Liew (surname)

The Liews (刘) are a main family in Teach, with quite a few key characters bearing the surname, or going on to bear that surname as the story progresses. The members of the original Liew family in Part One are: Liew Yi Long, Liew Ting Xuan, Abel Liew and Samuel Liew. In Part Three, Samuel marries Amanda into the Liew family and has a son named Clance Liew.

## Biographical details

The Liew family address is at 12 Marine Terrace, which is also Samuel and Abel's childhood home. When Samuel moves out and starts a family in Part Three, he stays with Amanda and Clance at 151 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. The family is not religious.

The Liew family is considered lower middle class. Yi Long works as a wholesale seafood distributor at Jurong Fishery Port, which requires him to work long hours and go to work even before the crack of dawn due to the proximity to his workplace. He is hardly at home and even Samuel admits in Part Two that he is not very close to his father:

```
*"Honestly, I didn't see him very much. Even in the past. I knew he loved me in his own way, but half the time he was just not around."*

```

Ting Xuan is a hawker selling economic bee hoon at the Toa Payoh Lorong 5 Hawker Centre, so she also has to arrive at the stall rather early to prepare ingredients for the day ahead. Together, their incomes from both jobs do not earn much, so they never had much new things, and spending money did not come easy to the family. However, both parents loved Abel and Samuel very much, and they would often not hesitate to spend money on things that they required for school, or anything that they wished for like occasional vacations or family meals. When Samuel got accepted into the private university Layton Hill Teacher Training College in Part Two, Yi Long insisted on paying the rather expensive college fees.

```
*"Pa...I can't take this. You use it on yourself." Father looked up from his newspaper and at Samuel."College nowadays so expensive, all this money keep here also no use, can't even bring into the grave. I really don't need so much. You just take lah, treat it as a reward for you on getting into college."*

```

When Abel and Samuel were in their junior college years, they took on private tutoring to earn some quick cash to help make ends meet. This however did not alleviate the family situation very much.

In Part Three, Samuel meets Amanda at Stamford High School and they become friends. Gradually, he falls in love with her but doesn't realise it until he has been posted to another school, and finds that he craves her presence terribly. At a chance encounter at a school band event, he makes a feeble attempt at confession but is surprised to know that she is in love with him as well. They date for a few years, manage to escape the prying eyes of the students and the education ministry, before getting married and moving to Ang Mo Kio. A year after their marriage, Amanda gives birth to a son, Clance Liew. By this time, Yi Long has already passed at the old age of 79 due to bone cancer, while Ting Xuan is 85 and still living at the Marine Terrace house with Abel, who stays a bachelor to take care of her.

## Relationships

### Thams

The Tham family has one daughter, who is Amanda Tham. They are a free spirited and modern bunch who are completely supportive of Samuel dating Amanda. They dote on Clance very much and occasionally spoil him with food and praises. Samuel has a moderate relationship with Amanda's parents, talking civilly when visiting with his family, and occasionally helping them out around the house. Amanda's parents have a positive impression of Samuel, regarding him as humble, good natured and very loving towards their daughter.

When Amanda's mother passes away when Clance is two years old, Samuel and Abel attend their funeral and Samuel brings Clance along. Abel is seen at the same table as Samuel, who in turn makes attempts to comfort Amanda, and cheer her up from the sadness of losing a close family member.