Met him again

It seemed to Cecilia that time passed very slowly even though days passed into weeks and weeks into months regularly.

One year later…

Cecilia and her friends, Alice and Flora, were all seated in Cecilia's automobile, on the way to the shopping mall in order to buy some new clothes. They went shopping so often because they all loved to shop. They always used to go one of the famous shopping malls. When they got there, Cecilia turned into the parking lot and pulled into her parking place.

A red car also pulled into the one next to her as Cecilia stopped the engine. When she and her two friends got out of the car, the man in the red car, who was dressed in a pair of grey slacks and an azure blue sweater worn over a black shirt, stepped out of his car, too.

They couldn't see his face well because the garage was dimly-lighted and he wore a pair of latest styled sunglasses that covered almost half of his face. He also glanced at her for a brief moment and started away. For some reason, Cecilia watched him walk to the entrance door. Her breath suddenly caught. Even though she hadn't recognized who he was before, she now knew from the way he walked and his height and build. Oh, is that really him, she thought, her heart thumping a little faster.

"Alice, do you recognize him?" asked Cecilia breathlessly.

"Who? Oh, you mean the man in the red car," said Alice alarmingly.

"Yes, exactly. Don't you really recognize him?"

"Umm. I think, he looks familiar but the sunglasses he's wearing makes me unsure who he is," said Alice, confused.

"He's Phoenix," said Cecilia suddenly.

"W-what? Really?" asked Alice.

"I think so," said Flora. "I thought the way he walks looks like Oliver's. But I couldn't make him out who he was because of the dim light."

"Yeah, me, too," said Cecilia, "but I also knew who he actually was from the way he walked. He's my mythical bird, Phoenix," she said as if she'd forgotten her two friends were there.

"You're exaggerating, Cecilia," criticized Alice but Cecilia did not seem to care much about her. "You two think the man who stepped out of the red car is Oliver Phoenix? Then what're you doing here?" asked Alice. Cecilia and Alice did not understand what Alice meant until Alice went on: "Let's chase him!"

As Cecilia and Flora looked at each other, Alice strode toward the entrance to the mall. They shrugged and hurried along without another word.

Fortunately, they could keep up with Oliver Phoenix. They saw him window shop as he strolled through the mall and then go into a Men and Ladies' wear shop. It was a long, fine shop and flooded with incandescent light. At the rear of the shop was the section for men's wear and at the front was for women's.

They paused and watched Oliver walk toward to the racks on the right and start to pull out and stare at some T-shirts he thought would fit.

Cecilia pulled Alice's hand to stop as she was about to get into the shop. "Alice!"

"What?" asked Alice, turning.

"Why are we chasing him?" asked Cecilia, confused.

"Why?" she recited. "It's just…just because, hold on, why are you asking me, Cecil? He's going to be out of our

sight."

"I think you didn't want me to get to know him, didn't

you?" said Cecilia.

"Yes, you're right. I didn't. But I also want you to be happy, want you to get out of this sadness," answered

Alice.

Cecilia found Alice's words utterly bewildering.

"Let's not talk about this now. Come on," urged Alice, beginning to move into the shop. Unable to decide what to do, Cecilia and Flora also entered it and started to pretend to look at the women's wear.

"He doesn't see us. That's good for us, isn't it?" said Alice, grinning. "We'd better not let him know that we're chasing him. So we can pretend to meet him by chance. What do you think of it, Cecilia?" asked Alice. Cecilia, who seemed barely heard Alice's question, gave no answer, but just looking over Oliver quietly.

"Longer thought than done. Let's go," said Alice before she walked past through the people, who were buying or standing and gazing at the clothes, and slid to the rear of the shop and approached Oliver, who was choosing some attractive T-shirts from dozens and dozens of shirts on display, didn't seem to realize that Alice Singer was near him until she cleared her throat purposely to draw his attention.

Oliver turned to look at her and was surprised.

"Oh, Mr. Phoenix!" exclaimed Alice, clasping her hands in some sort of happy way. "Is that you? Shopping alone?" she asked.

He appeared to be embarrassed a little but tried instantly to form a fake smile on his lips to cover his embarrassment. "Oh, Miss…," he paused, seeming unable to think Alice's last name.

"Miss Singer," said Alice. "Don't you remember my name, Mr. Phoenix? But I don't think you should forget my friend's name," she said, pointing at Cecilia who was standing not far away from them.

