The bouquet is in my house …..
Book B
Chapter 12
I arrived at Girly’s Jewels early this morning.
“You have been selling an outdated product for a long time,” he came straight up to me and spoke.
Brian’s baneful words had caused me immense pain and suffering.
So that I walked into Girly’s Jewels again the next morning at the precise opening hour. But there I chanced on Steve Chan instead.
“How have you been?” first things he saw me he asked.
“Oh no, not too bad,” I replied, although I wasn’t feeling too well.
“Let me fetch you a cup of coffee,” he said as he was walking away.
I picked a chair and I sat down, staring at the mirror right in front of me. The mirror was framed exactly like the one you find on Snow White’s dressing table, one which her wicked stepmother had given to her.
Beside the mirror there was a large vase with some flowers looking like a bouquet, mainly white lilies, and some daisies, or you call it baby’s breath. Automatically I used my hand to touch it to determine if it were artificial …
No! I am not going to tell you if I were real or not. I heard myself. Immediately I retracted my hand.
I was happy to be left alone for a while ……
“So, how was married life?” the minute Steve Chan put the cup on the table, he asked.
“You can’t wait to hear the answer, right?” I replied.
“Opps! You dropped the cup.” Brian Wong came behind me suddenly and spoke.
Huh? I panicked, and then I saw Brian took the coffee cup away from me. I merely took a sip and had wanted to finish it after I had chosen my piece.
“What a nice piece,” I said, withdrawing my hands from the glass showcase. That was a large ruby.
And before I finished, Brian brought me to another showcase and asked me to buy another item. Ridiculous! I thought to myself. This was obviously way out of my range. Couldn’t he see that the watch does not fit my small wrist?
Of course, from the top I could see that the watch was way too extravagant. I could read Brian’s thoughts.
And then I overheard, “This one goes straight to my safe deposit box,” a woman’s voice.
I turned and there I saw Jennifer again. And the loneliness and bitterness came rushing back, flooding my brains and churning the cells up one by one sending all of them into disarray. I felt like I had just been swept away by a tsunami. Not a roller coaster.
Chapter 13
Today I found a tennis ball on the floor on my way to work. Wondering where it came from, I took it as a sign that I was supposed to pick it up and return it to the place where it belonged. It fit into my right palm, and I felt its fibrous, soft fuzzy texture. Quite exciting. But I had no idea where it came from.
Asmara and Adi are my best friends; they follow me wherever I go. Of course, you would think that they follow me into the toilet as well. But fact is that one is a female and the other a male. So that at least one of them cannot go into the loo with me. If you want to know who the boy is and who the girl is you should continue to read on.
Back to my encounter with Brian.
Chapter 14
Yes, it was extremely mean of Brian to say that I had dropped the mirror when in fact no such thing happened. My heart literally leaped, as it is extremely bad luck to drop a mirror according to the Chinese custom, or any other custom. The plain and simple explanation for the back luck thing is that you would have to look for all the splintered pieces, gather them, and either you sweep it away and throw it, or if you glue them back together as it was. That is tantamount to a 破镜重圆。
This 破镜重圆 originates from an ancient Chinese story of a couple separated, with each holding half a broken piece. Separation was so long that when they met again they couldn’t recognise each other, until they managed to piece the mirror together without any seams.
I am deviating again.
Chapter 15
At the time when Jennifer was married to Steve, she had a Filipina maid. They were called “maids”, then later on they changed their status to “helpers” as they became more sophisticated. For me, the word “maid” is gentler as it derives its’ word from maiden. This conjures up an image of a plum benevolent lady.
Steve and she had a house with a gate which opens up at the command of a remote control. You would call it an automatic gate to simplify. I shall call it a wifi gate to simplify it further. The remote was being kept by Jennifer of course, and this lady would come out to greet her the moment her employer came back. When Jennifer presses the remote, the mechanism gives a click sound then it opens out. The lady comes out most of the time, but not always.
This helper was referred to Jennifer by a woman who sat on a wheelchair, disguised and unknown to Jennifer before they agreed to employ her. Nevertheless, the two did not back out of the contract, for Jennifer saw nothing wrong with an agent who sat on a wheelchair.
