Naby Valentine's

What a big day yesterday.

I skipped gym in the morning because I had court, so I got to the office at about 8am just to make sure I had everything ready. It was one of Sarah's matters where I would be instructing Georgina.

I met Caroline and the maid outside court, and it was a bit awkward at first but then Caroline suggested coffee. While waiting for them, I spotted Georgina and went out to get her. We gathered around and then decided to go get a conference room.

In the room, we talked about the maid's statement a bit before Georgina and I went out to wait for court to open. We talked a bit about eachother, before we went into court. Matter was mentioned but we had to wait for our matter to be allocated. She had me sit in court to wait for the matter to be mentioned while she went to discuss the matter with defence.

Later on I ended up in the room with them, and goddamn they were pushy! The sol called Jason was a bit of a prick, always pushing more and more, and looking to trap Georgina into any corner they could find. I was proud of the way she stood up against them, and just said no to things they wanted. Their barista, who was supposed to be quite famous, was a bit more courteous but still just as pushy.

The negotiations went on for a long time. We got allocated at close to 1pm, and then because it was so close to lunch, the mag decided to do it at 2pm anyway. This was good, because it gave me time to go back to the office to photocopy things and to make some phone calls.

Ele had messaged me for lunch, but I had to decline. She would've returned from China the day before. Wonder why she was so eager to meet. If she wasn't married, the smiley face she put when she said next time would've made me think she was interested.

I had to miss lunch to do all my work, and got so caught up I was late in getting back to court. I don't know how late I was, but by the time I got there Georgina was on her feet. I was wondering what she was saying since I had the documents everyone needed. I apologised when she sat down but she didn't seem to mind. She seemed to appreciate my assistance once I was there.

It didn't end up finishing, because the mag wanted to think about it and adjourn it to the next day.

I went back to the office and did some urgent things before finishing up at about 5:30pm. I had decided to see Naby, so I went off in search of my Valentine's Day presents even though I hadn't confirmed whether she'd be working or not.

I went to Morning Glory and bought the Domo tissue case. I then went to Kinokuniya to buy the music box. I then caught the bus home, put the stuff in my car, went up to freshen up a bit before driving off to Chatty. I looked at the time and realised there was no way I was going to make it to dinner by 7pm.

I got stuck in traffic just before I got onto the bridge. It was so bad I thought about giving up. I had already messaged G that I'd be late, maybe I could tell him I was bailing, go see Naby and have an early night?

But even if I did decide to give up, I couldn't just u-turn and get out of there, I was basically in a tunnel, so I had to go through it anyway. As it turns out, when I got through that jam, traffic was flowing pretty well.

I got to Chatty about 15 minutes late and found parking after driving around the block a couple of times. I called G and he said he saw me drive around, and I later found him standing outside the restaurant waiting for me. It was a bit unusual I thought - he didn't normally need my support, but here he was waiting for me. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure we'd sit together.

Anyway, we went in, signed off (and they had our names ON THE LIST instead of the other one, not organised by this group, which I suspect had rigged the list) and paid. We stood around wondering where to sit for a while. A lot of people had been seated, and there really were no instructions as to where to sit. I spotted a table where only a guy and girl were seated, so I thought that would be good. Every other table had at least three or four people on it.

G still seemed undecided, so I pushed him a bit more. We walked over, and turns out there were two girls and a guy. We said hello and sat down. We introduced ourselves. The guy had the same name as me. I didn't get the name of the girl sitting next to the wall, but next to her was Amanda.

Amanda seemed quite outgoing. I thought she was ok looking, but I think a bit of attraction built up for me when I found out she went to the gym everyday, enjoyed sports and the outdoor, and was willing to try anything once. Her parents were from Hong Kong and she was born here. I felt like I had met my equal. She said she was in HR information systems and had travelled the world quite a bit.

I thought there was a bit of connection there until I thought about it too much, which made me just sit there and admire her which may have freaked her out. I liked the way she was willing to eat the chicken wings with her hands, whereas the rest of us were trying to be 'polite' by eating it with chopsticks. She seemed like a bit of a tomboy, and I liked that. She looked like the type who wasn't afraid to roll their sleeves up to get the job done.

She suggested we (G and I) meet up at her place to play tennis one day. I thought that was a great idea, but then nothing much happened. In the middle of dinner another girl arrived, her name was Miki, or Niki. She seemed more like G's type, and I was glad we now had three girls and three guys on our table. She didn't seem to want to talk to me much, but I didn't care, my attention was on Amanda. I did, however, try to talk to her at times to get my attention off Amanda, and also because I remembered reading about that 'trick' you do by focusing on another girl, as long as you're not focusing on the girl you want.

