Chapter 1 - Me

Me

Me (Noun). Almost thirty, foulmouth, jobless, living in Bangkok.

(The description of me, by me)

I lost my job, got dumped by my boyfriend, had a hangover, and just recently had a one night stand with a university student…

What a wonderful new day.

I dazedly wonder out of the mid-size IT company building with the documents which have just been recently politely rejected in my hand. When I look up to the sky, I see the sun still shining bright as always. “ *Sigh*, how am I going to be able to eat this month?”

“Phat? Is that you, Phat?” Yelled someone who is walking out of the office building. I turn back to see a man with spectacles in a wrinkled shirt and grey slack. The hair in the middle of his head had receded a lot. I tilt my neck while thinking ‘Who the heck is this uncle?’

The uncle noticed the bewilderment in my eyes and proceeded to pat my shoulder while giving a clue that he was a friend of mine during university. It took me a long time to think before finally being able to recall. “You are … O?”

“Aw, did you pretend to have forgotten me, handsome? Yeah ~ I know I have gained so much weight that you can’t remember me anymore, right?” He said with a high pitch voice while patting his big belly.

“Yeah, what happened to you, man? Are you pregnant now?” I also poke at his belly. “How many months is it? Who is the child’s father?”

“It’s been five months, the father is going to the war in Pakistan- Fu*k! Phat, you really have the nerve!” He said while raising his hand pretending to knock at my skull. I laugh while running away from him, but after playing for a while, our old almost-thirty uncle bodies begin to protest that we should not do this anymore. In the end, O and I decided to sit and find something to eat in a cafe near his office. We talk about old times and laugh at our mischievous past before the conversation is drawn into the present.

“Where are you working now?”

“I am currently unemployed.” I said with an awkward laugh.

The other side shows an apologetic face while patting my shoulder saying “It’s alright, man. Life is like this, there are ups and downs.”

I let out another laugh, but at the same time also wondered.

If life really has its ups and downs, then from that moment 6 years ago … my life must have fallen down so deep.

… Into the pit that I can never climb back up again.

I lost my job, got dumped by my boyfriend, had a hangover, and just recently had a one night stand with a university student…

However I was this morning, I am still the same in the evening.

When I came back to my room, the young man had already left. My door is properly locked with the spare key slipping back under the door. The bed sheet that is full of last night’s evidence is washed and being hung to dry on the rack at my balcony. Moreover, on my table, lay a back of food from the convenience store with a small note sticking on top. The handwriting is steadfast, but a little hard to read.

I bought these for you to eat 🙂

P.S. There is also ice cream in the fridge.

I stared at the smiley face, and couldn’t help but recall the smile from the young man this morning. He has such a pretty smile. But thinking back on what activity this pretty boy and I did together last night short-circuited my brain. In the end, I could only let out a sigh while throwing my job application documents on to my bed and went to take a shower.

While taking off my clothes into a messy pile outside of the bathroom and walking into the shower, I stopped my feet because of the reflection in the mirror. Since I was in a hurry this morning so I did not have time to observe anything, but now I noticed that there are some traces and bruises on my torso, but not so much that it looks ugly … He is quite polite.

I take another look at myself in the mirror, feeling unfamiliar with how I look. While putting in the effort of finding a job, I decided to change my look and dye my hair from brown to deep black. There is also an accident that leads to my hair being longer on one side than another which I need to push back with my hand all the time. I also take out my earring and go buy a necktie that I have never worn before. The only thing I still left as it is, is the moon tattoo at the back of my neck, which I purposely let my hair grow long enough to cover it.

But no matter how much effort I put in, I am still jobless, got dumped by a boyfriend, had a hangover, and just recently had a one night stand with a university student… sob.

After taking a shower to refresh myself, I sit down and start searching through the food in the 7-Eleven bag. I pick out strawberry-flavored milk to insert the straw and start drinking while my other hand turns on my laptop to browse through the job recruitment website. While I was trying to find the note that I threw into the bag, my eyes noticed the black print at the back of that card.

ES Company

“ES company?” At the back of the note that the young man left me is actually a business card of someone who is definitely not that young man since I saw him still wearing a university uniform.

I don’t know what made me decide to try to search for an ES company into the address bar at that moment. Even though the name sounds very plain, the company website immediately pops up as the top search. I click on the link.

“What kind of company is this?”

The website shows the works of the company, which mostly seem like Thai style graphic design from the look of the pictures, but there are also network developing work, as well as advertisement work … So what type of company is this exactly? I continue to click on the website until I get to the announcement page.

Recruiting for IT department employees. Unlimited quota.

Bingo!

I click into the announcement to read the details… which does not specify the GPA, the only specific requirement is for the applicant to graduate from Computer Science faculty or similar fields. I hurriedly arrange my resume and application documents before sending them to the email shows on the website.

The reply comes in an instant, my heart almost jumps out of my mouth seeing the name of the sender of the email, and after I finish reading through the email, I shout out “Yippy!!”

“So noisy! Phat!!” the voice of my next-door neighbor, aunt Toi, who just came back from her 30th honeymoon with her husband – which she picks a fight with every day but still has lots of kids together anyway – sounded, she also knocks on her basin as a protest.

I abruptly raise my hands to cover my mouth. Ugh! Don’t let me get rich, I will immediately move out to the place that has thicker walls than this 0.3 millimeter! Wait- set aside the aunt’s basin and the wall for later, there is a much more interesting matter right now. I reread the email, and raise both of my hands in the air “Yes!!”

That ES something company replied with the email that they want to have a job interview with me!

“I said you are too noisy!!”

… Sorry, aunty.