Chapter 10: Choices

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my mind went into overdrive, as Jay looked at me inquiringly with a lift of his manly brows and that familiar lopsided smile which revealed another smaller yet swoonworthy dimple on his right cheek. I fought to keep my concentration on the busy Orchard Road traffic whilst still checking the rearview mirror for any signs of the pappz. The rain, thankfully, had stopped and the cars were moving along more quickly and smoothly now, amidst the darkening sky.

Running through my mind were a thousand-and-one uniquely Singaporean experiences I wanted him to try and I realised that, clearly, my tongue had gotten ahead of my brain here. However, it soon came to me that what most people loved about Singapore was the food! That should be right up his alley, right? After all, he already owned not a few restaurants and was often pictured enjoying a meal with his friends and family.

What were my choices?
Chicken rice?
Nah...that was probably THE most popular Singaporean dish which I was pretty sure he would have eaten on his previous trips here.

Fish-head curry?
Nope, I had seen a photo of him online eating that somewhere already.

Chilli crab?
Too troubleseome and messy, not to mention inelegant; imagine picking out bits of that crustacean from its pincers and claws with our fingers and also the likelihood of getting splotches of the reddish gravy all over our clothes!


What to eat???
What about some of my personal favourites?

Ah ha!!!
Of course!
How could it have taken me so long to decide?

But what if he had already tried that?
Was it available in Taiwan?
No matter.
I loved it with a passion and nothing pleased me more than to be able to share that delicious delight with anyone, not to mention the person sitting beside me in the car now, who was seemingly and happily, at my mercy. 

The next issue was how best to eat this with him so as to not attract too much attention, as he invariably would if I brought him to the place I had in mind, which was right smack in the heart of Chinatown. Yes, it would be too much to hope that nobody would recognise the King of Mandopop in that area.
But Chinatown was where my trusty stallholder, Alan, was and there was no way I would go to another seller elsewhere. I mean, I loved eating it but when it came to picking out the best specimens for consumption, I was absolutely clueless. Alan had been introduced to me a couple of years ago by my dear cousin, Viv, and I had not been disappointed by his choices thus far.

"Hmm....are you hungry? Did you have any lunch earlier?", I turned and asked him when I had come to a stop at another traffic light. As I did so, I noticed that the Chinese female driver in the car next to us on Jay's side was peering curiously at us.
Oh dear, had she recognised my passenger already??
But was that even surprising?
This WAS Singapore, where his concert ticket sales routinely crashed the website and sold out in a matter of hours.
I stared back at her whilst trying to pay attention to what Jay was saying.

"Just a little on the plane; I usually prefer to catch up on my sleep during flights as there is really nothing much to do on board," was his matter-of-fact reply.

Ah yes, I recalled reading some articles about his habitual inflight slumber, along with photos of his dozy self, complete with eyes closed and peaceful facial expression...which always gave me an inexplicable urge to want to hug him....


"HONK!!!!"

Oops! Had the lights turned green already?
Yes, they had.
I raised and waved my left hand in a show of apology to the driver behind me as I moved off slowly, mildly chagrined that I must have drifted off somewhat into Fangirl Fantasyland, in spite of my best intentions.

Jay did not appear bothered and had returned to fiddling with the stereo set buttons and was skipping to Track Four...which of course was Besieged On Four Sides. Trust him to choose an appropriate song for the present situation!

Having done that, he looked at me, grinned and again asked, " So just what are you going to let me try, Dr Ashley?"
Haha...looks like he's somewhat fascinated by my profession; had he never gone out with a doctor before?
I was guessing not.


In answer to his question, I pursed my lips, put my left index finger to my mouth in a gesture as old as the hills and said teasingly, "That's a secret I cannot tell!"