Chapter 10: Rachel is responding well to Jeremy

I stood in front of the window and enjoying the beautiful morning breeze while looking at the vast field of wild flowers. Butterflies circling around the flowers, playing its role in pollination as the breeze caused the flowers and plants to swing.

The air was fresh and birds were chipping on the branches of trees. I put some grains on the windowsill and waited patiently for the birds. Soon, one bird after another came to feed on the grains.

Suddenly, a voice startled me as I was engrossed in the beautiful scenery. I turned around and saw the same man.

He was saying, “Wenhui, come and have your breakfast. I had cooked some congee for you.” I seemed to know him but I couldn’t see him clearly. His face was blurred, but that voice. It sounded familiar.

He came, held my hand and led me to a table. I couldn’t see the surrounding as it was quite blur. He pull a stool out for me to sit and he sat next to me. As I sat down, I realised that I had a big belly.

I felt his hand on my belly. He said, “Eat up, our baby needs food. You need all the nutrients for our baby to grow inside you.” He put a bowl of congee in front of me as he spoke.

Oh, I was pregnant. It looked like I was pregnant for at least six to seven months.

I felt the warmth of his love for me and I was happy. I felt blissful and I looked forward to be a mother of his child.

As I was eating, his hand went to my hair. He touched and adjusted my hairpin to pin a few strands of hair. I remembered the pin.

It was the same pin he gave me as my wedding gift. I smiled as I gazed into his loving eyes.

At the same moment, I saw the jade pendant with the inscription ‘yong ai’ that was on his neck.

That was my gift to him on our wedding. Both are tokens of our love, our eternal love.

Then, we were walking in the field of wild flowers. I was carrying a basket while bending down to pluck some flowers.

The man quickly bent down to help me up and said, “Wenhui, let me pluck the flowers for you. It is rather inconvenient for you to bend down with your big belly.”

I smiled at his consideration and heeded his advice. Soon, my basket were full of flowers and I turned to him, “Liu, thank you for your love and concern.”

He pinched my nose and took the basket from me. “Wenhui, let me carry the basket. Let’s go to our vegetable garden.” I nodded and smiled.

The vegetable garden was next to the wooden house. It was fenced with bamboo with an arch gate.

As I walked into the garden, I was mesmerised with the beauty of the garden. Liu led me to a stool and said, “Wenhui, sit here and wait for me as I do the harvesting.”

He took out a big basket from a shack next to the gate. Then, he walked to the furthest vegetable bed and started harvesting. I felt joy as I observed him harvesting and working in the garden.

Soon, his basket was full of produces harvested from the vegetable garden. He took some tomatoes and washed with the rain water collected in bamboos during the rain. After washing, he gave me a tomato and said, “Eat this, it is good for your health and our baby.”

We were walking along the beach. The man was holding my hand as I put my hand on my belly. The warm breeze touched my face and messed up my hair.

The man halted his steps to help me with my hair, and we both laughed at my silly look. I bent down to touch the sea water and splashed at him when he wasn’t noticing.

He was astonished with my action and he retaliated with splashes on me. We went on splashing water at one another and we were having fun.

Buzz! Buzz! I woke up feeling frustrated. Arghh! I wished I could continue my dream. I felt love, happiness and blissful in my dream.

I wondered whether I would have the opportunity to be loved by someone like the man in my dream.

I carried myself lazily to the washroom. I didn’t worry about having Ashley using the washroom in the morning as she usually sleeps-in till noon due to her night life.

As I brushed my teeth, I couldn’t help myself but smiled about my dream. I closed my eyes and said to myself, I prayed that I would fall in love with a man that truly love me.

Exactly at 7:30am, I walked out of the lift of Ville Residence to the main entrance. Then, I saw a familiar figure leaning against a car outside the entrance.

Stunned! Jeremy was waiting for me. I wasn’t expecting him to fetch me for the second day.

Jeremy saw me and opened the front passenger door with his hand gesturing me to get in.

