Distress At The Start Of Something....

"say thank you to Dr. Chong, Colby. He has been taking care of you and made you all better," Mr. Tan said, smiling at Dr. Chong.
"thank you Dr. Chong," colby said, looking very disinterested and upset. he kept looking at the robot in his hand and playing with it.
"haha. he is such an adorable child. i hope we can get a transplant for him soon and he would be all better. meanwhile i know you are going to take good care for him," Dr. Chong said.
"i will try my best. i think my son would be able to do a better job than i," Mr. Tan replied.
"oh yes. colin right? he is such a dedicated older brother. why isn't he here today?"
"he has a lot of work to complete. after visiting this boy everyday, he's been neglecting a lot of work that he has to handle himself."
"i see. send me regards to your family. bye colby." Dr Chong said.
Mr. Tan carried colby out to the nurses counter to settle the forms and bills.

"ah Nurse Fong. I haven't had the chance to thank you for taking care of my son," Mr. Tan said.
"it's alright. it's my duty to take care of him." Mr. Fong replied. He then remembered the present that Shayna asked him to hand to colby. he took it and looked at the boy. he was sad and unhappy... somehow Mr. Fong knew the reason to his unhappiness. his daughter.
"Mr. Tan could you fill in these forms first?" Mr. Fong said.
"sure," Mr. Tan said, he sat colby up on the counter as he went to the other side of the counter to fill up the forms.
"colby? why are you so upset? want to tell Uncle Fong?" Mr. Fong asked.
"Uncle. why shayna jie never come and see me today? she knows i'm going home right? she promised to play soccer with me and bring me out when i go home," colby said, in a small and sad voice.
"shayna jie has a lot of work to do. but she never forgot you. here. this is a present from her," Mr. Fong said, passing colby the present and letter from shayna.
colby started to smile and quickly tore up the wrapping. it was a soccer ball! shayna didn't forget her promise. "wow! a soccer ball!" colby screamed. Mr. Tan watched as his son started to glow like a little excited firefly. it was so reassuring that he was all better. colby opened the letter and it said, "colby. take care of yourself. we'll play soccer soon. call me at 9xxxxxxx anytime if you need anything. love shayna jie."
after filling up all the forms, Mr. Tan carried colby up and said goodbye to Mr. Fong and the hospital and they were on their way home.

as they drove back, Mr. Tan asked colby about this girl who gave him the soccer ball.
"she's a very nice jie. she always comes and visits me with kor last time. but then they didn't talk for a long time already. but she still visits me. she says she will play soccer with me soon."
"oh i see. you like her a lot don't you?"
"yes! she's the best jie around!"
immediately when they got home, colby picked up the phone and dialled shayna's number. Mr. Tan wondered who was this girl who can make colby all light up like that. maybe his older son would have answers to that.

***

colin was cooped up in his office for nearly two days. there was so much work to settle. well, at least colby was alreayd out of the hospital. now, it's time to settle HIS problems. HIS worries. HIS work. HIS secretary! argh. well, she has been doing her job but she is such a greenhorn that she doesn't even know how to photocopy, sort and file papers properly! peggy had to teach her from scratch cos colin was too stressed up with his own work that he hardly has time to teach her stupid basic stuff like that. then as he was trying to settle some accounts for a major client, the phone started to ring. he growled and picked it up.

"hello? dear?" megan.
"hey meg. i'm busy right now. is this important?"
"is your work more busy than your girlfriend?" colin wanted to say yes but managed to stop himself before it came out of his mouth. "well, tonight's a good night to meet my parents... you know you have been delaying it for a long time..."
"meg, please. i'm very very busy these few days. you know i have a lot of work to do..."
"alright alright. take your work more importantly than me! bye!" she said before she slammed down the phone.
"meg..." too late. she hung up. colin didn't even bother to call back. work was just getting to his brain.

