i eat an apple a day, not to keep the doctor away of cos. because after all, my best friend is on her way to becoming one in the future. i eat apples because i like them. they satisfy my hunger whenever my stomach starts to growl late at night. this reminds me of one particular incident which left a deep imprint on my mind even after a decade:

one fine afternoon in the ninth year of my life, i was searching in the fruits compartment of the refrigerator for a little snack. spotting a plastic bag full of red apples that looked enormously appetising, i dug my hands into the bag to pick one randomly. after rinsing the apple under the running tap, i opened my mouth to take one huge bite into it. no doubt the apple was very crunchy, but the moment my teeth sank into the skin of the apple, my instincts as a child could already sense that something wasnt quite right. so when my face was far enough from the apple to see whats so different about it, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened to almost the size of my bite.

the apple was brown on the inside, its core seemingly black, and there i had a rotten apple half eaten.

that didnt deter me from eating apples, though i did refrain from them for a while. thereafter, i always make sure i cut my apples into half to dig out the core before consuming it.

thats not the only lesson i learnt from it. i also experienced what it meant not to judge the book by its cover, nor an apple by its smooth red polished skin.


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