To the world you may be one person,
but to one person you may be the world.
- Bill Wilson –
Hideous amounts of work pandered for my attention as I struggled to keep myself sane whilst wading through financial numbers week after week, even worse when month-end came about. Losing my previous job was already a painful tear in my little fabric of life. But egged on relentlessly by this encouraging person who only appeared on a little screen on my computer, I tried to make do and do the best I could.
I still held her to her promise to meet up, bar the swimming as I have a little paunch which I consider a bane to my exterior. I don’t drink much, but yet my friends refer to it as the 30's pot-belly. I abhor that term though I’ve come to terms with it since I don’t really exercise at all.
There were many occasions that came up that we could have met, but I have never brought up the topic of meeting. Some would say, it’s only for dinner or lunch, why was I being so uptight about it? I guess when you associate with something and it becomes excruciatingly comfortable, you would not want to change it, even for just a little bit. We’ve become very bosom pals online and maybe the thought of meeting up and seeing one another, and then finding out something about the other party in person would spoil what we have going. That would be the primary reason in keeping the meet up from happening.
But life’s surprises always seem to present itself in the weirdest ways possible. It was just a regular weekday at work when she sent me the most unexpected chats that I have not prepared myself for.
-----Begin Chat Log-----
Her: STILL ARD?
Me: yup
Her: OMG
Her: playin games?
Me: lots of paperwork
Her: poor u
Me: no lah clearing up paperwork stuff
Her: dinner?
Me: ate already
Me: went down earlier
Me: u?
Me: still in office?
Her: of cos haven lo,
Her: yup
Her: still in office
Me: wah lau
Her: clearin some work b4 i go on a trip
Her: =)
Me:
Me: where u going?
Her: btu i too long never clear emails
Her: need to organise
Her: me?
Her: im leaving for KL for business
Me: aiyoh...
Me: then why dont go dinner yet?
Me: pls go and eat something
Her: oorh
Her: later
Her: u want to come and see me to the airport? be my cab driver ahaha
Her:
Me: ?? you mean it?
-----End Chat Log-----
This was certainly a break from the boring routine of life. It finally came after more than a year of being Yahoo buddies. She was heading to the airport from the office directly. It was, frankly, now or never. I immediately agreed to be her chauffeur for today and to pick her up from her office.
Exchanging mobile numbers for the first time was an interesting exercise. I daren’t call her and instead SMS’ed when I was leaving the office. So much for bravado! Rushing for time, I suggested her having a quick dinner at the airport and received her message of acknowledgement.
It certainly felt euphoric having a sudden shift to the relationship. On my way down to pick her up, many scenarios unfolded in my mind. For my more imaginative readers, none of the thoughts were sexual by nature.
How was she like? How would she sound like? Was she going to be a young or a slightly mature lady? It was not going to be long before I found out. The apprehension was stronger as I neared her office. I quickly ran through a list of topics to talk about, chatting jovially on a chat system was entirely different than speaking in real life. I wanted to be sure I didn’t screw things up because this friendship really did matter a lot to me.
Parking at the basement, instinctively I sent out a simple SMS to her telling her where I was, the dark grey of my Toyota as well as the license plate number. I never imagined myself being on another blind date. But here I was, meeting up with someone whom I know so well but yet, who seemed like a stranger at this juncture.
It was not long before I heard a tap on the passenger side window. A very youthful lady looked at me from the outside and smiled. It was a charming and attractive smile that I would find it hard to forget. Sporting a slightly longer than shoulder length hairstyle, this was the lady that has been chatting with me for more than a year before we actually met today.
I unlocked the doors and exited from my side of the vehicle, she only had a luggage and she was carrying her laptop and had a pink handbag strapped on her shoulders.
Excitement and shyness engulfing me, I could only manage a short greeting of sorts, “Wah short trip?”.
“Only for 2 days. Nice to finally see you Grimnar, after so long. My taxi driver.” She giggled as I helped to load the luggage and her laptop into the back seat.
