Chapter 5

I remembered Lara’s mother as a woman who wore big earrings.

I had not expected myself to speak to her that day. After work that day, it was late, so I decided to take Lara home. Lara rejected but I insisted. There had been cases of robbery near our neighbourhood.
When we finally reached her doorstep, I waved and was about to leave when I heard a loud scream. “So late? Again? Where have you been?”

I turned to the commotion. A woman in pyjamas was at the threshold of Lara’s apartment. Lara hung her head and said nothing. When the woman turned her attention to me, I tried to look at her ears. There were no earrings.

“You! Come here!” she pointed at me.

I looked around me. There was no one else. Lara wheeled, saw me and whispered something that I could not make out. Pressured, I stepped towards them.

Lara, at the doorstep, explained everything to her mother. After two minutes of elucidation, her mother actually invited us into the house. “Get in!” she said to me. Lara got in and whispered something again. I could not hear her. “Get in, lad!”

I nodded and ran in.

There was a big LCD screen television near the door. That was the main attraction: I often associate rich people with LCD screen television.

“Your name?” Lara’s mother requested.

“Go, boy. Don’t care about me.” Lara whispered. Now I finally heard what she said.

“Jie Lun.” I said to Lara’s mother.

“Alright, Jie Lun, are you in a hurry?” she looked at the clock. It was going to be eleven soon.

I stared out at the window and not knowing what to say, I said, “Huh. No.”

“Good. If it’s over midnight, I’ll drive you home. Now, sit.”

I was already sitting. She seemed to be more nervous than me.

“So Lara and you have been working part-time. McDonald’s. For a month! Without…” she turned to face Lara flatly, “…me knowing!”

“Erm, Mrs. Wu, well.” I started. Then ended.

“I don’t give you enough money?” Lara’s mother said.

“No, mommy, I-”

“Then why work part-time at McDonald’s? You think working is fun? It’s not like I’ve got no money to support you, right?” she said, almost screaming. I caught a quick glimpse at the LCD television. They were, indeed, pretty well-to-do.

“Then? Why work part-time, huh? I can give you more money if that is not enough!” she continued. I realized she referred Lara’s parents as “I”. I took a look around her house and only saw photos of Lara and her mother.

I cleared my throat. It was pretty dry then.

“Yes! Yes, Jie Lun, you have something to say?” Lara’s mother shouted, turning from Lara to me within nanoseconds.

“Huh?” I gritted my teeth and Lara’s mother’s eyes widened.

“Say it!”

Lara’s eyes turned red. She would cry anytime from now. I took a long breath and said, “Mrs. Wu, it’s actually… not about money.”

There was silence for about five seconds.

“Look, we actually learnt a lot of things while working there. Like, human interaction, human behaviour… those sorts of things. You can never learn all these in textbooks.”

Lara’s mother inched towards me.

“So… we’ll also understand the concept of money. I mean, we will… like, treasure money more… erm, effectively. You know. Yeah.”

When Lara’s mother was directly in front of me, I halted. I could hear my heartbeats. Her cheeks were red and I wondered if she was going to hit me. Should I fight back? She looked so frail, as if she would die at my first punch…

“How’s the pay? What’s your position?” she asked. Lara was combing her bag for something.
I told Lara’s mother the pay package and the work scope. She listened attentively. She is, upon closer view, an attractive lady. The wrinkles beside her eyes showed up frequently but when they disappeared, she looked just like a twenty-something lady who had just graduated from University.

“It’s too late. Look at the time!” The three of us turned to the clock. “What time do you knock off? Ten-thirty?”

“Look, Mrs. Wu, if you allow Lara to continue working, I will fetch her home everyday if it’s after eight at night.” I said. Then I registered what I had just said: I had just made an assurance that I might not commit.

Lara placed her fist on her mouth. She seemed to be thinking. Her eyes were focused on her mother, as if waiting for her response.

Lara’s mother paused. The silence came again.

