Chapter 36: Nasi Lemak and the First Million

It was still at wee hours but Diana was already on the other side of the phone line asking me where we should meet later that morning. "Up to you," I told her and she suggested Nasi Lemak Kampung Pandan for us to meet and had breakfast. I had no objection. A moment later, Daniel called me and he sounded quite worried for the interview. He was meticulously asking me about everything that I would ask Diana. He gave a green light to everything I roughly presented to him and wished me good luck and more than one time he expressed his hopes that it would really work for Hey this time around.

          I showed up at Nasi Lemak Kampung Pandan earlier than Diana this time. It was obviously a popular spot for breakfast and in the afternoon, people came here for its tea time kuihs, steamed corns and fried bananas. According to Diana, she would come all by herself. She would take a taxi from the hotel she was staying at.

          In every corner of the place, the crowd were chit chatting whilst enjoying their meals. From the noise, I could still hear it that most of them were talking about works and I could see majority of them were speeding up for their workplaces, chasing every second before the clock-in time. Some of them were very calm, enjoying their meals and reading newspaper. I bet their working shifts would start very much later than the aforesaid rushing group. There were also some elderly sitting in groups having passionate conversation about current affairs. 'Must be the retirees,' I spoke to myself.

          "Can I take your order?" a guy who looked so busy with a pen and a small notebook came to me and asked. I smiled, feeling reluctant at first because Diana has not showed up yet. I looked around just in case she was already here, but to no avail.

          "Can I have one Nasi Lemak and one teh tarik , please?" I proceeded. The place was full so the last thing I wanted to do was just sitting there not doing anything.

          "Okay!" he noted down and in a very short while he came back with everything I ordered.

          The fragrance of the Nasi Lemak was really waking up my appetite. I quickly dug in and just about when I was going to have the very first feed, I could feel someone patting my shoulder. That ticked me a little bit but I managed to hide it.

          "Diana," I said when she was taking a seat in front of me. She came barefaced, without any make up on and I noticed many people were stealing a look on her. Some more than once, maybe to make sure it was really her, I guessed. Without thick eyeliners that had been her signature look in public before this, it was hard to recognize her without it.

          She quickly ordered Nasi Lemak and Teh Tarik, just as I did. She did not talk much in between the bites but instead she cleared up her Nasi Lemak all the way through and when it was finished, she ordered some kuihs, while I asked for another plate of Nasi Lemak. She just looked at me enjoying mine, without any comments.

          "Are you a morning person?" She broke the silence, in between us.

          "I actually am," I responded, mouthful of Nasi Lemak.

         "What about you?" I asked back.

          I was not sure as to why she would ask me that question. But when she told me that she was a 'morning person', I did not buy it right away. It was a bit hard for me to believe that someone like her, with that kind of profession, slept early at night and started her day early in the morning.

          "So how long have you been here in KL?" she asked more.

          "Seven years now."

          "Not bad."

          "Yes...but I feel like it was just yesterday I registered to a college here."

          " Do you like this city?"

          "Yes. All of it! The buildings, the highways, the people and its state of mind."

         "So, what is going to make you leave Kuala Lumpur?"

         "Something I really passionate about."

          "Like what?"

          "Hollywood..." I said before I burst into laughter. Suddenly there wa a man stopped by our table and handed out to us a couple BSN Prudential pamphlets.

          "Are you covered by any insurance and takaful plan already, miss?" he enquired.

          "I am."

          "Oh, I see. Which provider, Miss?"

          "This very one you are promoting. I'm paying RM 150 monthly," I knew about the package from Ally, who was a client of the same plan.

          "Okay, Miss. Maybe you can help me pass out that pamphlet to your friends or family members?"

          "Sure will!" I took them into my bags, before he left our table and we continued with our breakfast.

          "Are you really subscribing to their plan?"

          "I don't. I just said that to make him leave fast."

          Diana burst into laughters at that confession of mine. "But has it ever crossed your mind to really subscribe to one?"

