"You want to hurt her don't you?"

On Sunday I got a call from my client's sister saying the client wanted to see us on Monday, so I texted GS and DC about a conference the next day and they were both ok with it. I also sent Jennifer a text message in French, saying it wasn't good weather for the beach. I guess it was my way of testing to see if she liked me or not. I went through that whole crisis anticipation again, but not as severe as it wasn't really a question and I told myself not to expect a reply. She never replied on the phone, but later posted a message on my fb in reply. So I guess she doesn't like me.

I headed out to the internet cafe in the city to print and fax the letter to the jail. While I was waiting for the fax, I got a call from Ele. I recognised her number and put it back into my pocket. In hindsight, I wonder if she was at the internet cafe and saw me. Anyway, I saved her number for the nth time, but not for calling her, but just so I would know not to pick up.

I then intended to get a portable usb hard drive from Harvey Norman, but then remembered there was a cheap computer store near the city uni so I drove there and started walking around looking for the place. I called Malay up for directions but he wasn't answering, so I called G and he gave me a pretty good approximation of the place. So with his help, I eventually found the place.

There were a few people lined up, and I grabbed a catalogue to look at. It wasn't exactly the most user-friendly catalogue, trying to list about two million products on one double sided piece of paper. The wait took a bit of time because the people already being served seemed like they were interrogating the staff about products.

Finally when it was my turn, I decided it was better to play the idiot and ask about the product, even if it was very basic questions, instead of acting cool and getting the wrong product. When I asked stuff like "what does 2.5 mean?" the guy, I don't know if he was socially inept or just rude, gave me this look and answered in a tone as if I asked him what two plus two was. Anyway, I ended up getting a 500GB usb HD for $99, which was a pretty good bargain.

When I got home I had received a message from G inviting me for a bike ride and a missed call from Shuing. I called Shuing and asked him to come for a bike ride, and he sounded reluctant, and after a bit of persuasion he said he would try to fit his bike into his car or call G for help. I gave my new HD a run and started copying some work stuff onto it, and left it on while I went to the shopping centre near me to buy a bike helmet because I didn't want G to ride without one.

When I got to his house I found out that he found his old helmet, but didn't matter anyway, since I bought mine for only $12. We went for a ride at the same place again, this time taking me almost no time at all to get used to his bike, but it took a while to ride out those little gear changes that seem to happen automatically without warning.

We did ten laps, and didn't really talk much during it, but it felt comfortable to be able to ride with someone and not feel obliged to make conversation. I can't believe how many idiots there are who stand right in the middle of the bike track, as if they didn't know that they were an obstacle.

After that we went back to G's house where his mom gave me an apple. G didn't want to come for a drink with Shuing, so I drove there and picked him up. Shuing said he was shouting me dinner and I didn't see any point in resisting, so suggested to go to that blue place in Chinksford.

While eating, we had a pretty good talk about my case and the broader views of it, like how much actual prejudice goes into it when you have a jury of white Caucasian people. He preferred to label them as bigots rather than racists, and agreed with me that the accused were probably doomed from day one.

We went for an Easyway after that, my shout, and started talking about, with hindsight, the progress of the Ele/Bobby thing which eventually led to a debate as to whether or not I should tell Ele about my proposed departure. This topic continued into the car as we were stationary outside his home talking for at least half an hour.

He kept trying to persuade me to tell her, but I kept saying I wasn't going to. Like his trade mark self, in the back of his mind the wheels were churning and he had figured it out. He shot it out like an allegation: "You want to hurt her don't you?"

I quickly and instinctively denied it with a "no!", but my reaction may have told more than my verbal answer. Maybe he had hit it on the head. Maybe that was my main aim at the end of the day.

I told him I would think about it, and we left it at that, at around 11pm. I did give it some thought, and I knew I was being unfair about the whole thing, but ultimately, what I come back to is this: she's the one who turns me down when I ask her out, I've had enough so I'm moving on.

Monday
I walked into the office, as if it was just another waiting day, and saw DD in his office. I assumed he was there doing something else. We both said hi as if it was any normal day, as if our clients hadn't just been convicted a few days ago.

I started packing things up and made one trip to my car before DC and his daughter soon arrived, and then Kate, and then GS. I packed more things and took them to my car on a second trip, and then GS offered to help on the third trip after we all went for a coffee (except DD, who had left by then).

