Jay smiled when I rattled off that well-known line. He was probably thinking how corny it was yet could not contain his pleasure at my witty usage of this catch-phrase from his first self-directed-and-acted movie, Secret.
Disarming as his smile was, I had to force my eyes back on the road ahead, whilst working out the best route to take to my destination. Rush-hour traffic on Orchard Road was tricky to drive in (especially with a passenger like mine today) and I had to get to the extreme right lane to turn off.
As we came to a stop at the traffic lights just before the turn, I stole a look around outside to make sure there were no cops and reached for my mobile:
"Sorry, Steph. Something came up. Can't join you for dinner. You gals have fun!"
"Wow! You do that very fast and well! I'm hopeless at using my phone for messaging." said Jay when he saw my quick taps on the touch screen as I finished the WhatsApp message just in time to start moving off when the lights changed to green.
It was my turn to give him a smug grin now as I turned the car right but having to stop to allow the pedestrians to cross.
The conversation flowed on.
"Haha...I know. You could not even type your own replies on that online chat with the fans some time ago. I mean, you play the piano so well and you perform card tricks but you can't type?"
"Strange, right? You were following that chat? What did you think of my answers?"
"You were quite cool. Was that your first time doing something like that?"
"Yup. Thankfully, the fans did not ask weird questions..."
Just then, my phone beeped. Looking at the caller ID, I saw that it was Steph, no doubt wanting to give me a piece of her mind about cancelling on the dinner appointment.
"Ash! What happened? Are you all right?"
"Erm...ya. I bumped into an old friend and he needs my help with something."
"He? Who's he? Wait! It's not that idiotic ex of yours, I hope? You told me he had been pestering you..."
"Nah, no worries. It's not Mark. And he has not contacted me for a while. Look, I'm driving now. I'll catch up with you later and fill you in. Sorry again!"
"Okay. 'App me later. Drive carefully."
We were cruising along more smoothly now and I sat back, more relaxed and noticed that Jay had taken off his glasses, closed his eyes, adjusted his seat and leant back on the headrest with a small sigh. It struck me how fair and smooth his skin was in spite of the slight facial hair. His brownish-tinged hair was brushed up off his forehead and his eyelashes were longer than I expected.
I wondered if his wrist was better but decided to just keep quiet and let him rest. The throbbing in the back of my head had also subsided and as I drove on, the distinct sound of faint snoring from the fellow on my left made me smile. He must be really tired out with all the excitement and the fact that he was comfortable enough to drift off into slumber in a strange lady's car in Singapore bemused me somewhat. Truth to tell, I was tempted to just take a longer route to let him have more of a nap, but decided that I should go ahead with my original plan.
Traffic en route to Chinatown, in contrast to the chaotic situation on Orchard Road, was smooth, which gave me ample opportunity to calm my own swirling thoughts as fifiteen minutes later, I reached the small lane where Alan's shop was located. As it was not Chinese New Year season, there were not that many people thronging the streets, which made it easier to navigate and find a parking lot right outside the shop's entrance. Jay was still sound asleep, his mouth slightly open but with the most peaceful expression imaginable.
I called his name softly at first:
"Jay, wake up. We're here."
He did not stir. This called for sterner measures.
I shook his right arm gently and repeated a little more loudly in English and Mandarin:
"Jay! Wake up! We're here! Wake up!"
At that, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up, whilst putting his glasses back on. He looked at me without saying a word, waiting for an explanation.
"Had a good nap? You must have been really exhausted."
"Gosh, yes. So where have you brought me?"
"Well, I'm not sure if you have ever tried this before but I know you like food and this is one of my favourites. Lots of Singaporeans and Malaysians love this too."
As I spoke, I gestured towards the shop where we had parked outside of.
Jay's eyes followed to where I was pointing and he gave a start as he saw the signs.
"But first, I think you might want to consider some sort of 'camouflage'. This is, after all, Chinatown and you ARE the King of Mandopop. But I'm not familiar with sellers in other places."
At this, I leaned over to the back seat where I remembered I had my golf cap somewhere. Ah yes, there it was in the back pocket of the passenger seat. Thankfully, it was not the pink one (even though I knew Jay loved pink) which would stand out a fair bit. I gave it to him and as he put it on, I said:
"And by the way, you should also not wear that hoodie. Singapore is very hot and you'll just make people wonder about you."
He nodded obediently and struggled to take off his hoodie in the closed confines of the car but managed to shrug out of it. He was wearing a white, short-sleeved crew-neck teeshirt underneath, with the black imprint of a skull on the front. His arms were indeed as muscular as I had seen from photos and I had to stifle a gasp as he tossed the hoodie over into the back seat.
"Okay, Dr Ashley. Let's go!"
I shook my head and said, "Call me Dr in public here and I'll kill you. Please, just Ash will do."
"Okay, Ash, whatever you say. I'm at your mercy anyway."
"Have you tried this before?"
"Actually, no. All the times I've been to Singapore, we usually eat 'rou gu cha', 'cos there's not much time to try other things and that is my favourite."
"Well, you have been missing out. Never mind, let me show you and hopefully, you will like it. Now let's go!"
And with that, we both got out of the car, as Alan caught sight of me and came walking towards us with a huge smile.
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