Chapter 15 : BEAUTIFUL HERMES SCARF

"Excuse me, sir. Your scarf fell off!" I half shouted to that man.

'Wow! Hermes.' I whispered to myself. That man who was standing just about 10 feet away from me turned around. He took off his sunglasses and walked to my direction.

"Good Lord! Thank you so much for letting me know! I'm lucky it's you who found it. Thank you!" He said with an ear to ear smile.

'Hold on, wasn't he the guy that I met on Michelle's spa launching the other day?'

I was going to confirm it with him. Unfortunately like a flash, he disappeared.

'Ah never mind... He was probably onto something very important. I told myself to make up my little frustration.

**********

"You can have your lunch, and then be back here at 2pm all right!" Mary's announcement resonated loud in the office.

"Marina, let's have lunch together?" Asked Rani who was sitting just next to me.

"All right let's go!" I changed the code in the computer system and after that we headed down  to the Capital Square for lunch.

"Oh my God!" Rani shouted with her palm onto her forehead, as we reached the lobby.

"What's wrong?"

"I left my wallet, Marina..."

"Hmm...it must be in that rattan basket on your table, right?"

"I think so. Can you wait for me here please? I'll be right down!" asked Rani running back to the office.

"Okay! I'll be outside all right! Don't be too long!"

As I was walking out the Multi Purpose building, all of the sudden something got into my eye. As a reflex, I covered my face with my hands. It was quite painful. I started to rub my eye harshly and that probably had made it sore red.

"Hey, are you crying?" I heard someone was talking to me. But I could barely open my eye to see the owner of the voice.

"No...something got into my eye," I shook my head, responding to him.

"Take this!"

A ply of Kleenex. I took it from his hand and rubbed it onto my eye. With the help of the tissue paper and my tears, the pain eventually went away and I could finally see again. My sight became clear again and I was stunned to see the person standing in front of me.

"Harry! It's you!" I said to him while rubbing my eyeball as if it was not already red.

"Are you by yourself, Marina?"

"I am. Oops I'm not! I'm waiting for a friend." Suddenly I became skittish. I never expected that Harry would be right there in front of me, talking to me and saving me from what just happened.

"Well then, where is she?"

"In the office. She left her wallet there." I told him.

"I can't believe we'd meet again, Marina."

"Yeah man me neither! At first I thought this thing inside my eye got me hallucinating and seeing stuffs, you know!"

"You know what, sometimes our eyes are seeing things that we really wish to see. Were you wishing to see me?" said Harry in a very naughty voice and smile.

"Marina!" Rani shouted from afar.

'Oh God...thanks Rani! You just saved me! I did not know how am I going to respond to him if you did not show up!' I said it in my heart.

"Oh, there she is!" I pointed to Rani who was by the way looking like a Bollywood actress walking gracefully in her Saree towards us. I later introduced them to each other.

"Where are you guys going to have your lunch at?" asked Harry.

"Capital Square..." Rani answered immediately.

"What if I buy both of you lunch today? As a thank you treat," Harry proposed.

"A thank you treat?" I asked him back, clueless.

"Oh...you must have forgotten about my scarf incident the other day right?"

"Ah... It's nothing Harry. Anybody would have done the same. You don't have to do this."

"Oh Marina come on! Can't you hear a drum in my stomach already? I don't think we should turn him down. Look at that sad face..." Rani teased both Harry and I. Her face was beaming with smiles looking at him.

"So how is it? Is that a yes from both of you?" asked Harry.

"Well of course! Where are going to?" Rani just couldn't contain her excitement it seemed.

"How about the Capital Square?"

"What? That old place?" Rani responded. I know she's just teasing, but I think it was overboard and I could not help it to not give her 'a stare'. You know like a mother warning her naughty child while at someone's home? Yes that stare. I was afraid that Harry did not get the tease or received some kind of wrong perspectives about us.

"Sorry. That's all I can afford." Harry replied to Rani. I could see he laughed a little bit at Rani's behaviour. From there, I knew he understood that Rani was not being serious.

