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Cai Cheng Jun flew home just a couple of weeks before he was due to return from his three-month overseas stint in Taiwan. His surprise visit didn’t just catch his family off guard, it caught the attention of some folks too, though probably not for the reason you’re thinking of.
The 26-year-old was in Kaohsiung filming A Prophecy That I’m Falling for You, a 10-episode drama directed by Peter Ho. Cheng Jun plays A Li, a Singaporean exchange student studying in Taiwan.
However, though he was due to return to Singapore on Jul 10, he had secretly flown back in late June for a week to surprise his family.
We had to ask: if he was already returning on July 10, why make the extra trip home?
The end of June is usually a time of celebration in his family, Cheng Jun, who finished fourth in Star Search 2024, tells 8days.sg in an interview.
“It coincides with my birthday, my dad’s birthday and Father’s Day. We usually have one or two celebrations together over the weekend. To miss celebrations this year felt like a bummer,” he says.
“The feeling was that my mum, siblings and I were surprising for my dad’s 60th birthday, but not attending made me a lil’ sad, so when the opportunity came to return for a week, I took it!”
Cheng Jun shared about the surprise trip in an Instagram video, which showed him stealthily walking into his family home before his mother spotted him and hugged him. “You are back already!” she exclaimed gleefully.
In the video, he admitted that although three months didn’t sound particularly long, it was the longest he had ever spent away from home.
“Have left Singapore for about three months, you can say the time is not long, yet it isn’t short, but I am missing home. It makes me sound like I’m weak, but this is my first time I have left the comfort of my home for so long,” he said in the video.
“I also heard that my parents missed me, so I decided to fly back for a short trip,” Cheng Jun added.
The heartwarming reunion video also gave fans something else to talk about.
Quite a few viewers were more interested that he lived in a landed property, a topic that has apparently followed him ever since his Star Search 2024 days.
When 8days.sg brought it up, he burst out laughing. “Wait… people have been talking about it since Star Search?!” he asks us.
But he maintains the reaction is usually more muted. “It’s usually more like, ‘Oh, you stay in a landed. So cool!’” he says.
“I actually think people are more surprised by my family dynamics. I get more comments about how lucky I am to have such a close-knit family, which I agree,” Cheng Jun adds.
Interestingly, some also noticed his dad went to hug his mum who was still holding on to Cheng Jun, something which even he noticed.
“Don’t ask me why my dad isn’t hugging me,” he wrote in the caption.
But Cheng Jun tells us that he thinks he knows exactly what happened.
“I would guess that he didn’t know how to react at that moment, so he hugged my mum instead, but I think he wanted to hug me!” he laughs.
According to Cheng Jun, it’s simply a generational thing.
“He was born in the ’60s. He just shows his love through service like cutting fruits, taking out the trash, buying food, and driving my siblings and me around. It doesn’t mean there’s no love,” he says.
Watching the reunion, we couldn’t help but wonder just how homesick had he been?
“I was having slight difficulty adjusting to the work and lifestyle in Taiwan at the start, so I just wanted to isolate in my room. However, after being out of my comfort zone and needing to regulate myself, the entire “living independently” experience became a lot more enjoyable,” he shares.
Cheng Jun says the second wave of homesickness hit harder when he his secondary school friends visited Taipei.
“When they left for the airport and flew back to Singapore, I felt a little depressed… and honestly, a little jealous,” he says.
The experience also made Cheng Jun realise that permanently relocating is probably not for him, at least for now. “I think I am a very Singaporean boy that loves his life here,” he quips.
But Cheng Jun says he will gladly accept overseas working stints again.
“I would love and be open to working overseas for a long period of time, but I would still prefer to call Singapore home,” he says.