Book of Love 爱神の书


Chapter 11


The two of you were walking back as he pestered to send you home after the movie date. The night was silent and clear.
As he clears his throat, he asked,
“Can you be my girl? ”
“Can I hold your hand every time we go out?”

Do you still remember how you were asked to be someone’s girlfriend/boyfriend?

Whatever how the question was pop out.
Wherever the location it was.
It could be over the phone, it could be by the beach.
It could also be in school.

You will remember, no matter where, when and how,

The day you were asked to go into a relationship.

You will be surprised the moment you were asked, even though you already knew you would be someday.
You just didn’t know when.

It was now.
You had the choice. You made the choice.

The decision gave birth to a new relationship, registered under the laws of yours. You have given half of your life to the person whom you feel loves you the most.

You demand attention; day in day out because you feel you deserved it. You expect to be treated like a king/queen, as all your desires must be fulfilled within his/her abilities. You demand that he spend all his time with you rather than his/her group pathetic friends.

Until, he/she stopped giving you attention all together.
Then you questioned his/her love for you.

“If you love me, you should do this for me”
He/She would probably have a question in their minds too.

“If you love me, would you do this me?”







“I beg your pardon?”
Jade sounded confused as she pushed up her specs.

“Oh… I just ask you what’s your view on ‘Love’, you know like “what is love to you?””
Mark tried to salvage the situation.
He knew he almost blew it, how can he ask someone whom he barely know this question?

“Oh... that kind of question..”
Jade sounded relieved too.

“I couldn’t remember when was the last time I was in love. All I know is love is something that can bring your emotions to the extreme. You can be the happiest woman on one minute yet the saddest person the next. I really don’t know about love”

Jade then tried to look away from Mark.
But Mark already saw the redden eye before she tried to hide.

“Oh well... Life sucks huh?”
Mark tried to steer the ship back in navigation before it crashes.

“Yeah… it really sucks... If only I had more courage.”

“More courage for??”

“Nothing...”
Jade still looked away.

“Next Stop Raffles Place Interchange”
Came the announcement.

“It’s my stop, I ought to be going”

“Ok. Me too”

Jade walked ahead of Mark and soon mixed into the out going crowd.
Mark was walking slowly behind.

He boarded a cab and travel back to his office.

Then he realized.
“Shit! Why didn’t I ask for her number?!”

It was about 10.30 when Mark finally reached office.

“Bro! You are the luckiest bastard in the universe!”
Shaun greeted Mark as he sit down.

“How come? Did I win anything?”

“Boss is sick… so nobody knows you were late!”

Christine walked over and gathered the two of them.

“Hey, boss is sick but there’s a few report we need to rush for him. He needs it when he’s back”

“I seriously wonder, are we busier when boss is around or when he’s not?”
Shaun sarcastically whined.

Christine frowned as she passed two stacks of files each to Shaun and Mark.

As she laid the files on Mark’s desk, there was a memo pad stick on top of the files.

“Are you ok? Chris”

Mark looked at Chris before she left.
She looked back.

Mark gave her the thumbs up and quick winked.
Christine smiled back and left.

“Man.. I really can’t stand her at times”
Shaun started backstabbing sessions.

“Well.. if you put the energy you used to whine into kinetic energy in doing work.. you will definitely achieve more!”

“Bro, since when you become so sarcastic?”

“Since the day I learn from the Master himself!”

The rest of the day was raining and everyone had their fair share of workload, even though the efficiency was only 50%.

“Where are you heading?”
Shaun asked as he finished packing up at the dot of six.

“Home? I suppose”
Mark continued to pack up as Shaun walked past him.

“Spoilsport.. Spoilsport… ”
Shaun uttered as he left the office.

The rain finally stopped when Mark step out of the office.
Feeling hungry, he opts to go to the café to grab a quick bite before going home.

His entrance was greeted by the smile of the oncoming waitress.

“Hello Sir, Welcome back”

Mark looked at her badge. It spelled Sharon.
Then he remembered she was the one who served him the other day.

Mark ordered some sandwiches and coffee for dinner.

While waiting to be served, Mark took out his laptop and carry on doing his report. Instead of doing his report, Mark was entering his blog entry.

