Falling Light
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. DINING ROOM - 08:00
Soft Spring light. PETER sits with KAJI, the family pet. As he scrolls FB, he passes slices of bread to her.
PETER (V.O.): Oh, my wife has posted the beautiful photos of our cherry blossom chase in Hakodate, late April.
Peter keeps going back to the photos.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): These Hakodate cherry blossom photos have me hooked.
Peter smiles.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): Among others, my wife carefully selected two of her favourites: the portrait I took of her bathed in soft white sakura, and the shot she took of me in our cute Susuki rental car.
He opens his photo app.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Life is good. Don't argue.
He stares at a photo with cherry blossoms in the foreground, but his eyes are on the background of falling light.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Falling light isn't lost light. It lands on the petals here and there. It becomes the place we are.
Act 2
INT. LIVING ROOM - 11:15
Peter wraps up with his Duolingo streaks.
PETER (V.O.): Another day of keeping my Duolingo streaks alive.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): And yet I'm thinking about Emily again. She passed away so unexpectedly.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My mind keeps drifting back to the day we first connected and how our friendship grew.
FLASHBACK
INT. UNIVERSITY LECTURE HALL - DAY (2014)
Early birds - around a dozen PARTICIPANTS. EMILY greets Peter at the door.
EMILY: A guitar for a law talk on intellectual property (IP)?
PETER: The early birds get my creative song. Then legal translation in the IP context.
On stage, Peter strums.
PETER (Cont'd): I'm going to sing a trilingual song. It's called “快楽的生活” in Mandarin, "冇人會嫌多" in Cantonese, and "Let's Get Together" in English.
After the guitar intro, Peter sings.
PETER (Singing): 快楽的生活 , 冇人會嫌多, Let's get together. 温馨的時刻, 冇人會嫌多, Laughter makes us better...
Peter sings passionately. A CAMERAMAN takes snapshots. Peter plays the outro.
PETER: The song? Copyright in the music and lyrics. I wrote them and I'm the copyright owner of the works.
Emily laughs. The cameraman spots that.
PETER (Cont'd). My performance? I owe the right in my performnace. My permission is needed to record it.
Peter holds up his guitar.
PETER (Cont'd). The shape - design right. The bracing inside - patent. The brand - trademark.
Emily and other participants are impressed.
RETURN TO PRESENT
Peter takes a look of the profile picture of his WhatsApp.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's one of the snapshots of that performance.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While I had Emily's consent to use it, she humbly remarked that she was honoured I'd use it as my profile pic.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The last WhatsApp message Emily sent me was on 17 Feb 2026.
Peter opens a browser tab: funeral flowers. He scrolls, stops at one. Selects white irises and dark purple orchids.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's her. Precise.
He adds to cart. Stares at the blank message card. He types, deletes and types again: 法律翻譯,典範長存.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Emily is a role model on legal translation.
He places the order. Confirmation: Bouquet to be delivered on May 6, around 16:00.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Like cherry blossoms falling through dimming light, so too did Emily - delicate, luminous and gone too soon.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 21:45
Peter uploads an image to a draft on his laptop. It depicts the soft sunlight falling through the cherry blossom branches, casting a glow on the fleeting petals against the hazy sky.
PETER (V.O.): The cherry tree doesn't mourn its petals. It blooms again next April. But we aren't trees. We carry every fall with us.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Emily laughed in a photo taken over 10 years ago. That laugh is still falling somewhere - like light that left a star long after the star died.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Falling light doesn't ask for permission. It simply shows me how little of it remains - and how beautiful that little can be.
The END
FADE OUT
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