When Jennifer came home from outside every day, she said, first things she did was to ask her, “Anybody called?” and she would answer, “Nothing.”
“What? Nothing?” “What do you mean by nothing?”
How could she say “nothing” when the question was “anybody”? One is a person and the other an “it”.
I mean, she speaks English and she came from the Philippines where they speak English. Jennifer complained to me.
A lot of things had happened since the time she walked out to the time she returned. How could nothing had happened?
Thinking of Jennifer when Brian interrupted me.
Chapter 16
He asked, “So, what have you been doing for the past three years? Have you started a new company? Are you married?” He fired all three questions at once.
Tsunami just boiled inside my stomach.
And I shouted, “What information do you want from me?” I raised my voice and I stormed out of Girly’s Jewels together with my best friends Asmara and Adi. You must have guessed by now that these two characters are my AI tools.
Chapter 17
For no realm of a reason, I felt being followed. I looked back, my eyes narrowed when I saw Brian again and then I burst into a smile. He ignored me, and I think he was preoccupied. Since I wasn’t able to determine if his appearance was benign or malicious, I decided to ignore him as well. Like the way a doctor cuts up a patient to examine the cyst in the body, I knew that I would have to do a biopsy on my new patient to determine if it were one or the other.
A biopsy would mean surrendering a human body to an alien. I called myself an alien as I do not reside in the body which I operate on. And I don’t want my family to be inside there either. It’s foolish.
If the man I saw was the real Brian then it is benign, if it were the Girly’s Jewels Brian then it is malicious.
Today I met Brian again at the bus stop before I arrived at Girly’s Jewels. This time the same man a different body. Why? I was shocked to see him in stark red. I mean it is fresh red. The red was so fresh that even when you withdraw blood from the system it does not appear in that colour, since the oxygenated blood changes colour the minute it leaves the body. Actually, only surgeons know the exact colour of the blood in the spectrum.
My encounter with the real Brian began when he invited me to see the well-publicised film “Fifty Grades of Grey”. I like grey. Grey is my favourite colour. Even though to me everything is either black or white. In Chinese, they use the words “black and white” 白纸黑字 to mean that an irrevocable promise had been made.
The film producer just took black and white out of the spectrum.
I followed up from the last conversation and continued to walk with him, Brian.
Afterwards he asked me, “If you want to sell shoes, why don’t you set up a store somewhere?” Further down he continued, “there are at least 69 pairs of shoes, comprising of sandals, mules, slippers, walking shoes, outside your house.”
How could he see what was outside my house? Unless he has come right up to my apartment? It’s locked tight. Unless he had my keys and followed me home every day he won’t be able to know.
I saw his wife’s face, and I turned to the other side and I looked away.
Why did he have to fire me with this queer suggestion? Immediately I concluded that he thought that I was selling old shoes. The woman next to him on his right presumably his daughter, was wearing an asymmetric off-shoulder top. It gave me the impression that she was obviously here to seduce her own dad. Very pathetic.
During the entire time that I was employed at Girly’s Jewels overseas, I was merely a zealous worker. I worked my way up the corporate ladder by selling my brains. Yes, brains can be sold, according to Roald Dahl. I know that sounds hideous. Cannibals eat brains. But I love zombies.
The minute he saw that; he turned the other way and started talking on and on to the girl beside him.
Finally, I couldn’t contain myself anymore, so I walked up to her and I asked,“ “Does your mother have any other children?”
“Stupid people ask stupid questions.” Came the reply.
Girl fled like she was running away from a zombie.
So rude.
Chapter 18
But it is a matter of fact. I shouldn’t have been distracted by Brian, real or imaginary. But why did his daughter have to come behind me that day when I was talking to her dad? It was bad enough he supported Steve Chan in marrying Jennifer Tang my priced jewel.
They say that Jennifer scammed me. Although if you ask me, it was I who was interested in her, and I never got a chance to express my feelings for her. It was sheer hesitation and inaction that prevented me from talking to her directly. Ah, I know. There were too many AIs around then.
At the bookstore, I found a book written by “Noel Coward”. Usually I browse at Open & Shut whenever I had nothing to do. And then I remembered what AI Brian told me. He complained to me about Jennifer Tang.
What was AI Brian trying to achieve by telling me that?