          "I thought about it. But I don't know when to start. There are too many things in plate at the moment."

          "You better start as soon as you can. I know someone with the best plan for you. I can give you the number if you want it."

          "Hold on...I never knew you are doing insurance as well!? Please don't tell me you are getting commissioned for this too!?" I asked jokingly.

          "No, I don't. My friend does."

          "All right, all right... I'll think about this."

          "Don't get offended with what I'm going to say, but if you don't have a hundred thousand ringgit in your bank right now, it's high time you subscribe to a plan now."

          "But what if I already have the money? From a fishing competition that I 'won'?" Well this came out of nowhere and I thought it was a bit funny.

          "Hahaha. That's impossible. And even if you already have the money in the bank, you still need a plan like this and keep the saving growing. Being greedy is not always a bad thing. As long as you don't cause any troubles to other people," Diana said. I was thinking that she was slowly easing in into the topic we discussed on the previous night.

          "All right, Diana. Talking about this, why not we continue where we left last night?" I quickly diverted this conversation to the right one. At that point, I felt like it was Diana who were doing the interview on me, not the other way around.

          "All right. Where should we start?" asked Diana.

          "I want to start with how did you get your first million? As in Ringgit."

          "The first million? Hmm it's not really interesting. What about I'm telling you how did I get the first half million ringgit instead. Because it's the first half million ringgit that actually took me to my first million and beyond."

          "In other word, the first million ringgit never happened?"

          "Well if you want to say it like that. Yeah..It never existed."

          "Okay. If so, then please tell me how?"

          "I have a secret not many people know about. My very first half million came from the sales of Nasi Lemak and fried banana."

          "Are you being serious right now?" I responded to Diana's statement with both my eyes wide opened. It was hard for me to believe at it first.

          "I swear to God. Not many know about it, but at that time I hired a young man who was also a student to sell them for me. And that income capitalized my other businesses."

          "Hmm...it's very interesting."

          "Oh what did I even tell you that! So...what else do you want to know?"

          "What happens to that young man now?"

          "He just finished his study and wants to explore his own path. I mean of course he's not going to work with me forever, right? Luckily his friends are going to continue his job with me."

          "What? Are you saying the nasi lemak business is still up and going?"

          "Yeah. Good income. Why not?"

          "Then, why don't we just have our breakfast there? Where is it, Diana? I really want to try that Nasi Lemak!"

          "You just did, honey."

          That respond from her had me frozen for a good seconds. With my mouth wide opened, my eyes slowly rolled down to the empty Nasi Lemak plate in front of me and then up again, to Diana's face. I could not believe it that the ever crowded Nasi Lemak Kampung Pandan was actually Diana Sinclairs'. Diana started to spill everything on the table for me. From how she expanded her business left and right from the Nasi Lemak and fried banana money, to how she met her now former husband Mirza Adam Sinclair and all the challenges she went trough. And from there, she started to talk to me about money and the discipline around it.

          "It's not that easy Diana...It's so hard! With inflation that doesn't seem to go down, your advice about the discipline around money to me just now is easier to be said than done."

          "I know it's hard to do it. Especially by middle class young people like you, who is just starting to gain money and to enjoy it. At your age, it's hard to differentiate the needs and wants. What to prioritize and what not.

          Diana continued her speech to me and this time she started to talk about capitalism and the reality behind every single notes that I had been keeping in my wallet all this while. It was quite an unfamiliar topic for me honestly but because of that, I thought I had even more reasons to ask her more. Thankfully, she did not seem like someone who would just keep everything to herself. She really was generous with her knowledge and she did tell me in detail on how I should control every situation rather than being controlled by them. But after awhile though, I could feel it that she grew tired of telling me all these things. Maybe she really was exhausted from talking so much, or maybe she realized that she was spilling too much things on me, a media interviewer.