Later on Amanda brought up tennis again, and got out her phone. She was about to have G type his number in, but she noted his oily hands and typed it in herself. I thought I was next and took my phone out to get her number as well, but she got Miki's number. Finally, she handed me her phone and I put in my number, and asked her to call me. She did, and I saved her number.

Nothing significant really happened after that, just normal chit chat. Although when we were talking about games, she did say "I don't play games" which I thought may have been a hint as to her personality. The guy with the same name as me had locked in to the girl against the wall, and I was glad cause that meant it was just the four of us. But later on, we had to switch tables, where the girls stayed but the guys changed tables so we could all meet new people. This wasn't good - I had looked around before and thought we had gotten the best table (really not many lookers there). I soooooo didn't want to leave.

All the guys were given one small chocolate heart to give to a girl of their choice. No doubt, I wanted to give mine to Amanda - but how? I placed it in my shirt pocket so it wouldn't melt.

But anyway, us three guys moved onto the next table where it was a bit awkward because two of the girls had to leave, so only one girl was left. We had a bit of a laugh about it, but because she was sitting opposite G, they ended up talking, while I just talked to the guy with the same name as me.

We moved onto another table with Jessica and Emily. We joked around a bit about seeing eachother here. Emily said "nice to meet you" and I was like "don't you recognise me?", thinking she was serious for a second. She said "of course I do" and we started talking. She hadn't replied to my comment on her fb, so I assumed she wasn't interested, which in turn meant no pressure or expectations on my part.

Turns out that she's only at the pharmacist casually, but also does interpreting work. She said interpreting for court was very stressful, so she prefers to translate. When she found out what I did, she started asking me questions about how a girl could avoid going to court for an AVO. I figured it was her, and thought "great, why do I meet all these psycho chicks", but then she said she had a friend who was in that situation.

She asked for my card and I gave it to her. As we left, she said to invite her to anything William was organising.

At our next table, I sat next to G and we 'worked' on these two girls, even though neither of us were interested in them. The guy with the same name as me was clever - he pulled his chair up to the side of his girl to get closer. But anyway, it only looked like we were 'working' on the girls because we were just talking to them, it always seems like that when you're a guy. Sometimes during short awkward silences, the girl in front of me would turn to her friend and giggle. I wondered what was so funny.

Our next table was in the corner, where G and I met two sisters. Not lookers at all, but we had a good time talking. I really felt like G and I were getting in tune with eachother. Sometimes I'd accidentally cut him off, but then I'd make up for it by directing the conversation towards him with a compliment.

Our next table would be our last, and for some reason some guy didn't move, so G didn't have a seat, but it didn't matter anyway, since he wanted to avoid his ex-girlfriend's flatmate. I talked to this very chubby girl, and decided to use it as practice. I doubt she was interested in me, so I guess we were both just being polite. She did, however, say she recognised me from the charity event.

After that Mike the organiser tried to get everyone into a group photo, but it seemed like only the guys were up for it, as we all stood there waiting. I kept looking over at Amanda and wanting her to come over. After a while, she walked through (she's a lot shorter than I thought) with her friend and left. I said something but she probably thought I was saying it to the guys there, so she just walked past. And that was it.

After some standing around, I prompted G to go. I wanted to talk to him about Amanda, so I asked him to drive me to my car even though I hadn't parked far away. Even he agreed Miki didn't seem that interested in me, so I was glad my detection skills weren't that bad. He seemed a bit hesitant to express an opinion on Amanda though...

We couldn't find the place I had parked so I got out and walked my way back to my car, lol. I started driving to the city and then made the call.

Yes, Naby was working. I made a booking for 11:30pm. I realised that was the perfect timing to make it just in time for Valentine's Day.

I got there at about 11:10pm, and parked behind a Rav4 with a couple standing near it smoking. I didn't really want them to see me go in so I sat in my car waiting. They got in their car and sat there. At about 11:25pm I finally got out of my car, put the Domo in my suit pocket and went in.

The guy told me to wait seven minutes, which obviously meant she was with someone. Grrr.

Sunny had been trying to get in touch with me all day so I used the time to get back to him. He called and I wans't sure if I should answer, but I did anyway. He was asking about a friend who had been charged with drink driving. I started telling him about it, and after a while the guy said "Bibi is ready". I walked out and saw her, but was still on the phone.

