[junebaby]

I had definitely mentioned it before. About Mark keeping everything inside until he finally exploded.

I thought that Jasmine getting pregnant and Mark being with her would actually be the catalyst for them to finally have a proper relationship.

I guess the miscarriage threw those plans into disarray.

I waited the entire Friday, then the weekend, for EoS to update me about what he knew was going on with Mark. For some reason or another, he didn't.

I contemplated bombarding his phone to try to get a reply but decided against it. I wasn't a psycho. Perhaps Mark was reading the thread and told him not to say anything, or perhaps EoS was busy with his own life and would update me in due time.

In any case, Mark suddenly disappearing was still a cause for concern, and surprisingly, the people who were supposed to be more concerned about him, like Jasmine, Alicia, and perhaps even Shirlyn, didn't seem bothered at all.

I headed to the hawker centre to tapau lunch early on Monday, obviously hoping to catch somebody to see if they knew anything. As luck would have it, I spotted Shirlyn walking along the sheltered walkway towards the hawker centre. I walked faster to try to catch up with her but for some reason, she was too fast for me.

I was still intent on catching up to her so I followed as she walked along the outer corridor of the hawker centre towards the shophouses along Amoy Street. I really wondered where she was going.

I gave up chasing halfway through as the humidity wasn't helping me and texted her instead.

Me: Hey, thought I saw you at Amoy.

S: Oh! Didn't see you. Going to meet a friend for lunch. What's up?

Me: Wanted to ask about Mark.

S: What about him?

Me: He's disappeared?

S: And?

Me: You're not worried?

S: Jas said not to worry and let him be.

Me: Right.

S: He's not some vulnerable young boy please.

Me: None of you know what he is going through.

S: Yeah. But I trust Jas and Alicia. Maybe you should too?

Me: Right.

I guessed Shirlyn was off to meet her secret lover or something so I headed to tapau my lunch instead, deciding to join the absurdly long queue of the nasi lemak stall that I'd never ever joined before. Hilariously, I spotted Rebecca and Nick at one of the side tables, her bare foot was stroking his calf. I tried to see if he was getting hard under his tailored pants but obviously I was too far away.

Someone tapped my arm and distracted me from that scene.

K: Hey… can help me tapau? Haha.

Me: Oh hi Kate. Sure.

She stood next to me in the queue.

Me: Have you heard from Mark?

K: Nope.

Me: Ah.

K: I, erm… sort of have been seeing Jas again.

Me: Huh???

K: You know we were together right? Then she resigned again. Then we stopped seeing each other. Then she got pregnant.

Me: Yeah.

I didn't really know what to say in response to that but deep inside I felt an uncomfortable feeling rising.

Mark disappeared and Jasmine has supposedly moved on already? That didn't feel right at all. But who was I to judge? Perhaps she sought comfort in a familiar person. But wasn't Alicia someone familiar to her as well? Thinking about Alicia somehow made me shudder a little as I recalled our times in bed.

Anyway, inner thoughts aside, we reached the front of the queue and placed our order. I passed Kate hers as we went our separate ways back to our offices.

I sat at my desk to eat the nasi lemak. The long queue really didn't mean anything. The rice and sambal was good, but the chicken was average at best. It looked good on the outside, but once I hit the inside, all I tasted was bland meat, with some portions looking pinkish and undercooked. I finished the rice and sambal and threw everything else away. I wasn't going to risk getting salmonella.

Towards the end of the day I dropped EoS another text to “remind” him that he was supposed to update me but I was left on a single tick again.

On hindsight, I probably could have gotten Mark's address and paid him a visit. But what if he wasn't home and what if his parents were unaware of his current situation? I surely didn't want to cause them any undue worry.

I got fucked by Mike and Tom as usual just before bed, after they had finished their nightly gaming session. Oh, did I mention that Tom had actually moved in? He said it was only temporary while he and his wife worked things out somehow. Selfish me told him he could stay as long as he wanted to as that meant easier access to his cock. Sadly, he wasn't able to work from home as much as I was at the moment.

Just before I went to bed my phone buzzed.

E: Sorry. Had a very busy weekend. I'm at Northpoint this Wednesday for work. Perhaps we could grab a coffee or something?

Me: Wah. You finally replied. Actually I do need to see a dentist. How much is it at your clinic?

He told me the prices and I got a shock.

Me: You're kidding right? That's nearly double what I usually pay.

E: No company insurance? MNC right?

Me: Ours is flexi-benefits. I don't think I want to spend that much on dental claims.

E: I can speak to the dentist to give a discount.

Me: Errr… that's not really nice.

E: You're really troublesome.

Me: Haha. I just feel I shouldn't be paying so much la.

E: Then you go find those newly opened clinics, they usually have opening promos.

Me: Safe or not?

E: Huh? They're all professionally trained dentists? What do you mean by safe or not?

Me: I mean… never mind.

E: Let me know if you wanna meet on Wednesday.

Me: Of course I do.

E: Coffee only. Nothing else.

Me: Hahahahaha. I thought you said coffee or something? But like where in Northpoint can I drag you to?

E: I wouldn't know. And I'd rather not.

Me: You're such an ass.

E: See you on Wednesday.

I was eagerly anticipating the meet up. At the most I'd just bring my laptop and find a Starbucks or somewhere with wifi and just work there till he showed up.