“Hey Jude, so who’s your type in the office?”
It was towards the end of the night when Desmond assaulted me with this question. I already expected questions like this early on, but as the night went through and a couple of beers were had, I thought I was already on the clear. But it seemed like Desmond had other plans.
“You’re only asking that because everyone knows you like Faye,” I retorted, soliciting a couple of laughs from the other guys. I figured that as the only non-drinking person among a group of half-drunk men that night, maybe I could steer the conversation away from the topic.
“Shit, man, she’s so pretty but she’s as cold as ice. I don’t even know how to approach her. I really want to but... man…” Desmond lamented.
“Well, you’re doing a bad job at attempting. An anonymously placed teddy bear on Valentines? Are you in high school?” Chris quipped as he laughed afterwards.
“That wasn’t me!” Desmond objected.
No, it was him. He placed that teddy bear at Faye’s seat on Valentine’s Day. I knew it. All the guys there knew it. Faye knew it. Even our managers probably knew it. We had absolutely no idea why Desmond insisted on keeping it anonymous.
“You should have just given it to her directly,” Chris suggested. “Maybe you’d actually get a chance with her that way.”
Desmond just laughed in reply as he tried to bring the conversation back to his original question. “So who are you guys eyeing in the office?” My diversion failed.
As everyone else was already under the influence of alcohol, they soon all began to share their opinions on who’s pretty and who’s cute. It was, I suppose, your average guy talk about girls. But as the conversation went along, the attention soon shifted to the one guy who had been relatively quiet in the discussion.
“How about you, Jude? Anyone you like in the office?”
Having the question directed at me, I had no choice but to come up with an answer.
“Well, I recall seeing a cute girl recently in the office, but I’m not sure what her name is.”
I lied. I knew her name. In fact, I’ve noticed her for quite some time and I’ve been paying attention to her already. There’s a lot of stuff you can learn from simple observation: name, group of friends, work schedule. But I didn’t want to let the guys know I’ve been eyeing her for a long time already.
“Who is it?” “Describe her, we might know her.” The guys offered their help. Their curiosity over the identity of the girl was a miscalculation on my part.
“She’s a bit short. She has long hair that extends below her shoulders. She has fair complexion. Uhm… She’s chinita1Chinese-looking. She seems to be a very cheerful person, always smiling. I’ve seen her with Faye, so I guess they’re friends.”
The guys were half-drunk. Surely they won’t notice that I’ve observed too much details.
“Oh that might be Vivien!” one of the guys offered after a short pause to think. The others started to express their agreements. “The one who sometimes carry a dog plushie while walking around in the office?”
“That might be her,” I replied, feigning ignorance. They were, of course, correct. It was Vivien alright, but I wanted to play it cool. I’ve already began pretending not to know much about her, might as well go on with this ploy.
“Hmm… You guys would look nice together. You’re both Chinese-looking,” one of the guys commented. I didn’t know if he was serious or if he was just trying to tease me, but I could only muster a small laugh as a reply.
“So any plans?” Chris asked.
“Hey, I don’t even know her. I’ve only seen her around,” I objected.
“Maybe we should set you guys up?” Desmond joked as he laughed.
The conversation eventually went on and soon the night ended. But little did I know that this incident would prove to be the prelude to the roller coaster experience of my first love.
