Still hearing the woman screaming behind closed door, Andrew envisioned the immediate imagery and was certain she looked very familiar.
“You better get out of my home now! I’m calling the police!” Megan tried to put on her most courageous voice. “Bebe! Get over here and bite him if he comes in again!”
Andrew recognized her voice. “Megan? You’re Megan?”
“Who are you?” Stunned that the psychopath called out her name, Megan quickly grabbed a set of clothing from her bed. “How did you get in here?”
At this point, she knew it was Andrew but the questions came naturally out of defence mechanism. She dressed herself as quickly as she could while Bebe stood by the door repeating her master’s questions in dog language.
“Can you get your dog to stop barking?” Andrew wasn’t asking a question, it was more a command to the dog. “By the way, I didn’t see anything when you came out of the bathroom!”
Andrew waited for Megan’s response, but nothing came from the other side of the door. Even Bebe had stopped barking. He turned around to face the door and was about to knock when Megan opened it.
“What do you mean you didn’t see anything?” Megan pushed her chest forward unintentionally. Seeing his face for the second time after one week, she got all agitated and the neurotransmitter for her speech ability was stalling causing her to run her hands across her chest. Again, not with the intention of emphasizing what was behind the cardigan. “Are you blind or what?”
Andrew’s eyes followed her hands as they moved across the forbidden territory. He was unable to stifle the sudden amusement and attempted to let his imagination capture the image of her chest at his own risk. “Well, no. I’m not blind. You had your towel on! But you have to admit, even without the towel, there would have really been nothing much to see!”
Megan realized what he was referring to and gave him the snub and pointy eyes. Clearing off the subject of her chest, or lack thereof, she focused on the more pressing matter. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here!” Andrew paused and redirected his thoughts. “What are YOU doing here?” He emphasized un-gentlemanly on the pronoun.
Megan folded her arms and was trying to figure out how he entered the apartment.
Then he remembered running into her last week at the office. His eyes turned wide and protruding. “You’re the new Live-In Maid?”
Bebe barked, her way of saying ‘Bingo!’
“Manager, Estate Manager!” Megan corrected him and wondered how he knew that. “Why should I be answering your questions?”
Instantly, Andrew’s facial expression became treacherous. He turned to the door across the corridor and reached for the knob. Realizing it was the forbidden room, Megan threw herself across to block his entrance. “Hey, you can’t go in there! This room is for the CEO.”
Ignoring her, Andrew grabbed the door knob and tried turning it but was frustrated because it was locked. Megan relaxed and stepped aside with a smirk. “Oh yes! Mr. Ma said this room is always locked. Only the CEO has access! That would be Madam Tang!”
Andrew reached into his pocket and shot her his pair of glaring eyes. He pulled out a set of keys and held them up to her face. Selecting the key, he then proceeded to unlock the door and entered the forbidden room without a word to Megan. When she tried to question him about the key, he stepped inside the room and locked the door right away.
Megan gasped. Then she figured it out. “He and Madam Tang?” She took in another gasp. “Madam Tang is a cougar?”
Moments later, Megan could hear the echo of a phone conversation. She assumed Andrew had called Tony. Feeling fazed, she returned to her own bedroom with Bebe and locked her door.
“I don’t need a live-in maid!” Andrew spoke into the phone with agitation.
“Madam Tang says you don’t have a say.” Tony responded loud and clear over the cell phone. “Especially if you want to keep your job as a mail-room clerk.”
“Whatever!” Andrew rolled his eyes and placed his free hand on top of his head. Maybe because he felt his hair was standing up due to this predicament which made him go pacing around the room. “I want her out of here when I return from Spain next week!”
After hearing Tony’s reply, Andrew shouted. “What? 7 years compensation package! She did what? She … she signed a….never mind. If you are so afraid to speak to her, I’ll do it myself! I’ll get her to null the contract!”
Andrew stopped pacing and listened with attentiveness. “She lied! She is a married woman with children!” He looked towards the door and his nostrils were about to fumigate the room with smoke. “It’s a lie if she said she had never been married. I know that for sure!”
Meanwhile, Megan was on the cell phone with Kalina. “So does he still look as cute as he did 17 years ago?”
“Stop teasing! This is serious. I can’t have this job with him staying here.” Megan whispered into the phone. “It’s going to be so awkward.”
“What’s so awkward?” Kalina said while munching some chips. “Maybe he is the Live-In Butler!”
