Conquering the Sky

(Continued from 'Mixing Business with Pleasure, Again!')

As soon as I stepped into my condo, I couldn't help texting Mr Designer on my frustration. He read my sms and called me immediately. No big deal, the 3 of us can meet up to settle our work first on Sunday noon and after that, his partner can leave earlier while both of us hang out. I didn't remember exactly what I said but it was some mushy feelings stuff. He asked if I was okay and I said 'Not really, but don't worry about it.' Interestingly, he didn't hang up like most of the occupants from planet Mars would, he is not allergic to the Venus language:) He joked that he could suddenly feel a headache coming and regreted leaving the Panadol I gave him in his knapsack at home. Probably, he'd need to grow tonnes of penicilin or something soon. That got me laughing.

Like he had done once before, he nailed my uneasiness to the core there and then. He asked me a few questions and reminded me of what I said about taking things naturally. Talking to him helped me sort my thoughts and emotions until the picture became clearer. Somewhere down the road, I hope we could move further than being friends and I'd like that option to remain open. Somehow, I felt like the door was suddenly closed. He said he understood where I was coming from, yeah, really. He was relieved that I sounded a lot better than I did 5 minutes earlier.

He did ask me an interesting question – what happens in the future when I may want to spend much more time with him and he will not be able to accommodate that? So that is his main worry! I told him I only want to spend 'some time' with him, not spend 'a lot of time'. He jokingly asked me not to use my PR skills on him eg emphasising key messages, etc. LOL! Then, his battery konk out off and on and we finally gave up. It was already 6.30am, time to get some sleep.

I knew the source of his fear. He told me his ex-fiance wanted to spend so much time together. She even insisted that he put her before his kids and won't let him see his kids during his free time, she wanted every minute of it. She even put down his odd-hour job – said he was busting his ass off earning peanuts – and tried to ruin his self-confidence so she could control him.

Well, for one the woman doesn't work. She has plenty of time. The RM10k monthly income she gets as a Director in one of her father's companies is enough. She wanted him to do the same but he wanted to stand on his own 2 feet and do what he was trained to do. He admitted that it was tempting to return to her – they had some good memories too. And she had been asking him to come back, her father tried to talk to him too. However, it would only make him feel guilty towards himself.

He said his business partner asked if he missed his high-flying lifestyle while with her for 1.5 years. Of course he did. They hosted parties at The Ascot and went for group vacations in Australia, New Zealand, Phuket and Koh Samui. But at the end of the day, it was a matter of principle and he had to say 'No'.

Okay, I worked my ass off too. And the nature of my job and me being a right-brainer made me genuinely appreciate his talent and professional skills. I not only encouraged him to do his own business, but I'm now actually inspired to do the same, starting on a part time basis first though.

I learned recently that he broke up with his ex-fiance only 1 month before we met. Definitely, it is too soon for him to enter into another relationship. At least I know what he's thinking. Yeah, that I would end up demanding more and more of his time like she did, and probably like other women in his life did too, except his ex-wife who seemed to have handled that chapter well. I 'd love to meet her, she really sounded amazing. She has been paying his stock market debt since 1998, and they got divorced in 2005; in another 2 years it will be settled. She also owns a house and take care of their 2 kids, financially too. He speaks well of her and said it was 'sayang' that things didn't work out between them. Well, she's getting re-married soon. I do realised that he has always been lucky. Regardless of how bad things get, someone will save the day.

What I'm going to propose to him? Now that his troublesome ex-boss is out of the picture, he would have better control of his schedule. So, starting from 6 October, I shall insist that all work-related discussions or meetings be done only during office hours. I'm not paid enough to work weekends and until the wee hours of the morning willingly, I'm not even decently treated by my superiors. This way, when we meet outside office hours, it will be solely personal outings. There will be more quality time for both of us. Yeah, it's not about quantity. Even twice a week is okay to me, if well spent.

Hey, I'm a strategist, I learn from other people's mistakes. If the Wright Brothers hadn't put wings on their plane like several past creators, we still won't have aeroplanes till this day:)

That's it for now, folks. Selamat hari raya aidil fitri. Maaf zahir dan batin:D