Mei's Journey -- Chapter 2&3

All 30 chapters are posted in my blog for anyone who wants to read more. :-)
Chapter 2: Tammy

It was just pass 8am when Mei woke up on Sunday morning. She has been so used to waking up early for work that her internal clock forbade any sleepiness to linger around pass eight o’clock even on the weekend. Or, though she hated to admit, it could be that she was getting older and her body just didn’t need as much sleep as it used to.

Back in grad school years she would cap off a week of late-night study sessions with regular weekend snooze-fests. That always drove Scott crazy since he was the outdoor-fun loving kind of guy and was forced to go hiking or biking or camping or doing whatever “exciting” activities alone. He even jokingly called himself the “Papers/Finals widower”. 

Mei did not remember when the alarm clock started to become a decoration piece on her nightstand, and it did not really matter. It must be true that once you realize how invincible you used to be, you are already getting old.

Stretching out in bed like a big crackling tree branch, she reached over to her phone and saw two text messages. One was from Dan checking to make sure she got home safely and saying good night. The other was from Tammy, the message was sent at midnight and it simply read: “So how did it go? Call me!” A big LOL surfaced in Mei’s head, Tammy must be dying to hear about every detail from last night since her own boyfriend was out of town and any tiny bit of excitement or gossip would save her from the big black hole called boredom. Mei quickly texted back: “meet me @ Panera 4 brunch, 10am sharp.”

Tammy was Mei’s roommate and 6 years younger than her. She was a freshman in the same university when Mei just started her second Master’s degree in Information Systems. They happened to rent two adjacent rooms on the same floor in a nice town house just outside of campus. Mei was in her room studying when she heard the sound of people moving in and that was when they first met. She remembered opening her bedroom door and saw this thin framed girl with wild curly hair and a pair of un- proportionally large glasses standing in the hall way, holding a big box with both hands while trying to balance another bag full of stuff with one of her elbows. Mei’s sudden appearance seemed to have startled her and she dropped both the box and the bag on the hard wood floor. Something inside the box made a bang with a splashing sound of some kind of metal or glass immediately followed.  “Oh NO, Coodie!” Tammy immediately got down on her knees and started searching in her box. Mei felt really bad and ran over to help. It ended up that Tammy lost her favorite coo-coo bird clock that day but gained a life-long best friend instead.  Still, Coodie’s name was brought up as a never ending guilt trip during the past ten years every time Tammy felt the need to win an argument or just to get her way for fun.

Hopping out of the hot shower, Mei felt refreshed and energized. She had been fit all her life; and never really needed to worry about dieting. At 5 foot 5 shopping for clothes was always easy. Her style had remained neutral but stylish throughout the years and definitely nowhere near flashy; her favorite materials were anything natural like cotton or silk.  Pulling out the middle dresser drawer, Mei quickly threw on a pair of jean shorts and a white linen shirt, and checked to make sure she had gotten everything in the purse to conquer the world: Sunglasses, wallet, lip gloss, and cell phone. She thought about texting Dan back, but decided to wait and keep him guessing for a little while. After a last check for lights, coffee pot, and stove, she headed out to be embraced by the bright morning sun.

Tammy showed up late, as always, which drove Mei crazy. Oh well, what do you do when it was your best friend? Wearing a bright orange dress, Tammy looked radiant and full of life. She had put on just a little bit of weight during the past few years, which fit perfectly on her bone structure and made her look absolutely stunning.

“So------, tell me, did you have to kick him out of bed this morning?” Tammy started giggling before she could finish her sentence.

“Come on, give me some credit!” Mei took a sip of her coffee and waved her cell phone, “I plan to text him back later, you don’t think that gives the impression that I am uninterested or anything, do you?”

After reciting the whole date by the minute at Tammy’s request, Mei felt a little dry-mouthed and decided to sit back and let Tammy fulfill her role as the BFF and put together a detailed analytical report. Pulling out a piece of napkin from the stack on the table, Tammy started writing quick words and drawing checkboxes.

