14 years.
It's been 14 years since we've last met and the innocent, somewhat petulant yet adorable Saint I used to know is standing before me in 6ft 3 like Eros descended from above for me to drool over.
His well-groomed cropped hair with fades at the side, donning crisp, smooth ironed pinstripe shirt with sleeves neatly folded up to his forearms, neatly tied Armani naval blue necktie tucked under the collar, expensive looking black leather belt best believed Polo Ralph Lauren securing his crisp ironed navy chino pants and his dark burgundy Oxford shoes making him to lose all those immature impressions I once had on him.
He's an adult Saint now and he makes me want him back.
As Dato' Bahadin swiftly greets and passes us, I watch Saint follows behind him, leaving a trail of fresh mint and spices sillage accentuated with its pleasurable strong scent, best believed to be Dior Sauvage Fareed had claimed earlier.
Saint swiftly glances at me before turning his head back to his iPhone, scrolling furiously. I'm frustrated by his inability to recognise me. Am I becoming too unfamiliar for him? Am I gaining weight that he's too embarrassed to say hi to me?
"Saint!" although I could hear my voice pitch higher than usual among the chatters, he doesn't turn to respond. I don't stop there, I march forward towards him and reach for his shoulder to tap.
"Excuse me?" he turned to me in astonishment and his eyebrows furrow, feeling annoyed.
"Saint? Hussaini? It's you, right?" I brave an introductory query.
"What do you want?" he grunts.
"Hi, it's me Sofia, remember?" but he looks at me deadpan with no attempt of recalling who I am. I carry on, "I'm your former-"
"Get out of my sight, please!" he cuts off sharply and joins the entourage.
Him aborting the conversation has left me feeling baffled and dejected. Did he do that intentionally or is he blocking me out of his memory?
"You know him?" Melinda asks me as she draws near. "Or are you having one of your uncontrolled delusions again?"
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"Isn't T-Rex's mom's name Sabina Mohammadi?" I throw out the question to my CoSec mates, using the moniker 'T-Rex' for Saint which was coined by some of our colleagues who find Saint to be irritable.
"Yeah, she's the former Chief Finance Officer of the Group," Kak Aisah elucidates. She would have known the history of Taylor-Willis Bank longer than any of us since she is the most senior. "She took an early retirement a couple of years back."
I quickly open my long-forgotten email account to browse for Sabina's archived messages with old photos of me and Saint in it. And when I successfully retrieve the email, I yelp triumphantly. Distracted Fareed turns to look at my desktop screen and catches me viewing a few low-resolution images of me and Saint when we were kids.
"Wait, you and T-Rex were childhood friends?!" Fareed's almost too loud voice attracts Hasanah and Sarra to stop and gather behind me at my workstation.
"Owh, look how adorable you two were!" Sarra moans at the old photo of young Saint and I holding each other's hands in front of KLCC entrance like childhood sweethearts.
"You slept with my man?!" Fareed hissed when he sees photos of us taking a nap with young Saint covering my feet.
"Come on, you have to admit that this is cute," Hasanah elbows him. "Just wondering how a sweet looking kid like this turned so brute?"
"Sofia didn't give him the love he deserves," Fareed jokes causing me to nonplus, like he knows our past.
"No, I don't think so. I was his favourite babysitter," I murmur, don't feel like revealing the past.
"Okay, CoSec has an ammo we can send whenever there's documents to be delivered to T-Rex's office," Hasanah announces, motioning at me.
"Wait, what? No!" I gulp.
"Can you help to deliver documents from our department too?" Sarra giggles.
"What's the racket? It's not even lunch yet," Madam Norma join in the conversation.
Madam Norma is our new Head of Department, who from the first impression, doesn't really tolerates laid back, disorganisation and excessive human error. Just like the rest of Dato' Bahadin's team, she is transferred from TWB International to replace Ms. Marian as Company Secretary of TWIB. She eyeballs at my screen while others resume to their respective workstations. "You and Hussaini knew each other back then?"
"Yeah, we uhm... I used to look after Hussaini when Sabi - I mean Ms. Mohammadi did her OT."
"Senior officers don't get to do overtime," Madam Norma corrects me as her gaze remains fixed at the photos on my screen. "But yeah, Sabina was a workaholic. She came to the office more often than stayed at home. So, I guess you must be the babysitter she used to talk about. She recommended you to me."
"Wow, I never knew she spoke of me to her colleagues," I say impressed.
"Such a small world. Sabina was my mentor when we were at The Group. She's a wonderful lady," she has a small grin on her face before wiping it off and turns to my other team mates. "Listen up, CoSec team. We're going to have a short meeting with the CEO's office tomorrow morning at 8.30 so be at the office by 8.00, please."
"What's the meeting about?" Hasanah asks.
"Since the CEO's team is new here, they basically want to know how TWIB's Committee, Management and Board of Directors (BOD) meetings are being handled here. And since I'm also new here, can I get help from all of you to assist with the briefing?"
"I can help on Sharia Committee meetings, Sofia and Hasanah can brief on the Working Committee (WC) and Management Committee (MC) meetings while Kak Aisah will explain on BOD meetings," Fauzi proposes.
"Brilliant, so get yourself prepared. Bring the Term of Reference for each committee and TWIB's Constitution as well," she directs, and we respond with "Okay" and "Alright" in a discordant manner before resuming our work.
When Madam Norma seeks someone's help to deliver some documents for the CEO to sign, Hasanah and Fauzi unanimously nominate me for the task.
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The elevator ride to level 20 where the CEO's office is located feels edgy than before as my heart thumps faster on every floor that I ascend. And when 20 in red bold digits appear on the panel screen inside the cubicle, I hold my breath and watch the elevator door to slide open.
I march towards the secured entrance door and tapping my access card on the security panel before the beeping sound prompts me to enter. In front of me is an open space embellished with minimal zen themed interior that we usually used this space for social gatherings like festive open house or annual dinner. And in the middle of the hall is a marble spiral staircase that leads to level 21 where most BOD and Management meetings are held.
To its right, is the office room of the new CEO, Dato' Bahadin and his Secretary, Zakiya adjoining next to each other behind a large somewhat heavy wooden door like a path to a different realm. Saint's office room is on the opposite of theirs, and is a small, converted waiting room surrounded by frosted glass wall panels. The glass door of his room opens inward and I sense his presence despite the absolute silence.
Despite my guts telling me to drop the documents at Zakiya's and leave because that's what I've been assigned to do, I edge closer and peeking into Saint's office space.
The room looks rather bleak with no sense of life. The furniture is kept to a bare minimum of L-shaped desks, office chairs and medium-sized shelves. When I see Saint by the desk scribbling and flipping furiously on stacks of paper, my heart suddenly skips faster.
"Hi, Saint!" my forced casual greet squeak causing him to stop scribbling.
He doesn't reply, eyes roll from the paper stacks towards me with a glower.
"You seriously don't remember me?" I try to elicit another recollection from him. "It's me Sofia. How are you doing? Look at you all grown up."
Saint still looks cranky, but he quickly pushes his chair away to stand up. Seeing him walking towards me somehow made me think that he might give in for a small talk by the door. So I carry on, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't reply to your email. I don't use that email anymore and when I try-"
Thud!
He slams the door in front of my face.
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