I was a bit surprised, and maybe offended, by DC bringing his daughter when I had told him we were going to see the client. So anyway, GS and I drove out there at around lunch time, and he said it was going to be like a "hold his hand" session, which I took to mean, a form of farewell.

What the client told us during the conference raised a potentially big issue for GS and our team. Although it started off normal enough, the client showed us a note handwritten in pencil, presumably his writing. He said he thought she looked familiar but couldn't be sure, until his sisters confirmed it for him, "just before the verdict".

We left the conference feeling annoyed. Just when you thought it was over, then this comes up. GS decided to join me on my drive down to Michael D's office.

GS showed me the way, and once we were on the freeway he had a nap, lol. It was a pretty long drive, and I didn't really want to do it again, but I just saw it as a warm up to my drive up to Lismore in a few weeks. I must admit I was kinda tired, but kept telling myself not to have an accident because GS was in the car. When we got close to the area, we stopped off at a Macca's and grabbed something to eat. I saw that Rom Rom had sent me a message organising drinks for tonight, and I invited GS as well.

After eating we drove for about another 15 minutes before arriving at Michael D's office. It was a small place like I had expected, but it was much nicer and cleaner than I thought.

So this was my office the whole time.

We unloaded the stuff from my car and then went into his room to talk about what the client raised earlier. It was mainly GS and Michael D doing all the talking. I just spent the time looking around the room.

GS and I left about an hour later, and the drive back seemed a little bit quicker. I dropped GS off at his office in the city. I was really looking forward to an early night and a lot of sleep, but on the way home my mom called and asked me to bring back a bag of rice. So I went up to the Wick and got a 10kg bag of rice, because they didn't have the 25kg type she wanted, and then I drove back home to have dinner and an early night.

Today
I woke up kinda late and decided to just do a bit of work in the city, then thought I better go to Parra to do a bit of cleaning up, and I was kinda looking forward to seeing Kate and maybe helping her move her empty folders to her office. GS called and asked if I was going, and I said yes but that I was still at home, and he asked if I could bring his suit jacket back for him, and I said yes.

I went out there, didn't see Kate, but saw some junior girl from her firm looking for her as well, and spent some time on my laptop writing work emails and then looking through the stuff I had received in the mail about my new job. I signed one of the forms and dropped it off at a mail box in Parra outside JB Hi-Fi on my way back to the city, holding GS' suit jacket and all.

The train was kinda full, so I had to sit on a two seater next to a girl who appeared to be reading something for uni. I tried to doze off to sleep at times, and when I closed my eyes, I could sometimes feel her arms brushing up against me, and I secretly enjoyed that. It wasn't a sexual thing, but it was like a sensation of closeness, intimacy, that I lacked in my life.

Twish had messaged me asking what this drinks thing tonight was all about, saying she heard from PL it was a farewell for me. I didn't know it was a farewell for me and said PL may be mistaken, in an attempt to defuse the situation and to stop her from coming. Like Shuing observed on Sunday night, Twish was actually a lot like Linda, and now I was seeing it.

I had to get off at Central and walk to GS' office because my ticket only went to Central. The walk was a bit longer and harder than I had anticipated. But even thought I was 10 minutes late, GS said DC wasn't even there yet. When I was standing at the lights waiting to cross, just after I had gotten off the phone with GS, someone put a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to see it was DC, talking to someone on the phone.

We went up together to see GS, then left almost immediately to go out to lunch. While waiting for a long long traffic light to turn green, GS debriefed DC about what had happened yesterday. I'm pretty sure DC didn't expect this, lol.

GS had initially suggested the take away food court near his office, but DC chose a fancier cafe restaurant a bit further away. When I got there I wondered whether the $20 note in my wallet would be enough.

We talked about that issue throughout lunch, and pretty much came to the same conclusion, which was that we couldn't, or shouldn't, do anything now, and it didn't affect the sentencing anyway, just the appeal. But GS and I were now witnesses, although it was good of the client to admit that Monday was the first time he had told us.

GS paid for lunch, which was good of him, but I did have just enough if he didn't. We parted ways outside GS' office, and then I went home.

While I was in the toilet earlier, I had a thought. Maybe Jennifer's invitation to dinner on Friday night was just a test to see whether she could pry me away from Twish's farewell, which in itself was just a manifestation of the female competitive side trying to prove she was more desirable than Twish, and I was just a pawn. If you think about it, all the stuff she does on fb in association to me is all public, and therefore just another attempt to try to get Twish off side. Alright, act stoic towards her tonight.