Book of Love 爱神の书

Chapter 26

“What would you do for the person you love?”
Ask anyone this question and they would reply you with the most passionate answers from the textbook.

Some will declare that they will go through sufferings of any kind just to make the person he loves happy.
Some will declare that they will be willing to do anything for her.
The extreme ones might even declare that they will die for love.

But would you totally accept the person in the first place?

Can you accept how he/she looked like before and after?
Can you accept the fact that he/she has a few relationships before you?
Can you accept all the bad habits that he/she showed as you got together longer?

I’ll bet you that despite how much we claim to be possible, there’s a percentage deep down that would think otherwise. But I ever came to know a friend whom accepted everything about his then girlfriend.

Never mind the fact that he was rather good looking but she, on the other hand was really far behind and was twice his size.
Never mind that she was easily depressed and even to the stage of suicidal.
Never mind that her ex-boyfriend was in fact a very close friend of his.
Never mind that all of us had tried to convince him that this relationship won’t work out.

He only told me three words that day before we lose contact, “I love her.”

And so they went on to get married not long later, while this person totally severs ties with the whole group of us. I believe maybe it was because we didn’t accept her as much as he does.

Till this day, they are still blissfully married to each other. Deep down I sincerely wish them the very best because I’ve witness the true meaning of acceptance.

He liked her for who she was and not who she will become.

The other person would be my wife, who accepted me as her fat, ugly and penniless husband. No logical explanation could be sorted by her behavior

This is Love, this is the ability to accept whatever your partner may be or become.

“It’s ok…. Oh hi…. Mark…”

The voice caught Mark’s attention as he lay down the book he was reading and turned back.

“Oh my god! I think that voice, its Jade?”

Mark turned to his back with the widest smile he could put on as he greeted.

“Hi! What a pleasant surprise~”

“Hi! Young man… how can I help you?”
A middle-age auntie lowered her spectacles and returns the smile.

Mark’s face froze at that instance as his eye sight tried to search for the source of the voice.

“Here lah…”

Jade had sneaked to the other end.

“Jade? Eh….Wow… such a coincidence”
Mark let go of the book before grabbing it back before it fell to the floor.

“You read Mitch albom too?”
Jade asked as she waved to him the book, “Five people you meet in heaven” by the same author.

“Yeah this is his second… I’m holding to his latest! ~”
Mark waved his book back at her.

“Really? Then maybe I should get this one too?”

Jade pondered for a moment as she grabbed another book ‘Tuesday with Morris’ from the shelves.

“Yeah… anyway since I’m buying his 3rd book. You can always borrow from me if you need to read it. Trust me... both of them are good.”
Mark put on his best salesmanship.

“Ok… then I’ll buy these two books…”
Jade finally decided.

“Great!.. Oh by the way, why are you here?”

“Well… I always had lunch around here.. Why can’t I, not be here?”

“Then what about you? Visiting a client somewhere?”

“Nope.. I’m medical leave today… just want to get a book to read. I like it here… at MPH so I’ll come here if I have the time.”

Both of them discussed as they walked to the cashier.

“I always thought the Old MPH building was better.”
Jade replied.

“You frequent there too?”
Mark tried not to get too excited.

“Why not? I mean it’s the most happening places during our secondary school fays isn’t it? I always went with my girlfriends after school.”

“Oh… so you going back to office after this?”
Mark started another topic for discussion, hopefully the conversation will last longer than he think.

“Nope.. My boss gave me half day off today.”
Jade replied as her books were being scanned by the cashier before she paid them.

“Oh…so after this, you wanna go for a coffee or something?”
Mark finally said something practical.

“Well.. I suppose it’s possible… since I’ve no visual plans yet.”


Jade replied as she collected her books while Mark was the next in line.

“Wait a minute… shouldn’t you be resting since you are on medical leave?”

“Oh… doctor ordered me to come out to breathe some fresh air… and relax awhile…”

“Orr!! You fake illness huh?”

“I didn’t… I was discharged from hospital yesterday.”

Mark replied as he was paying for the book.

“Anything serious happened to you? I certainty hope not”
Jade visually checked out his entire body.

“Let’s talk about it when we find a good place to chat.”
Mark suggested as they left MPH.

“Let’s head towards Suntec?”

The two of them then set path to walk towards their designated location. During the journey, Mark had to stop for Jade who was pretty much obsessed with the retail stores along the way.

“Hey, do I look nice in that?”
Before Mark could reply, Jade was already inside the boutique to try on the pair of heels.

Mark can only nodded his head.
“Yup… it looked nice”

“How nice do I look?”

“Very…”

“Very is like how nice? Does the shoe made me looked nice or I looked nice wearing this shoe?”

Jade looked at Mark confused.


