Vignettes Part Three

The phone rings. I hope it's a call I've been waiting for. "Hello". "Yes, speaking." "Oh hi, thank you for returning my call". For 10 minutes, we talk business. Strictly business.

"By the way, are you the XXX who lives in XXX?" Now, it gets interesting. "Yes." It's all coming back to me. "How about coffee next week to catch up?" I have no reason to say no.

---

Wonder how he looks like. It has been six years. I stride towards the train station, straightening my top, hoping every strand on my head is in place and my make-up is not streaking in this perpetually humid weather. My eyes sweep across 180 degrees. I don't think I see him.

I hear my name spoken, firmly but friendly and enough to rise above the late afternoon going-home crowd. Reflexes jerk my head to the left and within an arm's length is him. He stoops and kisses me on both cheeks. I don't remember him being so tall and clean-shaven.

"Let's take a cab", he says with a smile. Ah, that smile. The lips apart, slightly revealing that unmistakable incisor tooth. It may not sound like much, but it's a special ingredient that adds to his wonderful smile.

He opens the door and lets me in first. Seated half an arm's length away, he's a lot more muscular than the 23-year-old I used to know. But there's something else about him that's different. What is it? Ah, an air of confidence. That's it.

---

V takes me to an al fresco cafe by the calm river, overlooking tourist boats for hire, the half-lion, half-fish Merlion statue spurting forth a fountain from its stony mouth and twinkling city lights illuminating the dusk sky.

He tells me about studying in Germany on scholarship for over a year. And then he tells me something in German, which he translates as: "You're prettier than before."

---

We decide to take a walk. Under the bridges. Lots of couples sitting on the ledge, taking in the evening river breeze. V hooks an arm, silently encouraging me to put my hand under and over it. I do exactly that.

"How did we lose touch?" I ask. "You got yourself a boyfriend." Oh. He rests his palm on the small of my back. He looks at me. We stop walking. Before I look away, he plants a kiss on my forehead. I feel a warmth lapping over me like a tiny wave.

Oh no no no, don't do anything silly, I tell myself. Not before T comes.