Chapter 3: Chapter 3. The Merge pt. 2
"That's alright," and, as if she could read my mind, she continued, "I wasn't abandoned on a church or something like that. My parents died when I was a baby. Since I have no other relatives, the government sent me to the orphanage. The orphanage has some records about my parents."
"Uhuh," such personal information was easily shared? Also, such rich lineage but no other relatives?
"How about you? Any relative here?" That was the first time she asked something personal about me.
"Nah, my parents are both single child. So no uncles, aunties or cousins for me," I answered, trying to be as open as I could to reciprocate her openness.
"Where are they now? Your parents I mean," asked Susan.
"They're both dead. Accident."
"Uh, I'm sorry," she apologized. She was good at conveying her feeling, I could really feel that she was sorry.
"I don't really remember them. I was still very small at the time," I honestly told her. I had no idea why I surrendered her that information.
"So, we're both orphan then, no family around," Susan said while looking at her glass. I was about to tell her about my living grandparents but another colleague joined us and conversation went another direction.
On our way back to hotel we got to talk a bit again. By this time both of us had drank quite a few and I felt quite a bit carefree.
"How old are you, Ms. Xu?" I suddenly asked.
The scenery of night time Seoul was quite nice. Modern building were seen everywhere and lamps, billboards and street commercials were brightly lighting the city. It was a scene not unlike any other capital city of developed country. It was captivating and breathtaking.
Susan looked at me, she seemed slightly amused. However, she never acted like a timid woman so I guessed the question should be fine for her. And she indeed replied, "I'm 32. Why do you ask?"
"We're the same age. Don't you thing calling Mister this or Miss that is too stiff?" Before I could stop it, my mouth already went on. I must've been really drunk to talk like this to the future wife of the company's heir.
"Then let's call each other by name from now on," She smiled. Was I drunk or the night atmosphere just got to me? She looked more beautiful than usual. How was that even possible?
"Great. I'll call you Susan then," I happily said.
"Phineas. Or is it Phinny?" Susan leaned on a bit toward me, which startled me.
The outline of her outfit showed a great deal even without a revealing suits. She had a healthy fit body and tremendously long legs. Complete all that with her beautiful face, she was a total package of perfection. I was only a normal guy, how could I not be affected by this sudden leaning of such a woman? Did she do that subconsciously or consciously?
I went rigid for a second, "Definitely not Phinny." I shook my head violently, trying to pull my mind before it went ashtray, and heard her laugh.
This woman was devilish, I thought.
"Can I be honest?" She asked.
"Shoot," I nodded.
"Phineas doesn't really fit your face," She told me.
My face went rigid, again. What did that even mean? Was there something wrong with my face? I instinctively started touching my face.
My reaction must had been an amusement to her because she laughed. "There's nothing wrong with your face. It's just that you're totally Asian. This English name doesn't suit you much. What's your real name?"
"Ah, I see. Well, it's Shi Huicheng. Hui as of bright, Cheng as of city," I told her.
"Nice to meet you Shi Huicheng. I'm Xu Yuanmei. Yuan as of garden. Mei as of beautiful," She copied my introduction style and extended her hand.
"Nice to meet you Xu Yuanmei. Hmm, Yuanmei... very nice," I praised. I met her hand. We jokingly shook hands and it felt really nice. Her palm was soft and warm while, on contrary, mine was a bit cold.
"Huicheng sounds nice to. Not a common name but nice nevertheless," She reciprocated.
"I was told me that my parents liked to call me Chang Cheng. Don't know how they got that," I laughed.
"Chang Cheng? Nickname from your parents huh? Chang Cheng," And then she kept saying that nickname, repeatedly, as if absent minded. After that, her playful manner suddenly gone. At such close distance, I could see that she was actually frowning slightly.
"What's wrong?" I asked Susan. Her face somehow seemed unclear. I could not tell what she was thinking right now.
Susan seemed a bit hesitant.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"No. It's fine. It's... didn't you say you are orphan?" She returned to her previous demeanor and looked at me with a questioning look.
"My parents were dead when I was 6, yes. After that my grandparents raised me," I replied.