As I walked up to him, I glared at him and asked, “Why are you here?” Jeremy smiled the brightest and replied, “I told you that I would fetch you to work as I am on the way to work.”

Jeremy reasoned with Rachel,

“But you don’t have to fetch me every day, do you?” Rachel asked me. I knew that she was going to argue.

“Yes, I am going to fetch you to work every day. Is it wrong for us to car pool? Besides, I don’t want to be alone during my ride to work or to home from work. As friends, we would become good companions. Am I right?”

Rachel couldn’t help but stared at him,

Speechless! This man seemed to be always with a reason for everything. I wanted to respond, but I found that it was useless to argue with him.

Instead of arguing, I step forward to get into his car without responding to his statement.

There at that moment, I caught a glimpse of his facial expression, he was grinning. I was tempted to smack his stupid face!

As soon as he started the engine, he spoke “Breakfast at Uncle Lim’s café?” I turned towards him and sneered.

He saw my expression, and he gave a big laugh! I was cursing him quietly in my heart. Stunned was I at his reaction. What a man!

At Uncle Lim’s café, Jeremy walked next to Rachel to the cafe.

We were greeted by the friendly Uncle Lim and his staff. Uncle Lim was squinting his eyes and winked to me and gestured his head towards Rachel.

I smiled and nodded as I knew his meaning. Luckily, Rachel didn’t notice as she sat at her favourite table near the window.

Uncle Lim halted my pace and whispered, “Go for her. She is a good lady. It would be your lost if you let another man win her heart first.”

I nodded to Uncle Lim and replied, “I am in the process.” Uncle Lim gave a thumbs-up as I walked towards the table.

Rachel glared at me as I seated. She asked, “What were you and Uncle Lim talking about?”

I quickly responded, “Nothing.” She continued to glare at me showing her suspicion.

Then, came our order. Uncle Lim didn’t asked about our order as he was certain that the order is the same as yesterday.

I smiled and praised him, “Uncle Lim, you do really know our taste. Thank you.” I turned to Rachel and said, “Isn’t it, Rachel?”

Without hesitation, Rachel nodded in agreement to Jeremy’s statement.

“Thank you, Uncle Lim. You knew well of my usual breakfast.” It turned out that Jeremy’s breakfast is the same as mine.

“Are toast, boiled eggs and black coffee your favourite for breakfast as well?” I asked Jeremy. He smiled and nodded.

I just realised that we do have a lot in common.

After breakfast, Jeremy drove directly to the parking lot at the basement of the building where Rectitude Development is located.

I thought that Rachel was going to make noise about it but she kept quiet. I was surprised that she didn’t stop me.

However, as we descend from my car after parking, Rachel walked briskly towards the lift area before I could lock my car.

It took me a few moments to realise that Rachel had walked away. I tried to catch up with her as she pressed the ‘up’ button of the lift.

The lift door opened, and she went in. She quickly pressed ‘close’ and the door closed. I was left behind standing in front of the lift looking silly.

Wow! Wow! She dumped me! I knew that she did that all because she won’t want to be seen with me while walking in the office in order to avoid gossips.

Rachel in the lift,

As soon as the lift door closed, I gave a sigh of relief. I would get into the office without being spotted with Jeremy. Whew! At least, I would avoid gossips for now.

Yet, I felt bad for what I did. I felt guilty for closing the lift door straight at Jeremy’s face.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but smiled to myself as I never knew that I have the capability to do such a silly thing to my boss.

I know that Jeremy was surely pissed with what I did, yet I felt satisfied. Funny and silly!

I quickly clocked-in and walked briskly to my workstation before Jeremy came in. A few minutes later, I saw Jeremy walking in and I quickly grasped my tumbler and walked towards the pantry.

After filling up my tumbler, I walked back to my desk and to my surprise, Jeremy was waiting for me.

