2013 began a year of an added uncertainty for me. Good or bad remains to be seen. We had holidays on the last Tuesday of 2012 and the first Tuesday of 2013 and on the eves of these two much celebrated occasion, I was at Kim’s apartment.
6:30am on Christmas day 2012, a colleague and I shared a cab home from Kim’s place.
10:00am on the first day of 2013, I woke up to find myself on Kim’s bed.
Everything started 9 months ago…..
When you look up to the many windows among the skyscrapers, one of them is an office I have been sitting in for the last 4 years. The place is a battleground by day and a ghost town after 10pm. Like many men staying by the golden rule of not shitting in their very own backyards, I lost some opportunities with nice girls over the years and in the blink of an eye, office romance is an affair belonging to the group under 30s.
A divorced man past mid 30s is an EOL product whereby shelf life extension or renewal is no longer applicable. This is the pathetic me by day. But on some nights hee….hee… the situation takes an about turn when I go to places with my kakis where people call us lao-ban. Those are the times I feel young again.
The company occupies 3 levels of the building and I head a department with 2 sections and a total of 20+ headcounts. They are a young and vibrant team that I enjoy working with, professional and hardworking. 70 percent of my team members are females dressed in their power suits daily except Fridays, which is also my favourite day for more than one reason. In the ever tempting and challenging environment, I clung on to the golden rule and never once broke it.
March last year, we had a new female colleague, Kim, in the company. Words flew around so fast and she became the topic of the week or even month. She was employed by another department one floor above us and was not introduced to my department. For that first week, I spotted the few guys in my department disappearing from their cubicles for much longer a time needed than a toilet break or smoke break. I did not understand why the big hoo-ha over her until I attended a management meeting the same week.
While waiting for our CEO, one of the VPs sitting beside asked if I have met the new colleague and commented that she’s really hot. That almost had me falling off my chair for if he is lucky enough, he can be a grandfather soon. Then he lamented that Kim is attached. Was it for him or his son? That was something new that I have not heard from my boys and girls but it came as no surprise that she has a boyfriend. The old man sure has more ears in the company than me.
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I did not get to see Kim in person until 2 or 3 weeks later because half the time I am not in the office. Though I don’t have the habit of gossiping, I see no harm listening. Before meeting her in person, I have already heard half of her biography. Kim is originally from Bao Dao, had secondary education here, tertiary in Australia, worked for one of our competitors and 26 years of age when she came on board.
Our first meeting took place in the lift, just two of us. It was that afternoon when I skipped lunch trying to solve a nut cracking issue. About 3pm, I took a break since it was not getting anywhere even if I pulled all my hair off.
Double Espresso is the drink I needed, and something to stop the rumbling stomach. Going into the lift, I noticed a lady in office attire standing in one corner. I paid no further attention to her and simply pressed the ‘G‘ button again.
Outside the building, I took a quick smoke before grabbing my coffee from Starbucks. I also got a sandwich on the way back. The lift was quite packed and looking at the number of lighted buttons, it was a long ride up because my floor was the second highest among them. When I was the next in line to the designated floor, someone called me. It was an unfamiliar female voice saying ‘Hi, Ant!’, short for Anthony.
‘Hi! You are…’, I replied with a frown to the pretty looking stranger.
Flashing her staff pass with the same company logo at me, she initiated a handshake and introduced herself. So she is Kim but how did she know my name?
‘I am…’. Hang on, didn’t she already call me by name?
‘You are my lao-ban de half lao-ban’, came the reply with a really sweet smile.
Ting! The door opened and I stepped out saying ‘see you around’.
Seated in my office, the nice stroke of ego from Kim lingered in my mind. Only girls from special places call me lao-ban.