CHAPTER 14: OUTSIDE THE CRIME LAB, INTO THE MEMORIES
The whole housing estate of Taman Sentosa was pretty much silent with a life of its own. Everyone was minding their own businesses, whether it is watching TV, doing their homework, chatting with friends either on the internet or the telephone or just plain snoozing on the bed.
But then of course not everyone was asleep and peacefully doing their own businesses. Elaine's home was pretty much hectic and all as she could be seen going back and forth from her wardrobe to her bags. Her parents were standing at her bedroom door trying to reason with her.
"Elaine, stop it!" her father demanded. "You've got everything you wanted. You wanted to indulge yourself in music and we let you take that chance. You want to have that filthy, dangerous job at the CSI team and we let you go there. You have a room of your own, a piano of your own, a computer of your and all the things you need. Why are you being so ungrateful?!"
"Ungrateful? How can I be grateful when you are forcing me to marry this guy I barely even like anymore!" Elaine exclaimed, throwing her jeans into her bag. "He was just a high school crush and nothing more! I have tastes, you know! You can't let me stay with one guy for the rest of my life when I don't have any feelings for him anymore!"
"Don't you say that about Peter," her mother scolded. "He is a rich, decent man with a very good education background and a wealthy family that supports him. He is religious and goes to church diligently, unlike you who always skip church nowadays ever since you took that horrible job."
"Mom, he still lives with his parents, for crying out loud! At this age, he would've asked his father to buy him a house somewhere nice and grand and have a life of his own! He even carried on with the same old dull food and beverage business his father and his forefathers before him have been running! And he does nothing but talk about business and money. Does this sound like a decent man to you?"
“At least he’s a loyal kind of man.”
“Yeah, right. And boring.”
"Oh, and I suppose your outlaw boyfriend is decent," her father challenged as he took out Elaine's belongings from her bag, only to be put back in again by an exasperated-looking Elaine.
"Of course. Why do you think I like him?"
"Elaine, this guy rides a motorbike all day long with nowhere to go. This kind of guy creates road kill on the streets, don't you know that?"
"At least he's normal, unlike some people I know."
"And, for the record, he is only a basketball player. How much do you think a basketball player can earn throughout his life? Do you think he can take care of you then if he stopped playing basketball?"
"We both can manage. I have a job too. I can support him for the time being if he can't play."
"I refuse to see my daughter feeding a man!" her mother exclaimed. "This is simply not the women's way! Men are always the bread-winner of the family and I will not..."
"There you go again, Mom!" Elaine yelled. "It's always tradition this, tradition that! You never seem to care whether I have evolved or not! All you want me to do is just sit in the house slaving all day with housework and waiting on a husband that probably doesn't even know that I exist! Is that what you want me to be, a sitting duck playing house all day? I don't think I wanna end up like you, Mom!"
"Don't you give that tone to your mother, young lady!" her father pointed an accusing finger at her. "You know perfectly well that whatever your mother say is right."
"Yeah, right! Like I'm gonna believe that!" Elaine snorted as she threw in a box filled with packets of Virginia Light cigarettes into her bag. Her parents stared at the cigarettes in horror. Her father took one packet and held it in front of Elaine's nonchalant face.
"What is this? What the hell is this?!"
"A Virginia Light cigarette pack," Elaine snatched the packet away from her father. "What do you think it is, Tic-Tacs?"
"How could you...How could you be smoking this...this filthy..."
"There are loads you don't know about me, Dad," Elaine replied as she zipped up her bags. She took out one cigarette and lit it in front of her horrified parents. She didn't bother to hide it anymore. She was a grown girl now and none of her parents' old-fashioned words ever mattered to her anymore. As she took a whiff, she heard the horn of the motorbike honking. She looked out of the window and saw her beau with his Suzuki motorbike in waiting. Elaine smiled and waved at him before taking her bags.
"Well, my ride is here. Gotta go now. See ya."
"Wait just a minute here, young lady," her father blocked her way. "You are not leaving this house and you are not going to go anywhere with that uncivilized man."
"Now where have I seen this scene before, hmm..." Elaine put out an exaggerated pose, pretending to think back. "Oh, yes, I remember. This is just the way it looked when I was just a little kid in primary school. You locked me up in the house whenever both of you want to go out and told the servant to keep an eye on me. I never get to go out, I never get to hang out with my friends or even my neighbours and I certainly never get any freedom. Gee, Dad, what a great childhood you gave me!"
"I told you, Elaine, and I'm telling you one last time," her father said in gritted teeth. "You listen very carefully: you are not going..."