He spoke, “Come to my office now. I have work for you to do.” The other staff were eyeing me, I have no choice but to reply, “Alright.”

I put my tumbler on my desk, took my notebook and walked to his office before John and Shirley could asked anything.

Knock! Knock!

“Come in,” Jeremy called out to me. I opened the door and walked in.

I took a quick glance at him, and he looked like he wasn’t in a good mood. Oh dear! Could it because of what I did?

“Rachel, please take a seat,” Jeremy spoke and I did obediently. I opened my notebook as soon as I sat down but Jeremy reached out his hand to close my notebook.

“You don’t have to write down anything,” he gazed and smiled at me. “Why did you leave me standing outside the lift on my own?” Jeremy asked.

Oh dear! He was offended by my silly action. I quickly explained myself, “As what I told you that I don’t want to be a subject of office gossips. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Jeremy shook his head and replied, “I am neither angry nor offended. I thought that you worry too much about what others say. Just let them be with their own mouth. Why can’t we as friends go to work together? Any reason that we can’t be together as friends?”

There he goes again with his reasons. He has his points, I couldn’t find the argument point with him. I wanted to speak but couldn’t find the voice to speak.

“Rachel, please stop worrying about those gossipers. Calm down and be yourself.” Jeremy continued.

I gazed at Jeremy and nodded.

“Okay but avoidance is preferred still. I know I should not stressed out just because of gossips. I hope that the paparazzi will stop once they have nothing further to gossips.” I explained to Jeremy.

“Good, stay positive. Yes, they will give up soon as long as we don’t feed them with any information. Just ignore them.” Jeremy smiled as he spoke.

I then asked, “Is there anything else? I have urgent tasks to complete.”

“Okay. You may go and do your work. However, I will have more responsibilities for you soon. It shall be announced soon,” said Jeremy.

I nodded while I stood up. Before I walked out, I pushed back the chair to its original place and walked out of his office.

Though I didn’t turn around to look at Jeremy, I could feel his gaze which made me uneasy. The same creepiness crawled up my spine again.

I quickly immersed myself into my work as soon as I sat down. Shirley and John, as usual started to query me.

I switched on my desktop, took the documents from my tray and started working without answering them.

Shirley said, “Hey, tell me what’s going on? Why did he call you into his office?” I replied abruptly, “All about work. Are you interested? I will recommend you to take over all the works he assigned to me, okay?”

Shirley sneered and replied, “No way!” Then, she turned to her desk and asked no more. I was glad that I could stop her from being pushy for information.

Hours later, there was a buzz on my phone. I took a quick glance and saw that it was Jeremy’s message.

I have booked a table at Sushi Wasyoku for lunch. Don’t decline my invite, please.

I was stunned with him. Demanding!

I didn’t reply him but soon, another message came in. Jeremy wrote,

Don’t even think of refusing me. We will go out exactly at 12:00noon.

This man! He’s full of himself!

Annoyed, I replied

Can I say NO? I am busy, thus, I want to work through lunch.

I don’t want to cancel the reservation as it is less than one hour before the reserved time. It wouldn’t be good for me to cancel now, would I?’ Jeremy replied.

I was getting irritated and I put down my phone, refusing to reply anymore.

Minutes later, my phone rang. I picked up my phone and saw that it was Jeremy. I heaved a sigh before answering his phone lazily.

“Hello” I wanted to mention his name but then, I noticed that John and Shirley were putting their ears up, trying to listen to my conversation.

I halted the idea of mentioning his name ‘Jeremy’, instead I just greeted ‘Hello’.

On the other line, Jeremy said “Don’t argue anymore about lunch. We are going to Sushi Wasyoku.”

Then, he ended the call. This man! I was cursing him for being rude.

Do I have a choice now? Okay, I will have lunch with him. Suddenly I realised that going out exactly at 12:00noon would be seen by everyone in the office.

I quickly messaged him,

We can’t leave at 12:00noon because everyone will see us. We will go out ten minutes later.

