Victoria's back!

I had lunch with Ele on Thursday. We went to Home Thai where I got there first and ordered. She was a bit late, and turned up by the time the entree arrived. She got me a present - a book which looked half serious half comical. I was glad she remembered.

I told her I passed my bar exam, and she congratulated me. We talked about what was the next step, and then started catching up more. She said the week of my birthday she was really sick, like at work she just started bleeding for no reason at all, so she had to take a few days off. I offered to help pick her up in a taxi if she ever needed it, and she seemed to seriously consider it.

We talked about G proposing with a hand-made ring and box. Ele seemed to think the box was ok, but not the ring. Though she said if he bought the ring then it'd come with a box anyway.

I brought up about how Shuing was always grumpy, especially since I was happy about my results, and she said he considered me a close friend and that was why he was expressing his true feelings with me, whereas he probably has to hide it with people at work. Good point.

After we finished eating, she was still hungry so we ordered dessert. When we finished, she wanted to go buy some take away for dinner that night. My lunch hour was probably already up, and I had a meeting at 2:15pm, but I couldn't just leave a heavily pregnant woman like that, so I accompanied her down the street to the Northern Chinese restaurant.

On the way we bumped into One, which was funny because I had just had lunch with him the day before. I introduced them to each other, and he looked at Ele's tummy. I thought, of god, he probably thinks I'd been hiding a girl from him all this time and had knocked her up lol. It didn't help that I was seemingly helping Ele carry some of her stuff. Too funny.

I stayed back at work because I had a dinner in the city with Matt, Adrian and Beau - the guys from Saturday morning basketball. It was Matt's farewell dinner, and I also had to return the luggage to him. When I got there, I saw them and Adrian's and Beau's girlfriends, as well as Matt's female friend. I wasn't expecting female company so felt a bit awkward at first. But everything turned out well, as we had lots of laughs as we ate at the ramen restaurant in Westfield.

During the night I noticed a really cute and adorable Japanese waitress. What made her even more appealing was that she appeared to be very happy with her job, always walking everywhere with a smile and talking to customers. It made me think that I was attracted to waitresses and teachers because they showed a caring quality.

Afterwards Matt, his friend and I caught a bus to my place, where I then drove them and the luggage to Matt's place. I dropped them off and fare-welled him.

Friday
On Friday morning I decided to call the Bar Ass guy and ask how long I could defer for. I got a rather blunt and unpleasant response in return. He told me that trying to defer it to next August was stretching it and highly unlikely, and that if I really wanted to do that then I'd have to sit the exams again.

Fuck that.

He did say though that it shouldn't be a problem if I just wanted to defer it to next May.

So then that kinda depressed me for the rest of the day, as it now became evident that my time in this job was limited. I wondered if I'd even pay off all my debts by then. I started looking at my office and all the people in it with a hint of sadness, thinking about how I'd miss them all.

I met up with Genie and Maria at lunch for coffee and macaroons and told them. I joked at first by saying I failed, then revealed to them the truth. They congratulated me, and then went on to talk about how shit it was to work where they were at the moment. Maria sounded really serious about changing jobs, and even Genie who recently got a permanent job there said she wanted to leave. Glad I got out of there early.

Afterwards we went for a walk in the park, which ended with me telling them some funny things making them both laugh. It made me realise why people think I'm happy all the time. If only they knew the depression I go through mentally when I'm by myself.

After work I met up with Jim for gym and dinner. This time I worked out a lot at the gym, building up a huge sweat. We went to the same Japanese restaurant for dinner. I noticed this time that the waitress I found hot was a bit older like Jim had said.

We talked about the NBA, my bar exam result and the consequent conundrum, our uni days, and his plan to travel to the US next May. I initially thought we wouldn't have much to talk about since we had just met last Friday, but I found that like A, we always had something to talk about. He drove me home again but this time we didn't have dessert.

During the night, at the restaurant I noticed Victoria had sent me a message:

"Hi [insert name here], I just arrived in Sydney today. Good news...?"

Interesting.

I had no idea she had returned. I had been checking her Whatsapp online status and it seemed that she and Albert were messaging each other, although I wasn't too worried. I just didn't notice a 10 hour gap where she could've flown back. Oh well.

When I got home at 9pm I tried to call her but her phone was off. Or busy. So I sent a message "asleep already?" but got no reply.

Saturday
I woke up at 7am and saw that Victoria was online at nearly 5am. I called her but her phone was off. I had breakfast, played a bit of video games and went back to sleep. It was raining so no basketball today.

Then I was woken up by my phone ringing. I missed the call, but it was Victoria. I called her back from my bed. She sounded very lively and energetic, which made me happy. I was glad she wasn't sounding ill or anything. After a bit of "how are you?" I asked her for her result. She asked me and I asked her back. She said she got through. I had planned to tell her in person, but told her I passed as well.