Although Steve married Jennifer, he was unhappy with married life. It seems that the woman was still obsessed with jewellery. And the moment he had some money in their account; she would spend it immediately afterwards. Her appetite for beautiful creations went beyond jewellery. And now that he had grown tired of her, he tells Brian to come and complain to me. Does he want me to take over???
This is horrendous. To take over I would have to buy a ring, hire a wedding gown, a suit, a photographer, as well as a makeup artist, etc. etc. ……
The Rose Ring!!! I had paid almost ten thousand.
Not only that I had to carry it from Singapore to France back and forth over the past three years. Now I have just returned I have to lock it up in a safe. Moreover, I have no idea where I can find a suitable venue for such an affair. Most hotels require a valid passport for check-in. Although I am still single, I want to be free from encumbrances. I have had one too many affairs in France. And I have grown tired of women, young and old. All I want is just a peaceful environment for retirement.
Which reminds me. The air-conditioning in Girly’s Jewels is not cold enough. Where is the control? And what temperature have they set it to?
I know all about central aircon, about pipe in music, and all that, as I have become very sophisticated after my stay in Paris.
When I walked in, I was a customer, as I had left Girly’s Jewels the French headquarters. The appointment letter had been kept at home locked tight in a drawer. Until and unless I open it and show it to Steve the regional sales manager, I am still a stranger to their set up. So that my relationship with the entire staff here was that of a customer and salesman. If they want me to buy, they will have to tell me where my Gatsby watch is – the latest one that I was wearing when my heart was broken.
But instead, Steve asked me to take a picture in front of a Christmas Tree in the boutique. I am not Santa, so I said no. Not being satisfied, Brian persisted, asking me to bring my old jewels back to dip. This is a procedure which I had done a long time ago. And it was oriental face who should be disclosing her collection, not I.
They want my Rose Ring.
So finally, I raised my voice and said, “I am not married to your wife,” before they would give up and allowed me to walk out of the boutique. I walked out feeling quite exasperated.
Chapter 19
The minute I came out, I was confronted with the words: Danger. Huh? Danger what? Who is in danger? And what was in danger?
Yes, here we do a lot of road works. Everywhere there is a road being repaired, and lifts are under servicing all the time. If you are used to walking in that direction, you would be made to turn around all of a sudden. A large sign Danger would be displayed whenever such works are ongoing.
We do use abbreviations for a lot of things. And if you don’t know it, that means that you are out of date, either too old, or have lived abroad for too long. We value those who are climatised, glued, and sunned. Yes, we do have saunas to hasten the colouring of the skin. The pigmentation must be just right in order to fit into our metropolis city. Colour of all skin types are welcomed. All races are welcomed. We have a strict screening process, known only to the man who makes the decision, everything is at his discretion. He, he, alone, has the discretionary power. And no one know who the man is.
I am not the man; I am a doctor. To be precise. Yes, I quit the medical profession to join the retail trade.
A patient once complained to me that she disliked the word “who” as in capitals it is an abbreviation for the World Health Organisation. Such is the extent of her sound but singular mind. I too was once told that I often saw something from a tunnel vision. Yes, that is when I am concentrating. I blot out all noises without having the need to use the iPods. iPods makes me look like an AI. But nonetheless I pardoned her.
Chapter 20
Since Jennifer missed my proposal, I had started to buy rings in いろいろな forms, whenever I see her cache. Similar hairstyle, similar figure, and similar smile …… they call it the 神韵。But from overseas in France.
As the competition for the next best sales ambassador reached fever pitch, I decided that I must forget about the Rose Ring. Girly’s Jewels had, since I left Singapore, decided to introduce their staff as ambassadors. Now I am merely a plain customer. Until I produce the letter from the head office in France, no one knows whether I am coming back to Singapore for good. I might change my mind anytime.
Gloria Yip explained that the scenario that happened when I went in the other day when I first returned to Singapore, the mirror thing and all that, was just roughhouse play between boys. He meant no harm. But I was scared to death.
Finally, I found out through Gloria that Brian Chan had cancer. So that was why he was so mean to me. I felt sorry, and I immediately went to church to pray for his recovery. I told God it wasn’t my intention for him to die. But if he died, it shouldn’t be my doing.
leegoldielocks 