Chapter 6 – Thoughts
Melvin had sat in the restaurant for two hours, dousing down the Pinot Noir like it was water. The waiters scurried past him, respectfully refraining from looking at him. But it did not take a genius to realise that he was angry and frustrated. Behind the restaurant, the waiters whispered about their rich customer. They had seen him many times, usually with his beautiful girlfriend. They looked the perfect couple, one that was born for the rich lifestyle. But tonight, the girl had stormed out of the restaurant in tears, leaving him and their dinner untouched.
“Sir, I’m really sorry, but we’re closing now…”
As Melvin drove back to his luxury apartment, he thoughts raced as it had in the restaurant. Slamming down his car keys and heading toward his wine cellar, he grabbed another bottle of wine, this time red. Uncorking it, he drank it straight out of the bottle without bothering with a glass. He turned up the volume of the hi-fi set in the hall and threw himself down on the plush maroon sofa.
“Damned Jack… What the hell does Shun Yee sees in him?! Everything I have is better than him, and yet that girl still can’t let go of him!”
One and a half years have passed since they graduated. As far as he was concerned, the cursed Jack was still in Baghdad, writing and photographing about the life there.
“How pathetic….,” he thought, in his half drunken stupor. As the alcohol continued seep into his brain, his thoughts had a mind of their own, drawing him back to the past.
Jack and him had met in the photography club, both sharing a passion for capturing moments on camera. Shun Yee had introduced them, as she had literally bumped into him at her first meeting.
If it were not for the rivalry that they shared since the first day they met, Jack and him could have been good friends. They were both ambitious, headstrong, with a sense of leadership that could not be rivaled by anyone else in the club. They both had an eye for beautiful things as well, explaining the interest that they had in photography.
The thing was, definition of beautiful was different for both of them. For Melvin, he was into photographing the material things in life; women, cars, fashion and the like. Jack? Well, Jack was more of a humanitarian and nature lover, preferring to capture natural surroundings and focusing on relationship among people, delving into aspects that touched the heart.
Reluctant as he was to admit it, Jack did take awesome photographs. He was always able to capture shots in an angle that no one else could. All through the years in their campus life, the unspoken rivalry hung between them. Jack, in his quiet way, won the hearts of many of the club members. When Melvin stepped down from the post of the club president when he was in his third year, no one was in doubt that Jack would take over his place.
Then of course there was Shun Yee.
Shun Yee… They had started dating when during the second year of his degree, after knowing each other for a year. Everything was going on well…
Until she met Jack.
Remembering that, he grimaced.
And threw the wine bottle against the wall, staining the expensive wall paper and and soaking the Persian carpet beneath it with the blood red liquid.
****
“Miss, would you like another drink?” asked the pretty air stewardess to Shun Yee.
“No thanks,” she smiled in reply.
She stared out of the plane window, seeing nothing but puffy white clouds and endless blue. Her thoughts were a blur.
“Are you still in Baghdad, Jack? Do you think of me? Why don’t you write or something?”
“I’m sorry Melvin, I know sometimes it’s not fair to you….”
Closing her eyes, emotionally tired by everything, Shun Yee fell asleep, lulled by the soft hum of the plane engines.
****
“Yo bro! My God, you finally came back from that God forsaken place!”
Eng Tat pulled Jack into a back-breaking hug. Jack laughed and hugged him back. Some things never change.
“So how have you been? Wah… thin edi la… You remember Jolene right? How long will you be back? Are you going back there? You eat edi or not? Wanna go makan?”
“Oi babi, one shot ask so many questions, how to answer?”
They both laughed and headed into Eng Tat’s house, Jack’s minimal luggage in tow.
“Oh ya, I got something to tell you…”
“Apa?”
“I’m getting married.”
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