"No, you listen!" Elaine pointed an accusing finger at her father, the burning cigarette nearly hitting him between the eyes. "All my life you have been keeping me in this house without any further contact with the outside world! You never let me go out and you certainly never gave me happiness! You practically used me to gain recognition from your other relatives and friends! You didn't even give me time to mourn for my friend when she was shot that day at the concert! You just swept me right back into the stage the next day and ordered me to continue performing even though my heart was breaking into a million pieces! You insist on sending me anywhere I want to go and you never even try to let me experience things by myself! I'm like a caged bird here! It took me ages to convince you to let me take that CSI job and I finally decided to do it myself, whether you liked it or not. If it weren't for my best friend Judith, I would've gone insane by now!"
"I always knew that Judith is a troublemaker..." her mother muttered but was cut short by Elaine's snap.
"Don't you dare say anything about my friend, Mom! She showed me what was like in the real world, not some old-fashion fairytale you wish I would be. You didn't give me everything I need. You gave me everything that you thought I need. I don't need all this junk you put into my head; I need to live a normal life just like everybody else! Even a decent friend like Rachel said that this is not a human life, and it sure is a far cry from either Judith or my boyfriend's life. I'm sick and tired of all this crap, you hear me, I am sick and tired of this shit! Now, if you'll excuse me, I got a life to live. A real life."
So saying, she bumped her way past her parents and marched down the stairs towards the front door, where her boyfriend Rex Kong was waiting. Any modern-minded person could see that he was a real hunk and a really cool guy, with black, shiny ebony hair almost like Aaron Kwok's haircut and magnificent blue eyes. Actually, come to think of it, he was a Rukawa Kaede look-a-like. His height and built proved him to be a true, professional basketball player. He took some of Elaine's bags and gave her an I'll-wait-for-you look before taking them to his bike. As Elaine started searching for her shoes, she heard her father stomping his foot angrily, trying to catch her attention. Elaine turned around and gave him a cold look.
"If you ever set one foot out of that front door, you will be disowned," her father threatened. "You hear me? You'll never be our daughter again for the rest of your life!"
Elaine didn't reply. She threw her half-finished cigarette onto the marble floor and took out her shoe. She wore them and, before leaving, turned to them and said, "If you don't start changing your seriously old-fashioned ways, I don't I will ever come back to this house."
Those were her last words before she bounded off towards Rex's bike and rode with him out towards the direction of Kuala Lumpur in the dead of the night.
Rebecca had just got home after a rather tiring night of recording down her file work on her find on the Proton Iswara. Out of habit, she touched her neck to make sure that the ribbon her boyfriend Cyril gave her was there. After making sure, she let out a satisfied sigh and handed upstairs.
There hadn't been a day gone by without the red ribbon around her neck. It was like a permanent leash on her. There was one incident when she was studying for her A-Levels, where she was working on an experiment during Physics class. She forgot to wind the loose end of the ribbon around her neck and it got caught on one of the harp edges of the experiment woodwork. As she had tied it loosely, she didn't realize that it had strung off her neck until halfway through her English class, which was about an hour later after Physics. Needless to say, she went barging out of the class and searched high and low for her ribbon, regardless of the fact that the English class was still on. When she thought it was lost for good and was losing all hope, her junior who so happen to find the ribbon during his Physics class returned it back to her. Getting detention for running out of class was no big deal for her—at least she got her ribbon back.
And it's not surprising when the knot on the ribbon became tighter and the habit of winding the loose end around her neck became like a religious thing to do for her.
The first thing she did once she was upstairs was removing all her clothes and filling up the bath tub with warm water. She took off the ribbon around her neck and tied it on the towel hanger, exactly where she could see it. She then poured in the bubble bath solution and waited until the tub was all bubbly before dunking herself slowly into the lukewarm water, relaxing her body to absorb every little warmth of the bath.
Her gaze shifted back to the ribbon tied on the towel hanger. She remembered exactly when she got that ribbon. It was 3 years ago on 16th July. They were at the KL Airport and Cyril was about to leave to Vancouver. That time Rebecca didn't look too happy to see him go. She maybe optimistic about a lot of things, but she sure wasn't looking at the bright side of this.
"Why are you down, Becky?" she remembered Cyril asking. "You should be happy for me. I'm getting a good job like you always wanted."
"Yeah, but...I didn't want us to be away from each other."
"Hey, it's OK. No biggie. I'll write to you and call you from time to time."
"Promise?" Rebecca was still doubtful.
"I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die."
Rebecca smiled as Cyril crossed his heart to prove his point. She didn't know why, but as soon as she smiled, tears started pouring out of her eyes. She couldn't seem to control the aching feeling in her heart with the fact that she wouldn't be seeing Cyril for a long time. She hugged the teddy bear she was going to give him as a farewell gift close to her chest.
"You OK, Becky?" Cyril asked, concerned.
"I hate to send you off with a smile. I really hate it..." Rebecca sobbed, not wanting to look at him with her sodden eyes.
