Chapter 10.2 - I Can't Handle Surprises Well
“Huh…” a relief sighing after reaching home. Putting down my heavy laptop bag is the first thing I do when I step in home. It’s heavy for my small build.
“Yes!” Today, I managed to reach home rather early then usual as no traffic on my way home.
(Okay, let’s get some sweat before taking my shower.) One of my stress-releasing exercises is singing and dancing, plus doing some body workout in my room.
Click ‘Play’ on my favourite songs’ playlist, from my mobile phone. Get ready to sing along with the singer. Sometimes, when I’m too high-spirited, I would sing at the top of my lungs.
(My apology to my housemate and neighbors for having to be tortured by my broken voice. Haha…) While singing, I’d add in with some body-stretching, free-style aerobics, yoga or just sway along with the rhythm. (I feel good!)
After about an hour, I received the ‘Good evening’ message from Giuliano.
“Good evening to you from NY, babe.” “How was your day?” “What is my baby doing now?” He asks.
“Good morning to you, Giuliano.” “Did you have a good sleep?” “I’m singing and spinning in my room now. Just now was Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” song, now is Christina Aguilera’s “Come on over”. Get some sweat and I feel good.” My messages reflect my happy vibe.
I put down my mobile phone and continue with my ‘spinning around’ workout in the room.
(Huh… Exhausted, indeed. I’m sweating all over.)
Incoming call ringtone rings and my song automatically stop playing for an instance. I picked up the phone. (Hmmm? A phone number from the states?!? Is that Giuliano’s number? I’m not quite sure… but still, oh my God…)
(I can’t remember his phone number as I am not good in remembering numbers, even though I work in Finance… I just can’t.)
“Hello?” I answer to the phone.
“Hmm… Hey, Babe…” “It’s Giuliano.” A rather hoarse low-pitch voice penetrates into my ear.
(Oh my God! It’s really Giuliano. What should I do?) Suddenly, I am into panic mode.
“Hey, Giuliano.” I said.
“How are you feeling?” “I’m still in the bed.” He continues.
“I’m good. Just… spinning around in the room.” I don’t know what to say to him. (Writing messages, we can take our time to think, re-edit, and read through before hitting the ‘send’ button; but voice call, you have to say something instantly.)
“Babe, would you sing for me?” Giuliano chuckles and says.
(I can hardly hear what he says due to his ‘just out of bed’ hoarse voice, what’s more, his voice is low pitch…) (So, I can only bring myself to roughly guess on the whole sentence of what he just said.)
“No, now enter into pause mode.” My instant reply to his request. (Haha… No way that I’d be singing now, I’m too nervous!)
“Pause mode? Hahaha…” he chuckles.
(Wow… I like the sound and the way he chuckles…)
(I would say I have a fetish with man’s voice. Certain pitch attracts me; yes, I am. Haha… So embarrassing.)
My mind runs back to the time when I just joined a new company. The work station cubicles are high, about 1.2 meters height. So, literally, I can hardly see anyone if my colleague is sitting down, at their cubicle or work station. Quite often, I could hear a guy talking over the phone with his business counterparts; echoing on the air above me. Sometimes, he laughs and chuckles.
(Such a nice voice he has, but who is he? My curiosity was triggered but I didn’t take any action, just yet.) Few days later, that guy laughs over his phone call again; this time, I stand up and walk towards the direction where the voice came from. Usually, I would walk to my left direction, towards canteen or restroom; but this time my objective is none of those. I peek at the cubicle where that guy’s voice comes.
(Oh? It’s that guy? Oh my, so this voice belongs to him, huh!) I have seen this guy from time to time, he is from different department but sitting at the last cubicle which is opposite to my cubicle row. And we only nodding head when our eyes meet; no talking or interaction, so far. I walked past his cubicle and act like as if I was just heading somewhere. (Cute voice, I like it.)
From there on, whenever he talks on the phone or laughs, I kind of enjoy that soothing voice of his. (I don’t have any other intention.)
“Have you taken your dinner?” Giuliano’s voice draws me back to reality.
“Not yet, might go for something light, maybe.” “How about you? Having a good sleep last night?” I reply.
“Yeah, maybe because I had a good chat with you last night.” He claims. (He was referring to messages, eight hours ago.)
“I’m still laying on the bed… Errh…” He says it with a voice like someone is stretching his body on his bed. I smile lightly.
“So, you said you’re working at site. How long usually do you need to stay at the site?” I ask Giuliano.
“One year.” “Sometimes, eight months. Depends on the project. But mostly one year.” He replies.
“One year?!?” “Wow…” I was stunned by his answer. “Then what do you looking for from this dating app?” I am pretty straight forward in my question to him.
“I am looking for long-term relationship.” He says.
“But you know that your job scopes that you would need to be at site for such a long time, so how do you plan in handling your relationship, be it you found one in US, it would still be a long-distance relationship.” Again, I send my blunt question right over to him.
