We had not seen each other in months and she whooped with joy when she saw Alba.

Aduh, so besar. She’s growing up too fast!

Alba started singing twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the sky to high, like a … like a…

Diamond!

…diamond…

In the sky…twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.

We clapped along with her, her chubby arms and fingers waving in glee. She was dressed in a flowery dress from Bali, with alternate layers of blue and white, the kind that all parents bought from the street-side shops in Ubud or Kuta or Seminyak. It was a gift from Sumi and Fairman, who’d gone there for their honeymoon. Three sets in different colours and motifs. One formal, one for playing and another for a day out. This was the day-out dress, with multiple dolphins, frolicking in a cottony blue sea.

I’d only been to Marina’s flat once before. It was a floor up in a shophouse, in between a brothel on the third floor and her friend Kak Min’s flat. She still shared it with her two trans housemates from Sabah, who were also from seaside villages. I spotted new curtains: they weren’t the same faded batik sarongs. The kitchen table was also new, with a pink table cloth and a vase of plastic flowers in the middle. The couch was the same, with the pronounced dip in the middle, but the television was a larger version of the previous one.

Marina walked to the kitchen and I followed her. She unpacked the soup and slowly poured it into a bowl. She was sniffling and blew her nose loudly on a tissue. She turned to look at me. Her eyes were watery and her nose pink.

I feel so teruk, she said. This flu is terrible.

Yeah, sorry but I won’t stay long then, don’t want Alba to get sick.

Thanks for the soup, darls… yummy!

Marina took another sip from the bowl and cleared her throat. I need to get back to work, can’t take another day off. She held the bowl with both hands and drank all the soup in one long gulp. Aaah, I needed that. Thanks so much, darls.

We heard Alba laughing from the living room. She imagined herself in a playground, finding joy in random objects—an open magazine, a make-up brush, a tube of pink lipstick. Look mama, she waved the brush around and brushed her cheek with it.

Look at her, so cute! Marina exclaimed.

I missed Marina. She said she was working non-stop. I found a sugar daddy who really, really likes me, and I think I have saved enough to afford the operation, I think it’s time to snip it off, what you think?

Who is this guy? I asked. Is this the guy with the Ferrari?