13 Chapter 12: Going to the Workplace

“Do you want to go to the doctor?” Janny offered, coming to a halt at the traffic light in front.

Xin Ran firmly shook her head. “I’m fine now.” It would take her some time to adjust to having those memories. She rubbed her temple slightly. Somehow, her head didn’t throb as much as the previous time, which was a good thing.

Janny’s driving skills were commendable for her younger age. Xin Ran felt at ease with her being the driver. She closed her eyes and tried not to focus on her nervousness at being a passenger. Her chest was feeling congested. Perhaps if she didn’t focus on her fear of being in a box that had caused her accident, she would feel a lot better.

“Hang in there, Xue Xue. We’ll be at the office shortly,” Janny said, making a sharp turn. Even with her eyes shut tightly, her friend was still trembling vigorously. The GPS device on her dashboard announced that there was about fifteen minutes more of driving. Fortunately, when they returned the other day from the hospital, the duo had taken public transportation.

Xin Ran could only focus on Jing Yue’s charming figure as she calmed herself down. Eventually, everything came to a standstill. She was glad to be out of the ‘box’ and drying her face with a tissue, eagerly followed her friend into the huge building.

The entrance to the building was guarded by some uniformed personnel, the flirty brothers Marco and Locky. With her comical personality, Janny would often liken them to the Super Mario Bros. Xin Ran was astonished when Marco winked at her a few times. “Free for dinner tonight?”

Janny hastily muttered an excuse for them to escape and dragged Xin Ran away from the security guards.

“Don’t take him seriously,” Janny said. “He’s just messing with you, as he does with every one of the women.”

“What did he mean by winking at me?” Xin Ran curiously asked. “Is there a hidden meaning to it?”

“He’s just playing around,” Janny answered. “I’ll explain more about that tonight.”

They walked across the corridor and into a corner where Xin Ran didn’t feel was any different. “Does this place bring any memories to you?” Janny chattered excitedly. “Xue Xue, this is where we would hang out during breaks-” She pointed towards an empty region equipped with a barista coffee machine placed on a long table. A metal dish drainer sat nearby, with mugs of varying sizes hanging to dry. She scouted the drainer till she found two matching mugs with their initials printed on them. “-and have coffee!”

Coffee. All of a sudden, she recalled Jing Yue’s words. He had been a coffee lover.

She took the mug with the letters “YX” and ventured towards the coffee machine. Like magic, her fingers skilfully pressed the buttons on the machine automatically to dispense her favourite flavoured coffee, topped with steamed milk. To add to it, it was super-sweet to her, a taste she now disliked.

“It was your favourite coffee flavour,” Janny murmured as she noticed Xin Ran put down her mug on the counter with an appalled look. “But never mind, let’s just swap coffees for now.”

Xin Ran was happy drinking an americano from Janny’s mug. The caffeine gave her the kick she needed to start her day, and she was curious about the people she had socially interacted with for work.

With her amnesia, she didn’t know what she did just yet, so Janny had to give her a short version of what she did along with a mini organisational chart of the department they worked at.

“Jack Shi is your reporting supervisor and boss. You act as his assistant. I report to Janice Shi, his sister. But currently, both are abroad for a family function. So you can rest with the fact that there won’t be much for you to do at the moment.. Ah, I spoke too soon. Here comes our next assignment.”

Though Xin Ran still hadn’t fathomed what her work was about rather than assisting architects in their projects, she just nodded. Janny led her back to their work desks where she turned on the speedy computers with a single tap. The classical ‘Windows 98’ startup music blasted in the room, indicating her old school love for ‘Windows 98’ sounds. She was so fast that she was already in her email app when Xin Ran managed to sit down in front of her desk. Their work cubicles were located next to each other, so she could see what was on Janny’s screen.

“Big event tonight,” Janny mumbled after reading the sea of text that appeared on her screen. “They want us both to attend, because the architects and senior staff aren’t around.” She did not mention that the others had gone on a holiday and the trip had omitted the two of them.

“What’s special about the event?” Xin Ran pressed Janny for information.

“It’s a party hosted by JID, Jo Interior Design. We are expected to attend because, er, I have just received notification that the architectural firm has signed a supplier agreement with JID. In short, JID lacks manpower and we are being supplied to JID for their upcoming project.”

“Huh?”

“We are being outsourced, Xue Xue.” There was so much for her to take in, and Janny hesitated to tell her that the firm was encountering financial difficulties and hence had to go down this route.

“Is this expected to be normal?” Xin Ran enquired her further. Janny shrugged.

“I suppose so.”

By the end of the day, Xin Ran had gone through about five hundred case files to understand their clientele and current business profile. As she had expected, she had to just sit back and allow her fingers to do the work; be it typing or drawing. Her job didn’t seem at all that bad. A bit of effort here and there, but it was tolerable.

At night when she got back, Xin Ran had Marvel’s calls to entertain her, and he always had something new to say. Well, two heads were better than one. She didn’t have to date or marry Marvel anyway, if she didn’t like him. But now, she was growing used to his presence. She strongly hoped that things didn’t have to get ugly between them once she professed her love to Jing Yue.

She took out her bucket list and read the neat handwriting on the paper. There were only a few items for now, but that should suffice as she wasn’t even sure if the items were achievable.

[ ] tell Jing Yue of my feelings

[ ] initiate kiss with Jing Yue

[ ] spend the night with Jing Yue

[ ] ask Jing Yue out on a date

[ ] start relationship with Jing Yue

She blushed as she imagined being intimate with the man of her dreams. But what if the rumours were true, and Jing Yue was indeed a homosexual? She immediately crossed out the last item. However, his orientation shouldn’t interfere with her spending the night or dating him. Well, he had even kissed her, so she supposed kissing was not a problem. She had seen so many couples kissing in the streets.

If she and Jing Yue went out on a date, where should they go?

She looked out of the window and observed the beauty of how darkness shrouded the city at night.