From stranger to lover

Holding her head with both her hands, Suzan Lee groans. Her head has been hurting ever since lunchtime. Swallowing down a couple of Acetominophen, in the pantry, she is hoping that she will survive the meeting with the stakeholders at 3 pm today. She has no mood what so ever, to listen to all of the exaggerated updates from her colleague. All she wanted to do right now is to lie in her bed with all the lights off.

Suzan Lee attended the meeting with her colleagues and stakeholders with a pounding headache. Taking a seat that was on the same row with her manager in the meeting room, Suzan Lee plans to make herself invisible and rest there quietly until the meeting is over.

Holding her head in one hand, while the other hand holding up a pen in pretending to take notes, Suzan Lee closed her eyes.

"Hey, you look pale. Are you okay?" Suresh, one of her colleagues noticed the pale look on Suzan Lee's face.

"Yeah, I am fine. Just a little bit of headache, that's all. Hey, what are they going to talk about today?"

"Nah, nothing much I think. Just the same old updates on their BAUs. I heard that Tong will schedule the meeting bi-weekly, from today onwards." Suresh smiled meaningfully to Suzan Lee.

"Hah? Well, then that means we will be meeting each other less and less from now on." Suzan Lee finally felt her mind being cleared up after she heard about the frequency of the meeting being reduced.

"Ya la. Sue, you must be the happiest about this update, right? You have been working night-shift since from the beginning you join this company. Working from home for 5 years, and never have any complaints about it, you are the only person I know who can handle the job that well."

Suzan Lee frowns at Suresh words. She cannot comprehend whether it is a compliment or if it is a sinister remark. She kept her mouth shut, not replying to Suresh any more after the remarks from him.

Suzan Lee has been working with her company since after graduation. Six months after she graduated, the company has hired her unconditionally due to the trouble of finding someone to work during the night shift.

A shift from 8 pm to 5 am for every Monday to Friday is not a desirable working hours for most of the job hunters out there, even for a desperate fresh graduates. At that time, Suzan Lee was desperate in searching for a job. She has been jobless for 6 months after graduation, and her parents been treating her like a loser every day because of that.

5 years ago, she has applied to every engineering company in the country, without any success. With a mediocre result of a 2.96 GPA, which company would hire her, in the ever-competitive world?

Feeling dejected, Suzan Lee contacted one of her seniors for help. She is tired of being looked down upon by every one of her family members. Feeling frustrated, she made up her mind, as long as it is a stable permanent job, she is willing to do it, even though the job is not within her field of studies.

Thanks to her senior, she managed to secure a job in one of the oldest tech companies in America, with a considerably high salary.

She has been working for 5 years, stuck in the same role without any changes to the job scope.

5 years of working night-shift, has taken a toll on Suzan Lee lifestyles and appearance. She gained 10kg of weight and developed a habit of oversleeping till late noon. Forget about being productive, she has never had breakfast in the morning for months now.

"I missed breakfast..." Suzan Lee mumbled out loudly in the middle of the meeting.

The meeting room suddenly turned silent. Suresh jabbed his elbow hard on Suzan that sits next to him, waking up the dazed Suzan Lee from her daydreaming.

"Suzan, I heard something about breakfast just now. Do you mind sharing it with us here so we can listen to, what about your breakfast?"

"Nothing, Tong. I was dazed out for a moment just now. Sorry." Suzan Lee felt her face redden after her mouth spoke out loud of what her mind is thinking.

"As I thought so. Pay attention to the meeting Suzan. About breakfast, tomorrow is Saturday, you can wake up early and have your breakfast."

All her colleagues giggle when Tong made fun of Suzan Lee.

'Great, Tong, now you make me feels like hiding underneath this huge meeting table.' Suzan giggled silly along with her colleagues trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"Right... where did I stop just now...."

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"Okay, I guess most of you are itching for this meeting to end, so I will adjourn this meeting for now. See you guys again in another 2 weeks, same timing, same place. " Tong packed up all his notes and laptop and left the meeting room.

