The story
Lim Wei Jie, twenty, ties off the last plate of char kway teow at his uncle's hawker stall, pulls off his apron and checks his watch: 2:47 pm. His scholarship audition at the conservatory starts at three. He grabs his worn violin case and runs.
On a sun-baked street in Bras Basah, Chloe Tan steps out of a gelato shop with a double scoop of pistachio, stops to take a photo of it, turns around, and walks straight into him. The gelato lands on his white shirt. She apologises in a panic and only makes the stain worse with a tissue. He has no time. He bows, says it's okay, and keeps running. Then Chloe notices the audition number on his chest. She is wearing the same wristband. She auditioned an hour ago.
Wei Jie arrives twelve minutes late, out of breath, with a green stain across his shirt. The head judge looks at the clock, then at the shirt. Before Wei Jie can finish apologising, Chloe bursts in. It was her fault, she says. She ran into him. They are here to judge his violin, not his shirt. After a pause, one of the judges gives him two minutes.
Chloe takes off the oversized black blazer she brought because the hall's air-conditioning is freezing and puts it over his shoulders. It covers the stain. He closes his eyes and begins to play Elgar's Salut d'Amour.
As the music swells we see where he comes from, without a word of dialogue: a family photo beside a piano in a big house; his parents in hospital beds after an accident; moving boxes carried into a small HDB flat; five in the morning at the hawker stall; ironing his younger siblings' school uniforms and packing their lunches; practising alone under a void deck light late at night. Back in the hall, the judges have put down their pens. Chloe stands by the door with wet eyes.
Results will be posted at 6 pm. While they wait, Chloe drags him back to the gelato shop. She almost ruined his audition, so she has to treat him. He says there's no need. She orders the biggest cone anyway and holds it out to him. He pushes it back and tells her to eat it.
So she takes one small lick and offers it to him again, looking straight at him. He freezes. Then he understands what she means, goes red, and takes a lick too. She laughs and takes another.
At six, the judges read out the names going through to the final round: Chloe Tan, and Lim Wei Jie. He is still wearing her blazer. She nudges him with her elbow. The film ends on the shop's logo and one line: Some sweet things start with a mess.