Cyril scratched his chin. He hated to go and leave his girlfriend so heartbroken. He heard the boarding call and had an idea. He took the teddy bear Rebecca was holding and removed the ribbon that was tied around its neck. He wound it around Rebecca's neck, taking her by surprise. She was confused at first at this gesture but Cyril laid his finger on her lips, stopping her from questioning.
"This is my vow, Becky. I, Cyril Tan, swear by oath that when I have earned my keep, I will return to take Rebecca Liew as my wife and bring her with me to Vancouver. With this ribbon, I seal my vow."
With that, he tied the ribbon into a long, dangling bow and gave her a long, passionate kiss. He said his goodbyes and his promises to call and write and made a dash for it into the departure gate before the plane flew off without it. This time, surprisingly, his leaving didn't make her feel as bad as she just did.
Rebecca smiled at that memory. She was sure that Cyril meant what he said, but occasionally she had doubts. Sure, he may have a good job that might earn him good bucks in Vancouver. Hell, you don't get a job offer out of the country and receive high salary for it like that everyday, you know. It was a quite a cool job in Iron Giant Construction & Co.—a construction company with an abundant demand for construction—and as her boyfriend Cyril had a degree in Engineering, he was pretty much qualified for it. She remembered him calling him excitedly and telling her that his application to work in Iron Giant was approved and that he would be moving the following week. She was so happy for him that time.
There is no way a girl wouldn't have any doubts about her boyfriend, unless she's a darn right fool or just too trusting for words, and right now, tiny little doubts began swimming in her head. What if he didn't make it there? What if the business didn't go so well as they expected to be? What if one of the projects turned out to be a screw up and he had to be laid off, leaving him to work in some simple 7-Eleven retail shop, or worse, roaming around the streets? Or maybe what if the business was really doing well? What would he do? Would he forget about him and spend all his wealth on another girl? She had to admit that there are many young lovely girls in Vancouver and anyone could take her place in his heart. What if...
"Sis! Phone call for you!" Rebecca's youngest sister's call shook her out of her musings. She and her youngest sister share the same room and she was pretty much a night owl like Rebecca. She was always there to greet her when she comes home before actually going to bed.
"Bring the phone here, sis!" Rebecca called from her spot. Her sister came trotting in with the cordless phone in her hand, a naughty grin on her face. She could tell from her face that Cyril was calling.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Becky. How's your day?" Cyril's voice automatically brought a smile to her face.
"Pretty much a drag. We have a large case that we seriously couldn't solve," Rebecca massaged her temples. "This murderer sure is one heck of a genius."
"Really? That really does sound like a drag. What're you doing?"
"Taking a nice, long bath. Getting rid of the all the aches and sores."
"I bet the sight is pretty tantalizing," Cyril said naughtily.
"Shut up!" Rebecca scolded playfully. "You and your 'evil' fantasies!"
"Just trying to have a little fun with my little Becky here," Cyril chuckled. "Anywho, Happy 3rd Anniversary!"
"3rd Anniversary? What anniversary?" Rebecca was surprised.
"You know, our anniversary," Cyril replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact way.
"Cyril, our anniversary is on the 31st of August, Independence Day, and it's supposed to be the 8th, not the 3rd," Rebecca corrected him. Her heart began to worry. How could he even get the dates mixed up? They have been lovers since high school when she was Form 3 and he Form 5. How could he forget that? Were her worries coming true: that he had someone else and got both their anniversaries mixed up?
"You forgetful little ding-dong," Cyril let out a sigh of defeat. "Today's 16th of July, remember? The day I gave you that ribbon and sealed my vow? It's been 3 years now, don't you remember? So, Happy 3rd Memorial Anniversary of my vow! Just in case you forget again, let me repeat my vow again..."
As Cyril repeated the exact vow he said at the airport 3 years ago, Rebecca's heart ached with bliss. She was touched. She herself couldn't even keep track of the usual dates because of her job, but he actually remembered such a tiny thing as this ribbon anniversary. She couldn't help shedding a tear; the feeling was so overwhelming.
All her doubts she felt before disappeared immediately as she continued to chit-chat with her love of her life.
"A blind date? No, thanks."
Rachel was sitting at her favourite room—the study—and was reading her favourite classic literature by William Shakespeare 'Much Ado About Nothing' when she received a midnight call from Rebecca. Evidently, Rebecca had already done chit-chatting lovie-dovies with her sweetheart.
"Come on, Rach. It'll be cool," Rebecca persuaded. "He's a very nice guy I know in during tuition classes and he's also one of the lab guys in our crime lab. I bet you'll like him. He's, like, totally having the hicks for you."
"All the lab guys in the crime lab have hicks on me. Which one are you talking about?" Rachel asked, bored.
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a blind date now, would it?"
"If you tell me, I'll still act blind."
"You are hopeless," Rebecca groaned, the sound of her slapping her forehead could be heard.
