A guilty pleasure of mine is reading romance books. Back when I was a teenager, pining about boys who would never like me back, I would go to the library after school and borrow romance books. I would read all of them and live in this fantasy of cute clothes and shoes, and also ending up with the love of my life at the end of the book.
Real life is not like that and far more complicated, and when it came to writing Ghost Hunters of Geylang, I wanted to create chemistry between Su Lynn and Cai Rong. In the early drafts, it seemed like Cai Rong was too smooth and they didn’t come across as teenagers, so I spent time refining their interactions and making it more awkward.
The romance writers made it look so easy!
There was also a part where they kissed, but my editor said that with all of the events being cut out, their relationship did not warrant one, so the kiss was deleted.
Another scene I cut out was the epilogue. I clung on to this scene because I thought that readers would love Su Lynn and Cai Rong being all mushy.
This deleted ending, the one you are about to read, belongs to another version of Ghost Hunters — one with more plot holes and a whole lot of wish fulfillment.
But the new ending, the one about riding a motorcycle into the night, fit the best to show that Su Lynn had come back full circle and had grown as a person.
Anyway, for readers who love mushy stuff, here’s your alternate, unpublishable ending:
Epilogue
A crystal chandelier hung overhead, with light bouncing off the walls of the ballroom. A singer with a feather boa sang about remembering. She was beautiful, twirling about in a glittery dress. It was a bar, just like the one Meng Po owned. I had to be in the netherworld. And if I was there, it meant that I was dead, or—
“Lynnie?” someone tapped me on the shoulder. Cai Rong? I took a deep breath but didn’t close my eyes, in case I woke up. I turned around. It really was him. He was fully restored, Cai Rong in the flesh. This was what he would look like if he were well and truly mortal. If I could swoon, I would. His face was no longer grey and sunken in but was now in a healthy pink hue. And his eyes – I’d missed those eyes! – dark and vast as the universe itself. And that cheeky grin with the dimple beneath it. He was here. Finally here.
I wrapped him up and squeezed him as much as I could–the smell of his cologne was all too familiar. It meant that I was safe and nothing could harm me. Once I let go, he grinned and took the seat opposite me.
“I’ve missed you,” I said.
“Me too,” Cai Rong replied. Then he took my hands.
“Su Lynn, you have to let me go,” he said. “I know what happens when you don’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I tried to hang on to life. I wanted to be alive when I was dead, but the best way for me was to let go and move forward.”
“I can’t. Not when we’ve been through so much. And even though you betrayed me, well, I —”
He hugged me. “I know, but now, you’re the leader of the ghost hunters. You should go live your life.”
“Just to check — I’m not dead, right?”
“Yep. You know, I’ll still be with you, in some way.”
My vision started to blur and I shook my head.
“No, you won’t be. You’re not here, and I’ll be alone again. And now that you’re in Meng Po’s house, you’re going to be reincarnated, aren’t you?”
I hated saying that aloud. It made me come to terms with the fact that he was going, and there was nothing I can do about it.
“Yes. You’ll see me again. I’ll be someone else.”
“And I’ll be older. We may never meet.”
“Maybe, in our next few lives, we can.”
“M-maybe,” I sputtered. Tears were streaming down my face at this point. He wiped them away.
“Don’t give up on life.” he said. He stroked my hair, and his hand travelled down to my face, wiping all of those tears.
“I am still with you, even when I am gone. I promise.”
“Cai Rong!”
He laughed. I stared at him and cocked my head. He moved close to hug me again .
“Everything will be OK, Lynnie. Now, shall we have one last dance before I go?” he asked, reaching out for me. I grabbed his hand and we stood up. The woman on stage was now singing another song, and even though her voice was faint, the melody reached my ears. Cai Rong danced with me, holding me close. I tried not to think about where I was and how this was a dream, trying to focus on the moment. But I couldn’t resist. I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.
There was a flash of light and I woke up. The house was quiet. I started sobbing, remembering that Cai Rong had finally been reincarnated, while the birds chirped outside. It was back to reality, in this old house that I couldn’t bear to be in because it was tainted by my grandfather’s belongings. But I had to focus. There was still the ‘O’ levels, convincing my parents to be a ghost hunter for real, and releasing the rest of the ghosts my grandfather had captured. This was a lot, but I had to do one task at a time.
I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to make breakfast. There was something shimmering on one of the trees outside. I retrieved it and it was a locket. I opened it. It said:
To Su Lynn. With love from Cai Rong.
I swung down from the trees and headed back into the house. I had to rummage through my grandfather’s belongings to gather more evidence. My phone rang.
“Su Lynn?” the voice on the other line asked.
“Yes?”
“Have you considered my offer?”