“Today is a strange day. I met this lady onboard the train again. It was almost the sixth hundred times that I saw her since the first day. However it was only the second time we’ve ever communicate. Her name is Jade. She carries the same name as my ex-girlfriend. Is this what people call fate? Destiny? Would she replace her one-day?

Although no one is there to tell me, I wish I know the answer.
What is right? What is wrong?”

Mark stopped typing and shifted his laptop when Sharon served him the drinks.

“Sir, you blogged too?”

“Yeah… Am I too old for that?” Mark tried to hide his embarrassment.
“Nonsense, there’s no age limit for anything. It’s great to have an online journal you know. A place where you can write the darkest things.”

“So Sharon… you blog too?”

“Yup! All my friends blog too. It’s like our form of communications nowadays. Maybe it’s a sign of telling others we are still alive when we post our daily events on cyberspace.”

“Sir, Do you mind giving me your blog address?”
Sharon asked.

“Don’t call me Sir, it makes me feel old you know. I’m Mark.. incase you’ve forgotten.”

“I’ve not forgotten lah! Just being nice mah”
The bubbly girl couldn’t hide her cheerfulness.

As he wrote down his blog address on a piece of serviette, Mark gave a bright smile. It was something that Mark missed a long time.
The innocence youthfulness he once had.

“Here you go”
Mark handed over the piece of serviette.

“Hee.hee.. here’s my blog.”
Sharon quickly wrote on another serviette before she literally jumped to the next table to clear up.

“http://smiles-a-million.blogspot.com”

“Such a cheerful person”

Mark finished up his sandwich and shifted his laptop back to his view.
Before his fingers could type onto the address bar, Mark stopped as he realized that there was a tag on his tagboard again.

“What sort of women do you really like?”

Signed, Psyche.

[To be Cont]

Book of Love 爱神の书


Chapter 10



If there is machine which could tell you how much you are in love for this person whom you claim you could die for.

Would you dare to take the test?

Would you want to know how much you really love the person?

What if the results aren’t as good as you hope?
Does it mean you do not love the person anymore?

I believe the power of love fluctuates very frequently.
The start of a tiff and tussle over the place for dinner could see the love meter fell like stock market.

However,
After intense verbal apologies and actions to show your sincerity, the love meter will climb back gradually.

Every other minute will affect the love meter.

When you miss him, it will increase.
But when you realized that he doesn’t miss you as much, it will decrease.
When he buys you your favorite shoes, it will increase.
But when he tells you your collection of shoes can hold an exhibition, it will decrease again.

Love is immeasurable.
Sometimes it’s ironic but how you treat a person does not truly reflects your affections to him/her.

It still boils down to individual level of creativity and efforts.
Some people would do more than others.
Some would prefer his/her partner to do more than is expected.

So the love of the one who’s holding your hand is actually determined by you.


How you want to be treated.
Did he/she cook you breakfast?

How you want things to happen in your way.
Did he/she cuddle you to sleep?

The next time you tell a person “I don’t think you love me”
Ask yourself this question.

“What have you done for him/her?
Did you meet his/her requirements?
Did you do the things that he/she would want you to do?”

But you can’t answer those questions as he/she should be the one answering.



Mark woke up to the sound of thunder before his alarm.
He got up against his will from his warm bed.
It was raining outside the window as he drew the curtains.

“Oh.. It finally raining”

Mark washed up and heads for the morning route.

“I always think it’s better to take public transport than to drive”
Mark thought as he enters the LRT from Bukit Panjang.

Mark had to make a decision when the LRT transit at Choa Chu Kang.
“Should I go to front or rear cabin today?”

Mark looked at his watch.
He was already 15minutes later than usual.

“Guess I won’t be able to see her today”
Mark gave up as he went for his preferred rear section of the train.

It was more crowded in rainy days than usual.

Maybe everyone was reluctant to come out from their home for work or school. Then the drivers call in sick and there’s insufficient drivers for the bus and trains in the rainy morning.

With the crowd increasing and the train/bus frequency reducing, this would most logical way of explaining morning traffic jams.

There was a smile on Mark’s face as he was impressed with himself over this theory.

