Broken Sphere :: Oct 25 - 26, 2003

Disclaimer: All character whether dead or alive is in no relation to the story.

Is love always peaceful? Think again…

Chapter 1: The Letters

John is tidying up his desk, suddenly he chance upon a few blue envelopes in a file. It has been left to collect dust on the surface for quite sometime. As he held up the letters and began staring at them, slowly began to recall the past – his exciting secondary school life and how he had known Jessica, from the same class in secondary one.

She went overseas to further her studies while he continued his education in a local institution after their O levels. They kept in contact through exchanging letters via snail mail, and each letter meant so much to him. No matter how far they were apart, they would always try to find time to send one another letters and cards. They seldom get to meet online, and whenever they meet online, either party will be too busy to respond. Though there were times when they did manage to chat, each chat would usually only last for less than 15 minutes with little to talk about. Silence usually stayed through almost the entire conversation, overwhelmed by excitement of being able to talk to one another.

Years passed, they stopped sending one another letters and slowly their communication ceased to exist ever since he was enlist into National service for two and a half years. Despite his effort to get her whereabouts, no information about her could be located.

As he was still recollecting the past, the phone suddenly rang. It was time for him to go out and meet his good pal for a movie that afternoon. He quickly shove the letters away into the drawer, changed into a army green sleeveless top and jeans before rushing out of the room into the living room to wear his shoes, before taking a run to the lift lobby. He arrived just in time to catch the lift ascending to the ground level.

He met up with his good pal, Peter, who has been waiting impatiently in his ford for quite sometime. Peter is an average build person standing at 1.72m, with a photo genetic look. Works hard for his company and hopes to earn his first million by age 30. He works for his money and strategies. Now he owns a ford, and it makes traveling easier for him too. He has to travel between his chains of stores everyday, even on his off days. A well-liked person, though can be impatient at times, he makes a caring friend whom John can confide in with his personal thoughts. They are good friends since their university days, sharing the same room and taking care of one another like brothers.

He open the car door and sat inside, fastened the seat belt and they sped off to Orchard Cathay Cineplex for a blockbuster hit. Gladly for them, John had already done online ticketing and they just have to present their printout to collect the tickets.

On the trip there, Peter asked him what took him so long to get ready when they have agreed to meet at three in the afternoon at the car park of his apartment. He said nothing, except that he wish not to talk about it.

That set Peter’s mind racing. Why is he so solemn today? He should be happy about starting work in two days time at a local internet service provider as a website content manager. Though not a high paying job, but it is something worth celebrating since the job market has yet to improve with very little job vacancies.

Peter on himself owns a chain of stores selling craft hobby items. He has since expanded his business with 10 stores across the country, with more in the pipeline. He had once asked John about joining his company as a website manager, but John declined the invitation. Despite that, their relationship as friends, remain solid and strong. Both came from average families.

After some time of silence, John finally broke it. He decided to tell him that it was Jessica on his mind. After telling him that, he seek apology from Peter for being late. Peter accepted the apology after all.

They reached the venue, John went to the ticketing booth to collect the tickets while Peter when to park his vehicle at the buildings car park.




Chapter 2: The Moments

They met up minutes later outside the entrance of the theatre near the snack bar. John decided to give Peter a treat for the movie. They each bought their favorite snack popcorn, hotdogs, coke and sprite.
Minutes later, the usher opened the door to the theatre. All the moviegoers went in an orderly manner. Just as it was about to be their turn, John chance upon a young woman in the queue too, she resembles a split image of Jessica. Jessica is a slim, pretty and sprouts shoulder length hair. With hazel eyes that sparkle when you look into them. It was love at first sight for John. However, he was rejected many times during his secondary school days, and was only until secondary three that he managed to win her heart. He has never told anyone about it except his classmates who know about it. He whispered into Peter’s ears. Peter turned his neck facing the back of the queue also some the young women as mentioned by John in a navy overall, wearing a necklace. She was talking to a man as tall as John, he too was wearing navy colored shirt and a jeans.

She has not changed much over the years. He recalled how pretty she was, and compared her looks to now. She is really a total resemblance of Jessica. Still, he dared not approach her. He was afraid that he might have found the wrong person. Without much thought, he decided to leave the lady alone with her boyfriend.

They entered the theatre, and found their place and sat down. Just then, a coincidence happened. The couple they saw earlier on was sitting next to them. As they sat down, they began talking. As John is a person who has sharp ears, he managed to convince himself that the lady’s voice belongs to Jessica. So he took out his courage and approached her. He asked the lady if she was Jessica.

Peter asked: “Erm, excuse me, are you Jessica?”

She replied: “You are?”

“I’m John remember me?” he said in a surprise tone.

“Oh, you look familiar. Did we once exchange letters before?” she asked.

“Oh, yes we did. But that was long ago. So how have you been?” he asked.

“Erm, I’m getting along well with life, and this is my fiancé, Jerome.” she said in pleasant tone.
“I see. Hi Jerome, nice to meet you.” He said it while they exchange handshakes.

After the exchange of some small talk, the movie was about to begin. It was a comedy romance movie called “How to lose a guy in 10 days”. The story revolves around a regular ladies man who bets his friends that he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. Unluckily for him, however, the girl that he picks just happens to try to get rid of him almost immediately, as she was on an assignment to write on how to lose a guy in 10days.