A reply soon came, Okay, okay. We will leave at 12:10pm.

Everyone left for lunch at 12:00noon while I sat at my desk and waited. Exactly at 12:08pm, Jeremy walked out of his office towards my workstation.

I stood up and took my bag plus my phone as I saw him. I began to walk towards the door while he walked up next to me.

We both kept quiet while walking side by side. He led me to the lift where we went to the parking lot.

Jeremy noticed that Rachel was quiet during the trip to Sushi Wasyoku,

We arrived in fifteen minutes and promptly led to the reserved table. I had pre-ordered the sushi, ngiri as well as sashimi and soon, we were served with food.

Rachel looked at the pre-ordered food and then, looked at me. She looked stunned. I smiled and explained, “Pre-ordered so that we need not wait for too time.”

Rachel in deep thoughts,

It is impossible for him to find out my favourite food as I never tell anyone, not even to Shirley and John. But how did he know?

I curious and asked, “Are these all your favourite food?”

Jeremy smiled, nodded and asked, “Yes. Why?”

What!? His favourite food are exactly the same as mine? Goodness! We do have lots of things in common.

Jeremy gazed at Rachel,

She became quiet after I answered her. She seemed to be in deep thoughts. I wondered what was on her mind.

“Rachel, what are you thinking?” She looked up from her food and said, “These are my favourite food as well.”

Stunned, I smiled and said, “Really? Wow! We do have a lot in common.” She just nodded.

Seeing that she was talking about her favourite food, I seized the opportunity to talk more on my favourite colours, music, singer, and on my hobbies.

Rachel looked at me surprisingly, and I gazed at her puzzled. She smiled and said, “Interesting. We seemed to like the same things and having same hobbies as well.”

Then on, Rachel became more relaxed and able to chat with me without any restraint. I for one surely enjoyed chatting with her.

Perhaps due to our common interests, she felt that it would be easier for us to understand one another.

Half an hour later, we were on our way back to office.

As soon as Jeremy parked his car inside the parking lot, he promptly said, “We are going into the office together. We are not going to hide anything, okay?”

I glared at him as if I wanted to smack his head but he was grinning from ear to ear. Speechless! I didn’t respond but to agree silently yet reluctantly.

At the moment we went in the office, everyone was whispering. John and Shirley were the most attentive when I sat down.

They hastily moved over to my desk and asked, “Rachel, where did you two go? Lunch date?”

I ignored them and trying to focus on my work. However, they didn’t back up. I was soon annoyed almost to the brim of my neck, I wanted to explode.

Suddenly, a voice halted their queries. “What’s going on here?” It was Jeremy’s voice. John quickly replied, “Arrr, nothing.”

Then, he quickly went back to his table followed by Shirley. Soon, the office was quiet again.

Jeremy, after asking the question,

I gazed at Rachel who seemed to be exploding. Within minutes, the office was quiet down. I tapped on Rachel’s desk and said, “Come to my office to update me on the three new projects. Bring all the relevant documents.”

Having said that, I turned around, smiled and walked back to my office.

Rachel was annoyed with Jeremy’s request,

Yet, at the same time, I was glad that I could get the paparazzi off my back. I quickly took my laptop and walked towards Jeremy’s office.

I gave a quick knock and opened the door even before I heard Jeremy’s response. I quickly closed the door behind me, sighing a relief and walked towards to his desk.

Jeremy was on the line at the moment, and he gestured to me to sit down. Once seated, I waited for him to finish his call while I opened my laptop.

Listening to his tele-conversation, apparently he was speaking to Mr Aaron on the three new upcoming projects.

As soon as Jeremy hung up the call, I spoke, “Jeremy, which project would you like to start with?”

He glanced at me and replied, “We will start off with the mall in Kuala Lumpur.” I quickly browsed for the relevant folders and files. I began to click the first file on the preliminary studies of the project.

