Ong Yit Sin's Misc Writings.

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Barry was waiting for us inside. So was Zach. They were both beaming like that stupid lamppost. Great, everyone had nothing better to do tonight.

Barry offered his hand to Jeff, "Welcome back."

They shook hands and it became official business. Barry led him away, doing the polite conversation he does best. Sammy went back to his station. Then there was just me and Zach. I had a moment to wallow in self-pity before Zach tried to distract me.

"I have a surprise for you." That's my Zach.

I traced a question mark sign above my head with my finger.

"Guess."

"You bought me a panda," I replied without missing a beat.

"Even better than that."

I raised an eyebrow as we got into the lift, "There's something better than a panda?"

"Yeah. Chipmunks." Ye olde randomness.

"Hmmm...Can I give up?"

He shook his head, "No, but I'll give you a clue. It's a he."

The door opened as I gave him my best eager look, "You got me a male stripper!"

"Stripper?"

Oh my god. No. I knew that voice in my sleep and there he was. It was Dean on the couch on front of me, watching a soccer game with Paddy. I whacked Zach out of reflex. Then turned and whacked him again on purpose, "What the fuck is he doing here?"

Everyone in the room laughed. There were a lot of people in the room. My sister had finally showed up and so did the half a dozen friends that went to the same school as her. It was exam period for them so they were seldom around these days.

It was Dean who finally managed to half-control himself enough to talk, "You still have my phone."

I dug around in my bag and gave him his phone, "Okay, you can leave now." It only made him laugh harder.

"We're doing business," Zach said, "Dean was with you last night and was waiting for you at the gate tonight, so we had a little chat."

"So he's providing information on Terence?"

Dean answered with a mischievous look, "In return, I finally get to see where you live."

"I must say," he added, "So far it's been worth it."

I banged my head on the wall. Great. Looks like they've become blossom buddies.

I headed to my room and unlocked it, "You're a weasel. But I'm too tired to argue." I closed the door before he could reply and kicked my shoes off before lying on the bed. I just closed my eyes and the door opened.

Zach came in and closed the door, "It didn't look that bad in the car."

"It wasn't bad."

"Liar."

I sighed, "I'm just not in the mood tonight okay?"

He sat down on the bed, "Dean's been waiting for an hour."

"He gave you a new lead?" I asked as I sat up and crossed my legs.

"Not yet. But he will tomorrow. So be nice."

"Besides," he added, "I thought you would be happy to see him. I remember you saying something about having a thing for him."

"That was years ago."

"So?"

So? He was right. I was just being grouchy, "Jeff."

"I know," He put his arm around me, "But it's better now right? It's gonna be okay."

"You don't know that."

"I know Jeff. I know you. Everything will work out."

I was getting annoyed, "Yeah, you know Jeff. Then you should also remember what happens after. When he disappears for weeks and appears at the other end of the battlefield! Then disappears AGAIN!!!" I realized I was standing and shouting. Zach was still sitting on the bed, looking at me patiently. It only annoyed me even more.

"Feeling better?" He asked and my anger melted away. I gave him a sheepish smile, "Thanks."

I was expecting him to give me advice or make a joke but he didn't say anything, so I asked him what I should do. He shrugged.

"That's something you guys gotta work out. But one thing's for sure," he said, "It would work out a lot better if you didn't give up on him."

That was new. Zach didn't say much after things fell apart with Jeff. He mostly listened and kept his opinions to himself. I thought that he just didn't want to upset me, now I realized that maybe Zach just didn't want to take sides.

"You think I gave up on him?"

He thought about it for a while, then chose his words carefully, "I think that it's a difficult situation and that Jeff handles it better than you."

Understatement of the year. Jeff is one of the most easygoing people I've met whereas I have temper tantrums and mood swings but, as I pointed out to Zach, he wasn't the one always disappearing.

"He has a job babe."

"He can at least call."

Zach sighed and I knew he was in his 'I-have-to-tolerate-her' moods, "Then just tell him to call you when he disappears."

I didn't see the point of asking. If a guy wants to call he would call, you don't have to ask him to call.

"I know what you're thinking," Zach continued, "But it doesn't hurt to ask... not every guy is as sensitive as me."

I rolled my eyes as he laughed, petted my head and went back to the party.

I called Jeff the moment the door closed. He answered immediately, "Yes?"

I asked him if he was still in the building. I heard him take a deep breath, "Yes."

"Can I come down?"

"No." It wasn't a question and I didn't expect him to take it as one.

"Why?"

This time I could hear the impatience in his voice, "I'm working."

Jeff was angry. I couldn't believe he would get mad at me for wanting to see him. Not after what happened just now. That really hurt. I hung up before I began to do something stupid.

My phone rang almost immediately and I picked up.

"Why are you mad at me?" I said, well aware that I sounded hurt and pissed off.

His voice was gentle, back in control, "I'm not mad at you. It's this guy. I have to take care of this."

"I heard your voice, you were angry."

He sighed and I knew he was tired, "I told you, it's not you. Barry told me what he did. I'm allowed to get pissed off."

I hadn't considered the rookie, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm fine. I'm on my way out now. I'll call you after I settle this back at my base okay?"

"Okay."

Then, he hung up.

I lay there holding my phone for a few minutes. I considered getting up and hanging out with everyone outside, then decided against it. I didn't feel like happy hour tonight. I took a shower and went back to bed to wait for Jeff to call.

***

He didn't call.

My phone was the first thing I checked when I woke up. No calls, no text messages, no voice mails. Nothing. Nada.