She saw that and grabbed the drink from my hand and led me up the stairs as I talked to Sunny.

Damn her loud footsteps...

As we neared the room I hurried to end the call. As I did, Naby said something, and I wasn't too sure if the call ended before that.

Anyway, she went out to get her stuff and then came back in. I took my suit off and she tried to take it off me to hang up on the hook. I stopped her, and remembered she didn't know my plan - as far as she was aware I was there for sex. I told her I was tired and said I wanted to talk. For a brief moment I thought she'd say no, or just get freaked out.

I sat on the bed, placing my jacket on my right side as she put down some things on the bedside table. When she finished, I patted the area in between my legs and she sat there. It wasn't exactly as I had pictured - I had imagined her sitting with her back to me and me holding her from behind. Here, she had sat with her left side facing me, so we sat perpendicular to eachother.

I asked her if she was "chooa" and she said no, but I placed my jacket on her anyway. I don't know why, but there is something really sexy about a girl wearing a guy's jacket like that (without putting the arms through). I held her. It felt good.

She asked me if I had come from work and I said yes. She asked if I had had dinner and I said yes. She asked what I had, and I said it was like barbeque, with chicken, pork and lamb.

I reached into the pocket and said I had a present for her. I had a bit of trouble pulling it out, which just raised her anticipation and curiousity. When I finally pulled it out, she made an interested noise and said it was cute. She also noted it was a tissue holder. When I had bought the Domo, I thought maybe it was a bit too immature for her, but that the music box would suit her. But here, it seemed to be the opposite, she seemed to quite enjoy the Domo.

She figured out instantly there was something inside. She tried to pull it out through the tissue hole, but then instantly realised she needed to unzip it, which was a lot quicker than me, because I tried a lot more attempts to get the music box in through that hole.

She pulled out the music box and didn't seem to know what it was at first. I asked her to open it, and after saying it again, she did. She pulled it out of its box and then figured out you needed to turn the handle. As she started to turn it and music played, she figured out you needed to keep turning it to keep the music going. She was trying to figure out how it worked, and then realised the small dots hitting the keys created the sounds.

She returned her attention to the Domo and said it was cute. I asked her if she knew why I bought that for her, and she said no. I said the teeth looked like her teeth, which made her laugh, lol. I loved that laugh. I loved making her laugh. She playfully said no, and that it resembled my teeth. I gritted my teeth playfully and said it was like her.

She put the music box back into the box and then back into the Domo. I held her. We kissed from time to time - sometimes lip to lip, sometimes I kissed her on the cheek, sometimes she kissed me on the cheek. At other times, I just leaned into her and closed my eyes and rested. She seemed to read me pretty well, knowing what I wanted to do. It felt sooo relaxing to be able to hold her and lean into her. It felt like the whole day's pressure was worth it.

I told her she was good luck because the day after I saw her, I got promoted. She didn't know what I meant at first until I made a hand gesturing from low to high. She seemed pretty proud and kissed me.

Sometimes, as I leaned into her, I could see how her breasts were so easily accessible to me underneath her bra, and I was aroused by it a bit, but I preferred to just hold her. Sometimes there'd be moments of silence where I'd just hold her, and sometimes we'd talk. She kept rubbing/massaging my left arm as I held her. When we talked, we talked about the following:

- I asked her what she had wanted to be when she was young, she didn't seem to understand, but after a few more tries, she said "you mean dream?" and I said yes. I had given her my example of how I wanted to be a basketball player. She said she wanted to open up a clothing store in Korea. I asked "not here?" and she said maybe, but that her mother was by herself in Korea. I asked what happened to her father, and she said he had passed away when she was young.

- I asked her why she always seemed happy, since everyone gets angry, sad, happy. She said "because of you" and I was like "chincha?". I knew it was an easy line and lie for her, but it did feel playfully good.

- when I was leaning against her, resting my chin on her shoulder, there was a long period of silence, and then she asked "what are you thinking?" I said I wanted to hold her forever. She said something but I can't remember what. Earlier I had also said I wanted to hold her until she was 99 but she didn't say anything.

Sometimes I would pull back to study her face. It was like I wanted to visually record it. She would look back into my eyes. At one stage I'd cock my head right, and she'd cock her head right. When I'd go left, she'd go left, lol.

She said the Domo looked like me, and put it next to my face. I took it from her and placed it next to her, and pretended to look lost from her to Domo, and was like "huh? Naby?" which made her laugh and say in her accent "no" lol.