“Let’s see here, Accountant could be boring at times, but stable; working for the government is a plus cause they’ve got great benefits; He’s polite, that’s a must; decent looking, wait, let me see his pictures again..” Suddenly Tammy looked up and declared in total amusement: “Mei, believe it or not, you totally scored! He’s not weird, not a psycho, makes good money and totally hot!”

The sudden burst of excitement from Tammy almost made Mei spill her coffee, “Well, hold your horses Missy, this was just the first date, I’ve only been talking to him for a week, he could be a serial killer for all I know.”

“Come on Mei, you really need to stop all the negativity and extra precautions, I am telling you, you better act now before someone else grabs him!”

“He’s not an item on a shelf, Tammy, His name is Dan…” Mei was trying to clarify her position before Tammy grabbed onto her arm and quickly pointed over to Mei’s right shoulder with her chin. “Hey, look over there, isn’t that your boss?”

Oh great, Not today! Mei reluctantly turned around just enough to see Mindy standing in line with her hu*****and Joe. It was good that they didn’t see Mei and were concentrating at the breakfast menu choices. Mei quickly ducked into a lower position on her chair and shushed Tammy: “Please, keep your voice down, I really don’t feel like talking to Mindy right now.”

“Why not? I thought you guys were friends?” Tammy seemed confused.

“It’s hard to explain… Remember the big project with CNR? They were going to announce the project lead tomorrow…”

“You mean the one you’ve been talking about for weeks? Are you going to get it?”

“Well that’s the thing; I thought it was safely mine until last week… Mindy started acting weird and refused to look me in the eye. Something’s up and I just don’t feel like talking to her right now.”

“That’s crazy, you deserve that job totally!” Tammy looked over that direction again and said, “Looks like they are having it to-go, you are safe now.”

Whoosh… Mei was able to let out a big sigh of relief. However, Mindy’s appearance had just completely killed her mood to talk about Dan or whoever else from the internet. Now she couldn’t help but to worry about work and whether she still had any shot at that job.

Tammy sensed the sudden shift in the atmosphere and felt a little guilty for darkening Mei’s mood. She decided that the best way to cheer Mei up was to change topics and what else better to talk about than her own prince charming? “So Jim’s coming back next Friday, and I think he’s finally going to propose!”

 

Chapter 3: Golden Boy

This must had been the 100^th time Tammy predicated her own engagement, it just made Mei feel a little sad for her. 

Jim, Tammy’s long time on and off boyfriend, was great. They met back in College, dated for a couple of years, broke up and went on with their own lives. It wasn’t until 5 years ago Tammy saw Jim at a reunion party and the old flame sparked again.  Jim was gentle, reliable, and a little nerdy in a good way, just the right kind of guy to keep Tammy grounded. He was from India and his Indian name was just too difficult for Mei to pronounce so she always called him Jim. Like any typical smart Indian boy, Jim went to medical school and was currently working on his residency at a local hospital in downtown Raleigh.

All Mei knew was that Jim’s parents were not too excited about his white girlfriend. They had tried very hard to twist their boy’s arms into a semi-arranged marriage. That of course caused some tension in Tammy and Jim’s relationship and almost brought it to an end.  But that was 3 years ago; ever since then, their love just kept growing stronger and sometimes Mei kept forgetting that they were not already married yet.

“So what made you so sure that this time he’s definitely going to propose?” Mei tried to hide her empathy, at the same time playing along to act excited for her friend. 

“Well, he called last night and said he had a big surprise waiting for me when he gets back…” Tammy looked down on her hand and Mei could see she’s imagining a big shiny rock sitting on her ring finger.

Mei was happy for her; Tammy deserved someone who loved her and took care of her and shared his last name with her. Actually everyone deserved that, including Mei herself. 

The brunch was cut short by a pedicure appointment that Tammy forgot to mention. And the rest of the Sunday afternoon was uneventful. Mei finally texted Dan back, but had not gotten any replies. She was trying hard not to be too pessimistic about work, or Dan or life in general.  After all, she was a successful single lady in the city, everything she had she worked very hard for; and that was some accomplishment that a lot of people looked up to.

