He worked night shifts. And as soon as he got off work, he got himself a glass full of brown sugar deerioca milk, every morning without fail. Usually, there would be a serpentine queue that would test his patience on most days. But these days, things were different. There were fewer people in line waiting for this iconic drink. It was nothing like anything he had had before. He stirred it nine times clockwise and let the flavour diffuse from the lower warmer part of the glass into the upper layers of cold milk. One sip, and he knew this is heaven.

He savoured the freshly prepared deeriocas and thought to himself, sometimes, this is all you needed to live a good life. All you had to do was find happiness in the little things. A glass of milk tea, a sunny day, a smile from a stranger…

His muscles ached with the long work hours as he stepped into his house, grateful to be back home. But his glass was half full and so was his heart. But then, just as he took another sip, his phone beeped. He looked at it, worried.

The hospital had just found the first case of the novel corona virus in the country. He blinked his eyes profusely as he read the message again. This was a biological war and he was at the frontline. Today, he was not just a doctor, he was a soldier. He looked down at his milk tea, took a deep breath and sipped on it. The glass was still half full as he marched out of his house determined to spread hope.