(I hope he wouldn’t mind my straight-forwardness.) (I shouldn’t have asked such serious question in our first voice call… I somehow, start to regret… but I really interested to know what he was thinking. For him to work and hold a job title as Contractor, who also has to be stationed far away from home, how and what would he do in order to maintain their relationship?)
“Hmm… good question.” “I hope that I could find someone that I could trust. I can travel back home when I have a break in between. But I hate betrayal.” He explains.
“I see.” I don’t know what else to say. (That’s not an easy task for him and his partner. Trust is, indeed, a must.)
“So, what time do you have to depart for work? Do you need to go to the site today?” I try to my question to current routine. Don’t feel like continue stressing him with such things in his early morning. We can talk about that topic, in later days.
“10 o’clock. No; today I need to be in the office. Have some paperwork need to complete in the office; not going to site today.” Giuliano replies. (10 o’clock, there’s still one and a half hour to go.)
“So, still not getting up for shower?” I continue asking.
“Yeah, I’m going to take shower now.” “You go have your dinner, ok?” He says.
“Okay. Bye bye.” I reply.
“Ok, have a good night to you. Bye bye.” He says.
We end the call.
“Babe, now I know why you like singing, you have a nice voice.” “Would you sing for me?” Two messages come through after we ended the call. They are from him.
I chuckle. I’m glad that he calls. (Oops… Oh no, stomachaches!)
That’s me, I can’t handle surprises well. Whenever I am panic or nervous, my stomach will be in pain in and I have to run to the restroom. (Running lose bottom… Sigh…)
Chapter 10.3 - Tweak The Lyrics
(Hmm… “Would you sing me a song” he said? Well, fine with me. I don’t mind such a small request as long as no complaint on my broken voice. I enjoy singing anyway.)
(Let’s see, what could I sing for him? Hmm… hmm… hmm~ Think, think, think… Yeah, I can do it this way.)
I tweak the birthday song’s lyrics into a ‘Good Morning’ song.
Ever since that surprise call the other day, we continue with messaging back and forth to each other. No more voice call. (I kind of missing his voice and looking forward for his next voice call…)
“Is it okay if I call you ‘Gee’? I think of calling you that way. ‘Giuliano’ sounds a little serious. No offence.” I ask Giuliano via message.
“Gee? It sounds kind of cute though. Yes, sure.” Giuliano accepts such a calling upon him.
“Tomorrow when you’re about to heading out for work, would you please give me a call?” “I have some magic words to say to you.” I wrote.
“Wow! Sure, my baby is going to give me magic words?” “I can’t wait.” Giuliano writes in his quick respond.
(Did he misunderstand something here? Not ‘I love you’ though…) (Anyway, let it be.)
The next day, his morning time, he really calls, as promised.
“Hey, babe.” “Good evening to you. How are you feeling today?” Giuliano’s soothing voice is echoing in my ear.
“Thump… thump.. thump thump…” (Oh my God! My heart is beating hard and fast!!)
“Hello.” “Good morning to you, Gee. I feel good today. How about you? Are you ready for work now?” I try to greet him with my most calm voice.
From now on, I call him my way, i.e. ‘Gee’.
“I am refreshed now. Today, there’s a meeting with the board members today, so I’d need to depart soon.” “What did you have for dinner?” He says.
“I have dumpling noodles just now. What are you going to get for your breakfast?” I said.
“Emm… Donut and coffee.” He says. (Even if he is trying hard to think what he wants to eat, he would end up at his final choice – donut – his routine go-to breakfast choice. Haha…)
“Is that enough for you? Just donut?” (I don’t know how big the donut he is getting. To me, a proper breakfast portion should be larger than just a donut.) (Or, maybe I am just a big eater. Haha…)
“I have some magic words for you, remember?” I say. (I remind him as he seems to have forgotten about this.)
“Oh yeah, my baby is going to say the magic words.” He replies with delighted tone.
“Remember that you want me to sing you something? So, here’s a song that many people know and it’s easy to pick up.” “Okay, listen, yeah. Ahem…” clearing my throat.
“Here it goes.” “~Good morning, Gee~~” I start singing my version of ‘Good Morning’ song to Gee.
“Oh my God… My baby is singing for me… So sweet.” “Oh my God, my day will be full of your voice… Oh God…” He says so after quietly listening to my whole song. (I can sense from his tone that he really is happy and lighten by this surprise.) (I’m happy too.)
“Hehe… I tweak the birthday song lyrics and there you go. Hope you have a good day at work today. Drive safe, yeah.” I say to Gee with a broad smile on my face.
“Thank you, babe. I am so happy now. I think my whole day will be filled by your voice.” “I’d call you tomorrow when you wake up, ok. I’m going to work now.” Excited like a young kid, he says.
“Sure, Enjoy your day and have a smooth meeting with your board members. Bye bye.” Wishing him all the best in his meeting.
“Okay, good night, sweet dreams, babe. Bye bye.” He greets me in return. We end the voice call. (But I believe, we both carry a smile on our face…)
Later that day, my late night, he sent me a photo of him in a suit.