          "Diana. Are you dating anyone now?" I changed the subject, to keep her in mood. She just smiled at the question and it looked like she was thinking of something. Maybe an escape from it.

          "Can you keep a secret?"

          "Of course," I nodded.

          "What's the guarantee?"

          'Guarantee'. Hmm...she tried to end me with the question, obviously.

          "Uhmmm..." I did not know how to answer it, because I could not give her the guarantee that she asked.

          "Ahh... let me just tell you."

          "To be honest I am 'texting' with someone now. Someone...umm...he's in the computer and internet business."

          "Bill Gates!?"

         "Wow! I never thought of that. He's someone's husband okay!"

          "Hahaha! I'm just kidding! So...who is it?"

          "Johan..."

          "Johan? Johan Anuar?" I made a guess. I was pretty excited about it because I thought the rumours about them were untrue. She nodded her head, looking a little shy to say the name, and the name- Johan Anuar was not a strange name to everyone in this country. It was probably the hottest name belonged to the most talked about figure in this region. He became our pride after creating a software which was then used by almost every single office in the South East Asia. For some figure-obsessed people, his annual income down to how much he made it in every single minute were always a topic of a conversation.

          "I hope you don't let this one slipped away, all right!"

          "Why did you say that?"

          "Oh my God this one is so hot Diana! Got look...money...charisma..."

          "You're talking like you have met him before, have you?"

          "I...never," I shook my head and laughed.

          "I would imagine maybe we will look good on paper and magazine but it takes more than that. If you know what I'm saying"

          "So are you not serious about this one?"

          "I can't say much. We just met for 13 to 15 times. I can't remember and most of the time we just communicate using WhatsApp. You can't consider that as a serious relationship..."

          "But it is a good start... A very good start."

          Diana went silent for a minute. Something was in her head obviously.

          "What about the gossips of you with the athletes and the gang leaders in Miami?"

          "I did meet with them. I admit. But relationship? Ah! Pay no attention to what they write. They're just rumours. It's just good for my corporate image you know."

          It looked like Diana was telling me something sheerly about psychological games. Now I learned something new about Diana Sinclair- How she built her reputation and made herself the respectable and untouchable person that she was. It was all about connection and networking.

          Discussing relationship has turned Diana into this weirdly soundless person. For a moment, she lost for words, I noticed. I knew there were a lot of things going on in her mind instead.

          "To be quite honest, Marina..." she started to speak again after a hot minutes of silence. "I still have Mirza in my head. I can't get rid of him just yet. It's so hard."

          "We dated each other for two years. And then we married for four years before we parted ways. I still could not believe it that it has ended now."

          "He existed in your life for quite a long period. It must be so hard for you to forget about him right?"

          "Yeah."

          "I can't forget you made an announcement about your engagement with him on Youtube back then, you remember that?"

          "Yes. It looked beyond stupid, right? Oh, please! The last thing I want to know is people's comments about it. I must have been called names!"

          "I understood it. Still am. It's not so bad. You just did what other people did too. You could not hide it. You wanted to share the happiness with the world, I get that. As a human being, we can't be survived by just one people's love. We have the tendency to let other people know that we are in love. We want people to know that we are wanted, we are loved and desired. Everybody does it."

          "Yes. Everybody does it. It's just, being a celebrity, I'm so used to the camera. No matter what I do they would always end up into the camera anyway," explained Diana. Once again, she took a long pause.

          "How about you Marina?"

          That question had opened a pandora that I refused to unveil, at first. But appreciating Diana sharing her personal story with me, I shared mine with her anyway, started with my first meeting with Norman, to the moment when we met again last time at the airport. Unexpectedly, Diana really paid an attention to every single words of mine and I did not know why, I felt very comfortable spilling it all to her, that I even started talking about Daniel and Eddie.

          "So, now there's only Eddie on the line. Do you want to keep it going with him?"

          I  did not answer that. As in I could not. I really had no answer to that question. Diana seemed to understand it and she did not push me for an answer a single bit.