When the train reached Yishun, Mark tried to push himself out of the crowd. There was a group of middle age women happily blocking his path.
His efforts came to a waste when the door finally closes on him.

“ Idiot! All these inconsiderate people ought to be shot.”
Mark let out a sighed.

“Missed your station?”

Mark turned back.
His aggression had melted to the owner of the voice.

It was Jade.
She was at the rear section today.
Mark couldn’t believe his luck.

“Don’t worry, the next stop is not far away”
Jade smiled as she shared some comfort.

“It’s ok, I’m going to visit our clients today. At first wanted to go back office to submit some paperwork but since I was blocked out then it’s ok”

There was a moment of silence among them.
Mark knew he had explained too much, far too much.
Lying is not one of his best acts in front of a girl.
Mark had to continue from his plot.

“Yeah.. So I will be going to Raffles place instead”
Mark wanted to smack his head.

“Why not Cityhall station? Why had to be Raffles place? Isn’t it too obvious?”
Mark’s mind was crying out loud.

“Oh.. Really? Guess we can chat more today”

Mark felt relieved, not because that he was great at telling a lie but she had actually believes what he said.

The man beside her got up at the next station and she offered Mark to take up the empty seat.

“Hey thanks, so how’s your day?”
Mark trying to soak in.

“I’m late… is that a great way to begin your day?”
Jade smiled.

“It’s ok, if your boss asks you why you were late. You just have to tell her that waking up later ensures adequate amount of rest and that will lead to less accounting mistakes.”
Mark tried to fake a laugh but soon realized it wasn’t funny.

“Is that how you tell your boss every time you late?”

“Nope, I just tell him I’m sick…. Sick of work…”
Jade finally laughed.

The thin ice between them had shattered.

“So Jade, you like to read a lot?”

“What do you think I carry a book everyday in the train for? To whack those perverts? Hee hee…”

“Oh… here we go again.. please don’t rub it in can? I’m hurt enough”
Mark trying to forget the peeping tom incident.

“So what sort of books you read? Romance? Science-fiction? I don’t really know what sort of categories are there. I’m not a hardcore reader myself.”

“Ha… I read everything that is interesting. It can be Mitch Albom’s for one more day, Stephen Covey’s Seven effective habits and even childhood favorite Roald Dahl”

“Yeah.. Roald Dahl I know… hahhaa guess we do have something in common after all”


“Yeah…”
Jade pushed up her specs.

“So what book you reading now?”

“Oh.. it’s about Greek Mythology.. you know those ancient roman gods and goddess… Hercules.”

Mark couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“I know I know! I’ve read them too!”

“Really?”
Jade looked at him surprisingly.

“Yeah… so which Roman god or goddess interests you the most?”
Mark knew he had just struck gold.

“Psyche… you know her?”

“Wife of Eros?”

“Yeah.. you actually know her… You know not many I know heard of her. Majority only knows Eros and Aphrodite.”

“I know Psyche. I’ve read about her stories with Eros”

“Yeah… Its really sad to be tricked in marrying the ‘ugliest’ creature but turned out to be Eros instead.”

“Maybe that’s what love is all about?”

“Pardon?”
Jade looked at Mark.

Mark looked at Jade.
Something prom him to ask this question. It was not the first time he was asked. But it was the first time he asked someone.

“Jade”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know love?”

[To be Cont]

Book of Love 爱神の书

Chapter 9.5

If I speak in the different languages of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift to see the future and comprehend mysteries and have the knowledge of the world and move the mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all my possession to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not loved, I gain nothing.

If I had a Book of Love of my own,
What love story of me can I write on it,
How many chapters my love story will be,
What will I write in chapter 10?
How about you?


It was the longest night that Mark has to go through, the countless events that has happened in the past few days, one after another, leading to a new one every time, he couldn’t seems to catch hold of any of them but just allow them to rattle through his mind. Psyche words has caused Mark to wondered, has not move on because he has Loved or was it because of the guilt, if it was love then did guilt came together? The last message made the night quiet only on the outside.