She seemed so much at ease whereas I was a total wreck! I always thought I was the confident type, always ready for any smart ass remark thrown my way, but this time, something was different. I wanted to impress but found it hard to keep my thoughts organized.
Dressed casually in a simple V necked polo T and quartered pants, she exuded confidence and independence, which was probably the traits that made her a, supposedly, high paying executive in her company she worked in. And I'll admit, I did consciously notice her generous cleavage as well as a very voluptuous figure.
Frankly, I was expecting her to be much more senior in her age as she was always the one spurring me onwards to achieve more in life. But here she was, in the flesh, and I haphazard a guess that she was probably still in her early twenties.
Here are some general rules of thumb when meeting someone for the first time in your life. Never attempt to follow what I did from here on. You will make a fool of yourself that medieval court jesters can only hope to achieve.
Making our way out from the carpark to the airport, I broke the awkward silence, “Um, so, what you think?”
“What I think, what?” She replied.
“Was I what you expected?” I asked shyly. “I mean, first time and all. You must have had some expectations about what I’ll be like.”
“My goodness, stop pressurizing yourself lah!” She retorted. “You are a fine young gentleman what. Very available, you know.” I turned to look at her at that remark and found her looking back at me with that magical smile of hers.
She pointed out to a passing red colored Vios. “Hey Grimnar, that car you just passed by, the lady driver very chio!”
I just had the perfect answer for that statement, “Um, sorry I can’t see cause I’m driving, anyway I think my car also got a chio babe.”
I think I just experienced the exuberant feeling of making someone truly happy as her laughter from my little statement resonated within the small cabin of the Toyota.
She made herself comfortable and took off her shoes and crossed one of her legs under the other as we entered ECP and made way towards the airport. Feeling more at ease, as I began to warm up towards her presence, I started picking out topics that I had prepared in my mind beforehand. Not that it mattered anyway, she was as chatty in life as she was on Yahoo.
It was a refreshing drive on a familiar road. We exchanged stories over stories, jokes leading to more jokes, even raunchy ones and for once in a very long while, I felt at peace and fell in love with life again.
Arriving at the airport, we checked in her luggage after figuring out a few new methods of fitting her laptop in there. Her clothings and toiletries were packed unexpectedly messy for a lady. We laughed gaily at how many different ways we could have repacked her stuff. There was also an embarrassing moment as I saw a white colored bra laying on top of her clothing and she saw me staring at it for a tad too long and slapped me playfully on my back for being “naughty”.
There wasn’t much more time left before she had to check in for the flight out. We took refuge at Mcdonalds as she grabbed a quick dinner. Over the remaining time we had, we continued our tirade of jokes and stories. I bet the other patrons were staring at us as we kept ourselves, and them, entertained for the time we were there.
Alas, she would be pushing her luck too far if she didn’t check in. I longed to have her stay for another story, another joke, and my broken heart yearned for her not to go. I have never been so cheerful, so relaxed after such a long time and I craved to partake in this fantastic feeling for a longer time.
Walking her to the check-in gate, I told her to drop me a message anytime if she was free. I certainly felt a closeness to her that has been eluding me all these while. She was like a sister as well as a best friend. The chemistry was definitely there. It’s hard to put feelings into words and I struggle as hard as I can to pen it all down here. It was truly, magical, in that sense of the word.
Turning towards me before she headed in, I unexpectedly felt her arms going around my body and she gave me a soft hug. My heart started pumping with wild abandon as she held a shocked and surprised me for what seemed like an eternity.
“Thanks for coming to pick me up. Give you a hug for your reward.”
My hands lay helpless beside me. I didn’t hug back as I was at a loss of what to do.
She broke and headed into the check in area. Leaving me and my heart running in overdrive, I only managed a wave as she got her passport checked by immigration while she flashed me another one of her heart melting smiles and walked away to the gate. It was another few more minutes that I stood there, staring at nothingless, and hoping she would just appear for another brief moment.
-End Chapter 2-
No comments:
Post a Comment