything else, Fred was the master of re-stating the obvious and the king of nonsensical ideas.
Yet, his latest suggestion was a stroke of genius! Searching for a tutor on Adult Friend Finder was definitely out of the question but I thought I saw one or two profiles of private tutors in the matchmaking web site that I was currently subscribed to. For one thing, deep down inside, I felt that
Adek needed a mother in his life albeit a surrogate mother. Mentally shooing Fred away, my mind wondered off to the matchmaking web site. Could I really find a tutor for
Adek that could also be my partner in bed? Thinking of all the majority of misses than hits, I was pessimistic but I had to try nonetheless; I didn’t want that Chester a.k.a. Li Nanxing-wannabe in my home influencing my son in ways that I didn’t want.
The moment I “got rid” of Fred, I practically sprinted to my desktop and fired it up, eager to see what my son’s tutor would look like? This was twisted and perverse but I patted myself on the back for coming up with such a novel way to look for a private tutor.