then as he finally maged to settle down and read the accounts again... there was a knock on the door. argh. "come in," he groaned, not really bothering to lift up his head to see who it was.
"son? i need a word with you," Mr. Tan said, sitting down opposite his nearing-to-stressed-out son.
"what issit dad? i'm quite tied down with work right now. i can't take on any more cases. this is already stressing me out." colin complained.
"i'm here to talk to you about colby."
"colby? is he alright? i thought you went to send him home just now?" colin asked, still writing down notes for the accounts.
"yes, he's fine. it's just that there is this girl... by the name of shayna..." colin stopped moving his pen. did he just hear his father right? did he just say shayna?
"what... what about her dad?"
"well, she gave your brother a soccer ball as a gift an your brother seems very happy when she's being mentioned. she keeps telling me how wonderful she was to him when he was warded. and he said that you knew her. colby's been talking to her on the phone ever since he stepped foot at home." mr. tan said.
"what? colby has her number?" colin said, shocked.
"yes. i was wondering if you could give me an idea of what is going on... maybe something more than she's the best sister ever... and she's nice..."
"shayna's Nurse Fong's daughter. you know the head nurse. and she's studying to become a social worker at the hospital. so she's been visiting colby often and being there for him when he needed someone to talk to or play with. she's very good with children."
"i see. you know her? is she your friend?"
"well, we talked when she came around to visit colby. just aquantences actually," colin lied. he was rather fond of shayna... just that... there was this other girl called megan.
"good. maybe you could invite her for dinner or just a small meal. i'm sure colby would be pleased to see her, hopefully it would help him feel better."
"i'll try dad. but i can't promise anything. cos you know, she's busy with her work and everything."
"i know. just try. it'll be a good surprise for colby," Mr. tan said, before he left the office. as the door closed behind his father, colin sighed.
"yeah it would... if only she would start talking to me again," colin said to himself as he buried his head in his work. but his mind kept thinking about shayna... colby having her number and he doesn't have it... if only he could talk to her again... if only...
then he remembered. the company has her number! she applied here before! they should have her number! he quickly picked up the phone and called peggy at the HR department.

"peggy? this is colin tan here. yes. i need you help in something. do you have the records of Shayna Fong who applied for the secretary post just recently? could you bring it up to my office once you find it? thanks peg. i owe you." he said.
wow. he was going to have a chance with her after all.


***

"lys help!" shayna groaned as she dragged her feet into Soup Junction, and plopped her whole body down on a free seat. Shayna then groaned a little more and plopped her head down onto the table. it looked as though she was going to die or something. Alyssa popped her head out from behind the counter and sighed. her friend was getting more whiney and problematic. sometimes she wondered why she ever became good friends with her.
"what's up this time shayna?" alyssa asked, passing shayna a cup of soda.
"i don't think i'm gonna ever do this good," shayna whined, without even lifting her face up from the table. she looks like she's kissing the table but oh well, what's a girl with a problem have to do around there to get attention? kiss the table of course.
"do what good?" alyssa asked.
"my course. i've been paying attention during classes... well, enough to make it through. and i've got a test tomorrow.i've never taken a test since... since, we were in uni." shayna continued whining as she lift her head off the table and her hair just looked messed up in her face, "i'm so rusty that i don't think i'll even able to lift my pen up and actually think about the question. i'm doomed!"
"relax girl. you just need to study. well, harder than usual since it's gonna be tomorrow..." alyssa suggested.
"study? ha. i can't even get my mind to focus on my books..." and the whining continues...
"why can't you focus? unless... you are regretting ignoring a certain someone," alyssa hinted, her eyebrows started to twitch.
"oh please. stop turning everything into a colin issue alright?" shayna begged.
"come on! it's obviously a colin issue. you're still thinking about him. you are faling for him aren't you?"
"no i'm not! you're my friend. you're suppose to help me. not be against me in this," shayna barked.
"shayna, face the problem. if not, it's gonna haunt you for the rest of your life and don't even think about becoming a social worker if you are gonna be like this. face your feelings girl!" alyssa said, she then noticed a customer coming in. "I better get back to work. think about it."