 

As dreadful as it could be, Monday came, and then 10 o’clock came.  The tension in the conference room at Darren & Wilson’s Corporation was thick enough to be cut by a knife. To such a high-profile international IT company, this 2-million dollar CNR project was nothing but a drop in a bucket. But to Mei this was the biggest career jump she had been waiting for ever since she started here 8 years ago as a programmer. She worked her way up little by little; put in her long hours and unpaid overtime; and finally the opportunity came that she just couldn’t let it slip.  Not to mention to lead a project from proposal to end would definitely be something nice to add to her resume.

“Good luck Mei.” Roy, One of her teammates tapped on her shoulder and whispered when passing by to find a seat around the conference table. Everyone on her team knew she wanted that job, and they also knew she was the best qualified candidate for it. Mei tried to tell herself all the worrying was for nothing, but somehow just maintaining the smile on her face was drawing out all her energy.

Finally the door opened, and Mindy walked in. Mindy was a short and heavily built lady in her late 40’s. She was intelligent, decisive, and very efficient; in other words, a great boss. She had no kids and could be harsh with her employees who took too much leave when their kids were sick, but overall she was sincere and most importantly, not keen to the style of micro-management.  Mei looked up to her and can picture herself be in Mindy’s position 5 years from now; that was of course if everything went according to the plan. As Mei tried to pull out a big smile to welcome Mindy to the room, she saw someone came in right behind her.

Dressed in a dark blue suit and a gold tie to match his wavy blonde hair, a guy (or a boy?) who could not possibly be over 25 walked in to the room. He’s thin and tall, athletically built and handsome, well dressed enough to be on a magazine cover or to make people wonder about his orientation. His appearance made everyone in the room felt uncomfortable and overwhelmingly under dressed even though the company dress code was almost a beach casual. “Who is that?” Mei heard people started whispering to each other; obviously this was a surprise to everyone.

“Good morning all,” Mindy took the center seat and motioned the suit model to sit at her right hand. Oh this was not a good sign, Mei thought to herself.

“As you all know, we are putting together a team to work on the CNR proposal and project development if we were to win the contract. This is a high-profile effort due to its potential for future expansion...” Mindy took a pause just long enough to give Mei a meaningful look, “And the company senior leadership has decided to appoint Mr. Broderick to be the PM.” Mindy gave a hand gesture toward the boy who was sitting comfortably at her right, and he nodded slightly to the group with a gentle but determined smile.

Everyone in the room looked surprised, and the burning question on everyone’s mind was obviously “Where on earth did this Mr. Blondie boy come from? Or who the underworld is he?” Mei was not too surprised that she didn’t get the job.  Ever since she saw suit-N-tie come in she knew her chance at this project was terminated. Actually she was a little relived to finally receive the verdict and be released from the torture of waiting.  Closing her notebook as quietly as she could, Mei got ready to leave the room at the first chance she could grab so she could go find a corner somewhere to lick her wounds.

No matter how hard Mei was trying to hide her disappointment, it was obvious everyone started to feel sorry for her, including Mindy. She changed her tone and announced in a softer, almost empathetic voice, “Mei, you will be the deputy PM on this project, assisting Mr. Broderick. Please put together a brief on where we are and fill him in with any background info you have ASAP.”

Wait, what? Mei couldn’t believe what she just heard. If it wasn’t embarrassing enough to hand her job over to some pretty no-body in front of the group, Mindy had to humiliate her to make her the assistant to this … the word that keep popping up in Mei’s mind since the minute she saw him was “Golden Boy”.  I mean come on, who in that young age could be walking into a company to lead a multi-million dollar project without any help from Mommy or Daddy or whatever connections he’s got?

Before Mei could respond, she saw golden boy reaching out his hand to her and again with a perfect smile: “I’ve heard a lot about you, Miss Li; it’s nice to finally meet you in person. Please, call me Jesse; I certainly cannot wait to hear about your thoughts on the project. ”