“No, can’t be!” Megan covered the mouthpiece with her hand and whispered. “I think he is Madam Tang’s kept man!”
“What? You mean Madam Tang is a cougar!” Kalina was choked. “And your beau likes older women!”
“He’s not my beau!” Megan reminded her friend. Then a memory came to her that Tony also held a key to the forbidden room. He had only told her the room belonged to the CEO, she just assumed it was Madam Tang. “Wait a minute, could Mr. Ma be the CEO? I’m so confused!”
“Who’s Mr. Ma?” Kalina asked.
Suddenly, a harsh knocking came to Megan’s bedroom door; the kind that was made by a fist instead of the back knuckle of the third finger. Feeling the anguish from the sound of the knocking, Megan quickly ended her call with Kalina and walked over to open her door.
“You lied in your interview!” Andrew pointed his finger at her as he charged into the room.
Megan took a few steps back and wondered how on earth he found out about her lie. But she put on her armor and defended herself. “Technically I didn’t lie. My friend offered me a job before I came to the interview!”
She looked at him and was seriously considering Kalina’s offer, especially if she was going to have to be under the same roof with him.
Andrew tried to register what she just said. He was trying hard to keep himself from being distracted by her attractiveness. Though her hair was held up by a clip, he saw a single lock curled up on her neck. After pulling himself out of his momentarily fixation, he realized they were on speaking on apple and oranges. “I am talking about the part where you said you are not married.”
“I’m not!” Megan was now the confused one.
Andrew was stunned by her response and argued back. “You were!”
“I was never!” She had no idea why she was having this conversation with the man she had not seen since for 17 years since her university days. The man who broke her heart and lied to her back then.
Feeling flustered, Andrew shifted his weight to stand on his other foot and crossed his arms. “Your friends were throwing a bridal shower for you when I got to your home the day after graduation which you never showed up for!”
He emphasized the last part as a reminder of their promise to attend graduation together way back when.
His words brought Megan back to that day when her friends gave her a surprise bridal shower three months after she returned home. She wasn’t prepared to reveal too much of what happened during those days to Andrew, so she just turned to look away from him. But she couldn’t help feeling a strong constriction in her chest in discovering for the first time that he had come to look for her 17 years ago.
“I came looking for you again in September, saw you with Jason and you were …..” Andrew couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘pregnant’.
“Fat?” Megan remembered how she looked back then and offered to complete his question. She also wanted to put an end to this conversation.
“You married Jason just 3 months after we …” His voice was full of emotions as if he was betrayed by her just yesterday. “You told me he was just a good friend!”
“I never lied. I didn’t marry him because I just couldn’t!” Megan looked into his eyes with malice to send him a message ‘how dare you bring up the past to me as if you were such an angel’.
She walked past him to make her way out of her room. Bebe got up from her own mattress and started to follow her master.
“But I saw you were pregnant!” He turned and saw her figure disappearing behind the door beam. Bebe stopped in front of him and lifted one of her paw to push his shin. Andrew toppled and almost lost his balance. It was her way of telling him. ‘You are such a moron!’
“She had a miscarriage?” Andrew mumbled to himself.
Then Bebe barked at him. Maybe you’re not such a moron after all.
Dani rushed into the kitchen of 21° Celsius Sushi House where she currently held a part-time weekend job. The restaurant was owned and operated by Thomas Ma and Calvin Chen. The original name was just Sushi House. However, on their opening day, the popular Taiwanese band named Fahrenheit happened to drop in for a bite. And because of that, their monthly profit had been nothing short of perfecto. Thus, three months later, they gave their restaurant a new name, 21° Celsius, the perfect temperature in Celsius.
The two owners were standing behind the counter busy rolling sushi for their customers when Dani came and stood between them while tying her apron. “Sorry I’m late! Traffic!”
“What traffic?” Thomas gave Dani a glare for her lame excuse. “You take the subway!”
“Exactly my point! See when I got to the elevator at the office …” Dani stopped when Thomas crossed his two index fingers in front of her mouth.
She turned to Calvin hoping he would listen to her. But he just chuckled and shook his head. “If it’s up to me, you’d be fired by now!” Calvin teased. “But lucky for you, your boyfriend has the bigger share of the restaurant.”
Dani whacked Calvin on the back. She whacked hard, very un-lady-like kind of whack. “He’s not my boyfriend!”