Then, I showed the files to Jeremy, one after another. Unconsciously, by the time I finished explaining the files for all the three projects to Jeremy, it was an hour and half later.

Jeremy listening intently at Rachel’s explanation,

Rachel is amazing! She is more than capable as an assistant manager. I love to have her as my assistant, she could be a great help to me in handling the company. No wonder dad and mom spoke highly of her.

“Jeremy, that’s all for now. My team and I are still working on the documents for tender. We hope to finalise it with the Management’s approval by this month-end. We have three more weeks to dateline.” Rachel spoke.

I nodded and responded, “Good. You did a great job.”

Rachel quickly replied, “Not me. It’s our team. We have a great HR and Administrative team.”

I smiled as I saw her self-effacing. “Rachel, thank you for sharing your work. Would you be staying late again tonight?” I asked.

Huh? Why is he asking me such a question? I glared at him and replied faintly “yes” while closing my laptop.

However, Jeremy didn’t stop there. He continued, “Then, I will stay late as well as I have lots of planning to do. But we will leave at 9:00pm, then to dinner. After dinner, I will send you home.”

Huh? Is he scheduling my life now? I was getting annoyed and I sneered at him. He saw my reaction and chuckled.

I wanted to disagree but he shook his head and said, “Don’t disagree and don’t refuse. I know that you wanted to stay till midnight. No, I wouldn’t let you stay beyond 9:00pm. Working late every night would bring a toil to your health. Okay. No argument please.”

Speechless! I stood up without responding, took my laptop and left his office briskly. I could sense that he was grinning from ear to ear in satisfaction of his ‘forever reasonable ideas’ to convey senses into my mind.

There is something about him that I felt flustered because I got annoyed with him easily, yet I couldn’t bring myself to vent at him.

As I walked back to my table, every eyes were on me. Shirley and John were waiting for me like a hungry lion getting ready to pound on its prey.

I had to pretend that I am in a bad mood following my meeting with Jeremy as a signal to them to leave me alone otherwise, they would be ‘burnt’ by my anger which was something that happened many times in the past.

I straightened my back and purposely put on a sulky face. I was right, both Shirley and John slowly went back to their desks to continue their work without disturbing me.

They had learned their lessons long time ago that ‘no one should approach me when my face is sulky or frowny’. I heaved a sigh of relief when my pretext worked.

Jeremy on the other hand,

As Rachel walked out of my office, I was grinning to myself because I won. I was able to reason with her about working late till midnight ain’t good for health.

I even told her that we would work till 9:00pm, then to dinner and I would send her home after dinner. She didn’t refuse.

I was happy and I believe she was beginning to accept the fact that as a friend, we have the right to dine together and there wasn’t any harm for a friend to send another friend home on a daily basis.

As I pondered on the word ‘home’, I became worried about the place she called ‘home’.

That was the reason why I insisted on sending her home every day. I need to find the opportunity to talk to her about a better and safer place elsewhere.

Rachel,

When 5:30pm came, many colleague left for home and my team members went out for dinner break.

As usual, I refused to join them but took a quick bite with biscuits and a cup of warm Milo.

I was already immersed in my work by the time my team members came back at 6:30pm. Soon, everyone were back on track with their work and at times, there were short discussions among our members on our work.

By 8:45pm, John, Shirley and the other two members were packing their stuff to go home. Then, one by one left and I was alone as usual.

Suddenly, I heard someone opened a door. I looked up and noticed that Jeremy came out of his room.

He was walking towards me while speaking to me, “Rachel, pack up your stuff now. We are leaving now.” I didn’t reply but nodded to him.

Jeremy,

Exactly at 9:00pm, Rachel and I walked out of the office and Raju was the witness to it.

However, before leaving the office, I turned and spoke to Raju sternly, “Raju, don’t spread any stories about us. Okay? This is an order!” Raju went pale, quickly nodded and replied hastily, “Yes Sir!”