The movie was exhilarating, and had a good ending where the two lash out their unhappiness at a diamond convention. It was there that they realize both were using one another. True love is not always blind. He look her up the next day, but she was leaving town to go to another place. She has also quit her current writing job. The guy managed chase her online her cab which was on its was to the airport, he managed to persuade her not to leave the place, and that he really love her.

It took a runtime of an hour and fifty minutes. After the movie, John and Jessica both exchanged cell phone numbers, and promised to meet again in future.

His mood has suddenly brightened up. He is in cloud nine, having met his dream girl is already something worth celebrating. Peter and John went shopping along Orchard Road down to Plaza Singapura. Along the way, they passed by many shopping centres and shops selling various merchandise catering to the different age groups.

They went into Robinsons at Centrepoint to get some stuff which he needed for his room. After which, they proceeded across the road to the nearby Orchard Point. And on to Plaza Singapura which was having some major renovation. The place was half filled with shops selling different items. He was particularly interested in a department store on Level 5 of the building, the Barang Barang store. It’s a store that sells cheap and affordable home wares. They went in to have a look, and John bought a desk set which includes a table with a oak finish on the table top, drawers on the bottom left of the desk and also a moveable chair. Apart from that, he bought a desk lamp and a waste paper bin. The total bill amounted to less than $500, as the store is having a mid year sale. Next, they went to the Snoopy Place just next to the store to have dinner.

Both were hungry by the time their ordered food was being served. Just as they were tucking into savor the food, something caught his glimpse. It was not something pleasant to his eyes, he saw Jessica kissing her fiancé. He did not like the feeling, though they were just a few tables away from the couple.

He mind raced fast and was thinking of hiding his head away from the fact that he is going to lose her. He said to himself, please don’t let her know that I am here. Lady luck was by his side, he told Peter that he wish to fish up the dinner quickly and get out of this place. So as quickly as he could, he finished up his food. Peter also did the same, since the bill will be paid by John too out of being happy that day.

They then took the lift down to the ground level where they sat down for coffee at the nearby Starbucks. Both drank ice blended mocha, and chatted until about ten before strolling back to the Cathay Cineplex to retrieve the car.

Chapter 3: The Nightmare

The trip back was silent, and only the breathing and music produced by the car could be heard. John decided to shelve his thoughts aside. No matter how hard he tried, these thoughts kept resurfacing.

The night, he kept having dreams of his past. The various events that happened from the time he knew the girl to the time he managed to win her heart to the days when they were together until the time they stopped their communication fully. It spelt like an end to their relationship. It took a long time for him to overcome this loss. It wasn’t easy to forget someone whom you love unless you find a replacements and slowly devote your love to that person wholly.

These events recurred ample of times during his course of sleep. The next morning when he woke up, he felt his head feeling giddy. When he took a thermometer to take his temperature, it was 37.9 degree Celsius. He called the ambulance service and was send to the hospital immediately.

After spending half an hour waiting in an isolated ward, he was finally attended to. He was not diagnosed of Sars, but needs to be put under drip for loss of glucose due to his high fever.

He was warded immediately into a B class ward. There, he was accessed by the nurses on duty for his personal particulars. After which, he changed into the pajamas provided by the hospital.

He was kept under the care of Jessica who happened to be on duty that day. She kept him companied and he managed to tell her how he had love her. But to no avail, after all she regarded him as a patient and did not wish to talk about relationship. In the end, he gave up after listening to her views about starting a fresh. It would not be possible for her to do so too since she has been dating her fiancé for over 2 years and had kept it away from him that long so as not to make him sad. Now that the incident has come to light, she has to tell him that they were engaged the day before they met in the Cineplex.

Their relationship has ended here, he wasn’t happy but could not do anything. It all lies with fate, nothing can alter that. A few days later he was discharged. He went back to work.

Chapter 4: The Beginning

The office was full of good looking ladies. All looked very appealing to John, but none could replace the good of his once beloved Jessica. His live goals have also been altered. He would like to focus on his work for the first year and slowly turn to taking short traveling trips around the world on sight seeing tours. It is his way of living, at least love is no longer a subject he would be interested in looking at.

Till the day he find someone whom he can trust will be ever want to get married, or even to start a relationship. Live is no longer the same. Its about survival in a place where true friends are rare, and backstabbers are ever where. Communication is important to maintain a good strong relationship.

A year later, John took his first ever trip overseas alone to Perth, Western Australia. On the second day of his trip in Perth, while doing some shopping in the city area, he went into a local Spotlight store and saw Jessica there. There was a feeling of reunion which he could not really explain in words. She was serving a customer with her usual sparking eyes and a smile on her face. He grabbed some fabrics and decided to try his luck on being served by her.

He dream came true, he was served by her and he had a long talk with her while she was cutting the fabrics he wanted to purchase. Upon completing the transaction, he has also come to know that she broke off with her fiancé, and is now living alone with her one year old daughter in the suburb. She won the custody of the children, as the husband was not loving and had an affair with another women.

Though, John felt that it was time to woo her back. But decided not to as he did not want to sadden her anymore with her broken marriage which has left her to decide on migrating to Australia. Being a single mother is already a big challenge on her.

Afterword

Not every story in the world will have a happy conclusion. No matter how far relationships travel, there will always be an end. The end may be soon or far. No one will ever know, just like what a friend once told me, everything in this world will end. A marriage for example will end when a couple decides to divorce or when one is left widowed. How sad these incidents are… I hope that you have enjoyed the story I have written.

Regards,
Zhengdao

Written: Oct 25 - 26, 2003
Edited: Oct 26, 2003