It was two days ago. I came to work as usual and prepared for another day of battle. The phone rang at 8.40am and I picked it up grudgingly. I was expecting to hear that somebody would be either late or on MC for the day but instead the call came from a familiar but unexpected voice. It turned out to be Mystic (that's not her real name) and she wanted a favour from me.
Mystic is this elderly lady from HR who had often kept to herself and only spoke to me whenever there was a need to and it was usually on an official basis. On several occasions, I had seen her around my neighbourhood either before or after work so I knew that her home was not very far from mine. On those occasions, I had caught up with her to have a brief chat and Mystic was always careful not reveal where she lived. Only once did she give me her block number as the one adjacent to mine and quickly changed the subject. She was always quick and evasive so I kept my distance because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Then late last year, I stopped seeing Mystic around work. I learnt from her fellow HR mates that she had gone on a prolong illness leave and that nobody knew when she was coming back. So when Mystic called me that morning, I was indeed very surprised to hear from her. Mystic needed to return the key to her drawer and she would like me to drop by at her place to collect it. I sensed a note of reluctance in her voice as she was asking me for that favour but I said ok. Mystic however had some conditions. She would only reveal her address when I could 'really confirm' that I was really dropping by her place after 6pm. Yeah… I thought to myself, how weird this old lady was. She seemed afraid and yet she wanted my help. I wondered why her immediate colleagues weren't helping her but I decided not to ask. She was even reluctant to give me her home number so she asked for a one-to-one exchange of our mobile numbers. And believe me, I was equally reluctant to exchange mobile numbers with this oh-so-secretive lady. I mean, what if she was a psycho or something? Ok, I was just kidding. I myself do not like colleagues to be calling my personal number on work so I never give my mobile contact to any colleague. And this secretive lady was so strange…I hardly trusted her, even though she is from HR. (Kwa! Kwa! Kwa!)
At about 6.15pm when I was ready to knock off for the day, I made that expected call to her. When she told me her block number this time, it was the block across the road from my block and not the adjacent one as she had told me 2 years ago. Now why wasn't I surprised? She said she was too weak to walk down the stairs and she asked if it was okay if I could come up to her apartment. No problem, I said. And she promised to look out for me from her corridor and wave when she sees me coming so that I wouldn't get lost. And no, I wasn't kidding about that part. J
Mystic lives on the second floor. Her block seemed a little more rundown compared to mine. When I reached her floor, I saw her standing right at the end of the corridor. I could tell that her neighbours had probably lived there for years. There were so many things outside each door. They ranged from laundry to chairs and boxes. In short, there was plenty of junk and the passageway was narrow so I had to worm my way through to get to her. There was a musty putrid smell coming from one of the apartments. I thought it was urine. Eww.
Mystic was clad in colourful pajamas and a cardigan, a direct contrast from the career woman image that she bore in HR. Her face was very pale and the colour seemed to be drained from her eyes. Her hair had grayed a fair bit and she looked very sick. I thought to myself, she looked like she had gone through some chemical treatment on her body. Was it chemotherapy? Oh dear!
She greeted me shyly and said, "I had a fall and hurt my leg lah." I looked at her legs but they were not on any casts. Instead, they were both covered with dark green socks on slippers. "I now have to depend on a walking stick to move around." But she was leaning on an umbrella as she was talking. I nodded politely and shared with her that my mother had gone through two operations on her legs a few years back. So was she going for physiotherapy regularly? Mystic looked lost and faraway. She suddenly snapped back and asked if I would like to come into her house. "It's ok, I need to get home as dinner is waiting" I thought I saw a look of relieve on her face.
Somehow something didn't seem right. Was she hiding the truth? She looked rather weak and sickly. I brushed it off and excused myself to head home. The whole picture didn't look right but would the truth matter? I was determined to finish this errand and move on.
The next day I went to the HR department to look for the person she had told me to. Let's call her Zoe. I thought Zoe would be expecting me but no, she was very surprised. Mystic had actually told Zoe that she would be coming back over the weekend to leave her keys in her drawer so that explained why her immediate colleagues did not offer her any help on collecting those keys. Zoe wanted to know how was Mystic and I told her about her claim on having a fall but Zoe shook her head confidently. Mystic had a reputation for hiding her personal life from everyone so she had kept everyone else guessing about her illness for the past year. However, her MCs revealed that she was going through either chemotherapy or radiotherapy at some clinic and Zoe suspected it was breast cancer. Oh dear… but why would Mystic want to keep such a secret from her colleagues? I also learnt that the company would be ending her contract soon and that Mystic would be retiring as she could no longer be put on the prolong illness leave anymore. Isn't that sad? She wanted to keep her distance and suffer quietly. It has been two days now and I'm still thinking about it. Would hiding the truth really make a difference? I can never understand her intentions….