The sound of an incoming email broke silent after sometime. It was a friend request on friendster. The girl name was Jolyn Ng, Mark has no impression who she is and decided to peep into her profile before adding her. Immediately he recognizes that she was Feng one of her secondary school mates, she was with Ming one of the guys that Mark’s used to hang out with in the secondary school days who passed away 3years back because of leukemia. Mark Remembered seeing them together since they were 13.

She has exactly 100 pictures uploaded in her profile, most of picture was with a guy but it wasn’t Ming. As far as Mark remembers just a year before Ming pass away Mark meet Feng and this same guy at Bugis. At Ming’s wake, Mark remembers that Feng was there and all the others that knew their 12 years relationship with Ming was consoling her. He saw her weeping that night.

Mark flip thru the pictures, they were taken in Phuket, different islands and in the hotel room, in Genting, and other in town making up the 100 of them. Mark saw the joy in her from those picture and wondered,

“So love wasn’t really about the time you spend together?
They were together 12 bloody years?
How did she move on so quickly?
If time could not measure, what else is not going to fade away?”

Then Mark began to question himself, if what he had with Jade was really love?
If Love is present, why did I feel guilty, if my love for her was true and right, why was guilt the one that tell me to let go.
If guilt was the one that captive me for the past 6 year, why didn’t the love that I had with Jade when we were together save me?

Mark began looking at the dusty bible that he has stop reading ever since he was with Jade at the corner of the work desk, he open it up again where the divider was last place. And saw;

faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

[To be Cont]

Written by Guest Writer
MArk Lee
http://y2koutsider.blogspot.com/

Book of Love 爱神の书

Chapter 9


How long did you take to forget the last person you loved?
That person, who knew everything about you.
That person, who you gave your first kiss to.
The person who knows,
What you like most.
What you hate most.
What makes you cry.
What makes you laugh.
What songs you keep inside your mp3 player.
Which date is your birthday?
When was the last time you cried?

That person who was your universe and the source of life.
Then a sudden twist of fate and wicked destiny shipwrecked your relationship with that person.

You cried endlessly as there was no other means of releasing your downfall.
You even took sleeping pills just to make yourself weak and sleepy.
Every time you hear the song played on radio will stir your emotions once more.

Although you don’t accept, the truth is always the most painful piece of information you have to bear.The person is no longer with you.

You tried to forget, you make new friends.
You thought all the late night partying will relocate your mind.
You just can’t forget that person.
You can only slowly remembering him/her less.

Until one day when you are bathing and suddenly that person came to your mind.
That’s probably the time you know you had already forgotten him/her.



Mark had never seen such a tree in his life as he advanced ahead.

It was the only tree in the park with red leaves.
There was a warm yet sad feeling felt through him as he looked at the red leaves.

“The tree nice?”Mark turned around.

A young man stands behind him.
The man looked a few years younger than him as he walked forward.

“You’re Glen?”
“Yeah… and you are Mark?”

“Yup… you know it’s kinda gay to see two men standing in front of a tree in the evening.”
“Well, this is the tree at its nicest”
Glen walked towards a bench not far away.

“Let’s sit there”Glen offered.

As the wind blew gentling through the setting sun, the two men sit side by side admiring the beauty of nature.

“My name is Glen, or Yang if you’ve seen the book”Glen finally spoke.
“The person whom I’ve written about is June, or Ying”

“What happened to her?”Mark wanted to know.
“She died… of brain cancer”
“And you didn’t do anything to help?”

“How can I help? What can a 16-year-old student do at that time? Besides I don’t even know she was sick”

“What about you? What happened to you?”
Glen turned the attention to Mark.

“I just watched my girl died in front of me”

“How long had it since been?”

“Coming to five years”

“And you blame yourself all these while? You caused her death?”

Mark tried not to look into his eyes.

“If I’ve listen to her that day, if I’ve not insist on going. She would have accompanied me and got drown”

“How long are you going to blame yourself?”

Mark didn’t answer.

“Forever?”

There was no response.

“Do you think it’s fair for the next girl who you may like? To carry the sorrows and memories of your ex girlfriend?”

“Then you asking me to forget about her?”
Mark finally responded.

“But did you ever ask yourself, you are holding on because of love or guilt?”