"Thank god the meeting is over. Ok, bye Suresh."

Suzan Lee packed up her bags without waiting for Suresh's reply. Lucky for her that she moved out of her parents' house early this year. She is staying in a 2-bedrooms apartment which is only a 5-minute walk from the office.

Walking back to her apartment felt like torture to her. The blazing heat from the sun was making her head pounding more badly and she was sweating profusely.

"Beep.." Her digital apartment door beeps after the closes the door behind her.

'Ah, home at last.'

Slamming her body down on the sofa, Suzan Lee makes herself comfortable and closed her eyes, forgetting all about the shower.

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Wai Ming came back to his house hurriedly to use the bathroom.

"Damn those traffic jams! I've been holding up my pee for almost 2 hours now!"

Throwing down his bag on the kitchen table, Wai Ming ran towards the bathroom.

Feeling the stickiness of his body, Wai Ming wanted to shower. Walking out from the bathroom, to his room, he passed by the sofa in the living room. He was surprised to see Suzan Lee was lying on the sofa with her hand on her forehead.

"Ooi, wake up la... If you want to sleep, go sleep in your room. It's my turn to use the living room. " Ignoring the still sleeping Suzan Lee, Wai Ming went into the bathroom for a shower.

Feeling refreshed after a shower, Wai Ming felt like watching the 8 news on the TV. He went out of his room, and he saw Suzan Lee was sitting on the sofa holding both of her head in a crouching manner. Her shoulders trembled as he heard her whimpers.

"Sue, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Wai Ming walks up behind the sofa to hold Suzan Lee's shoulder.

"It hurts, it hurts so much... Woo.." Suzan Lee cried pitifully while tugging on her hair.

She cannot think of anything right now. She forgets to act distant as usual when she spoke to Wai Ming.

"Hey, hey.. stop pulling your hair. You are already ugly as it is now, if you pulled out all of your hair, then what else do you have as women then?" Wai Ming was surprised when he heard Suzan Lee crying in pain. He has never saw Suzan Lee acting pitifully like this.

The Suzan Lee he knew was prideful and never cared much to make a conversation. They both agreed to become housemates because they did not have the same working hours and will not clash with each other much.

Wai Ming will get to use the living room during the night, while Suzan Lee will stay inside her room, working, and during the day, Suzan Lee will use the house as Wai Ming went out working. The only time they have ever communicated together was during the weekend if Suzan Lee did not go back to her parent's house.

"Ah... Wai Ming... help me..." Suzan Lee rolled on the carpet down the sofa, still clutching her head in pain.

"Here, eat this." Wai Ming held up a glass of water along with 2 pills of Acetominophen.

While Suzan Lee was groaning and crying in the living room, Wai Ming has gone back to his bedroom to take some medicine for her.

Wai Ming forced Suzan to sit, and he fed her the medicine. He was stunned to see a red-faced with tears streak on Suzan's face.

"Aiyoh, stop crying. You look like a drenched puppy in a drain right now. Come, lie down here. I will massage your head."

Suzan opens up her watery eyes, and she looked at Wai Ming feeling confused.

"Wha-What?"

"Lie down here. You are in so much pain right? Let me put on this balm here to massage your head. My mother used to do this whenever I have migraines." Wai Ming pats his thigh while he speaks. Looking at the frowns on Suzan's face, he directly pulled Suzan's head, down on his thigh.

Suzan's breath hitched when her head falls on Wai Ming's thigh. She has never lied down on a man's thigh before. Not even on his father's. Everything Wai Ming did right now, felt foreign to her. Not even her parents ever showed this level of concern to her.

The kindness that Wai Ming showed to her, made her felt emotional and tearing up.

"Did it hurts that bad? Stop crying, you will feel better after this. " Wai Ming rubs the ointment more, on the already messy hair of Suzan's making her hair look more disheveled than before.