"Well then, Capital Square it is! So how, Marina? Just say yes please! It's not everyday a handsome guy buying us lunch!" Rani making her final plead.

"Hmm...all right." I nodded slowly. To be quite honest I wasn't really comfortable to go out with Harry for the lunch. But to think about it, yes...what could go wrong? Plus I had Rani with me. And...I could save some money as well that day. Ka Ching!

As we were having lunch at the food court, we could not help it not to exchange stories about ourselves a little bit.

My curiosity about Harry's career when I met him at the spa the other day finally ended when he told us that he was working with Terry Lee Publication which was only a couple floor up from TNS. Harry added, he involved in photography a lot. At some point, when Rani asked, he would share a little bit about his boss, Daniel Lee, the infamous Editor in Chief of the Hey Magazine.

"It must be fun working with Daniel isn't it?" asked Rani.

"Hmm it's okay," answered him shortly.

"You looked very tired, Harry," Rani seemed couldn't wait to tell Harry that. It's true though, he did looked quite fatigue. I could count with both my hands just how many times he had been yawning since we started eating.

"Oh no. I'm not tired. Just lacking some sleep last night," he said.

"Awwwh, how pity." Rani continued. I noticed those big round eyes had not been blinking looking at him. But I just let her. It was funny sometimes seeing her being smitten.

"Rani, are you from Penang?" asked Harry. Maybe he could hear it at some points that Rani had been using the Penang dialect.

"Oh no. I'm from Kuala Lumpur. Born and bred. I just sometimes like to use their slang or dialect."

"Ahh I see. What about you, Marina? Are you from Kuala Lumpur?"

"No. I'm from Johore."

"What about you, Harry?" Rani asked.

"I was born in Malacca. But raised in Singapore."

"Oh so are you actually a Malaysian or Singaporean?" Rani just becoming more curious.

"I am Malaysian. Honestly my dad is from Johore and mum's Singaporean. After they got married, they decided to make Singapore a home. My mom was pregnant with me and she wanted to give birth in Singapore. But she didn't make it there on time as they were in Malacca that time and so...Malacca it is!"

"How funny! But what were they doing in Malacca? I believe your mother was heavily pregnant at the time."

"They were actually on their way home to Singapore. But they decided to detour a little bit to Malacca to visit a friend. And there I was, so eagerly to see this world for the very first time! Nobody expected that I would be birthed sooner than they thought."

"Oh so you were a premature baby weren't you?" I was being curious.

"Yeah...by few weeks. I was born three weeks early."

"Maybe you really wanted to be a Malaysian! And so you took all the chance in Malacca to get out there!" I said jokingly.

"Well, maybe..." Harry laughed. "Oh Marina, can I ask you a question?" Harry continued, out of the blue. He was looking at me straight in the eyes. Now I really did not favour that question. And this situation. It made my heart skipped a beat.

"Yes, what is it?" I replied, in what had been the most pretentious calmness I ever shown.

"Do you know how Jementah got its name?"

'Jementah? Where is that place?' I tried to remember if I had ever heard that place before.

"No. Do you?" that reply from me was meant to kill two birds with one stone. First was to know where it's exactly at, and secondly was to know how it's got its name. Because I clearly had know idea about it.

"Of course he does! He won't be asking us that question if he does not know anything about it, right Harry? Now please! Tell us! We want to know about it! Quick!" said Rani in eager forgetting that the question was actually for me.

"Okay so this is how it started...Ehem!" Harry took a pause and cleared his throat.

"Once upon a time, in a district named Segamat..."

'Ahh..Now I know it's in Segamat. No wonder Harry asked me this,' I smiled a little but deep inside I was laughing at myself before I continued listening.

"...there was this place believed to be burying lots and lots of gold. At that time, the place was still full of big trees and weeds."

"So the golds were buried in the jungle?" Rani butted in.