I remembered the chocolate heart in my pocket and pulled it out for her, but I felt it had gone soft and said "awww it's melted". I was about to put it back when she reached out for it and took it. She felt it softly and then kept it.

She grabbed my keys and looked through them. She noted how there were many, and I noticed she seemed to skip paying any attention to my car key.

Her alarm went off, signalling the end of the session. She made some snoring sounds, which I didn't really get. She asked if I was going home, and I said "next girl" and then "next shop". She playfully said "you want to die?" and then tried to twist my nipples and feigned a punch to my face, and I pretended to be knocked back by it.

She shuffled off the bed, and in the process sat on my leg. She still had my jacket on as I put my shoes on. She threw the ice cube into the shower, and I said I heard it was bad for teeth, and she agreed. When she was fixing up the bed, the jacet had slipped off a bit so I adjusted it for her. She then took it off and held it out for me to put on, so I turned around with my arms out and she put it on for me.

We kissed, and as we headed for the door, she said to drive safely. I softly said "to next shop" and she again turned around and playfully threatened me.

She walked down the stairs first, and I noticed when she reached the bottom that she was holding the Domo. I was surprised she didn't try to hide it. We smiled as I left.

There were two girls who were waiting outside, presumably for a taxi. They were Asian, so I figured they worked at the shop. They probably saw it was Naby who I had seen, and I saw one had looked at me. I crossed the street to my car and drove home.

Today
I was pretty busy working for the first half of the day, and then had to meet up for Karina's farewell lunch because it was her second last day.

Ogre and I went down to the lobby together. In the lift we got talking about corruption, and I started telling her about the brothel statement I read, and she asked "which brothel is this?" and I told her the suburb. But in hindsight, I wonder why she asked such a question? Had she seen me go into Naby's shop?

We bumped into Lewis and then the three of us waited. I called Karina who said she was coming down. We talked a bit before Karina came down and we headed off. She said Zena and Emma had forgotten about it - what the hell???

We went to that dumplings place as planned, but it was pretty packed, so we went to a bar restaurant next door. Zena and Emma joined eventually arrived, and we all had pizza. It was good to get together once more, but I felt things had changed a lot. Emma and Zena were now clearly a team amongst themselves, and I was a bit wary about talking anything level 11 related as Ogre was there and I could see her watching me everytime I mentioned something about somebody.

At about 1:40pm I knew it was time to go to court so I was on the lookout for a break in the conversation to make my exit. It wasn't forthcoming so I just got up and said I needed to go, and told Karina I'd see her tomorrow just so my exit wouldn't be final or anything.

I left feeling relieved, but knew that they'd probably start talking about me as soon as I departed. Oh well.

I arrived at court before it resumed, and headed straight to the bathroom and waved at Christina. I went to sit next to her when I came out, and she asked me about my matter. Lately I've gotten this distinct feeling that she's out to test me, to see what I'm made of, and really why I was chosen to come up to level 11. It's like she's picking my files apart to look for any errors and interrogating me.

Like when I was telling her about my matter, she kept saying "you should've charged them with this" and I was like "it's not my file..."

Court opened soon and we went in. I was a bit nervous at first about appearing before her, particularly now since she seemed to pull me apart to examine me. But then I just thought "screw it". The mag did other matters first, which completed Christina's list, and surprisingly she said she was going back to the office and would send someone to collect the trolley.

I took her seat and my matter was mentioned. The mag was just reading out the reasons and I was just scribblinh away madly. After a while I could see a potential issue looming with possible questions from the mag, so I started looking through the file for a response, and then wondered how much of our internal decision making could be revealed to the court. I decided to look around to see if Wendy F was around first, because I knew she had a matter in court that day, but to my surprise Christina was sitting there in the first row. I turned back around and kept taking notes.

My matter had to be stood down, and then Christina took my seat again and wrote something down for another matter, and then she left and my matter resumed, and was adjourned.

After work, I went to the gym. It was quite busy for a Tuesday, so I had some trouble finding stuff to do after my knee exercises, but I was happy to float around and wait because I was just in that mood to stay there forever.

I made the dumbest mistake ever. I was talking to Scope about trading shares, and he said he was reducing his hours to focus more on trading. He went offline, and I sent a message to Shuing telling him that and I was worried. But as it was going through, I noticed I was sending it to Hung!!!

Damn this no cancellation thing!!

I quickly sent an apology and then called him. I explained to him it was meant for Shuing and why I was worried, saying I had been trying to get Shuing to talk to him about the dangers of the market. He seemed pretty ok, saying he knew what he was doing.

I hope I haven't lost a friend.