Chapter 1

When you first got to know Dan, you would think he was that cool, ‘already-made-it-in-life’ kind of guy. He was very chill and projected an image that he was loaded, and everything he did was just for fun. His social media feed was the standard ‘made-it-in-life’ package. By that, I meant pictures of him leaning against his BMW, hands in his pockets, attached with some cringeworthy quote. Then there were the fine dining meals, the holiday pictures in Europe which would start off with a picture of the Singapore passport and the half visible words, ‘business’ or ‘first class’, peeking at you from the boarding pass. And to take the cringe level up another notch, there would be the ‘checking the time’ on his Rolex, against the steering wheel of his BMW. It was not exactly cryptic, and definitely not subtle.

I didn’t know what Suzy, my sister-in-law, saw in him. Because she, of all people, knew it was all an illusion. Dan worked in facility management, his pay was barely five thousand, and it was amazing how he managed to create that illusion with such limited resources. Perhaps not paying for mortgage was a crucial factor, since all of us stayed in the same landed property that belonged to my in-laws. My wife, Lisa, and I were waiting for our BTO in Tengah. Once it was ready in a year’s time, we would be moving out and starting a life of our own. Dan, however, had other plans. He wanted that private address on his Identity Card. He wanted that sheltered car porch where he could drive his BMW right to the front door.

Now, my in-laws didn’t exactly like Dan. They didn’t express it verbally because of Suzy, but you could tell from their body language. My father-in-law, Keng, was a businessman for many years before he retired. If there was one thing you could not hide from someone in business, it was bullshit. It didn’t matter if you were running a small business or a big conglomerate, the underlying idea was the same - as long as you were in business long enough, you could smell the bullshit from a mile away. But smelling the shit and calling it out were two different things. Keng did not call out on Dan’s shit because, like a poker player, he held his cards close to his chest. He knew, one day, the truth would eventually surface. And that day came in July of 2017.

Dan came home that day with a private hire sticker on the windscreen of his BMW. Needless to say, Suzy was horrified and demanded to know what that meant. Dan reluctantly admitted that to keep up the instalments, he was doing some private hire jobs after work and on weekends. Now, of course there was nothing wrong with that. After all, he was putting in his own effort to make money. But Suzy was very upset with Dan. My father-in-law said nothing but he could not hide that smirk on his face when he turned away. It was like a confirmation for his shit-smelling ability.

The dominoes started falling from that point. In 2018, Dan’s mounting credit card debt came up to a whooping 63,000 dollars. However, he did not declare bankrupt. He borrowed money from Suzy to pay it off and had been returning her 1,000 every month. He could have paid it off in five years if nothing else fucked up. Then, in December of 2019, he happily accepted a new job with a 25 percent increment. He started work in March before the company folded after five days. And instead of coming clean, he still pretended to be employed before the Covid lockdown forced him to stay at home. He didn’t even have a laptop to pretend to work from home with. Suzy forced him to sell his car, his only Rolex, and basically every shit he bought on instalments, from his latest mobile phone to his gaming console.