“I really don’t know…”

“It’s time to let go, letting go doesn’t mean you are to forget about her all together. Letting go is about safekeeping her in a special of your memories. This girl will always be a part of you, even when you’ve got yourself a family in future.”

Glen looked at Mark before continued.

“You know what was her last wish before she died?”
Mark shook his head.
“She hopes that I will not blame her that she left me just like that”

“So did you blame yourself?”

“I wish I could because I find life so meaningless. But on the other hand I have to promise her I will live well and June will always be in my heart and my memories for as long as I live.”

“Thanks…”
That was the only thing that Mark can offer.

“Live a fruitful life… because you should not waste your life over this”

“I will…”

The sun finally set as Glen made his way to the tree for one last touch.

Then the two men then head for separate ways.
It was the first time and probably the last time that both of them will see each other.

Mark had his answers.
It was something he knew all along but refused to accept.
He could not let go because of guilt.
Because he was the one who incidentally killed her.

When Mark reached home, he sat in front of his computer for a long time.

Then he entered his post.

“Today I met someone who went through the same ordeal as me. He is much younger than me but somehow I feel that he’s much more mature.

The time that he spent with her is much lesser than I am with Jade.
He didn’t even realize that the girl died until he received the parcel from her father.

Sometimes the purest of all love comes when you are young and innocent. Knowing the love for each other is more important than the practical world and reality.

Maybe he is right, I’m still walking in circles, as I could not let go of the past.

I know it’s hard to forget that someone whom suddenly disappear from you life totally.

I will try and I hope I will succeed.”


Mark then took a bath and watched some TV before returning to bed.

As he was about to switch off his computer, he saw a tag.

It was Psyche again.

“Do you know what would be Jade’s last wish?”

“It’s not important anymore”
Mark typed on his tag board.

“So you finally decided to let of her?”
Psyche replied.

“The best things in life aren’t always the things you need, they can be the things you miss very much. If that makes her happy, I will let go”

There was a moment of pause before Psyche replied with the longest post Mark has ever seen.

“At Last, the road is long, somehow there’s still a lot of undiscovered path for us to venture. Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in some unwanted situations, We are what we make up of ourselves, if we worked our ways according to our hearts, there’s no need to feel upset when u fail but rejoice when u succeed!”

Mark suddenly felt that Psyche is someone who knows him very well. Whatever thoughts he had, Psyche seems to be able to know before hand.

“Can you finally tell me who you are?”
Mark asked again.

“I’m Psyche, Wife of Eros.”

“What is your purpose of posting?”
Mark asked in frustration.

“To see how much you know about love.”
That was Psyche’s last message of the night.

[ To be Cont ]

Book of Love 爱神の书

Chapter 8


“If you have one chance to go back to the past and correct one thing.
Which date will you go to?

Right…

Before your final exams?

Before both of you went separate ways?

Before you made the decision to take on certain things, certain responsibility and certain commitments?

Before the girl of your dream knows her current boyfriend?

To go back in time?

Though we’ve seen it on television and big screen and we all know this is not impossible.

But our little wondering minds somehow always raise this question when we are in the moment of doubt.

Can we change the past?
Can we redo the things that were wrong?

So what if we can?
Won’t we make another mistake again?

To live through a decision is a life experience gain. We will not know what will happen if we chose the wrong thing.

But we will overcome, that’s make us special.
As none of us live our life the same from the other.

I know I can’t do anything to save you.
But I will live well for you,

Because I love you.


Mark looked at Christine with the strangest pair of eyes.
It was unbelievable but there’s stopping him in asking the obvious.

“Is that friend of yours happens to be called Yang?”

Christine looked at Mark really surprised.

“I don’t know… I know him as Glen during our poly days. That was like Three years ago.”

“Three years ago? Then why are you reading this book now?”
Mark couldn’t understand.

“Oh... This book, recently we had a class reunion and people were asking about him as he was not around. Then we talked about old times and this book just appeared as we talked. I bought it out of curiosity as I’ve never read it before.”

Mark didn’t answer.

“Any problem?”
Christine looked at Mark.

“Is there any way that you can contact this Glen person?”

“Oh… I have his phone number in my organizer. You can help yourself.”

Christine pointed to the back of her car.
Mark flipped through the pages of her organizer.