“Just finished my meeting. It went well. I miss you already.” He wrote in his message. I only get to read it when I reached office, as I woke up late. Nearly late for work.
(Hmm… Again, this photo was taken by someone else; not a selfie… which keeps me wondering…)
(But anyway, I didn’t let it keeps bothering me. I have loads of work to finish, today.)
By the time I finished work and reached. I am really low-batt. Quickly take a 10 minutes shower and climb onto my bed. Time to rest; I’d reply Giuliano’s message (if any) tomorrow morning. I need to sleep, now!
Chapter 10.4 - Ocean Blue
“Gee, what is your favourite colour?” I ask Gee while sluggishly laying on the couch, after my shower.
“Hmm? Colour? Emm… Red. I like Red.” Gee replies.
“Red? Wow, okay.” (Never thought that he would like red when none of his photos was in red shirt or something. Anyway, not a big deal.)
“What’s yours? Babe” Gee asks.
“Blue. But sometimes, I like green and any colours” my instant reply.
“Oh, Blue. Yeah, I like blue as well.” Gee claims.
(Oh~ That reminds me of a joke. A joke that is pretty commonly heard of, among Asian but I guess it might be new to Gee.)
“Gee, do you know why Ocean is blue in colour?”
“What again? Ocean?”
“Yeah, do you know why the sea is blue colour?” I rephrase my question.
“Emm… Would my baby enlighten me?” Gee doesn’t have any clue to it.
“Because in the sea, there are so many fishes; and when they all breathe, they generate a lot of bubbles that go like this ‘bloo… bloo… bloo…’ So, it’s blue! Hahaha…” I break in laughter first after sharing my silly joke with Gee.
Gee chuckles, “Haha… Oh, really? Because they ‘bloo… bloo… bloo…’?”
“Yupe, bloo… bloo… bloo…” I mimic the bubble-blowing and chuckle along.
That was one of the silly jokes we had in our conversation.
Chapter 10.5 - Weekend Activities
It’s entering Sunday soon for Gee who is at NY time zone, while for me, I am already stepping into Sunday evening. I am starting to prepare some stuff for my Monday work.
“What do you usually do on weekend? Your Sunday, I mean.” Since his Saturday is a working day for him. I ask Giuliano when he started to sending me morning messages.
“I need to write report on the progress of the project at site.” Gee says.
“Only this Sunday or almost every Sunday, you would need to write report?” I ask further.
“Well, I need to provide some updates to the board on what we’ve done in the past six days, you see.” Gee explains patiently.
“Okay… So, you’d prefer to do that outside? Like in the Starbucks or a pub?”
“No, I prefer to do it at home, because every time when I am outside, in a pub, people will stop-by to say hi. And it’s kind of distracting my focus on report writing.” Gee shares.
(Hmm…? So many people will stop-by and say Hi to Gee? Wow… He must be such an eye-catching icon? I imagine it in my mind…)
“I see. That’s true. You need to focus on that (i.e. work). Will you still heading out to get your meals then?”
“Yeah, I would have my lunch, then come back home to continue my reporting.” Gee continues.
“You’d better get yourself some good food, it’s your Sunday. Try to relax as much as you can. You’ve worked hard, Gee.”
“I will, I will. Babe, it is late now for you, are you going to sleep soon?” The ‘considering mode’ Gee is now ignited.
“Yeah, a little tired. I’m going to sleep soon.” Tiring tone comes from me, echoing into his ear.
“Have a good sleep and see me in lala-land. I’d call you tomorrow morning before you go to work.” Gee sends me his ‘good night’ greetings as usual. He promised there would definitely a call from him, tomorrow morning, my time zone.
“Okay. Enjoy your Sunday and good luck in report writing.” I wish him good luck.
I get into bed while he starts with his Sunday.
“Hey, babe. Good morning. How are you feeling? And what are you doing now?” When I’m on my way to office the next morning, I receive a call from Gee.
(He really commits to his promise on returning call; without fail.) My trust in him increases bit by bit…
Gee always start our conversations with such caring questions. (Well, maybe it is just me that finding it caring. It is indeed happy to have someone asking you “how are you feeling today?”.)
“Good evening to you, Gee. I’m on my way to office, in the cab now. How’s your Sunday so far?”
“Well, I went out for lunch like I told you and then hangout with one of my colleagues at the pub after that, watching some football matches. And then came home not long ago. So I thought of calling my baby, she must have woke up by now.” Gee explains all the details before I even ask…
“Sounds like a good one. Have you done with your reports?” I recall the task he needs to complete by today.
“Not yet… I’m still doing it now. Almost done.” Gee responds.
“What…? Not yet finish? Am I disturbing then?”
“Nope, it’s fine. I’m almost done. Just give me a second, let me finish writing my email here.” Gee requests.
“Okay, I would stay quiet so that you could finish your email.” I will be good, won’t disturbing.
“Yeah, you know… I can’t be multi-tasking… like my baby. She can do some many things at the same time… Very outstanding!” I guess he is really focusing on email writing while trying his best to talk to me as his reply is lagging here and there…
I chuckle…