Chapter 11

There was actually a reason on why I had not mentioned about our past relationship while chatting with Lara.

I had a girlfriend now: Her name is Wendy. I first met her when one of my army buddies introduced her to me. At first, we were just friends. She would dart glances at me and I would reply her glances with playful winks.

One day, our sergeant forced us to put a picture of a girl in our wallets. It had to be a girl that he did not know: That meant we could not put pictures of celebrities. Most of my campmates put their girlfriends’ pictures. I was single then, so I put Wendy’s picture.

One day, when I booked out, I met Wendy and another army campmate for lunch. My campmate went off earlier. While I was alone with Wendy, I went to the toilet and told her that if the bill came, take the money from my wallet. When I came back from the toilet, she was holding a picture of herself.

“Can you explain this?” I remembered her saying.

I was totally lost for words then: So I said, “Because I miss you.”

And so, that day, we held hands.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I took the same bus as Lara to work the next day.

We sat on the same seat. I knew both of us must have remembered the old days when we were together. But we said nothing. We chatted about other things like work and friends.

Lara said she now lived alone. I did not probe deeper into that. I had always said that I was not interested in her domestic affairs.

“You have a CD player?” I asked. It was for jest.

Lara laughed out loud. “It’s 2006!” she took out an iPod. “Who still uses Discman or Walkman?”

“2006.” I said. That meant we had been separated since the start of the new millennium. Fateful coincidence, I thought.

“You wanna lunch together later?” she asked. She looked at her watch. It was a brand new Swatch.

“Call me.” I said and gave her my contact number.

“It’s 2006.” she said. “I’ll SMS you."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And so, we had our lunch together that day.

She updated me more about her life. “Spent almost forever to get this job.” she said. “I sent over a hundred CVs. When this company replied, I instantly went for the interview and got the job.”

“How is it?” I asked.

“So far, so good.”

I nodded. When I took out my cigarette box, she hung her head.

I took out a stick and she brushed her hair to her back. The moment I lit my stick, she coughed and said, “Can you… erm, not smoke?”

I looked at my lighted stick. Then, I took a very long drag and tossed the cigarette away.

“How’s your work?” she asked.

“As usual. Trying to meet quota everyday. A bit stressful but challenging.”

“I like challenging work.”

I recalled the days we had at Kenny Clark Limited. She had always been the fastest and most productive worker.

When there was silence for a minute, I played with my chin. Her manner of talking did not resemble the young Lara. The young Lara would talk non-stop in a one hour lunch. This Lara did not mind a ten-minute silence.

“Remember what date is it tomorrow?” she asked.

I looked at my watch and realized there was no date on it.

“My birthday.” she whispered.

“Oh.” I said. That jolted another sweet memory: On the day when we were lost in the Bird Park, I had kind of “celebrated” her eighth birthday with her.

“So…” she drew a circle with her finger on the table. Her eyes were on the imaginary circle. “Are you free tomorrow?” she said.

I thought of Wendy. I was supposed to meet her tomorrow evening for a movie. I had even bought the movie tickets. It was still inside my wallet.

“I, well, tomorrow have to work over-time. Coz’ there’s this marketing-”

“It’s okay.” she said. Now, she was drawing something else on the table.

I licked my lips and nodded. No matter how I licked my lips with my tongue, they remained dry. When I saw Lara’s plate empty, I took a quick glance at my watch and stood up.

“Let’s go.” I said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That night, I thought I should have at least got her a birthday present. It was eleven at night and all the shops would be closed by now. I could buy tomorrow but I had to work in the day and meet Wendy at night. I combed my house for something valuable that could substitute as a gift but found nothing.

In the end, I found a big empty star-shaped bottle and about a hundred long rectangular coloured papers. I had bought that a year ago for Wendy but did not give it to her, as I did not have the time to fold the papers into hearts.

Should I, or should I not? Two hours later, I found myself folding the papers. Six hours later, I had filled up half the bottle. Eight hours later, the bottle was full with hearts. I was about to sleep when I realized it was already morning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I put the bottle of hearts into a paper bag and brought it to the bus stop.

Lara was, as usual, already there. She was listening to her iPod; an Mp3 Player. As I neared her, she said, “You have black eyes. Worked late last night?”

I massaged my neck and said, “Yes.”

The bus came a minute later. We got a seat together and Lara offered me one of her earphones. I took it and capped it over my right ear. The soothing song lulled me to doze off.

When I woke up, I felt something warm on my right hand. Lara was holding my right hand. She stared at me and smiled. When our eyes met, she squeezed my hand.

I grabbed her other hand with my left hand and suddenly, there was only one girl in my mind: Lara Wu.

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