Oliver turned and looked at where Alice was pointing at. A surprised look came over his face when he saw Cecilia.

Alice walked over to Cecilia and seized her by the arm and pulled her to near Oliver. It made Cecilia heart flutter a little. Cecilia could see Oliver's eyes glitter when he fixed his eyes on her.

"Oh, Miss Cecilia…, I recognize you, all of you," said Oliver, grinning. "Well, it was dull-witted of me not to ask your last name, then," he went on, a bright smile on his lips.

"Rodney. Cecilia Rodney," answered Alice before Cecilia, who didn't appear to form any word to say yet.

"Ah…Miss Rodney, how's it going?" asked Oliver.

"Not so bad," said Cecilia, her voice barely above a whisper, trying to hide her bliss on her face. Alice pouted her lips and let Cecilia's arm go.

"Well, Miss Rodney, this is the shirt I guess I'll take, what do you think of it? Or would you mind unfolding this shirt and measuring me from shoulder to shoulder on my back?" asked Oliver with a smile.

"Which size do you always wear?" asked Cecilia.

"Large."

"So I don't think I need to take measure of your shoulders," said Cecilia, feeling sparks of anger catch in her chest. She immediately turned away from him, and Alice and Flora followed her, too, not knowing what to do or say. They appeared hardly to understand Cecilia's sudden fury. Cecilia wandered through the long racks in front of the shop while Oliver was paying for his T-shirt.

And what seemed like a few minutes later, Oliver came closer to Cecilia and said, "I'm really glad to see you again."

Cecilia glanced up at him and turned to look at the blouse in her hand again.

"Will you have lunch with me?" asked Oliver suddenly. Cecilia was surprised and looked up at him. He looked earnest, even his dark eyes smiled.

"Will you?" he asked again.

"Thank you," said Cecilia, "but I'm afraid I can't. I don't have much time because the air-conditioner in my car doesn't work properly and I have to drive it to one of car services."

"Oh," he said. "Let me give you a hand, please, Miss Rodney. I mean, can I take in your car to my cousin's service? He's really something, good at those things and his service is famous. You've probably heard of it? 'Winter', have you?" he said breathlessly.

"No, I haven't."

"But I think I'll take your car to him. Ah… if you want."

She considered for a moment and said, "Yes, I guess so. That's a great idea."

"Really?" he asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll take it," said Oliver and paused a few moments before he continued. "First, we'll go to some good restaurant we can have lunch. And then I'll take your car to my cousin's service, and I'll drive you all home, okay? First of all, let's go for a lunch, you all are invited," said Oliver enthusiastically.

Alice and Flora smiled and nodded. So did Cecilia, for some reason, she felt happy.

"What about your car?" asked Alice.

"I'll get it back later," he replied quickly.

When they all were in a restaurant, they sat at the corner table of the room. A waiter approached them and he ordered burrito and Casserole for them, they ordered coleslaw, bisque, prawn salad. While they waited for the food to be arrived, Oliver began.

"By the way, where do you live?" he asked Cecilia.

She told him where she lived.

"You look like the same age as we," said Alice.

"How old are you?" asked Oliver.

"We are all twenty six. And you?" asked Alice.

"Oh, the same age as you all." said Oliver.

"Good," said Flora.

"So can I call you Cecilia?" asked Oliver as he turned to

Cecilia.

"Sure," said Cecilia.

"You can call me my first name, too," said Oliver. "And you all can, too," he said, looking at the three of them, smiling.

"Okay. We're now friends, aren't we?" said Alice.

"Sure, we are," said Flora.

Oliver nodded, smiling and glancing at Cecilia.

"Where do you live, Oliver?" asked Cecilia.

Oliver took the name card out of one of his pockets and handed it to Cecilia. She took it and extracted hers from her wallet.

"Here's my name card­­­. My address, my hand phone and residential phone numbers are all written on it."

"Thank you," said Oliver, taking the card from her and reading it. To his surprise, she had three residential phones and two hand phones and email addresses and fax numbers. And he found that she was the managing director of a cosmetic company. Oliver smirked and shrugged a little.

"Honestly, I'm too lazy to call anyone. I don't usually call anyone except for the important thing to tell," said Oliver smoothly. "And I don't have any email account and fax machine. So I don't think this card is very useful for me."

Cecilia glared at him, her eyes blazed with indignation.

