Chapter 41 - The Commoner Route (1/2)
When Mr Wilde gave out cards, only two of the three children understood what they were for.
”What's this?” Alex asked.
Scarlet giggled in response. ”It's a travel card, silly.”
Alex blinked. ”Why do we need travel cards?”
Mr Wilde was patient. He had a long discussion with his wife the night before about how much freedom they should allow the children. Now that they were ten, it was about time to give them some responsibilities to ease their transition into young a.d.u.l.ts. Jasper and Scarlet had no difficulties stepping up to it, but they were slightly worried about Alex.
”We don't have that many servants in Singapore, so you will have to learn to act as Singaporeans while we are here. Of course, if you get lost, you have your phones. Claire will give you directions from the phone, but all three of you need to learn how to travel using the public transportation system. Daddy has checked, the public transportation system here is very reliable. This is special training for when you have to go to a different country in the future.”
Alex was stunned to hear such seriousness but when she saw that Alex and Scarlet didn't think much of it, she kept quiet. After resolving herself to become better so she can become a sister that Scarlet could be proud of, the Wilde princess was less wilful and tried to become more independent. It was more difficult than she thought it would be to become less reliant on others. She never knew exactly how much Jasper was helping her until she did it herself. Having to pack and carry her school bag all by herself yesterday was a highly stressful event. Alex didn't know where anything was and didn't have a checklist to tick off the items she packed so she had to redo it multiple times to ensure she didn't miss anything out. As if that wasn't hard enough, Mr Wilde was even expected her to travel to school without a chauffeur. The Wilde princess could only resign to fate and accepted the card.
Mr Wilde was proud of Alex when she took the card without complaints. Scarlet and Jasper wondered how they were going to maintain the balance of their cards, but neither of them dared to voice out the question. Claire noticed the troubled expressions and found it adorable.
”Master, perhaps you would like to explain how the travel card works. I'm sure the children would love to know more about how the system in Singapore works. From my knowledge, only cash is accepted for buses back in Malaysia.”
Mr Wilde nodded and explained the concept of the card. Scarlet was fascinated by the level of technological difference between Singapore and Malaysia. The card was easier to use than expected. With this, as long as it has credits inside, they could go just about anywhere on any train or bus. Also, there isn't a fuss about how much change they should bring because it is automatically deducted just by a tap on the scanner installed at the train gantry gates or on the bus upon boarding or exit.
”I will maintain your card balances monthly so if it falls below twenty dollars for whatever reason before the month ends, please let Claire know. Don't lose it.”
The CEO didn't say much more and allowed the children to research how to travel from the penthouse to school. He was slightly worried about letting three children travel by themselves without any a.d.u.l.ts to supervise, so he had Sue secretly follow them when they left the next morning. Still, the patriarch couldn't help but wonder if he should have engaged professional services and placed bodyguards to follow his children discreetly from a distance.
That night, the three children turned in early, excited about starting the first day of school. Alex was very nervous about travelling by train as she had never been in anything other than a car, save for that one bus trip to Scarlet's old house. Jasper knocked out like a light, tired from such a long day, and Scarlet tried to update her blog.
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