Seeing Red

Aunty Mei

"Hello Tara! How are you doing my child?" The familiar voice on the other side enquired.

"Aunty Mei! I'm doing very well, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing just fine! What reminds you of your aunty today?"

"I think you know the answer, Darren-"

"He's taking you out for dinner!"

"How do you know?"

"I have my sources my dear." She laughed.

I checked my watch and realised I didn't have much time before lunch ended and I had to get back to work.

"I'll be out with it, mum will know nothing about our call make that promise to me."

"Promise, Lillian will not know anything. Ask away!"

"Tell me everything you know about Darren." I sighed.

"He's very smart, he's very kind and he's shy-"

"I know that aunty! I want the dirt."

"He's a very nice boy! No dirt on him but he was dating that TV star but it fizzled out."

"TV star? Who?" I heard myself ask with intrigue.

"Evie Lim! Their relationship was very public, all the tabloids in Singapore were very invested in it."

"Oh...Evie Lim...She's stunning-"

"But your ex is more good looking! More well known also!"

"Aunty can we not-"

"I have news about him too! He was recently seen with Pavlina Petrova-"

"Bulgarian supermodel." I sighed.

"You know about it?"

"No I know who she is, I don't care."

"They were together in a restaurant in Monaco-"

"Aunty! I called to know about Darren not what my ex is up to."

"No dirt on him! He's a very good boy! Very studious also."

"Studious! Darren was a stud! Captain of the football team, cool kid you know." I laughed.

"Oh no no! Very studious! He stopped playing all sports in university to focus on education."

"Darren was a nerd!" I shrieked.

"Why is this so funny to you?"

"He used to bully me in school for being studious and then in university he became what he bullied!"

"You took school a little to seriously dear!"

"Oh."

"So, nothing bad about this boy. He is very nice, accept his proposal."

"Aunty-"

"It's getting late, I have to go now. Bye bye dear!" She ended the call.

No dirt, literally none. Just a very hot ex that made me feel very insecure, but then I reminded myself. I was going on a dinner with him, not Evie.

"To be honest, Darren sounds sweet. If you don't like him send him my way!" I heard a voice behind me.

I turned around to see a woman, she worked here for sure. I saw her around a lot but I never got the chance to speak to her, but here she was leaning against the door of my office.

"I'm Aria by the way." She smiled.

"Hi, I'm Tara and I want to know how long you've been standing here." I asked visibly flushed.

"Long enough to know Darren sounds like the deal!" She laughed.

"Oh gosh..." I hid my face in my hands.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about! I was heading out for lunch and noticed the new girl was still in her office."

"Doing things that were definitely not work related." I awkwardly laughed.

"Well, I still think Darren sounds cool, so do you! Join me for lunch?"

"Sure!" I beamed standing up.

We talked the whole way to the restaurant, she wasn't much older than I was. She had recently been promoted to designer 1, and told me about how much she loved working here.

"There all of them are!" She beamed waving at a table full of people.

"Hi!" I managed to squeak out.

"We don't bite!" A man smiled.

"That's Jon! Jon this is Tara, Charlotte's manager." She introduced me to him.

I gave him a smile and took a seat next to Aria, she introduced me to the other architects at the table. They were all extremely funny people, I don't remember being able to eat much because of how much we were laughing.

Lunch time was up, we walked back to the office still laughing at the jokes cracked at the table. I walked into to notice a very tense Charlotte.

"All good?" I checked in on her.

"No, complete disaster. The construction in Milan has been put to a halt." She rubbed her forehead.

"Oh gosh, should I get the project manager?"

"There's not much they can do."

"Is there anything at all we can do?"

"As of now the construction team on site are trying to talk to the authorities if nothing works..."

"You'll have to be there, I'll start looking for tickets."

"We, will be going there. You're coming with me, look for tickets for next week."

"Yes ma'am!" I quickly smiled before scurrying back to my desk.

I started looking for flights to Milan, I noticed a text notification from Harriet.

Harry: Have you settled well in Nice yet?

Me: Yes! My apartment is beautiful!

Harry: good! Because Gabe, Julia and I are coming over this weekend

Me: Mexican Grand Prix! Yessss!

Harry: You're going to watch?? A race??

Me: Yes...

Harry: Okay...

This day just kept getting better, I finally knew my colleagues and now my favourite people were going to be visiting me!

Charlotte told me not to book tickets just yet, she said that going there should be last resort. I agreed and made a quick note about the possibility of going to Milan.

The rest of the day went by pretty much the same, scheduling meetings, reminding people of their meetings and checking in on her.

I liked this, I liked Nice and I loved my new job. But I still felt like something was missing. I had to remind myself that if he really cared, he would look for you.

No, he didn't come looking for you, he's seeing some model now. He's moved on and so should you. But then why do memories of him flood my head every time I shut my eyes?

The waltz at the ball, the short trip to that music school but distinct from them all- the day I wiped his tears away.

Fuck, I had fallen. I had fallen so hard, you don't even care about me. Why won't you leave my head? Why did my heart literally shattering make no difference to you?

The universe works in mysterious ways.