Planted

Chapter 11 Thrown

I couldn't work. I was sitting in my newly set up home office trying to write the same email for the past hour.

Guilt had plagued my whole day. I kept seeing See Yew's sad eyes and downward drooping eyebrows. I felt like an ass-hole for not liking him back. No one had ever reacted so badly to my "Let's just stay friends" speech. Funny thing is we haven't even been on an official first date or anything. Good thing dad was in the next room.

The memory of See Yew's anger and disappointment kept replaying in my memory. He had dropped by in the morning unannounced with four boxes of different types of chocolate. He obviously thought the flowers were not working. Everything happened so quickly. He grabbed my hands kissed it twice, launched straight into his confession of love, went on one knee and proposed. Immediately, I countered that with my "Friends are forever" speech. He stood up. Eyebrows knitted and in a fit of rage, he flung the chocolates at me. The plastic box of Almond Rocher smashed against my table ledge and dad came running in. He looked embarrassed by his lack of control and made for the door, bumping into dad.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on," I tried to move towards him and dad. Dad put his arm around See Yew and patted him on the shoulder.

"No, you're not sorry. You are the CEO of TUF, a heartless big corporation. I should not have expected anything less." pausing, he looked down at the diamond ring in his hands and remembered, "but I forgive you."

I grimaced at his words and extended a handshake, "Friends?"

See Yew visibly recoiled from me and left without a word. Dad and I looked at each other, shell shocked.

"Are you becoming another Logan?"

"Dad, that's so unfair. I got Logan to return all his flowers but he refused to take them back, so Logan took them to the Home. I accepted one ride from him, only one and responded to a few Facebook comments; the rest was strictly work-related. Oh he did buy dinner, but we were a big group; no one-on-one meet ups at all. I was friendly that's all..."

"Too friendly, I'd say. Although... why not give him a shot, he's got good taste in chocolates. After all you're not seeing anybody right?" dad asked popping an Almond Rocher into his mouth.

"Maybe," I quickly changed the subject. "So, you're looking sharp tonight. Are you seeing any body?"

"Maybe," he said, mysteriously closing the door behind him.

Why didn't I define our relationship status early with See Yew? It was obvious he had some sort of romantic inclinations. Why did he take my mild flirting so seriously? Most guys I work with don't. Like a sprinkling of soya sauce in a dish, flirting makes friendship more interesting--nothing more. Everyone knows outside of a book or movie, romance never lasts right? Seriously, how did I underestimate how See Yew felt? I thought it was just how lawyers behave with women. Tommy was just as forward but he had a more sophisticated form of emotional bribery. He had posted on my Tumblr-a list of movies we could could watch together; on my Pinterest-places we could go for long bike rides; on my Facebook-events like the Renaissance carnival and a visit to a Zero energy building. At least, he was bright and breezy about how we could get to know each other better.

Giving up on writing the email, I checked my visual journal on my Tumblr. The phone rang, it was Tommy calling long-distance from Jakarta. This was his fourth call today.

"Are you still beating yourself up over See Yew?"

"Uh huh. I just feel I could have hurt him less, that's all. What did you have for dinner?" I scrolled the recently uploaded pictures of the ION office and marvelled at how much profit we managed to make in equipment sales. There were benefits to buying branded items after all.

"He's a big boy; he'll recover. I'll take him out for some beer when I get back and explain how you belong with me." I snorted and he continued, "I had Nasi Lemak and Ice Kacang from this street stall that only the locals know about. Come join me on my next trip."

"Just don't rub salt in his wounds, please. He seems like a really intense person," I warned, my eyes rested on a picture of the contents from mom's filing cabinet, which we had sold for five hundred dollars. Mom did go for quality.

"Yes, very unlike me. I am a romantic at heart. Have you had many romantic moments in your life?"

"Nah, Christopher wasn't really the romantic sort. More the spend lots of money on you to overwhelm you with gifts sort. How about you? With was it Alice?" I asked.

Bored, I zoomed into a picture and examined each item. I spotted a journal in a box marked mom.

Mom kept a journal?

"I told you about Alice? Wow, it's odd what the concussed brain divulges. I've got all these ideas of romantic moments to share with you: reading under a Frangipani tree in the Botanic Gardens; sharing a single scoop of chocolate ice-cream; watching a chilli plant ripen and an orchid bloom."

"Hmm... reminds me of some of my favourite romantic moments in chick flicks." I said happily as I walked around to the pile of boxes in the corner of the room. Poking around inside Mom's boxes, I looked around for the brown leather journal, I had seen in the photograph.

"My favourite was in the "Lake house", Keanu Reeves plants Sandra Bullock some trees so that she could enjoy the shade later. Or in "The Bed of Roses", Christian Slater tells Mary Stuart Masterson that flowers last longer with seven-up in them," said Tommy.

"Haha...yup those are up there for me too. I was expecting you to say "Here's looking at you, kid" in Casablanca or "As you wish" from Princess Brides. Most guys think of them first, so those lines are almost cliche now." I spotted the journal tucked in a little corner and flipped the pages.

"The ultimate is of course: You must know...surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me... If your feelings are still the same as they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever..." recited Tommy in accented Darcy's English.

I paused and joined in and we finished the quote together, "If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, Iove you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."

"Ha, and you call me cheesy." whispered Tommy proudly on the other end of the line.

I stopped breathing and grinned. "Cheesy TM," I whispered back, my insides warmed to hear his deep chuckle.

I flipped the journal on its side to search for the year and a photograph fell out. It was a vintage photograph of a young athletic man with knock out good looks. He had a huge smile on his face and was holding a bunch of roses. His ripped six-pack abs had xxoxx, Zach across it.

"That's not dad," I muttered to myself.

Tommy was still going on about romantic moments and he stopped short. "What? You okay, Sandy?"

"I just found something that throws me. I'll call you tomorrow I promise, okay?" my hands shook as I stared at the faded photograph carefully. He closely resembled Logan.

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My vote for the most romantic moment caught on film.... yes, cheesy but hey. What's your pick?