“Glen Chong?”

“Yeah that’s him I suppose.”

Mark took down the numbers in his mobile phone.

As the car approaches the restaurant, Christine couldn’t help but asked.

“Mark, is there any problem?”

“No.. it’s no big deal.”
Mark replied as they went for dinner.
It was about nine when Mark reached home.

After washed up, Mark went online.

There wasn’t anyone who tagged on his blog.

Mark then decided to post an entry.

“I was often view as a weak person by those who don’t know me well enough. Being emotional and sensitive doesn’t make you a weak person. In fact if you ask me, I would say it takes greater courage for a grown man to cry in public than those who think they are really strong.

You don’t determine a person’s strength based on the reactions he developed.
I fell and am currently very determining to pick myself up.”

With that, Mark went to bed.

When he woke up in the morning, he saw a short message on his mobile.

“Sorry Mark, don’t think I can pick you up today. I scratched the rear of dad’s car when I parked yesterday night. Got a bashing from him and banned to use the car until further notice. Sorry”

“Women I know sure are bad in parking...”
Mark let a smile out.

Mark heads for the train as usual.
He chose the front cabin hoping to see Jade.
But his wish didn’t came true as Jade was nowhere to be seen.
Mark reached the office a disappointed man.
The pile of presentation slides he had to do for his project made his day worse.

All the concentration in his work made time go faster then before.
Mark was still digging when Shaun tapped his shoulder.

“Bro, since when are you so workaholic?”

“Why?”
”It’s almost seven already!”

“Wow… “

“You are wicked! You knew appraisal is coming next month eh?”

“Nah... Not really interested in the appraisal anymore”

Mark lay back on his chair and stretched himself.

“Arrrgghh.. I’ll call it a day then!”

As Mark left the company, he picked up his phone and dialed the numbers Christine gave him.

No one picked up.

“It’s really sucks man. Can’t even get a person that I want to find”

Mark head home after eating some finger food on the way.

As it was a tiring day, Mark fell asleep the moment he lay on his bed.

However his dream was rather short lived as his phone kept trembling on his table.

Mark got up and looked at his clock.

It was 3am in the morning.

“Yeah? Who’s that?”
Mark answered without looking at the caller.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Mark, who the hell are you then?”

“You asking me, didn’t you called me earlier?”

“I did?”

“Yes, I just dialed back a missed call.”

“Oh.. Are you Glen?”

Mark suddenly remembered.

“Yeah.. Do I know you?”

“Well.. You don’t actually but I know you”

“What is it regarding?”

“Hey Glen, I got your numbers from a colleague of mine. Christine”

“Ok, what do you want?”

“I need to ask you regarding a book, the title is calling ‘The book of life at 15’?”

“It’s a nice book, what about it? I wasn’t the author”

“No.. I just want to ask you… Are you Yang?”

There was no immediate reply this time.
When the reply came, the voice became hoarsen.

“Someone finally found the book. You found it?”

“Sorry I don’t understand you”

“I hid it well enough in between the shelves. Nobody would know the book is there unless the whole library is tearing down and the shelves are moved.”

“Hey Glen, can we meet up? I need to ask you something.”

“Regarding?”

“Regarding Ying….”

“Her name was June..”

“June?”

“Yeah, tell you what. Let’s meet at the park near Bedok reservoir tomorrow evening?”
“The park is so big, how do I find you?”

“Don’t worry, you look around the surroundings when you get there. You will know where to walk towards”

“Alright…”
Mark replied as he hung up the phone.

The night was long as he tossed around in bed.
What should he ask him?

“How did he manage to let go?”

Or is it simply because he wants to know the person who went through the same ordeal as him?

Mark sped through all his work in the day.
He had to leave office early as it was quite a journey from Yishun to Bedok.

It was evening when he got there.
The sun was setting and the park was rather quiet.

As Mark walked around the park, he kept looking high and low for the directions.

Something caught his attention.

It stood quite a distance from him.

As the sun continued to set, the rays set upon it and caused it to let out a glowing scene.

Mark walked towards it as he admires its beauty.

He had never seen such a thing in his life.

It was a tree full of red leaves.

[To be Cont]

Book of Love 爱神の书

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]