Rachel was stunned,

I glared at Jeremy for what he had just uttered to Raju. I frowned to show my disagreement. At the same time, I gazed at Raju with sympathy.

Poor Raju, he went pale. Jeremy was threatening him.

Jeremy in turn, gazed at me and asked, “Why are your glaring at me?” as we walked away from the main door while Raju was locking up the office.

I asked, “Why do you have to threaten Raju? Just looked at his face, he went pale and scared the wits out of him.”

Jeremy smiled, “Why? Because he was the fire seed. He started the gossip about us and I should put out the fire seed before it became a dangerous fire.”

Unbelievable! I glared at him and replied, “It has become a fire now!”

He respond hastily, “You are uncomfortable with all these talks and whispers about us. Remembered that you said that you don’t want these sort of things to affect you. I am doing exactly as what you wanted, that is to stop whatever that are affecting you negatively.”

Feeling funny, Jeremy smiled to himself while having self-thoughts.

I knew that Rachel has always been uncomfortable about being seen with me by other colleagues but what’s wrong with it. Can’t I be with her?

Excitedly, I said, “The most important thing is to ignore all those talks and whispers. They will get fed up and soon quiet down.”

She glared at me and looked at her hand. I just realised that I grabbed her hand out of excitement and she quickly shook my hand off.

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean it. I was excited and I didn’t realise that I grabbed your hand.” My mind and heart were filled with apologies.

Why did I grab her hand? Was it a reaction for being overly concerned?

She continued to walk before I could finish my apology. I quickened my pace to catch up with her.

Rachel was furious,

Jeremy grabbed my hand and he apologised for being ‘excited’? What was he thinking?

Yet, why am I being quiet? Why didn’t I get angry and scolded him?

Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by Jeremy’s voice. “I have booked a table at a western food restaurant.”

“Oh” that was my respond to his statement.

They arrived at the Western Grill in fifteen minutes and a waiter came to usher them to the reserved table. Menus were put on the table for them to order.

Jeremy took a peep at Rachel.

She flipped through the menu and said to me, “Jeremy, please order. I don’t know what to order. I only wanted to eat light food.”

I nodded and ordered steak for myself and grilled lamb for Rachel together with two glasses of fresh orange juices.

I wanted to order salad and other side-dishes but Rachel stopped me, “I think that’s enough.”

I smiled at her and said to the waiter, “That’s it. Thank you.”

Having said that, I turned to Rachel and startled as she was gazing at me. I gazed back at her and asked, “Is there something on my face?”

She shook her head and smiled. Then she spoke, “Jeremy, thank you very much for treating me to lunch and dinner for the last few days and today. But it seemed that you have spent a lot by bringing me to restaurants. We can always eat at coffee shop and at food court. I feel bad that you have to spend so much money.”

Rachel in self-thought,

Jeremy may have all the money he needed, but spending unnecessary on food for me will only guilt me more.

Of course, many will laugh at me for being stupid. They would think that I should grabbed the opportunity to taste expensive food at places of fine dining.

However, I am not this sort of materialistic person. I prefer to eat with my own hard-earned money. I am not a leech!

“Rachel, I am treating you with my own money which I earned when working in New York. It is not my parents’ money.” Jeremy spoke while smiling to me.

He continued, “Don’t worry. I am most willing to treat you with my own money. I am sincere. Don’t feel bad about it. Besides, we both have the same favourite food. Thus, I am enjoying my favourite food with someone of the same interest. Is that wrong?” Jeremy explained.

He sounded sincere, I have no choice but to accept willingly. I nodded in agreement.

Jeremy smiled as he thought of Rachel’s thrifty character.

Her background has taught her to be diligent and thrifty. She has good character and matured for someone of her age.

Besides, I noticed that Rachel is more of a quiet person. She would only speak on things that concerned her, otherwise she would be quiet.

I took the initiative to find topics to keep our conversation going. Soon, Rachel became chatty. I believe that she was getting along with me as she was responding well to me.