Chapter 19

“Honey, I want breakfast” I could feel his hot breath near my ear.

I pretended to sleep, eyes shut tight. I wanna hear what Tom would do if I continued sleeping.

“Ting, I want omelette. You make the best omelette” he pleaded.

I opened my eyes slowly to see Tom with his hair all rustled, like he just woke up from sleep.

“Morning, you big ball of annoyance” I mumbled and turned to the other side of the bed.

“Honey, I want omelette” he wrapped his right arm around me.

“Daddy!” the door flung opened and our little boy walked in dragging a wheelbarrow with Snooky sitting on it. Snooky barked a little and jumped on the bed, followed by our little boy. At the same time, Tom’s arm pulled back.

“Why are you up so early?” Tom asked.

“Mummy promise we would go to the zoo today”

“Well, mummy is a lazy bum because she won’t wake up” Tom nudged me.

I sat up in bed and reached out for my son. He looked exactly like his daddy. Mini version of Tom.

“Lis!! “ he called me.

What? Everything went black and when there was light again, I saw Gail standing on my bed, towering above me.

“Gail, what are you doing?” I groaned.

That was just a dream? I felt like strangling Gail for waking me up. Grr ..

“What is it? I thought today is Sunday”I asked tiredly.

“Help Cindy move her stuff!”

“Are you sure your room has space for all this stuff?” I pulled Gail aside.

There were about five big boxes around the living room. Gail chuckled.

“I guess this should be okay. If there’s more, then I shall put them in your room”

Just then Cindy came in the apartment with a luggage bag.

“I’m so sorry I have so much stuff. I could have more if the stupid water ruined it all”

“I can’t believe that silver heels of yours were ruined by the water” I leaned on my doorframe.

“I know! That was the best pair ever!”

The pipe leaked in Cindy’s apartment when she was out and a quarter of her apartment was filled up with water. Some of her stuff were drenched and totally ruined. In the meantime, we are setting her up at our place. Suddenly the place looked so packed. It used to be me and Gail but now we have Cindy, Sarah and Dylan. I wondered when Sarah should get out of my house. She has been pretty unfriendly and nasty to us. The other day, she complained that we don’t have a dishwasher, thus she had to wash the dishes herself.

“Eh, what were you and Tom doing in the room the other night? I saw him went home in the morning” Gail nudged me.

“Shh .. don’t let ge hear you. He might get the wrong idea”

“He really did stay over?” Gail gasped.

I noticed Cindy had gone quiet and she was not even paying attention to what we were talking about. She was just quietly opening her boxes, taking out her clothes.

“Really? Again?” I looked at him with puppy eyes.

He nodded and took off his shirt. I gave a happy sigh and took off my sandals.

“Alright Ting, I let you win” he kicked off his shoes.

“I don’t want. I want to win on my own” I tied up my hair.

Tom put on his jersey and I put on my sneakers. I’m not gonna lose again today. I lost to him last week so never again. Suddenly a wave of nausea hit me but it was over as quickly as it came. Man, I need to start taking breakfast.

“Play ball!” I picked up his basketball and ran across the court.

That afternoon Jay would be in his studio, producing songs for his new album. Madam is down for a nap therefore we are using the basketball court. Last week, I lost to Tom at 20-5. I’m really not an athlete and Tom is taller than me. Last week after he won, he gloated in front of me by dancing. Although I pouted but actually, I was really amused to see him so happy. Not today though, I wanna defeat him. Okay, even if I don’t defeat him, I still wanna try.

After half an hour, Tom had won me by 10-4.

“Ting, wanna take a rest?” Tom asked.

“I want water” I smiled.

When Tom turned to grab for the bottle, I grabbed the ball from his hands and scored a goal.

“You big cheater” he ran after me.

I started laughing and well; I got a little scared because for a second, Tom looked a bit angry. I ran away from him and fell down on the ground.

“Ouch ouch” I grabbed my ankle.

“Ting, what’s wrong?” Tom rushed to my side.

“I think I twisted my ankle” I moaned.

“Come on, we should get you to the hospital” he rubbed my ankle gently.

I grinned and grabbed the ball, head to the goal and scored one. I turned back to see Tom shaking his head in amusement.

“10-6” I walked back to him.

