Chapter 7
Someone ever tell me that love is like a maze.
Once you are in it, it’s very hard to come out.
When the two of you are in love, you walk through the maze together.
You will encounter difficulties that block your advancement.
You count on each other’s support.
All will be well because loving her means much more to you than anything else.
Then one day, one of you decided that life is probably better to walk alone. The two of you parted ways and seek other hands to hold.
You continue to walk through the paths that once lay previously by the two of you.
You begin to feel trap in this maze.
No one is there for you anymore.
I believe most of us would experience once in our lifetime.
A time when we felt all alone deep down in our hearts.
A time when even our closest friends don’t even understands us.
As times goes by, you’ve learned that trusting someone is a serious bet which you must bare the loss if one day the odds are against you. You tried to walk the road once again.
This time, you tried to hold others hands. Making people believe in you and trust you may not seems as easy as you think.
The responsibility of not letting go is much tougher than just holding onto one’s hand.
Finally a hand reached out to hold you in darkness.
You are now holding another person’s hand as you continue venturing the unknown.
Truth is... you’ve never walked out of the maze.
Because once you step into the maze of love, there’s not coming out.
He waited patiently for the reply.
But deep down Mark knew that she will not reply anymore.
That was her style.
Mark was affirmed that it was a ‘She’ instead of a male.
That was the least bit he could derive after the exchange of post.
The night ended like the few nights before.
There were more questions than answers each night.
As Mark lay on his bed, his mind wondered.
“If it’s not my fault, then whose fault was is?”
Mark had a good sleep that night.
It was one of the best sleep he ever fallen into since the incident took place.
Somehow he was touched by what ‘Psyche’ said.
Maybe he shouldn’t hold onto it, maybe he should let go.
The morning came and Mark was not woken up by his alarm clock.
Instead it was his phone ringing non-stop.
It was Christine.
“Yeah.. What do you want?”
Mark didn’t like to hear her sound first thing in the morning.
“Hey Mark, I’ve got my license yesterday and driving my dad’s car to office today. I come and fetch you to work?”
“It’s not necessary”
Mark’s ego took over.
“Oh…come on, I need someone to sit besides me. It’s on the way mah and you can save on the waiting time for bus and train.”
“Alright.. then..”
Mark reluctantly accepted the offer as he got himself up.
Christine was driving her father’s Volvo as she arrived earlier than the scheduled time.
Mark was rather surprised when he saw her waiting.
“So early?”
“It’s my first trip mah.. I have to drive slowly and safely.”
“Don’t worry, though I don’t drive to work. My driving skills are better than you think”
Mark said as he got into the car.
The internal atmosphere of the car was as cold as the morning as both of them did not shared a word. The air-conditioning only made it worse.
“Mark?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you still think about your ex-girlfriend?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Oh.. nothing, it’s just a passing remark”
Christine switched her attention back on the road as she monitored closely.
“Sometimes..”
Mark replied as he looked away from her.
“Yes? You were saying?”
Christine couldn’t catch what Mark said.
“Nothing.. keep your eye on the road”
“Oh.. ok..”
That was the last conversation they had throughout the half and hour journey to office.
“Hey Chris, Thanks for the ride”
“Yeah.. can I send you home too?”
“See how.. “
“Ok”
Christine replied.
As Christine was taking her briefcase from her car, the backseat revealed a book hidden by a pile of notes.
It was the “The Book of Life at 15”
“Hey Chris, you read that book too?”
Mark pointing to the book.
“Yeah, the book of life at 15?”
“Yeah.. tell me.. how do you get to know? Which library you borrowed from?”
“Har? Library? You gotta be kidding me. I bought it”
“Oh…”
Mark turned disappointed.
“It was recommended to me by a friend who’ve read it countless of times”
“Really?”
“Yeah.. I have this ex-classmate who went round urging us to read, telling us how touching the story is. So I just got a copy”
Christine looked at Mark.
“The story’s very good you know… Have you read it too?”
“Yeah…”
Mark said as he opened the office door for Christine.
Both of them was quite surprise to see Shaun so early.
Shaun was even more surprise to see the two of them walking together.
“What happened to the two of you? Is there something that I don’t know?”
Shaun smiled cheekily.
“Idiot.. don’t be a pain”
Christine walked away.
“Wow.. that’s fearsome.. what did you do to her last night?”
“Shaun, don’t be a cock!”
Mark told him as he put down his stuff.
“Cock?”
“Yeah.. don’t start crowing in the morning unless you are told to.”
As Mark was loading the emails, he received an email from his customer.
The customer whose shipment was delayed few days ago.
The email was addressed to his boss but kept him in copied as well.
“To Mr Lee,
It is a pleasure to see such well dedicated staffs in your company. Our company recognized the effort that Ms Christine had put in trying her best to satisfy our demands.
It was not easy dealing with all the operations side, third party logistics and freight forwarding.
It was Ms Christine’s dedication that she stayed till the early morning to get everything resolved.
Though our parts did arrive late, we appreciated the effort.
Hope that our communications and relationships will further strengthen.
Signed Mr Andrew Bernard”
Mark thought back the words that Christine told him.
“If not for me, boss might have fired you already”
“Man.. I need to apologize and thank her”
As the day end, Christine walked over to Mark’s desk.
“So.. can be my guide?”
“Yeah.. why not we go for dinner first?”
“You treat?”
“Yeah it’s on me…”
As they got into the car, the mood was much better than morning.
Christine was rather surprise with the reception though.
“So how do you find the story?”
Christine asked.
“It’s very nice.. but I didn’t finish it”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know”
“Hey.. tell you a strange thing. This friend of mine, there was rumors that his girlfriend passed away due to some illness. He tried to commit suicide but was rescued. But seems like he’s got over it finally… after reading that book.”
[To be Cont]