Oliver glanced at her. "Oh, are you angry at my words? Sorry!" he said with a laugh. "But it's true."

"Look, Oliver, I'm…I'm not the kind of girl who gives every

man I meet my address card," shot back Cecilia in a harsh

voice.

"Oh, I said I'm sorry. Let's keep off this subject, okay?" he said, sounding as if he didn't care other people's feelings.

Cecilia felt really embarrassed.

"Can I ask you for something?" asked Oliver.

Cecilia didn't answer and Alice and Flora gazed at him as if they were all waiting for him to continue.

"I'm just wondering…," he began, "if I can get some place in your cosmetics company. Is there any vacancy?" asked Oliver.

"Yes, there is. You can get some place at the advertising department, as a graphic designer," said Cecilia. "You have to do some graphic designs for the advertisements for new products," she added, sounding like the owner of the company.

"A graphic designer, just this position?" he asked.

"Yes, of course. You're a graphic designer, aren't you? What else position do you want to get?"

Oliver didn't answer, looking dissatisfied.

"Well, I need to consider," she said.

"Why? You're the boss of this firm, aren't you? Why need to consider?" asked Oliver with a surprise.

"Yes, I'm the boss. But this is not a personal thing. So I need to consider assigning you and which post you are suitable for."

"Okay, I see."

Cecilia could see the stiffness on Oliver's face, and was

afraid that she'd made him furious, but she felt relieved when she saw him go on and on chatting with them. He was not too soft-spoken and polite but not rude, either. From what he said, they knew his parents had passed away and he was the only child and did not have many friends and was not rich. Oliver seemed, Cecilia thought, half the time, innocent, frank; half the time she thought, he seemed so secretive. He was the kind of man who was hard to predict, finally she remarked.

At last, it was time to say goodbye. Oliver said he would drive them all home but Cecilia wanted to go to her office. So he drove them to it and said he would take her car back at 3 o' clock in the afternoon. When his car was out of sight, Alice Singer started saying in her bossy way. "Cecilia, you look … a little crazy about him."

"What!" exclaimed Cecilia.

"Yes, you look exactly what I said. I was surprised so much that you allowed him to take your car and give him the car remote."

"Oh, your criticism is so intense, isn't it, Alice?" said Cecilia. "Do you think that I was wrong to give him the car remote of my car? I don't think I was. I gave it to him to have my car air-conditioner fixed."

"What would you do if he took your car, sold it and ran away?" asked Alice, making her eyes narrow.

"Oh, he's not that sort of man, I mean, he doesn't look like that," insisted Cecilia.

"How do you know? You've met him just three times. How much do you know about him?" asked Alice.

Cecilia did not find any answer. Maybe Alice was right, but she didn't want to agree with her because she did trust him.

"You think he is a man who you can trust?" asked Alice as if she could read her mind.

"But …I think he is…"

"He is what?"

"He is …I mean," said Cecilia, "he's not the kind of man what you think of. That's it."

"No, that's not all. He's not probably the man what I think of, and he looks so much like Ken, but not real Ken, not your lover."

"So…?"

"So we don't know much about him. Actually I don't like his eyes; the look in his eyes, he seems sophisticated so much and seems to know much about women, to know what women like or dislike and how to taunt and tease especially a woman like you, an innocent one like you," remarked Alice.

"No, he doesn't," said Cecilia weakly without great confidence. She didn't want to believe what Alice was saying, yet something within her seemed to warn her. What if Alice was right?

Finally she threw this thrilling thought into the winds.

"That's enough, Alice. You're insulting him. You know

he's my friend now. And you said it yourself. If you don't stop, I'll have to put an end of our friendship," said Cecilia, her eyes glistening with sudden fury. Alice could see that Cecilia was in an outrage.

"Cecilia, I believe he's only a boy doll which you can look at when you miss your Ken, and whih can relieve your feeling," remarked Alice stiffly. "But I don't want anything bad happen to you because of him, I'm very anxious about you, Cecilia. You've had enough of your own heartache from your lover's death; I don't want you to get hurt anymore. I hope you will understand my concern, dear," said Alice quietly.

Cecilia fell silent but Alice could see her temper was not calm yet and a determination in her eyes that told Alice that you're not going to keep me from having my own way.

Despite the warning Alice had given her it had been a happy day for Cecilia because she'd had a chance being with Oliver for two or three hours.