Hui looked at him in consternation and replied, "where is the fire, Eric? I have just discovered my, uh… my feelings for her. I haven"t even properly a.n.a.lysed them yet. Why do I need to immediately jump into the sea? It"s not like that she is running away anywhere."Eric wanted to pull his hair out. He didn"t know how had he ended up being saddled with the responsibility to play cupid on behalf of such a clueless lover. One of his biggest dilemmas was whether to tell Hui about Jia Li"s past or not. He had no clue as to how would he react to it. Would he brush it away as inconsequential or would he be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it and run away? Either of the scenarios didn"t encourage him to bare it all. Anyways, it was her past and if at some point, she wished to tell Hui about it, she would. Till then, Eric needed to both guide and goad him.
"Deep breaths, Eric, deep breaths… you can do it," he calmed himself down, before addressing his friend again.
"How do you know that you are the only person who has fallen for her? What exactly do you know about her personal life? Are you even sure that she prefers men? Have you even bothered thinking about how will you go about figuring it all out?" he argued pa.s.sionately.
"Women like Jia Li are a rare find and there are enough connoisseurs in this world who would recognise that and move Heavens and Earth to claim and treasure her," Eric nearly banged his head against the wall, trying to drill it in his head.
Hui pondered over it for a bit and then said, "I will join in for drinks and dinner but I won"t allow her to pay. It has to be my treat. And next time, don"t make a plan without consulting me."
Eric clapped his shoulder, "yesssss, now you are on the right track. And remember, when I get up to leave you guys alone for a bit on some pretext this evening, you better not develop a frozen tongue. Keep it moving. Till the time you don"t ask or share something with her, she would neither reply nor reveal. Got it?"
Earthly Matters Office, 6p.m.
Jia Li was dressed in an off-white, mid-thigh dress, with her feet encased in a matching high heeled pumps. Since they were stepping out directly from office, she had no choice but to go in her office clothes. She stood in the washroom and surveyed her face. As usual, no make-up meant nothing to repair. She took out her glossy lip balm and reapplied it. The only change that she made was to let down her hair and add a colourful scarf around her neck. Giving her hair a thorough brus.h.i.+ng, she left the auburn tresses gleaming well past her shoulders. With a few sprays of her favourite perfume, she was ready to leave.
Eric had planned the evening very carefully. First, he and Jia Li met Hui at a restaurant for an early dinner. The conversation was minimal and focussed around work matters. Post that, all of them went to the place which Eric had chosen. It was the newest party place and had a different themed night through the week. It was "Two to Tango" night and that"s why he had specifically picked this evening.
He knew for fact, that Hui"s Chinese parents had ensured that their son learnt some basic etiquettes of the western world. Though he had hated these cla.s.ses throughout his childhood, it was the only thing that Mrs. Ying had ever insisted upon. By the time he was eleven years old, his mother had resigned herself to his anti-social nature. She had believed that dance could be the perfect foil for the absence of conversation. Little did she know that this foresight of hers would come handy as her son pursued his first love adventure!
The perfectionist in Hui had ensured that he learn the dance forms well, even if didn"t enjoy them. Eric didn"t know was whether Jia Li knew how to dance or not. But that didn"t matter. Since she loved singing, she wouldn"t be averse to the idea of dancing. The point was to create an environment where she and Hui could come face-to-face as a man and a woman.
Upon reaching the place, Jia Li squealed with excitement when she saw the gaily dressed couples dancing in fluid movements. The music, the energy, everything was infectious. Hui gave a sardonic look to Eric. Suddenly he had an inkling of his friend"s plan. Though he gave him a disapproving look, a miniscule part of his hear was already counting the beats – slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.
Far far away in Shanghai
Tang sat in his bed with the laptop. He was hoping to finish reading through the reports which one of his plant managers had sent that evening. But he wasn"t making much progress with it. Every ten minutes, he ended up refres.h.i.+ng his mailbox, checking if Jia Li had replied to his mail.