“You promise?” she said.

I took a glance at Lara, then at her mother and finally, back to Lara. “I promise.” I said. Lara, after ransacking her bag so long, took out a comb. She did not use it. She just held it with both her hands, as if using it to pray.

“Good, Jie Lun. I hold your promise. Now, it’s before twelve, so there’re still buses. See you around.” Lara’s mother muttered. I grabbed my bag, nodded at Lara and ambled towards the door.

“And Jie Lun, next time, don’t call me Mrs. Wu. I’m divorced. Call me Joanna.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You know what you should do?” Xian was saying at one of our lunch breaks. We were trying out a new type of burger that McDonald’s was going to launch.

I ignored him. For the last few days, he had been talking non-stop about Lara and me being a couple. After that day of confrontation with Lara’s mother, I had sent Lara to her doorstep after work daily. Joanna, Lara’s mother, would smile upon seeing me.

Lara was not really content with the arrangement. She said she felt like a child. I told her I did not mind sending her home everyday. I said that I enjoyed her company.

“Actually, Lara told me that she does admire you. You know what does admire mean?” Xian teased. “Admire means like!”

“Arh, freak off.” I said.

“Idiot, dude. Look, try to hold her hand. Eh, have I given you that tip before? Let me elaborate, eh?”

I kept quiet.

“Okay, firstly, you must try to create fate. Come on, fate don’t just fall from the sky! You got to… make sure a car is coming. So that you can reach for her hand. Or put a stupid stone in her path. Then she will fall down. Come on, dude, you gotta be a little evil for the future!”

“Crap.” I said. By the time he stopped, I had finished my burger and he had only taken a bite. He always fails to finish his meal.

“Hey, it’s not crap, okay. It’s years of experience from me.”

I shook my head and threw away the packaging of my food. Lara told me she does admire you. Strangely, I could not get that sentence off my mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That night, Lara and I knocked off at ten in the night.

As usual, we took the same bus together. I passed her one of my earphones and after the first song, she dozed off. Her head laid against the glass window. There were less than ten people in the single-deck bus.

I stared at her sleeping pose. Her mouth was wide open and the image of the “girl-next-door” was gone. I laughed a little, wondering if she would drool. If so, I would laugh out loud.

Lara told me she does admire you.

I rubbed my hands together to warm them up. Lara’s hair covered almost half of her face. She could, from the look of it, drool just any minute.

You know what does admire mean?

The song in my right ear was playing loudly. It was a duet song. Anytime from now, the singer would scream. I wondered if she would jolt up from her sleep when the singer screamed the song at the top of his voice.

Admire means like!

I guessed she would not. My eyes searched for her hand. Her left hand was resting on her left thigh, whereas her right hand was hidden under her bag. I rubbed my hands for warmth once again.

Come on, fate don’t just fall from the sky!

And so, slowly and ever so gently, I reached for her left hand. I held her left hand with my right hand and crossed my fingers against hers. Her palm was cold. Or maybe my hand was warm. I grabbed it tightly. Her eyes were still closed. There was no reaction from her.

I turned my attention to the other seats. Deep inside me, my heart was thumping so fast that I felt like I had just ran ten miles.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When there was movement, I knew I had only half a second to make the decision: Whether to let go of her hand or continue holding on to her.

A second passed. I dared not look to my right. My eyes scanned my front, my left and my back. I could still feel her hand on mine.

I waited for another second. Then another. The song in our earphones continued to play loudly. I held my breath and nearly coughed. Finally, after about thirty seconds, I felt a weight on my right shoulder. This time, I turned to my right.

Lara’s head laid on my shoulder. Her eyes were closed but there was a distinct smile on her lips. Then, she said something which I read from the movement of her lips: “Thank you.”

I looked at my right hand. Her left hand’s fingers were crossed against mine and her right hand capped my other hand.

Not knowing what to do, I planted a quick kiss on her forehead.

Next (Chapter 6) >>>