AS SHE lay on the cold ceramic tiles in the one-room HDB flat, the woman began to worry.
Where was her brother?
Paralysed by a stroke about nine years ago, she had depended on the younger man for all her daily needs. For two days, however, no one tended to her - until late Saturday morning.
That was after the woman,believed to be in her early 70s and whose name is not known, pleaded in Cantonese: "Please, someone give me food. I'm hungry. Please."
It was only then that neighbours discovered her brother's body in the eighth-storey unit at Block 10, North Bridge Road off Beach Road.
Unknown to the woman, the body of her only caregiver, Mr Cheng Wei Pak, 56, was just a few feet behind her.
It is believed that he had been dead for about two days. The cause of his death is unknown, though he is believed to have been suffering from throat cancer for about three years.
Mr Hong Ah Hong, 83, who lives in the opposite unit, had hobbled out to check on the woman after he heard her cries.
Speaking in Cantonese, he told The New Paper: "It was odd to hear the woman calling for help and so I went over to see what happened."
Mr Hong found the old woman, who is also believed to be suffering from senile dementia, lying near the half-opened door.
He said: "She asked me to call out for her brother, adding that she did not know where he had gone.
"She kept muttering that he'd never left her at home for so long."
Just as Mr Hong turned away to call out to another neighbour a few units away, he thought he saw something looking like a pair of feet.
While he waited for the other neighbour to walk over, he pushed the door open.
Mr Hong said: "I was shocked to see Mr Cheng lying on the floor just outside the toilet."
Both he and the woman neighbour - who declined to be named - kept calling out to the man but there was no response.
They realised that Mr Cheng could be dead only when the foul smell hit them. They called the police.
Strong bond
Both neighbours spoke of a strong bond between brother and sister - and a love that saw them through illness, despite uncertainty and financial hardship.
The woman neighbour said the siblings had been living there for nearly 20 years.
While details of their past are vague, the neighbour said in Mandarin: "After the sister suffered a stroke about nine years ago, she became paralysed."
Mr Cheng soon quit his job to look after his sister full-time.
Said the neighbour: "He saw to all her needs - from feeding her, bathing her, carrying her to and from the toilet, day in day out."
She added: "He went from a burly and stout man to one who was almost reed-thin."
Yet, Mr Cheng never once complained - even as his sister slowly became senile and would sometimes chide him, calling him "suay zai" (bad boy in Cantonese).
Yet he continued caring for her. When the flat was being upgraded last year, for example, he would carry her in and out of the unit.
Said the woman neighbour: "She'd scold him for dropping her slippers on the floor, and he'd just laugh and say, 'Yah, I'm suay zai'."
When some other neighbours suggested that Mr Cheng let his sister wear adult diapers to ease his burden, he refused. Mr Hong said: "He'd say there was no way he was going to humiliate her by treating her like she's some imbecile.
"He always told me, 'If I can't even do something so simple, I am not fit to be a man'."
Their flat is sparsely furnished. There is no TV or refrigerator. They made do with only a small foldable table and some stools.
Their only luxury was a single bed.
Mr Hong said: "The sister slept on the bed, while Mr Cheng would sleep on a thin mattress on the floor." Their only form of entertainment was Mr Cheng singing - albeit off-key - to his sister "when she remembered to grumble she was bored".
Most times, he'd just chat with her, said Mr Hong.
"It's like he thinks she understands him," he added.
Mr Cheng rarely left his sister at home for long. He left only to buy their meals - usually a packet of rice with vegetables to be shared between them. When he found out he had cancer three years ago, he asked neighbours if he should go for surgery.
Money woes aside, he was more worried that no one would take care of his sister, said the woman neighbour.
She said: "Before he was sick, he'd tell us that he'd look after his sister till she's no longer here.
"And when he fell ill, he said he'd fight to stay alive so he could look after her and leave only when she's gone."
Mr Hong said: "But now, he's gone - and the worst part is, his sister can't even mourn for him because she does not realise it."
And that, he added, is the real tragedy.
THREE days after Mr Cheng Wei Pak died, his sister remains in the dark over his death.
She continues to believe he has gone off to run an errand.
A police spokesman said they received a call on 23 Jan, and a Chinese man was found lying face up on the floor.
He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 12pm.
Yesterday morning, police officers and medical attendants were at the flat trying to move the woman to a hospital.
But Mr Cheng's sister refused to leave with them. She wanted to wait for her brother.
It took them a while, said the woman neighbour.
She added: "I helped to coax her too, and I kept telling her that she needed to go for a check-up at the hospital first. And that only after she had done so, they would be sending her to her other brother."
It was only then that the woman finally relented and agreed to let them take her away.
It is believed that the woman has another two younger brothers and a sister.
Said neighbour Hong Ah Hong: "When I called the younger sister earlier, she told me to mind my own business."
When he tried to explain that her sister was alone and helpless now, she cut him off and slammed down the phone.
Mr Hong said: "I discussed the matter with the neighbours and we decided we had no choice but to call the police."
When this reporter called the given number last night, a woman who answered the phone confirmed she was "Ah Heong". But when she heard that we were calling about "Mr Cheng's sister", the phone line went dead. Subsequent calls to the same number were not successful.
