Trapped
It was 3 p.m. on Valentine’s Day. Andy was waiting in the reception area at a client’s office. Tony’s request to deliver a file in person had surprised him. He had agreed to do it since it was just two blocks from their building. Moreover, he was riding on a high thinking about the romantic words Diano had spoken to him over the phone, earlier in the day.
His phone rang, waking him from his thoughts. Andy took it out of his bag and looked at the screen. It was a known number; a number he’d deleted. It was the part of his life he was giving up. He didn’t want to answer it. Suddenly, he felt very weak inside. Why was he calling now? What did he want? Was there anything left to talk about? Andy didn’t answer and he didn’t cut it off. He let it buzz until it stopped.
There was a beep. It was an SMS announcing a new voicemail. He pressed the button to call his voicemail inbox and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Hi. I know you’re angry. I know saying sorry isn’t going to fix anything. But I wanted to let you know that I miss you very much. And Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Andy replayed the message.
Memories came rushing back, giving him goose bumps. He missed Sky. But there was no going back now. It would be more painful.
Sky called again. Andy didn’t answer and let the call go to voicemail. Another SMS was delivered. He dialed the voicemail number again.
“Hi. Sorry to bother you. I’m in Shanghai and I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight. Anyway, let me know when you get this message. I’ll wait for your call.” There was a brief pause. “There’s so much I want to say to you. I hope I can get my chance.”
Dinner? On Valentine’s Day! What did he want? What was left to say?
Andy couldn’t decide for himself. If he went for dinner, it was a dinner anyway. He’d be in control the whole time. Or would he? But maybe he should let Diano know about it first? And yet, it was just a dinner. Did he really need to take Diano’s permission? They were just stepping into a relationship and he didn’t want to hide anything from Diano. He dialed Diano’s number.
“Hi, honey,” he said when Diano answered.
“Wow!”
“Wow what?”
“I meant it’s nice to hear you call me honey.” Diano laughed. “What’s up?”
“Hmm. Nothing. I missed your voice.”
“Impressive. I like that!”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“Sorry, baby. Are you okay? You sound worried.”
“Yes. I’m okay. Also, worried.”
“What’s up?”
“Er… He called me today.” He didn’t know how else to start talking about it.
“Who? Sky?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“He asked me out for dinner. But I won’t go if you don’t want me.” He said in one breath.
“Ha-ha.” Diano paused. “It’s okay. You can go for dinner with him.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course. You were friends before we met and if you want to have dinner together, I’m okay with that.”
“But it’s Valentine’s Day.”
“I know. It’s better for you to go out and have dinner with him rather than sit at home and eat instant noodles.”
“You trust me to go out with him?”
“Of course, I trust you. Just don’t do anything stupid to hurt yourself again. Okay?”
“Okay. Thanks.” Andy felt relieved.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yes! And one more thing.” Andy paused.
“What?”
“I love you.” The goose bumps returned.
“I love you too, baby.”
As soon as he’d hung up, the receptionist called out to him. The wait was over. She showed him the way to April’s office. Andy knocked twice and tried the knob.
“Come in.” It was a man’s voice he recognized.
He stepped into the office and walked up to the desk. April was seated at the desk but had his back towards Andy. He was looking out of the window. As the chair swiveled around, Andy got a mild shock. It was Tony’s friend from the disco!
“So we meet again.” April gestured him to sit down.
“I didn’t realize it was you,” Andy said.
“You didn’t? Doesn’t matter. Now you know. Ha-ha.” April’s laughter had an evil ring to it.
“Here’s the file.” Andy placed it on the desk but remained standing.
April got off the chair and walked around the room towards the door. He shut it before walking up to Andy.
“Why don’t you sit down, dear.”
Andy was startled to feel April’s hand on his shoulder. He was gently forcing Andy to sit down. Andy shook the hand off and sat down.
“How long will you take to go through it?” he asked.
“Don’t know. Let’s make you comfortable first. Do you want something to eat or drink?”
“No, thanks. I’m fine.”
“Okay.” April picked up the file. “I like your hair.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you need to get back to office soon?”
“Yes. I have other tasks to finish.”
“Really? But Tony said it was okay for you to wait here until I finished,” April said.
Andy didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what Tony had said to April and he didn’t care. He wanted to leave as soon as possible.
April started going through the file. Andy looked around the office. It looked a bit hideous just like its occupant did. His gaze rested on the window behind the desk. It had a beautiful view of the city. He wanted to walk up and take a look.
“Can I see the view from the window?”
“Oh, sure.”
Andy got up and walked to the window. He wondered how much rent the client must be paying for that location and view.
“The view is beautiful.”
“Yes, it is. But you look more beautiful.” April smiled.
Andy chose to ignore the remark.
“It must be expensive to rent this office space.”
“Yes,” April said. “It is. But I have a lot of money.”
Since Andy couldn’t think of anything else to say, he continued looking out of the window.
After a few moments, he felt uneasy. He was startled to find April standing very close to him. Andy tried to move away but there was no space. He was trapped in the corner formed by the window, the desk and the wall that joined them!
