Flowers for No. 29
By JoGeeHo
()
About this ebook
2 women. 2 worlds. 2 broken lives. Looking for love, comfort and sanity in the most unlikely of places:
For Toni, it was a journey home to reconnect with family and friends, after ten years in Shanghai, and a breakup that took place through an email.
Much had changed. Her mother now a widow and she, single again.
Her best friend, a once-abandoned dog. Alcohol, her drug and painkiller.
The other, a young lady from China. Leaving her country and dreams of playing in a world-class orchestra to work at a place, where men wooed the women of their fancy, with flowers worth tens of thousands.
From being a singer known only as No. 29, she quickly became the top-grossing girl, making more money in a night than some of the much more established names in the industry.
Their paths crossed and the two strangers became friends. Forming a bond thicker than blood.
Falling in love and into a world ruled by shady characters.
Getting caught in a web of lies, cover-ups and a series of events which eventually led to the disappearance of the golden girl; Toni’s new found love.
In a country, renowned for its strict rules and squeaky clean image, would the law be able to protect them from the consequences of their choices in life?
JoGeeHo
JoGeeHo spoke her first word only when she was four years old, after overhearing her mother tell the neighbour that her daughter was dumb, and needed to get her tongue cut. She more than made up for the years she was thought to have Ankyloglossia. Breaking the silence, few days after the eavesdropping, by talking too much about anything and everything. Telling everyone (who cared to listen) that she had great ambitions to be a bus conductor, newspaper girl, car washer, dog walker, singer in a band, private investigator, psychologist, hit woman, or murderer [in a book or movie] ... After struggling as a secretary, learning to type with one finger and teaching her Japanese boss English for six months, she eventually quit daydreaming to become a copywriter. She now writes freely, inspired by anything and everything. Love, friendship, betrayal, mother-daughter conflict, flowers, dogs, loneliness, alcoholism in her debut book titled Flowers for No. 29
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Book preview
Flowers for No. 29 - JoGeeHo
Prologue
The Breakup
Monday
No. 10 Steel Factory
The Email
Demons Are Forever
Home At Last
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
No News Is Good News
The Wait List
A Proper Bed
Round And Round
Dying Wish
Divine Intervention
The Other Email
Gate Crasher
After-Party Party
A Special Visitor
Back From Hell
The Red Sofa
Goddess Of Mercy
The Consultation
Lost Soul
Body Swapped?
No. 29
The Show
2.30 AM
Like Chopsticks
The Business Of Hanging Flowers
Name Of The Game
The NS Guy
Upping The Stakes
Taking The Plunge
The Round Up
Disappearing Act
Perhaps Love
Not Working
Instant Gratification
Dead Beat
Breathless
Panic Attack
Lights Out
Dream Honeymoon
Narrow Escape
Uncertain Times
Starting Over
Beyond Belief
All In The Cards
In-between
In The Neighbourhood
Too Much
Rejection
Complicated
Mummy's Girl
Qing Ming
The Cold War
Messy
Face-Off
Walking Time Bomb
Call From A Stranger
In My Dreams
No Show
No Police
Cry For Help
Clueless
Bleeding Love
Rare Type
Second Chance
Rain Rain Go Away
White Envelope
The Letter
Epilogue
Prologue
It would seem Toni’s decision to return to Singapore was at the behest of her recently widowed eighty-year-old mother, who wanted her youngest child back to protect her from the devious plots of her doctors.
The cardiologist, orthopaedist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, ophthalmologist, psychiatrist, family general practitioner…were all suspects.
The matriarch of the family was also sure the daughter-in-law would be the cause of her untimely demise. By sending her to a nursing home to be infected by some antibiotic-resistant superbug.
The daughter-in-law, on the other hand, was happily looking to adopt a third dog before her fortieth birthday.
Secretly hoping another four-legged fur kid would help with the grieving process of the family after the passing of the man of the house.
A man of few words whose funeral was attended by more people than expected. People who best remembered him as the man with a big heart.
The arrival of the third dog did bring much distraction.
A mini white Pomeranian rescued from an HDB dwelling. A true-blue toy dog whose previous owners considered more a nuisance than good company for their young son mugging for his PSLE exams.
Once unleashed into its new home, the attention-deficit mutt did go crazy. Turning the world upside down for the family.
Chasing every falling leaf in the compound. Barking at the mop hanging on the wall. Thinking it to be a burglar with oversized head and stick-thin body. Hunting ants invisible to the human eye.
Quickly progressing to chasing the five times bigger mongrel around the house. Only to have the tip of its left ear nipped off by the second day of socialising.
This was the life spread out ahead for Toni. Would she be able to reconcile with her mother?
Make up for the many years she had not lived up to expectations; having left home after getting her first pay check?
Would she be able to exorcise the guilt that had been haunting her? After all, she was not around for her family when her father died.
She did not even have the chance to say goodbye. The last she saw him was when he was lying in a coffin. Hair slicked so far back; she could hardly recognise him.
What was she to do with a misunderstood sister-in-law, who never saw the need for brakes when driving the mother-in-law to a doctor?
Fulfilling the matriarch’s prediction of sending her to an early death.
Estranged from family and friends after ten years working in Shanghai, Toni was nevertheless determined to start life with a clean slate.
What did the Goddess of Mercy have to say of her past?
Why was a psychic stalking her about her future?
Would a Chinese songstress working in a club, located along a sleazy stretch of well-governed Singapore, be the one to turn her life around?
The Breakup
It was during a Facetime call over the weekend that she started feeling uneasy.
After the usual exchange of civilities and complaints about work in general, her partner had suddenly become impatient.
Have you been checking your emails?
Gmail’s blocked in China, and my VPN has stopped working. Have you forgotten?
She caught her partner stealing a glance at the clock on the wall in the master bedroom where they used to share their deepest darkest secrets.
I can only do so in the office on Monday. What is it about? Why can’t you tell me now?
Nothing important,
came the reply, followed by a lull.
Just remember to check when you have some time.
End of conversation.
She tried getting back to her movie, put on pause before the call, but could not get herself back into the plot.
She lay motionless, staring at the 42-inch TV screen. Images and voices from the movie merging into a slur of fuzzy motions.
Contemplated calling her partner again. Abandoned the thought.
Decided to get dressed. Fumbled for the remote control instead, and fell back into bed in utter frustration.
The weather took a turn, the small studio apartment cast into semi-darkness.
Rain began to pour. Hard and merciless. Crashing onto the aluminium awnings. Amplifying her confusion till it became unbearable.
She bolted up like a corpse struck by lightning. Cracked her neck till she heard it snap. Feeling a coldness sear through the core of her heart. Breaking it wide open.
Fully conscious that the conversation was not part of a dream, gone bad.
Monday
The weather network had predicted more rain and thunderstorms for the days ahead.
For the folks living in Shanghai, it meant another week of worsening traffic conditions, flight delays and foul moods.
Toni was on her bicycle. A made-in-Taiwan Raleigh replica bought when she first arrived. Already missing the front lights, a mirror and recently installed basket.
The sun was out. Air in a comfortable range of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius. Not a dark cloud in sight as forecast.
She shot across the two-way street. Whizzing in and out of the moving mass of humans and vehicles.
Dragging both feet on the tarmac as manual brakes. Slowing down. Jumping off on the other side. Continuing the rest of the journey on foot.
Hole-in-the-wall shops were abuzz. Selling all kinds of sustenance for the day ahead.
Crispy paper-thin jianbing, deep-fried youtiao sticks, steaming xiaolongbao, wanton soup noodles, sticky rice balls, silky dou hua, even chicken porridge from an American fast