Calvin went forward and almost hit his head against the metal bar on the counter and gave her the look.
“Exactly MY point!” Calvin pointed at her temple with his finger. “Don’t you ever wonder why he hasn’t fired you yet?”
Dani turned to look at Thomas who was now standing in front of her while taking off his apron. He pretended to smile shyly. “Yeah, it’s because I like you.”
He watched as her cheeks turn rosy pink. When he looked into her eyes, he thought she was about to break into tears. Sensing she might just turn and run away from him, Thomas said. “I was just joking with you. Don’t listen to him!”
Putting on her defence mechanism, she laughed a relief and smacked his chest so hard that he thrusted backwards and landed against the wall. “Get out of here! I thought you were for real!”
Again, it was very, very un-lady-like. Nevertheless, it was funny to watch. Not so funny for Dani because she was now telling herself she would be going home tonight to cry her heart out because of what Thomas said.
Kalina and Megan entered the busy sushi restaurant at exactly 7 o’clock. The former had frequented this restaurant for take-out dinners at least once a week, if not more. Tonight was a dine-in because she had allowed Thomas to set her up with a blind date. Kalina was trying out a new way to recruit more clients for her Match.dot.com. She decided to bring Megan along when her friend had dropped by her café to vent about Andrew. Thomas did not mind the extra company when Kalina called to let him know of the extra guest. Of course, Megan thought it was just the two of them having dinner. So when they arrived at the restaurant, Thomas seated them by a private corner of the restaurant.
About 15 minutes later, Thomas walked his Dad and Andrew to the table where Kalina and Megan were seated. He told his Dad. “Good thing I reserved a table for four!”
“You again!” All foursome said at the same time. Of course, two were delighted to meet again but two were not.
“You guys know each other?” Thomas voiced his happiness. “Well, this is wonderful!”
Tony was about to sit down across from Kalina when Andrew coughed and refused to sit down. Tony made the introduction. “Oh Hi, Kalina and Kimberly. This is my buddy, Andrew!”
Kalina’s mouth opened and dropped before she could say hello to Andrew. She was rendered speechless for two reasons. First was because she knew he was the ‘Andrew’ whom Megan had been venting to her about. The second reason was when Tony pulled out the chair across from Megan and gestured for Andrew to sit.
Kalina and Megan exchanged glances as Andrew took the seat; it was a sight very much like a girlfriend being seated by a boyfriend.
“Umm, excuse me!” Megan looked to Thomas. “We didn’t agree to share table!”
“Oh no, this table was reserved for the four of you!” Thomas replied with glee. “This is the blind date arrangement for Kalina and Tony! You and Andrew just happened to tag along, which is very fine!”
“Blind date?” Megan and Andrew spat the words in disgust. Each then turned to their respective friend. “You didn’t tell me you were on a date!”
Kalina pulled Thomas down and whispered. “Why did you set me up with a gay man? He even brought his partner?”
Thomas laughed so loud the echo was heard throughout the whole restaurant. Dani, Calvin and Selena lifted their eyes to see what was going on. Dani thought the side profiles of the two men looked very familiar. She also thought one of the women looked familiar as well. “Where have I seen them before?” Bingo! The light-bulb suddenly turned on in her head. Realizing they were seated in her serving area, she turned to Selena. “Oh my God! Selena, you have to serve that table for me.”
“But they are seated in your area!” Selena pouted.
Back at the table, all 4 pairs of eyes looked at Thomas, wondering why he was laughing with such hysteric. He was holding his stomach with one hand and wiping the tears away from his eyes with his other.
Thomas turned to Tony. “Dad, Kalina thinks you and Andrew are a couple! I think you need to explain why you decided to get your ear pierced instead of having your head shaved.”
Tony and Andrew distance themselves as far as they could manage from each other to show they were in no way connected. However, the two women pointed their index finger at Tony. “He’s your DAD?”
When Thomas turned around to walk away, he heard his father yelled out his ‘SOB’ nickname in the Chinese Toy Shan Dialect. “See Oi Bao!” Meaning rascal.
Note on Chemistry of Love – Serotonin – The Appetite of Love
This neurotransmitter is responsible for the feeling of butterflies in your stomach. The reason for loss of appetite when in love, hence the phrase – ‘One can survive on water alone when in love!’ Serotonin levels help one understand intimacy and romance and leads to faster healing of wounds as well. That is why it is beneficial to be with our loved ones during injuries and pain.