"Who's calling?" Bobby asked.
"You must be Bobby. I'm Amy Lee, just calling you to notify you that I'm aware of what you were up to. Pass the phone call to Sam, please. I believe you know by now, I'm not a patient woman."
Bobby looked at me, signaling to ask if I wanted to take the phone call.
I nodded and took the phone from him.
After all, this is Singapore; what's the worst she can do to me?
"Sam, I assure you I mean you no harm. Just pass the message to Groundhog Liu and don't try anything funny like what you did."
"I tried, and my Shifu is uncontactable. He left a note telling me to take his place instead."
"Uncontactable? Well, that complicates things."
She mumbled to herself a bit and then said, "You will have to make do. I'll be at the shop tomorrow. Don't try to run, or this will happen in your sleep."
"What will happen?"
When I finished my question, a loud "Clank" and the window got smashed.
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the living room.
The cloth and newspapers lying around caught fire instantly.
"Get a bucket! Fill it with water!" I shouted to Bobby.
He quickly went into the bathroom and filled up the bathing bucket.
I cleared inflammable items surrounding the fire area, stopping the fire from spreading rapidly.
Then I went into the bathroom to help him and carried the bucket to the living room.
"On count of 3..2..1.." Right on cue, we lifted the heavy bucket of water and poured it over the flames.
Luckily for us, it was enough to extinguish the fire.
I went to the broken window and looked around.
No assailant was in sight.
Out on the street, everyone was minding their own business.
It might have been thrown from across the street or from a moving vehicle.
Too late to find out now.
"I'm so sorry, Bobby. I shouldn't have dragged you into this."
Bobby was half bent, with his hands holding his hips, huffing and puffing from the intense action earlier.
He then caught his breath and started laughing, "Huh… dragged into this? I haven't had such an adrenaline rush for a long time!
"Please don't leave me out of whatever expedition you are going on."
"Wait, you mean it?" I was confused and wanted to clarify.
"Of course I mean it. It's suffocating living here, no other choice but to join the rat race. Bills, bills, and bills. I need to feel alive again, Sam."
Deep inside, I could empathize with what he was saying.
This mechanical island only needs cogs in the machine.
If you don't fit in the mold, this island has no use for you.
"Glad if you can join. I need someone to watch my back. I don't trust her."
I decided to rope Bobby in; it's too risky for me to go alone without any trusted companion.
Speaking of trust, Bobby has business to deal with.
Whoever gave the information about Amy Lee to Bobby double-crossed him.
I, for one, do not like traitorous people to go unpunished.
"Bobby, who did you approach for Amy Lee's information? We can't deal with Amy, but we can deal with him."
"Thanks for the reminder. Damn Ramdan, to think he has the balls to do this to me."
We opened a few cans of Tiger beer, gulped it all down to bolster our guts.
Bobby took a knife from the kitchen and hid it inside his backpack.
You never know what might happen, so it's best to have one just in case, and then we left the shophouse.
Ramdan was not far away; he was behind a counter selling second-hand mobile phones.
Upon seeing us approaching, he stumbled out of his counter and fled into the alleys behind.
"Stop running, you coward!"
We shouted and gave chase.
He ran across a few streets before being caught up by us.
Or to put it correctly, he stopped for us.
Then we realized why: brawny men came out of the nearby houses and gathered around Ramdan.
We slowly walked a few steps back, but we bumped into a few men coming from behind.
They pushed us forward, and we nearly fell onto the ground.
A bald man with tattoos all over his body came forward and said: "I am Faisal, this is my brother Ramdan. You two finding trouble with my brother?"
"No, we are…"
Before Bobby could finish his sentence, I nudged him to stop.
Since Amy Lee wants me to work for her, it's time she protects her 'employee'.
I believe she has someone monitoring us and will keep us out of harm's way.
"Yes, we are. That Ramdan over there betrayed us, and we want to teach him a lesson." I replied loudly to Faisal.
Bobby couldn't believe what I'd said and looked at me with eyes wide open in shock.
I gave him a reassuring look, telling him that everything is under my control.
"You guys heard him. Let's show him what happens when someone wants to bully one of us."
Faisal lifted his hand as a signal to get ready; those men surrounding us grinned and started to swing their arms as if they were warming up.
"Hey Sam, so what's your plan?"
"Trust me, just wait. There will be help."
"Help from who?"
Before I could reply, Faisal flagged down his hand, and the men came towards us.
I pulled Bobby towards me, and he nearly missed a punch.
Bobby then kicked the attacker in the groin and punched the guy behind him.
I lashed out and traded punches, but we were heavily outnumbered.
Someone then came in hard at my back with a flying kick.
Bobby tried to pull out his knife from his backpack, but one of the men grabbed a chair from the coffee shop nearby and whacked the knife out of his hand.
"Bobby!"
I went crazy and lunged at the men; we fell and tumbled across the road.
He tried to push me off him, but I went in and took a bite into his ear.
"Damn you! Get off me!"
The man cried out in pain, but I didn't relent.
Other men came and hit me on my back.
I ignored the pain, and then it stopped.
"Stop and don't move!" I turned and looked up; there were men lying on the ground unconscious, and there he was, the pale and thin man that was with Amy Lee.