Gold Heart, Warm Soul

18| Temple visit

It's the early hours of the morning, where the sun has not risen up yet. I could barely open my eyes while brushing my teeth. It was too early to wake up as I was not an early riser. The alarm had already rang consecutively for half an hour before I woke up. A dose of coffee is what I needed to be fully awake and conscious. As I dressed myself in my royal blue Amwari traditional dress. It was comfortable to move in and the material was soft and flowy. I had to thank Felicia again for the dress and should get some custom outfits from her spring collection. She is an amazing clothing designer and her reputation is rising up the roof due to her recent fashion show in the new year.

I walked down to the dining hall to get breakfast. It was the temple visit today and everyone had to get up early to attend the early prayers. With a hand covering my mouth as I yawn, I could see guests at the bottom of the stairs, mingling with each other.
"Ambar, good morning!" Ethan greeted me as he saw me. "You're an early riser, aren't you? Good morning to you too, Ethan," I said to him. "And you're not one. An early riser, I mean," Ethan said as he walked beside me to the dining hall. He too dressed in a traditional outfit. The male traditional outfit is called the Danari. Ethan donned a emerald green Danari with gold lining on his sleeves, which suited his complexion really well and enhanced his handsomeness. As we reached the hall, he pulled me towards the coffee machine. "I'll get you some coffee, you look like you really need one, go and get some milk please,"he said pointing towards the jug of sweetened milk while he grabbed two ceramic mugs for the coffee. As he operated the machine expertly getting our coffee, I listened to his instructions and grab the milk jug carefully to pass it to Ethan. We cooperated like we were teammates. It was smooth sailing to get a cup of coffee. As the coffee was done, he even escorted me to a table with the two cups of coffee at hand. Kace was already at the table eating his breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs and pancake. "Morning, Kace. Where's mum and dad?" With a mouth full of eggs, he replied me incoherently, "They finished breakfast and already went out to prepare for the visit." "Oh, that was fast," I said as I signal Kace with my hands to pass me the plate, so I could start piling up with my breakfast. Once I've gotten my breakfast settled, I started munching and I felt more awake as I drank the coffee that Ethan prepared. Ethan sat next to me. We didn't need any communication to know what the other needed. For example, if I needed a butter knife for my bread, a butter knife would magically be handed to me. And if Ethan wanted more scrambled eggs, I would automatically pass the plate to him. Seeing our coordination, Kace raised his eyebrows. "Do you guys have telepathy or something?" Kace asked. "Nah, we just know each other very well," Ethan answered while I was still sipping my coffee. I nodded with a grin.

Once breakfast was over, all of us scrambled into a private car to get to the Temple. Luckily, I stuck next to Kace and Ethan as I almost had to sit with Titus if I was one step later. Our parents had already phoned us, that they had arrived at the temple. Some of the guests were also there. As Felicia and her husband, Lou Shaotian, wanted to have a baby in the future, they decided to go to the temple early and received the blessings from the priest for good fertile and happiness. The temple was very big and old. It still had red tiles dating from a thousand years ago. The entrance of the temple is clean as temple assistants would always sweep the ground. There are many willow trees surrounding the temple and it was filled with greenery. There is also a lotus pond in the middle of the temple where the priests use the water as a medium for their prayers.

Once we arrived at the temple, it was already 8 in the morning. We arranged ourself according to our family and age. In the Lee family, I would be at the last of the line as I was the youngest. Uncle Lee Jien, had also arrived at the temple. He's always overseas to manage the Lee business there. "Hello, kiddo. You've grown so big," Uncle Lee Jien greeted me happily as he saw me approaching. "Morning uncle, when did you arrive?"  "Around 3 am in the morning. Luckily, my flight was on time." As the bell rang across the courtyard, we took our respective place. As usual, all families coordinated our outfit colour. The Lee family wore blue traditional outfits, the Zhang family wore green , the Lou family wore red, the Peng family wore yellow and lastly the Hong family wore purple. It is a tradition as every family has its own colour. No one wore black as it is inauspicious. The priests wore white traditional clothes with a gold scarf around their waist. The temple visit starts with the ceremonial chanting, followed by a walk around the whole temple. It roughly took around an hour. Then, each family would have to receive their blessings while all family members kneel before a priest. The weather was pleasant and cooling. It was spring with flowers blooming everywhere. It wasn't too hot and cold which was a perfect day for a temple visit. I had to go through a cleansing as I was in an accident last year. The cleansing would cleanse my bad luck and give me protection. At least that's what the temple priest had said.