"You don't remember your parents? At all?" she slowly said.
"No. I don't remember anything before moving in with my grandparents. My grandfather said that I forgot because I was shocked due to the accident and at suddenly losing both my parents at the same time," I told her. I did not know why I tell her those. I never even told this to my buddies.
She inquired, "What is your parents' names, if I may know?"
It was not a secret, so I told her my father and mother's name.
"I see," after saying this she seemed to be in deep thought and did not want to be disturbed.
With her suddenly going into such mood I did not know how to react. My mind was a bit clearer now so I could make better decision. I did not feel interrupting the girlfriend of the heir of the company I worked for was a good idea. So I left her alone with her thought this time. Even though she was a friendly person we never really had personal friendship before nor had we socialize with each other before this project.
Personality aside, I got to admit, now that I saw first hand, that Susan was really a fine employee. This was the first time I am partnered with her and I could easily see that the bad rumors surrounding her were not true.
She was efficient and at the same time she was also really smart. Her leadership was on point and assuring. When she needed to be flexible, she would be flexible. When she should be decisive, she would be decisive.
I met many people, so called leaders, in management positions in various companies. None of them match up to her. The rumor that said she was using her beauty was unfounded, most probably spread by jealousy of her success and intelligence.
Of course, that was only my opinion anyway. I never really cared how she got the job.
That said, I really don't mind the extra nice things happening to us. We got the first class seat on the plane and stayed at five star hotel. Susan got a suite while I got a lower class room, but still nicer than the usual room I got. Susan did not say anything and I can pretty much guess the reason behind these.
Two days before our supposed schedule to go back to our headquarter office Susan approached me after a meeting.
"I have to go back earlier. Can you take care of the rest of our meetings here?" she said, catching me off guard.
I thought she was talking about going back to hotel today so I readily said, "Alright, there's nothing much left to do today anyway."
"No, I mean, I'm going back to Shanghai. So I need you to take care our scheduled meetings tomorrow and the day after," she explained.
Well, this was news to me. I was not really equiped to handle the talk after acquisition so I was stunned. Susan Xu seemed to understand my short silence. She continued, with a little bit bossy tune, "I need you to go through the rest of their current processes that we didn't get over yet. Can you do that?"
"I see. Alright then. Is there emergency?" what else was there for me to reply if the boss already made the decision. No matter how she blanketed it nicely, it was still an order.
"Yes, the management meeting is suddenly moved to tomorrow morning. It was originally scheduled next week," she told me.
"So you're going right away?" the time was 3 PM.
"Yes, I have my flight reschedule to tonight. I'm stopping by the hotel to get my things."
"Alright, have a safe trip then," I told her.
"You have my number so called me if you find any problem here," she said.
"Ok," I replied as we reached the elevator. A staff has been waiting with an open elevator. She got in and waved goodbye to me. I waved too and the elevator door closed.
I returned and continued with another meeting. Now I started to feel the burden of the meeting. When Susan was here, she was the chair and the driver. Without her, I was the one and only representative of headquarter office. While most of them can speak English but it was not fluent. To make matter worse, apart from some sentences pertaining to simple greetings and ordering food, my Korean was not nearly good enough for such professional meetings. I started to feel headache escalating when I remembered that there were still two days worth of meetings waiting for me.
I did not work overtime today. I went back directly to the hotel after the meeting concluded. I originally planned to go to sleep early because my head was killing me and my body felt tired. Just as I was about to enter my room a message appeared on my cellphone.
It was from Susan.
"Sorry to leave you like that. Let's have dinner when you get back. My treat."
I stared blankly at the message. I knew she was friendly but never to such extend. Dinner? Who was I in the company? Compared to her I was nobody. She felt bad and wanted to treat me to dinner? Well, who in the right mind would refuse?
I then typed, "No problem. Have a safe flight." And pressed send.
Right after this, I felt so much lighter and the headache gone. I suddenly felt like going for a stroll.
I thought about buying souvenirs for my grandparents and a few close friends. After all, this was the first time I visited Seoul. I took a shower and then went to the hotel lobby. With the direction the receptionist gave me I left the hotel.