          "Sometimes, God really made us crossing path with some people on purpose. So that we learn something from them. And most times, these people indirectly teach us a thing or two about self love and self discovery. It helps us to find us," explained Diana.

          "Loving ourselves is sure a good thing. But often it makes us to think that this world is only our own." she continued. "If only you are being too extreme about it. As I said about being greedy last time, don't push it to the point you are causing troubles to other people. I don't know if this is true or not, but according to my experience and observation before this, if you don't love yourself first, then how on earth are you going to be able to love other people? Loving ourselves will radiate an energy that will make us glow in such a positive way and it will attract positive people to come into our lives and make everyone around us happy and at ease as we are. Honestly it's quite an easy practice for me but not many know about it and how to do it. Many people choose to be over reactive instead, especially the young ones.

          Complexity. What Diana mentioned to me just now was such a complex circle. But I did understand what she was trying to say. But it was very hard to explain them in simpler words.

          When we are done talking about love and relationship, I asked Diana about herself being labelled as an agent provocateur.

          "Why was it, all that you do would be followed by a nuclear like controversy?"

          "Uh oh, not all as far as I'm concerned. Just a few of them. While the rest..."

          "Some said you did it on purpose to sell your works. According to this one vlog, you even slept with this man who was also an investor in one of your projects, in which later resulted in you smashing all the man's enemies in every single work of yours. Is it true?" It was a bold question and I felt quite hesitant to ask her that at the first place. But contrary to what I expected, she answered it anyway.

          "Hahaha! How I wish that was the reality!" She burst into laughters after that wild accusations.

          "I just wrote down what I wanted. Long before this I kept everything just to myself. In my head...in my diary...in the scrap book that I hid under the pillow...But at one point I thought to myself, 'I don't want to keep them just for myself anymore!' I though there is absolutely nothing wrong if I share them with everyone out there. To me those words have to travel and I knew it already that some things would be the talk of the town and sensationalized by the people. So what could I do about it? I said what I said and the rest was subjective. I couldn't just be talking about flowers, chocolates and boxed drinks for the rest of my career am I right?" explained Diana, with reference to her very first work surrounding first love and obsession towards flowers, chocolates and boxed drinks.

          "So, with everything that you have accomplished right now, what else that you have your eyes for at this moment?"

          "It's hard to say, Marina. Back then nobody knew me. I thought everything would be enough at one point and I could stop doing this. But no. Now I'm in constant need to prove myself to the people out there. Talking about the price of being a public figure."

          "Are you stressful with all of this?"

          "I'll be more stressful if I have nothing. I don't know. I can't complain. I chose this road."

          "Are you happy?"

          "Tell me who is genuinely happy in this world? Tell me please! Every person has a challenge to brace. You...me...It's all the same. The difference is just the fame and the money that I have."

          Our session ended when Diana received a call from someone in her office. There's something important that required her to be back to The States as soon as possible. To me, she was definitely the best person I ever interviewed. The inspiration she gave me throughout this session was like a magic that breathed a fresh air into my lungs. She was really a special person and her strong, positive aura transcended to the people around her. I could feel it in my hand and my body when we shook hands and hugged each other before we headed towards different directions.

          But before that, Diana whispered something in my ears.

          "Everyone needs an Icon"

          I worked on the 'Diana Sinclair Up, Close and Personal' article that very night. Some things were kept only to myself, as promised to Diana in which according to her those secrets would destroy her mystic and charisma in the public eyes, while the rest were poured into the article like it had never been done before by any other magazines. Just when I was done with it, Daniel gave me a call.

          "How was it, Marina?"

          "Done and dusted! I was just finished with the article."

          "So...how do you feel? Do you think this will save Hey for this month?"

          "The highest sales in history! Mark my words!"

          Daniel laughed at what I said. He probably thought I was just kidding around and being silly just to calm him down. But I believed he was actually crossing his fingers very hard, that everything I said to him just now would be a reality.