It was the second day of Lunar New Year. After hotpot, I was walking down Linsen North Road, heading to a shop to pick something up.

Along the way, a friend called and invited me to hang out at his place. The old me would have said "Sure, I'm on my way" without a second thought, dropping whatever I'd planned. But that day, I didn't. I told him: "I'll come by later."

Such a small decision. But everything that followed changed because of it.

I got to the shop — closed for the holidays. Fair enough. A wasted trip. So I took a different route back to the MRT station.

And that's when I walked past a lottery shop.

Honestly, I don't usually buy scratch cards. But that day, for some reason, I glanced over. A thought popped into my head: Didn't we just do an abundance ritual and Reiki labeling recently? If I've already done all that, why not give it a shot. Might as well, right? 😄

You know how lottery shops are during Chinese New Year — the line was like waiting for a trendy restaurant. So I queued up patiently, and while I waited, I casually scanned the row of scratch cards on display.

That's when I saw one of them glowing.

Yes, you read that right. And yes, I saw what I saw — probably. For a second I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Maybe I'd eaten too much hotpot and was hallucinating. But it just looked different from the ones beside it, like it was saying: "It's me. Pick me."

So when it was my turn, I didn't overthink it. I just pointed to that one.

My hands were pretty steady as I started scratching. But halfway through, the numbers started looking… off. Wait a minute — is this… 100,000?

I couldn't quite believe it. Calmly, I handed the card to the attendant and asked her to scan it to confirm.

The machine went: "Ding ding ding—" A winner. But the amount hadn't shown up yet.

I said quietly: "I think I won 100,000…"

The attendant scratched off the rest, looked it over, then looked up at me with a smile. "Congratulations. That's right — 100,000."

And then the fun really started.

The ladies working at the shop, the grandma standing nearby — everyone crowded around. "What's your zodiac sign?" "Which card did you buy?" "Oh my goodness, you're so lucky!" The grandma didn't hesitate — she reached over and touched my arm, saying she wanted some of that good luck to rub off on her.

It was the most adorable scene. In an instant, the whole lottery shop turned into a Lunar New Year celebration.

On the way home, I kept thinking about it. What if I'd done what I always used to do — dropped my own plans the moment my friend called? I never would have walked to that closed shop. Never would have taken the detour. Never would have passed that lottery shop. Never would have seen that glowing scratch card.

Sometimes, when you start honoring your own choices and trusting your own instincts, the universe really does find its own funny little way of responding.

Oh — and I did end up going to my friend's place afterward. In a very, very good mood. With 100,000 reasons to smile.