A small part of me wasn't surprised, but most of me was expecting him to call. I decided to let the small part win today. The day was just beginning, I didn't want to make it longer than it already was.

I had brunch with Zach and Paddy, then we got into Zach's car and drove to meet Dean at a coffee shop.

Dean was already there when we reached the shop. He handed Zach a file, "I got to get back to work."

"Thanks man," Zach said.

"No problem, I'll collect the rest of my payment later," He smirked as he sauntered off and was gone.

"Why do I get the feeling I don't like what's gonna happen later?" I asked Zach as we walked back towards his car.

He grinned evilly, "The deal was that he gets to see where you live babe. He hasn't seen your room."

Shit. "You son of a bitch."

Paddy laughed as Zach ignored me. We got into the car and opened the file. Ten minutes later, I said, "Holy smokes, he does deserve to see my room."

Terence had made some big mistakes. He had gotten arrested for 'loitering' half a dozen times and he wasn't alone. Terence apparently loved to party in places he shouldn't be partying in. The file listed four other names that were arrested along with him. Unlike Terence, those names had addresses. Jack-fuckin'-pot.

I didn't have a car and I didn't drive, so I was Zach's shotgun. We took a single address that was on the east side of Singapore. It was the furthest away as our headquarters is in the west. The address was also listed under two of the four names-brothers Gary and Gabriel Tay. Paddy took the other two addresses that were closer to home. Theoretically, this was the fastest and safest way to get things done. Theoretically.

It took forty minutes to arrive at the Tay home. It was an expensive-looking condominium with annoying security guards. We had to lie through our teeth to get pass. Well, Zach lied. When we finally reached the front door, neither of us had much patience left. I pressed the doorbell and stepped back beside Zach. We both plastered smiles on our faces as an elderly woman opened the door, "Yes, can I help you?"

"Good afternoon ma'am," I said, "We're in Gary's school project group, we're here to finish the presentation for tomorrow."

She looked at us suspiciously, "Gary's project group?"

"Yup," Zach leaned in and whispered to her knowingly, "Well, you know how Gary is. He hasn't shown up for any of our meetings and won't answer his phone. We can't do the presentation without all our members so we decided to come here."

Her expression changed immediately, "I see. Well, it's good that Gary made some friends in school."

"But," she added, "Gary's not here."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No, sorry. Gary doesn't tell me such things."

"We're sorry ma'am," Zach was putting on his most polite front for the granny, "But the deadline is tomorrow. Is there any way we can contact him?"

"Or someone who can contact him?" I added, then continued as Zach gave me a subtle 'don't-blow-our-cover' look, "Gary talks a lot about Gabriel, he says they often hang out together."

She thought about it for a second, "I could give you Gabriel's number."

We both gave her looks that told her it would mean the world to us and managed to leave with Gabriel's number.

Neither of us said a word until we got into the car. Once both doors were shut, I asked Zach how he wanted to do the next part.

"We could do the project thing again," He said, but that was fishing and we both knew it. If Gabriel was with Gary all he had to do was ask and we would be screwed.

"You could pretend to be one of Terence's friends," I suggested.

"He could be with Terence too."

"Damn."

"You know there's an easy way to do this."

"I hate easy ways."

"Okay, I have a difficult way then."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You can hit on Gabriel."

I raised my fist, "I can hit you."

He laughed and I put my hand down, "Let me guess, the easy way is to hit on him too."

Zach laughed even harder and was quickly working his way into hysterics. I ended up laughing too. Hysterics were contagious.

***

I wouldn't say I had a lot of experience hitting on guys, so Zach had to help me on that. We were running through a couple of possible lines when his phone rang. He answered with his usual 'yo' then hesitated for the barest of seconds before opening the door and exiting to get some privacy. I was about to run through our plan by myself when my phone rang. I took a look at the displayed name. It was Jeff. I threw the phone back into my bag and ignored it. It stopped, then started ringing again, so I got out of the car and slammed the door.

Zach gave me a questioning look, then shifted his attention back to his phone call. When he was done, it was my turn to give him a questioning look. He ignored me and and gunned the engine, gesturing at me to get into the car. I got in and he immediately pulled out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Home," he said, his expression blank. Something was up. Zach was making an effort not to look me in the eye.

"What happened?"

No response.

"Zach! Who was that on the phone?"

Still no response.

I reached out and slid my hand into the shirt pocket where he had kept his phone. He cussed something in Malay and pulled over, grabbing my hand.

"Shit, don't do that when I'm driving."

I repeated my question. We both glared at each other, assessing the situation. We never did find out who would have won the glaring contest because my phone rang again, startling both of us. It took all my self control not to throw it out of the window. It was Jeff again. I rejected the call and turned my phone off. Then Zach's phone rang. He looked at it, then gave a look of disgust as he answered the call, "Yeah, she's here." He handed the phone to me, removed the car keys and got out.

"If you hang up on him, I'm going to lock you in the car," he said as he slammed the door.

Perfect. The day was just getting better too.

"Yes?" I said as calmly as I could. Which, admittedly, wasn't as calm as I would have liked it to be.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Jeff sounded annoyed.

It seemed like none of us had any patience today, "Because I don't want to talk to you."

"What!?!" he yelled, "What did I do now?" There was some incomprehensible swearing, then, "Nevermind. I don't want to know."

I heard him take a deep breath, then more swearing. This was a side of Jeff I haven't seen before. He told me to go back to base and hung up. I threw the phone on Zach's seat and let out a scream of frustration. It was easier to deal with getting mad than feeling hurt.

Zach got in, kept his phone and started the engine again. It was a rare, silent drive back to base.

***

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Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6