Made in Taiwan 04

Day 29

Another week had passed by with Miss Li was still giving me a hard time about not studying enough. If you ask me, I was definitely making some progress in class, even if it wasn’t up to the standards of the impossible to please Miss Li.

After her entrance last Friday, Simona had started to come to class more often, if twice this week could be considered that. I still wasn’t sure why I was so fascinated with this girl; I just couldn’t stop thinking about her, and today was the first time we actually spoke to each other.

It was lunchtime and I was sat outside on a wall, eating a Taiwanese style bento box with some of my other classmates, when she wandered up. With a smile on her face, she said hello to everyone before taking up a seat next to me, so close I could feel the skin of our bare legs touching.

To try and make conversation, I asked her what she was eating for lunch. She replied by saying she didn’t eat during the day as it was too hot. Smiling, I went back to eating my lunch, but I was so nervous by her presence, It seemed, I had completely forgotten how to use my chopsticks.

Watching me struggling, Simona reached over and took a hold of my hand. Manoeuvring her long sparkly nails amount my shaking fingers, she repositioned my grip on my chopsticks and urged me to try again. The guy sitting to my right, Carlos, made a joke about me being uncoordinated and how I needed to be shown how to eat.

Another guy called Harry piped up to also poke fun at me, saying Simona could even do it with two-inch nails. The group laughed and to ease the tension I made a comment about her nails, saying I didn’t know how she could do anything with her nails that long. Simona paused for a minute, looked down at her hands before saying they were easy once you got used to them. The next thing she said surprised me, looking me in the eyes, she said, “if you’re curious, I could do yours for you just like mine”.

Almost choking on a mouthful of rice, the group erupted in laughter, all but Simona. “Why’s that funny”? she asked, “Grant here looks like an open-minded guy, someone not to let the outdated conventions of society determine how he lives his life, am I right”? she added before placing her hand on my knee.

I didn’t even know she knew my name, and now with her fingers gently tapping on my kneecap, I could hardly think straight. Everyone in the group just stared at her before suddenly she let out a cute little giggle, “only kidding”, she said breaking the tension, “oh, by the way, you guys look like you know how to have a good time”.

In unison, the whole group nodded and agreed. Simona then went into her purse and took out some leaflets, saying she did some work promoting events and tonight there was going to be a big party in the Xinyi area.

After handing out the leaflets, she stood up, said goodbye, and sashayed away. All the guys in the group were mesmerized by her backside gently rocking from side to side squeezed into her tight shorts, we all watched her until she was out of sight before making plans to attend the event later that evening.

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Having returned home from school, I found Jamal in his usual spot and after presenting him with the leaflet, I asked if he wanted to go. He wasn’t keen at first, seeing the theme, all guests having to dress completely in white, but after a little persuasion and letting slip who had invited me, he agreed to join me.

We arrived around nine o’clock and the place was already packed. Hundreds of people, both local and foreign all decked out in their white clothes, dancing, and drinking. We wandered over to get a drink, and after pushing our way through the crowd of people mingling by the bar, ordered two beers.

For the next hour or so, we stood around and chatted, neither of us really into dancing, until I looked up and saw Simona. Dressed in a tiny white dress and perched atop an impossibly tall pair of platform pumps, she was talking to a group of Taiwanese men about ten feet in front of us. I almost didn’t recognise her at first, all made up with long red hair, not that the hair was surprising, every time I saw her she was sporting a different colour and style.

Seeing me suddenly zone out in the middle of one of his stories, Jamal stopped to see what I was looking at, “don’t tell me that’s your, girl”, he said chuckling.

Feeling quite defensive, I turned to him to say she wasn’t my girl before asking him what was so funny. He turned to me and said he knew her. At first, I thought, he was joking, but then he explained how a friend of his, who had now left Taiwan to go back to Canada, tried to date her almost a year ago. It turns out the ex-pat community in Taipei was as Jamal always said, he had told me on more than one occasion, if you stayed around long enough, you’d eventually bump into everyone.

I asked about the details of his friend's relationship with Simona, and he explained how he didn’t get very far with her, the rumour was she was a bit crazy. Curious as to what happened, I asked for more details. He didn’t know the ins and outs of what happened but advised me I’d be better off not getting involved.

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As usual, I drank too much that night. After the conversation with Jamal earlier, I had decided to try and forget about Simona, it wasn’t good for me to fixate on her, and besides as Jamal had pointed out many times, there were many more beautiful women around.

Stood outside the club, I lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, a recent bad habit I'd picked up, thanks to all the nights smoking out on the patio with Jamal. Looking around at the crowd of people with the same idea, I smiled to myself, thinking life was definitely better than it had been just a month ago.

That’s when she appeared, strutting out of the club on her tall heels like a catwalk model, I couldn’t help but stare. I guess she saw me looking as she turned in my direction, gave me a little wave and made a beeline for my position.

(See image 04)

“Mind if I have one”, she asked looking down at me from atop her tall platforms and pointing at my cigarette. Reaching into my pocket, I took one out and lit her up. She thanked me by leaning in close, placing her hand on my shoulder and planting a kiss on my cheek.

I tried to act cool, but inside my heart was racing. With her sweet-smelling perfume filling my nostrils, I told her it was no problem.

“I’m really glad you came tonight”, she said, “great outfit”. I looked down at what I was wearing, a white collared shirt and a pair of Jamal’s shorts that were way too big for me, to be honest, I thought I looked a little stupid.

I asked her how Chinese class was going and she seemed bored with the question before dodging it. There were a few seconds of awkward silence as she just stared at me smiling before I tried again, asking how she got so good at Chinese.

“Practice, a lot of practice”, she said touching the top of my arm once more, “but that’s not what you really want to ask me now is it”? She added leaning in and whispering into my ear. Shocked by how forward this girl was, I just stood there, mouth open looking like a fool.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me”, she said flashing me her beautiful smile, “so, are you going to ask me out or not”?

“Yes”, I blurted out, slightly intimidated but also majorly turned on.

“Go on then”, she replied, stepping back slightly.

I mumbled something about getting lunch sometime and she laughed. I thought for a moment I had blown my chance with her by saying something so dumb. That's before she suddenly delved into my pocket and fished out my phone and told me to unlock it. I did as she asked before watching in awe as she proceeded to store her number inside. Her nimble fingers moving like lighting, her long nails not hindering her at all.

“Call me in the morning”, she said passing it back to me, “we can meet up for a late lunch or something”, she added with a wink before dropping her cigarette to the ground.

Placing the tip of her tall stiletto heel on top of the fallen but, she twisted her sexy foot and stamped it out, “see you tomorrow Grant Gale, I'm looking forward to it".

I stood there shellshocked as I watched her trot away, pinching myself to try and convince myself that the conversation had really happened.