"Well, I can't help it if I have no interest with any of those guys in the lab," Rachel said nonchalantly. "They're..."
"Not intellectually equipped as you are," Rebecca finished her sentence. "I know that. You always say that and then you don't give a dit about them. When are you gonna realize that no one can live alone?"
"I'm not alone. I have my books and my family and you guys. There's nothing wrong about not having a boyfriend."
"Yeah, but..."
"And it's not against the law either, and it's my own free will."
Rebecca wanted to rebut her but seeing that arguing with her would be like asking a chicken to fly south, she sighed in defeat, "Alright, alright. You made your point. It's your funeral."
"Whatever," Rachel shrugged.
"I guess I'll let you go back to your books then."
"Yeah. Ciao."
Rachel waited until Rebecca hung up before she did. She stared at the phone for a while and sighed. She just couldn't understand why everyone is pestering her to have a boyfriend, as if it was a crime if she didn't. She really couldn't bring herself to like or even accept people who are not smarter than or at least as smart as her. Her co-workers often called her a perfectionist attitude a big curse on her, but she couldn't help it. If someone is not perfectly compatible for her or maybe even past her expectations in a good way, he would definitely be a total reject.
It's not that she had never liked a guy before. She's still human, and of course she had crushes just like everyone else. It was during her practical year when she was studying for her teacher training course. She was a woman of high hopes then, planning to start off at a small scale and slowly moving up to the tops and become the professor she always wanted. Those were her golden days.
When she reached her practical year and was allocated to an exclusive boarding school to teach, her confidence was up to the nines. With her intelligence and her wits (and her occasional sarcasm), she was immediately well-known as the female version of Severus Snape and a one-of-a-kind student teacher.
One of the students in her class was an exceptional boy. You can say that he was pretty much a male version of Hermione Granger and he didn't fail to catch her attention. They often had disagreements on a subject and often could be seen debating their theories at each other, much to the students' amusement. Never a day went by without them having to squabble about something. Until the middle of her practical year, the boy confronted her one day after school and confessed to her that he had a crush on her ever since she started being their student teacher, with a bouquet of roses to match. For that split second, Rachel experienced an overwhelming crush for him that had been suppressed inside her for so long. And from that moment on, they became couples. Of course, they only dated outside of school and knew when was the time to be serious on studies, but her class pretty much knew about their relationship. Luckily, nothing went out.
Later on, Rachel began to realize that this young boyfriend of hers was a bit more than just having a crush on her. He gave her elaborate gifts at sudden, unexpected times and he often called her just to check her out, as in where she was and what she was doing. He was also an easily jealous person. There was once when they were going out for a movie and Rachel was waiting outside the line while the boyfriend went to buy the tickets. Moments later, she came across her cousin whom she hadn't seen for a very, very long time. Overwhelmed, she jumped and hugged him with glee. The boyfriend just so happen to have bought the ticket and was coming out of the line when he saw her in her cousin's embrace. Jealousy took over and he pounced on her cousin, making him fall onto the floor. He cursed and swore as he kicked him over and over again. He even gave Rachel a black eye when she tried to stop him and he pushed her away. After that incident, Rachel tried to avoid him but his sweet words and soft apologies melted her heart.
As their relationship continued, she found out that when he was confronted by her uncle whose son's been beaten by him, he had punched himself and made bruises all over himself just to make Rachel think that her uncle had hurt him. When she tried to break off the relationship, he called her day and night asking to take him back until he resorted to sneak into her room and slit his wrists in front of her. Took her hours to convince him that she wouldn't leave him again and took her weeks to get rid of the blood stains on her carpet. The last straw was him stalking her everyday without rest and also murdering a foreigner who was only being pleasant to her when he was asking directions to the KL Twin Tower. He actually murdered him right in front of her eyes and with all the blood splattered all over her body.
It took her about a week to get out of unconsciousness (she fainted right at the spot and had to be hospitalized) and an extra 5 months to recover from the shock. The young boyfriend, although very smart, had quite a serious temper disorder, which led him to his violent and self-mutilating habits. He was institutionalized and was there ever since. Since that incident, she stopped her teacher training altogether and suddenly, despite her parents' disagreements and persuasion not to, stepped into medic school and applied for forensics major. The rest was history.
Rachel sighed again as she tried to sweep the horrific memory away from her head. Being in the crime lab today made her feel safe. Staring at all the violent pictures and scanning through the violent cases everyday made her realize that just teaching people and educating them what's right and wrong wasn't enough to stop crimes from happening. When it comes to stepping into the real world, it's every man for himself and humans often end up succumbing to their wild animal nature. Besides, being a CSI member showed her that there are always new things to learn and more challenging things to accomplish, which has always been her first intellectual love. Nothing could get better than this.
As she slumped on her couch slowly slipping into slumber she was left with one thought in her mind.
'I love this job.'
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