He stood up and threw the bottle of water to me. It fell down beside me and I reached down to grab it. Ah, how refreshing after a whole day of losing basketball to my boyfriend.

“2 points were cheat points” he chuckled.

“You gotta let me have some advantage. I’m a woman” I teased.

I turned and jogged across the court to get the basketball. I stepped on something hard and fell, scraping my knee. Before I fell, I let out a squeak.

“Damn it” I mumbled.

“What happened?” Tom walked towards me.

“I fell down” I brushed my hand across my shorts.

Then I noticed my hands were cut too.

“Not another cheat point trick?” he bent down beside me.

I shook my head as he examined my right knee which was scraped and bleeding.

“Little careless girl” he brushed the hair out from my face.

Then he picked me up with a swing.

“I can walk” I insisted.

“No, you can’t. I don’t want blood trailing all the way back to the house”

All my life, my feet has been the one carrying me around wherever I go and now I finally have a shoulder I can leaned on. Someone who actually made me feel secure. I leaned slowly on his arm as he walked back to the house.

“It’s nice” he smiled.

“What is nice?” I asked, looking up at him.

“When I carry you like this, I felt like you are depending on me and I am able to make you feel protected”

I smiled and just looked up at my handsome man. His dimple tucked away, his hair pushed to the left side, his clean shaven face and his tender eyes. I swear, Tom has the sexiest eyes. I didn’t realize it until last week. I should spend more time staring into them.

“I love you” he smiled.

“I love you too” I smiled back at him.

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. It was an instinct that he lowered his lips and mine to kiss his. Even for just a second before we continued walking into the house.

I happened to glance at the house next door and I saw one of the room curtain moved, like someone had been watching us. Suddenly I felt cold and I looked away.

Nowadays I leave the house with barely any make up on. Well, I don’t want to look too pale so I do have some blusher on. Tom was waiting for me in the living room. He didn’t tell me where are we going but he looked really nice dressed in slacks and long sleeved shirt. Suddenly I heard a door opened and closed.

Oh well, I have to get ready. No to skirts, my bandages on my hand are ugly enough. I threw my skirts on the bed. Since Tom was being so mysterious about where are we going, I dunno what to wear. I pulled a simple t shirt and slipped on my jeans.

I opened the door slowly and I saw Sarah sitting on the same couch with Tom. She was wearing one of her low cut top with her mini skirt. Grr.. she’s out to get my boyfriend. Look at the way she sits with her right leg pointed out at him, almost touching his. Never mind the fact that she was flirting with my boyfriend, she was suppose to be my brother’s girlfriend.

“So you do work out” I could hear her sickening voice, dripping with venom.

“I do, almost everyday actually” Tom answered innocently.

I saw her nearing him and reaching out to touch his shoulder. I saw the uncomfortable look on Tom’s face as he tried to move away. I walked out and slipped my arms in his.

“Sorry I kept you waiting” I smiled.

Tom stood up “It’s ok” he held my hand.

We had agreed that we would be as low profile as possible in front of friends and Dylan because let’s face it, some people frowned upon too much of public affection. Sarah actually stood up with us.

Without thinking much, I pulled Tom to me and kissed him. He kissed me back. I moved my lips off his slowly, all this time sliding my hands across his chest. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Wow” he smiled and I could see a spark of excitement in his eyes.

“That’s for being patient” I took his hand and walked towards the door.

“Oh Sarah, I’ll be back real late” I smiled as I watched her dumbfound face, standing alone in the living room.

Tom took me to a shelter house looking place and I was confused until I saw little kids all running out with smiles and gathered around Tom.

“Tom ge ge!!” they were shouting.

There were about five little kids, three boys and two girls. All of them were around the age of five. Although they greeted Tom with such enthusiasm, they were looking at me as if I’m a strange animal. Then one of the girls came and took my hand.

“Come see my dolls” she tugged my hand.

I learnt that the place was an orphanage. There were more kids playing at the field behind the house. There were about 30 of them there.

The little girl who took my hand was Lydia. As I was looking at Lydia’s self made dolls, an older woman approached us.

“Tom!” she looked so happy.

“Auntie” Tom looked equally happy to see her.

“Who have you brought today?” she glanced at me.

I stood next to Tom, feeling shy suddenly with all the kids around me.

“Auntie, this is my girlfriend Lisa” Tom put an arm around my waist.