The hotel where I was staying was at the center of Seoul. It was quite easy to go around. I probably didn't have to grab a taxi but used one anyway. I was never much into sightseeing. I would rather go straight to wherever my destination was.
As I suspected, it wasn't a long drive. I exited the taxi and paid the fare. I did not take the receipt. This was on private time and for personal purposes so I did not plan to reimburse the expenses.
I scanned the area and liked what I see. The place was bustling with people. Everywhere I looked there were all kind of people. They were either busy with their private businesses or just strolling, like me. The lights were shining bright, not a single place on the street was left dark, except probably those dark alleys which existed in every corner of every cities in the world no matter how sophisticated they were.
Stores were lined up everywhere my eyes landed. I could see many people going in and out of those stores.
All kind of faces were here. Really lively. It was no less lively than my own city even though the population of Seoul was less than Shanghai.
I hadn't had my dinner because I planned to try out the many food stalls here. I jumped from one stall to another. Buying a small amount of light food or snack and strolled around while eating. It was a delightful experience because some of the food tasted awesome on my tongue.
I thought it would be a bit difficult to communicate using my poor Korean but the many food vendor here were amazing. Some were really perceptive. We could communicate with simple body languages and a few fingers. How wonderful would that be if I could conduct the meetings at the office like this?
Shortly after, I found an interesting store. They sold a lot of sports equipment on the first floor. But that was not what interest me. What interested me was what I saw displayed at the glass window of the second floor.
I went in. A nice clerk came up and greeted me. I motioned to her that I wanted to go to the second floor. She pointed the way to the stairs and led me up. Once I arrived, my eyes immediately caught many interesting items. Weapons to be exact.
This second floor sold weapons that were used for martial sport. My grandfather was really into this kind of thing. I browsed the items and after about a quarter hour decided on a sword. The store clerk said, in acceptable English, the name of this type of the sword was Geom.
After trying to haggle a bit, and failing miserably, I finally had it gift-wrapped. The clerk was creative as well. After the box was tied, she was able to made the rope formed a loose bow string. With this, I was able to carry the box by strapping the string over my shoulder. It was really convenient.
I was happy to find this for my grandfather. It costed quite a bit but, hey, how often would I come to Seoul?
My next target would be a dress for my grandmother and some souvenirs for my friends. I was thinking about buying something for Susan as well. She was kind enough to invite me to dinner. But I finally decided againstit. We barely knew each other and she was too attractive. It would be disastrous for me if anyone misunderstood my intention.
Thinking about Susan, by this time her plane should have already landed at Pudong International.
I was strolling when, out of the blue, weird low pitch sound was heard. The sound was accompanied by unknown rumbling. I stood still and tried to discern what the sound was.
The low pitched rumbling sound was not subtle at all. It was everywhere. At the start, only a few people was paying attention, like me. But now most people started to stop what they were doing and listened carefully. After a while, not only people on foot were stopping, those in their vehicles also stopped. The weird sound was hard not be noticed.
However no matter how hard I tried I could not made any sense of it at all. What kind of sound was that? What was the cause of it? Before the confusion caused by the rumbling sound subsided, the earth started to shake.
I was not the only one who felt it. Many people looked around or at each other. Several people have reacted quite fast. Trying to find cover, as if preparing for earthquake. And then we were surprised a third time. The weird low sound was gradually became higher and higher.
Many people were holding their ears trying to block the unpleasant sound but it was to no avail. It was not hurting us but it was just, well, really unpleasant. It was like hearing a misconducted symphony.
That was not the end, however. The sky, originally dark as it was night time, suddenly turned black. I meant really black. I could not see any cloud nor could I see any star. Even the moon was missing now. What was going on?
Suddenly, I felt dizziness in my head and saw people are starting to fall down to the ground. Then everything went black.
I did not know what exactly happened but when I woke up I was lying on the street. Exactly where I was standing before.
I checked the time on my phone. It was almost 10 PM already. So I was unconcious for more than two hours. What exactly happened? The people around me, who were unconcious before, were also starting to wake up. The confused looks were showing everywhere. Some were asking each other but it did not look like anyone had the answer.
What the heck happened to us?
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