Mark suddenly remembered why he used to hate shopping trips. All the try outs will always be debated over “How nice” and things can get worse when he comments something nice.

His comments will be like a life-time warranty. One day when the shoe finally doesn’t look nice anymore, he would be the one who gets the blame because he was the one who said nice in the first place.

The supposed 15 minutes walk from Citylink to Suntec ended closer to an hour’s trip with Jade buying 2 pairs of shoes, a bag, a set of blouse, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.

Time spent was not on the purchase but the countless trying of almost the entire boutique just to convince her that it was the best pair that fitted her.

Shopping is not just about buying alone but it’s more to convincing yourself that you got to have that item no matter what.

Mark let out a sigh and a smile at the same time as he refreshed his memories.

“What are you smiling at?”
Jade caught him.

“Oh… nothing… it’s just some passing thoughts.”
Mark smiled as they reach the café at Suntec.

-------------

As both of them relaxed themselves over the freshly brewed coffee and tea, Mark began telling Jade the story about his Shanghai trip, then about Sharon’s case and the relationship between Shaun & Christine.

Mark found a new friend, a new soul mate and new confider in Jade even though they had barely known each other.
She was someone that Mark could say everything out without any holdback. Then he realized he may have talked too much.

“Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”

“Me? What do you want to know about?”

“Anything? Everything?”

“Oh well… I don’t know how to begin… but here goes”

Jade began telling him her life when she was young and about primary school. About the uniform groups she had tried to join but gave up because she thought it’s too tough.

Jade also told him about her hobbies that she developed over the years and significant events that happened in her life. She was thirteen at that time and was nearly killed in an accident.

“Don saved me that time… I lived because of him and his right leg was not fully healed since. It was all because of me.”

The lively atmosphere had dulled as Jade paused when she mention about Don.

“It’s ok if you don’t wish to continue.”

“No it’s alright. I guess I have to face it sooner or later..”

Jade continued her story, restarted from the day she met Don on the first day of school to how they go to school together everyday. To the day of the accident and how Don had saved her and got injured in his right leg ever since.

“Jade.. what happened to Don? Why all the sudden broke off”

“I’m not sure too.. We even planned for marriage in 2009… then Don tried to avoid me many times. It was one night that I found out he had known another girl… and he asked for broke off..”

Jade tried hard to hold back her tears.

“Then I realized I was pregnant after the broke off… so I asked to see him one night and broke the news. I told him that fate had wanted us to be together… but he didn’t want to believe… and the rest of the story you already know.”

Jade’s battle had lost as her tears dripped over the wet patches on her blouse.

“It’s ok Jade.. it’s already over. I’m very glad you can face it.”

Mark took out a tissue and offered her.

“Don’t worry.. I already gave up on him..”

Mark looked at his watch, it was closed to six.

“Shall we go for dinner? I guess you must be hungry after crying so much…”

“Can you don’t tease me? I’m a girl ok? I’m licensed to be emo.”

“Yeah yeah yeah… girls only know how to cry but every time forgets to bring tissues.”

“It’s a guy’s job to do that! Give you back loh”
Jade threw her used tissue on Mark.

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They had their dinner over a Japanese restaurant at the basement of Suntec.

“Jade… can I ask you a question?”
Mark asked while they were waiting for their orders.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Errr… you know when you asked me to take your passport. I saw something in the drawer, in fact it was a photo of me I supposed..”

“Oh… you saw that? I’m so embarrassed.”
Jade used her menu to cover her.

“What was it all about?”

“I accidentally took your picture when I tried using my new headphone. I didn’t realize it until I send my memory card to develop pictures we took in a company event. So it came back with this picture..”

The mystery of the photo had been solved but it was not something Mark anticipated.

“I guess it’s wasteful to throw away and besides I always thought it’s an artistic shot. You looked very cool in that photo right?”

“Yeah right…”

The food came and both of them tucked in.

After dinner, Jade wanted to shop more and Mark had to oblige because he had just made her cry in the afternoon. Her quest ended up with 2 skirts and a pair of sandals.

Mark and Jade separated after sending her to Bukit Batok MRT station.

As the train continued its journey, Mark looked through the windows and relived the day. It had really been a long time since he enjoyed a day like this. Shopping is not entirely boring or as he thought so.

After his bath, Mark sat by his computer and began a blog entry of today. His lips were always uplifted as he types about shopping trips, girl’s licenses to be emotional and all the stuffs he could remember.

As Mark uploads his entry, he thought about Psyche. The mysterious someone that always read his blog.

Who is she?
What will she tagged this time?

His second question was answered within minutes of his post.

“Will you be with the person you loved most or the person who loved you the most?”

It was Psyche, as expected.

[To be Cont]