“Oh!!! Tom ge has a girlfriend” one of the boys teased.

“They seem to know you pretty well” I glanced at them.

“I always visit whenever I can. Auntie, there’s some food in the car” he smiled and left us there.

“Lisa, would you like to play with the kids?” auntie asked.

“If they would play with me” I looked around nervously.

The girls tugged on my hand to join them with their dolls tea party. As soon as Tom came back with the food supplies, the boys were all over him.

Five hours later, we were tired. I was playing with the girls and their dolls as they admired everything I own. They kept looking at my bracelet and my earrings but in a sweet way, not a I-Am-Gonna-Steal way. Tom were at the field playing soccer with the boys. We prepared their tea after that.

“How is it? Looks like the girls love you” Tom whispered.

“You should have told me we were coming here. I could have gotten them some pretty stuff”

“I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted you to see where I grew up”

I looked at him “You grew up here?”

He nodded “I’m glad I can share it with you. I hope you don’t think lest of me”

I shook my head “Never. Come on; let’s get these cookies for the kids”

“You do know the girls are not the only ones who love you right?” then he kissed me.

“Ehh!! Tom ge ge kissed Lisa jie jie” one boy pointed and ran out giggling.

“Now we will hear no end of it” Tom sighed and walked out of the kitchen.

I stood up and suddenly it felt like the blood just rushed to my head. I took another minute to regain control and walked out with the other plate of cookies.

It was a pretty exhausting day as the kids’ crowd around while Tom sang them to sleep. Lydia, the first little girl that I came to know was laying on my lap, her fingers clutching her doll. When all the kids were asleep, we crept downstairs to inform auntie that we had to head home.

“The kids were adorable” I was already thinking of what to bring for them for my next visit.

We strapped on our seat belts and Tom started the car.

I actually promised the girls I would buy them a bracelet each and for the boys, maybe a new football and action figures for some.

“Yeah, they are. The youngest there was Lydia, she’s only 3. Her parents passed away in a storm”

I nodded. No wonder she looked so lost and fragile.

“I’m glad you get to see where I lived back then “

“Well, now you live in a big house with Jay Chou, you can’t complain right?”

Tom chuckled “Ting, when’s your orange juice commercial shoot?”

“Next week. After that, I will be jobless again”

“Don’t worry. You will never go hungry, I will make sure of that” he held my hand.

The song ended and Jay turned to me.

“How was that?” he asked, looking at me for approval.

“That was great! I love the tune. It sounded really romantic. Oh please, make a romantic video out of it” I clasped my hand together.

He laughed “I kinda have an idea in my head how I want the video to be. Something by the beach”

“That’s romantic. You gotta let me watch the video when you’re done with it”

“No problem. I’ll even do the first private screening for you”

“Umm Jay, do you have water?” I asked, looking around his studio.

“I have a new bottle in my room. I’ll go get it for you” he got up.

What is wrong with me? I’m so thirsty and this is my fifth bottle. What time is it? 12 afternoon? I feltl so sleepy too. No, not sleepy. Just exhausted. I think I’m gonna fall sick soon.

I replayed the song again. This will be a big hit; I honestly knew this is one song every lady would swoon too. I laid back and listened to it, a glance and I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from the rest.

I pulled it out. On it was the lyrics to the current song that I was listening. At the bottom was written, music and lyrics by Jay.

Watching your silly grin, clasping my hand
I hope this dream has no end, so let's just walk till here

Because I don't wish for this bliss to end so soon
It is a pity that there is no blessing, I don't feel lonely at all when loving you, I won't let you cry again

Inspiration ? Angelisa Wang Zhi Ting.

I looked up at the title again. Bai se feng che .. white windmill

My hands trembled, I could really see it shaking with .. fear? Anxiety? Shocked?

To think this could be a turning point of someone’s life. Some may regard it as bad news, some may regard it as good news. Me? I dunno. Should I call Tom? Should I tell Dylan? The girls?

No, not until I know what this little thing tells me. Will I be able to bear the knowledge that I know and not be able to tell anyone?

Who am I to tell? Who am I gonna ask?

Okay, no more hesitation. Let’s end this waiting game right now!

I turned the little white stick around and automatically I sat down on the toilet.

There it is. Glaring at me, screaming it in my face.

A plus sign, positive.