The a.s.sistant looked at Miss Chang engrossed in a deep conversation, he saw there was no need to intervene at the moment, and leaned back against the wall. He eagerly awaited his boss"s arrival, and his relief from duty.Meanwhile at the table, Justin patiently waited a few minutes before he asked," What"s his name?"
"Liang Jian Amal"
"That"s an unusual name, what"s with that?"
"His father"s Chinese, mother comes from a different country, Amal was her input into his name."
"What happened between you two? What made you come to LA? Your mom lives in Sf right, why wouldn"t you go back to where you"re from?"
"I was just a game to him. I was foolish, had too much to drink at an outing for my last job, and agreed to a stupid proposal from him.. Maybe i was just charmed by the idea of being with a man so perfect.." She started to trail off and mumble. So he cut her off with another question.
"What was his proposal?"
She bit her lips a moment before blurting out, " we got married." Justin was shocked, he"d considered several possibilities, but not that they were married.
" So you"re a runaway wife?"
She gave him a wry look pursing her lips. "I"m gonna go powder my face, be back in a sec, will you refresh that while I"m gone?" She pointed a wobbly finger to the drink before tottering away.
Justin regretted his bluntness momentarily and got up to get them both a couple more drinks while racking his brain for more questions to ask. Her answer had momentarily blown his mind.
Chang sat in a stall for a moment trying to collect herself and the world around her that seemed to refuse to stop moving around. She knew she was dangerously drunk, and was tearing open the wound in her heart, but for the first time she found herself wanting to share Jian and her"s story. She shook her hands dry as she stepped back out to the floor, because of her blurry vision it took her a second to re-find her table and friend. While she was scanning the room it almost looked like she saw Jian against the wall talking to another man. She shook her head at her overactive imagination and plopped herself back down in the seat. She took a big slug of the drink before plunking it down to the table with a sound Pah!
"Alright, where were we.. oh that"s right," she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. " I used to write for a business magazine, a.n.a.lytics, statistics, what have you. I especially wrote columns for up and coming profiles in the technology world." She lazily waved one hand about as she talked about her old job." So i went to Shanghai last July to interview some big-shot, well we got real toasted, him, a couple of business partners, his a.s.sistant, a couple of my co- workers, my boss, yada yada. I was pretty wasted and ended up letting loose when someone brought up karaoke. I attracted his attention then. He was in the next room being pressured into marry a suitable wife. Who understands rich playboys," she said with a shrug while she took another drink. "He approached me after i left the room, and asked if i would marry him right then and there. Dear G.o.d what do you say when some rich, bronzed Adonis comes up to you out of the blue and asks you to marry him. He even off the bat, said I"d never need to worry anything anymore, if i said yes, I just needed to make an immediate decision. I didn"t really think and said yes. I was a fool though, it didn"t take me long to realize what a fool i was, i was just a toy. I signed divorce papers and left without looking back. I just have never had the courage to tell my mom, she"d probably be so disappointed in me for being so foolish..It was just a little girl"s dreams of a prince to come save her mixed with too much shochu!" She turned her lips up in a smile, and tried to laugh but it merely came out a weak scoff.
Justin noticed her half-hearted attempt to blow off her feelings. He looked away for a moment and excused himself, to give her a moment. he went over a gave her a should a light squeeze in support before he walked away. " Love makes us all fools, at one point or another, don"t fret, time will heal everything, even clouds in your coffee will fade away. You got people that love and support you, i don"t think your mom would be disappointed in you, you should go visit her soon, its been a long time." She looked up and gave him a weak smile after that. He gave her another squeeze, " good girl, keep your chin up!" He sauntered to the bathroom unaware of the man who moved away from the wall and towards Chang as soon as he left.