"Yes Rani. That's correct. The golds were buried deep in the jungle. But regardless of that, nobody had ever gone into it to look for these golds. Until one day, came these two men with an intention to find the golds. They were very persistent and worked hard until dark cutting all the trees. However, as they woke up from sleep the next day, they were shocked to see all the trees were standing still and alive, just like before they cut them."

"So what did they do?" asked Rani again.

"They did not give it up. Once again they cut all these trees just like yesterday. But the same thing happened again tomorrow."

"You mean the trees went back to like they were before?"

"Yes. But that did not wear them down a little bit. They kept trying and trying, and in the same time be getting the attentions of the passers-by who most would ask them both a question-  'Still going?'"

" What did they answer?" asked Rani again.

" They said- 'Jemu-Jemu' and at some point when someone asked them when would they expect to clear the spot up, they both just said 'Entah'. The questions from the people around kept coming and after awhile all they answered were 'Jemu' and 'Entah'."

"Well let me guess, at the end 'Jemu' and 'Entah' became 'Jementah'. Am I right?" I asked him, after listening so patiently.

"Yes. You are right, Marina," Harry smiled.

"What happened to those men after that?" I asked him again.

"At the end, a miracle happened when all the trees they cut down stopped growing," answered Harry. He took a pause, drinking. Rani and I was staring at him waiting for him to continue the story but instead he seemed like he has finished with it as he reached his food and continue to finish them.

"Is that all?" I asked him with a full question mark on my face.

"Mmm yes!" He nodded.

"What about the golds?" Rani asked.

"Yeah. Are they becoming rich?" I added.

"Oh about that, I have no idea really," Harry replied with a big laughed.

Rani and I were both looking at each other. I did not expect that his story would be that bad, so bad that if he had a telepathic ability, he would surely hear me laughing at him inside my heart at the moment. But Rani on the other hand seemed having a fun time listening to the story with a big, joyous laugh.

"You are such a funny guy Harry! Really funny!" said Rani as if she had just done watching Raja Lawak. Harry looked at me with a smile. I was not sure if he realized that his story has actually failed to amaze us, and that Rani was honestly just faking her laugh.

"Rani. It's thirty minutes past two. Shall we go now?" I said to Rani who seemed to still so entertained by Harry's story.

"Are you guys going back to the office?" asked Harry.

"Yes. Are you joining us?" offered Rani.

"It's okay. I have to work outside after this. So, I think I'm going to just chill here first," replied Harry.

"Well in that case, goodbye Harry! Thank you so much for the treat just now!" said Rani.

"Thanks Harry..." I added.

"My pleasure. I really hope we can meet again soon!" Harry's last words before we left. I just nodded a little bit and smiled to him.

"Marina, when he mentioned "We" just now, did he mean 'me, you and him', or just "you and him?" asked Rani as we were walking back to the office.

"Rani...don't even start!"

"Well I don't have to start anything Marina, it has already started..."

"What's that supposed to mean? Sounds deep, Rani!"

Since that day, we often had lunch together with Harry. Normally, Rani and I would reach the Capital Square first before Rani would invite him to join us every time she saw him around and every time he joined us, he never failed to share with us all the classic tales he knew. Some of them were funny while the others were less than that. But it looked like Rani was a big fan of all of them!

"Tell me what are the examples of the tales this Harry guy told you?" asked Ally as I was telling him about Harry at the Dr. Love.

"Oh more than I can count with my hands! About Teluk Sengat, Tuan Puteri Si Helang Bakau, Si Jambul, Tasik Garu..."

"Huh!? Lorong Garu?" Gina slotted in.

"Girl, it's Tasik Garu! Not Lorong Garu," I pinched Gina's shoulder as I knew she was purposely making that up, trying to switch Tasik Garu with another place in Penang Island called Lorong Garu (Scratching Alley) which was known for its backdoor activities.

"Oh sorry. My ears were so sensitive with this 'Garu' word," said Gina followed by a big laugh from her. "I wonder… where did Harry learn about all these tales?"

"As a kid he must have been an avid reader," guessed Ally.