Mystic is this elderly lady from HR who had often kept to herself and only spoke to me whenever there was a need to and it was usually on an official basis. On several occasions, I had seen her around my neighbourhood either before or after work so I knew that her home was not very far from mine. On those occasions, I had caught up with her to have a brief chat and Mystic was always careful not reveal where she lived. Only once did she give me her block number as the one adjacent to mine and quickly changed the subject. She was always quick and evasive so I kept my distance because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Then late last year, I stopped seeing Mystic around work. I learnt from her fellow HR mates that she had gone on a prolong illness leave and that nobody knew when she was coming back. So when Mystic called me that morning, I was indeed very surprised to hear from her. Mystic needed to return the key to her drawer and she would like me to drop by at her place to collect it. I sensed a note of reluctance in her voice as she was asking me for that favour but I said ok. Mystic however had some conditions. She would only reveal her address when I could 'really confirm' that I was really dropping by her place after 6pm. Yeah… I thought to myself, how weird this old lady was. She seemed afraid and yet she wanted my help. I wondered why her immediate colleagues weren't helping her but I decided not to ask. She was even reluctant to give me her home number so she asked for a one-to-one exchange of our mobile numbers. And believe me, I was equally reluctant to exchange mobile numbers with this oh-so-secretive lady. I mean, what if she was a psycho or something? Ok, I was just kidding. I myself do not like colleagues to be calling my personal number on work so I never give my mobile contact to any colleague. And this secretive lady was so strange…I hardly trusted her, even though she is from HR. (Kwa! Kwa! Kwa!)
At about 6.15pm when I was ready to knock off for the day, I made that expected call to her. When she told me her block number this time, it was the block across the road from my block and not the adjacent one as she had told me 2 years ago. Now why wasn't I surprised? She said she was too weak to walk down the stairs and she asked if it was okay if I could come up to her apartment. No problem, I said. And she promised to look out for me from her corridor and wave when she sees me coming so that I wouldn't get lost. And no, I wasn't kidding about that part. J
Mystic lives on the second floor. Her block seemed a little more rundown compared to mine. When I reached her floor, I saw her standing right at the end of the corridor. I could tell that her neighbours had probably lived there for years. There were so many things outside each door. They ranged from laundry to chairs and boxes. In short, there was plenty of junk and the passageway was narrow so I had to worm my way through to get to her. There was a musty putrid smell coming from one of the apartments. I thought it was urine. Eww.
Mystic was clad in colourful pajamas and a cardigan, a direct contrast from the career woman image that she bore in HR. Her face was very pale and the colour seemed to be drained from her eyes. Her hair had grayed a fair bit and she looked very sick. I thought to myself, she looked like she had gone through some chemical treatment on her body. Was it chemotherapy? Oh dear!
She greeted me shyly and said, "I had a fall and hurt my leg lah." I looked at her legs but they were not on any casts. Instead, they were both covered with dark green socks on slippers. "I now have to depend on a walking stick to move around." But she was leaning on an umbrella as she was talking. I nodded politely and shared with her that my mother had gone through two operations on her legs a few years back. So was she going for physiotherapy regularly? Mystic looked lost and faraway. She suddenly snapped back and asked if I would like to come into her house. "It's ok, I need to get home as dinner is waiting" I thought I saw a look of relieve on her face.
Somehow something didn't seem right. Was she hiding the truth? She looked rather weak and sickly. I brushed it off and excused myself to head home. The whole picture didn't look right but would the truth matter? I was determined to finish this errand and move on.
The next day I went to the HR department to look for the person she had told me to. Let's call her Zoe. I thought Zoe would be expecting me but no, she was very surprised. Mystic had actually told Zoe that she would be coming back over the weekend to leave her keys in her drawer so that explained why her immediate colleagues did not offer her any help on collecting those keys. Zoe wanted to know how was Mystic and I told her about her claim on having a fall but Zoe shook her head confidently. Mystic had a reputation for hiding her personal life from everyone so she had kept everyone else guessing about her illness for the past year. However, her MCs revealed that she was going through either chemotherapy or radiotherapy at some clinic and Zoe suspected it was breast cancer. Oh dear… but why would Mystic want to keep such a secret from her colleagues? I also learnt that the company would be ending her contract soon and that Mystic would be retiring as she could no longer be put on the prolong illness leave anymore. Isn't that sad? She wanted to keep her distance and suffer quietly. It has been two days now and I'm still thinking about it. Would hiding the truth really make a difference? I can never understand her intentions….