shayna watched as her friend served her customer. she looked at herself. why didn't she talk about it with colin? maybe they really could be just friends. no feelings attached, just friends? who knows he might just dump the other girl and... what is she thinking about? she isn't suppose to think like this! she shook her head and swiped that notion off her head. maybe the test was really getting to her. shayna then deicded to stay here and study. maybe it could help her think better and her friend could always provide her with free drinks. ha. a good idea indeed. she opened her book and took out her highlighter. time to study... then her phone started ringing. she looked at it... a private number. who could it be?

"hello?"
"shayna? it's me. colin." shayna stunned for just a few seconds. how did he...
"i'm sorry but i got your number through... through... colby. we really need to talk. i... i... i kinda missed you for the past few weeks." colin said but shayna was still stunned... for another few seconds.
"shayna?"
"... sorry. i'm kinda busy right now..."
"why don't we meet up for dinner or something... just to talk it out..." colin asked.
shayna was about to regect with one of her stupid reasons again when she remembered what alyssa said. if she wasn't going to deal with her feelings and this situation between colin and her, she really won't make it as a good social worker and deal with work and emotions in two separate issues.
"alright. we'll talk." shayna answered.
"great. so where do i pick you up from?"
"i'm at Soup Junction. meet me there after you finish work."
"great. i'll see you later then. thank shayna."
as she put down her phone, she stared at it for awhile. this was going to be one long talk.


***

the clock struck 5pm. Finally! Colin jumped out of his seat and started packing up. regardless wether he finished up all of his work or not, meeting shayna now was the priority! he looked at his workpile... only 5 more cases to settle and he was done. why not do it tomorrow? besides, he was really tired facing paper and black ink for the past two days. he needed some fresh air. colin already decided where to take shayna... a cosy little diner just beside the beach. he had his secretary buy a bouquet of flowers for the evening. it was funny as she thought the flowers were for her. oh well... colin grabbed his suitcase, his car keys and the flowers and rushed out of the office.

he quickly walked out of the office building and right down the street where Soup Junction was. he was perspiring a little but it didn't matter. all he wanted to see now was shayna. he stopped in front of Soup Junction and there she was. seated down on one of the tables busy studying. he stopped there for a while to watch her. she looked so serious yet sweet. just the way he wanted... stop! what was he thinking? on one hand he did like her but on the other he had a girlfriend who is currently pissed at him for making her feel less important.

"colin. over here." he heard a familiar voice say. he looked up and saw her waving at him. he shoved the thoughts of megan aside first and quickly rushed over to sit opposite her.
"hey. these are for you," he said, handing shayna the flowers.
"wow. they are pretty. thanks," she said, placing them aside. "so, what do you wanna talk about?"
"i was thinking if we could go for dinner at this diner by the beach. it's a nice place to..."
"colin. sorry to burst your romantic bubble. if you didn't realise, firstly, i know you have a girlfriend, secondly, i have a test tomorrow that i really need to study for and third, i think we do not need the extra mood just to talk about this." shayna said, closing her book.
"so you just wanna talk about it here? at Soup Junction?"
"why not? it's rather quiet and we are already seated down." colin sighed. there goes his cosy environment and positive response.

as they continue talking and trying to solve everything and come to a comprimise, what they didn't know was that megan was on her way up to colin's office to sorta 'kiss and make up'. she bought his favourite cheesecake and coffee. she knew he was working very hard and she had been a little short tempered today, so she wanted to be a nice girlfriend and all to him. She had to walk pass Soup Junction to arrive at his office. as she did, she saw a familiar figure seated down opposite a girl... and with a bouquet of really nice flowers too! Megan scrutinised the two figures and realised it was colin... and that social worker! she gasped! to think colin said he was busy with work! he was actually having another girl! megan was really angry... how could he...