I said we should celebrate and asked her when she was free. She said she had time today so I asked if she could do dinner tonight, but she countered with lunch. She asked me to pick her up and I agreed. We arranged to meet at 1pm and so I got out of bed, had a shower and got dressed.

I was about 20 minutes late but she didn't seem to mind. I called when I was outside and she came out wearing a black winter coat and heels. I think it was the first time I had seen her in heels.

I suggested we go to the shopping centre near me and it took her a while to realise which one I was talking about. When she realised, she said she hadn't been there for like two years. On the drive there, we talked about our experiences finding out the results. She said she was at a family dinner at an Italian restaurant celebrating her sister's PhD, and then when she found out she passed, she said her mother cried.

She also told me Albert passed PP but failed Ethics. No wonder the guy didn't message me to ask about me. I felt sorry for the guy, but in a male pride way, I felt that it helped my odds with Victoria. On the way we passed the uni and she pointed it out, as if to say that our exam results started from there.

I think I took the long way to drive to the shopping centre and Victoria seemed a bit tired from the drive. She offered out her hand as I drove and I almost instinctively held it like I would with Jin, but instead I softly slapped it. She held it out so I did it again, then she said "high five". I also noticed she touched my hand a couple of times as well during that drive. She said while she was waiting for me she thought about my situation with my employment and all that.

I showed her the new restaurant section and we picked a burger place where I got a King's Breakfast and she got a salad. We swapped food as usual and talked about going to the bar. She said she wasn't really organised for going right now, but would try to. If she couldn't, then she would do the next course in May. I suggested ways in which she could find tutors and chambers, and suggested Troy as a tutor as well. The only slightly annoying thing I found was that she asked if I could contact Troy for her. Hmmm.

I told her I was worried about her because she told me she went for a check up and then told me she needed to have surgery.

We talked about my situation, and she gave me the same line that Bush gave me, being that it was my dream to go to the bar so I should do it. However, she did suggest that I try to do the course while on leave, instead of quitting my job first. I had thought about it, but just wasn't sure if it was allowed.

We talked about her time in Korea. She said she only found out she needed surgery when she got back, and that she was in hospital for 10 days. She said she was supposed to come back on the 15th. She also said she didn't want me to pick her up because it was a weekday and she didn't want to burden me.

I told her about the hearing I had on Monday and the one coming up. She said she let her know how it goes. I told her I had tried to look up her condition and found that Greek food was good, so I said I wanted to take her to a Greek restaurant in the city and she said yes.

I told her about G and him making a ring and box. She said if the girl really liked him then it shouldn't matter. I asked her if she'd be ok with getting a burger ring and she said yes if she really liked the guy. Then she said she would even go for an onion ring and winked at me. SHE WINKED AT ME AS SHE SAID THAT!

I asked her what initials she was proposing to have on her bag, and she said VC. I said "Vince Carter" and she told me her Korean name and suggested it could be VYC. I said that was better and she said she might go with VC. I then said "victim's compensation" and she said VYC it was lol.

I noticed that after we finished eating and we went to pay, that she didn't make an offer to pay. I wasn't offended, but I did wonder if it was her way of treating me as a 'boyfriend'. As we left the restaurant area, she asked if I wanted a coffee and that she'd pay for it. I said ok but I just thought she might be tired. She asked if she looked tired, and I said no and playfully went to the other extreme, saying she was energetic and looked like the energizer bunny, but she playfully asked me to stop lol.

At the chocolate cafe we had coffee and some "chocaroons". She drinks decaf. We had some really deep conversations here. I told her how I had thought about what she had been through, and that it inspired me to be grateful for things, and that I thought she was a really strong person.

She told me that she needed someone she could really trust as a tutor, and that's why when I mentioned Troy was a "family man" that it really appealed to her. She said she trusted me as a friend and felt like she could talk to me about ethical issues which may arise from work.

We talked about chasing money and careers, and both seemed to think that earning enough should make us content. We also talked about dressing modestly and not needing the luxurious things in life.

I showed her photos of the shoes I had recently bought, and she showed me photos of her family, including her parents, sister and brother. Her older sister looks a lot like her, like an older version of her, if that makes sense. She also showed me photos of her admission, with the Registrar and her colleagues.

We were there for a long time and then finally left. We went to the bathroom and then back to my car. She said it was good timing as she was starting to feel tired. She said that was the reason she didn't want to do dinner because she knew she'd get tired.

So I dropped her back home, and we congratulated each other again. She waved at me after she closed the door and I watched her go in before driving off.