Chapter 31
31
Thursday 26 May
8:05 a.m.
Got an email from Suresh that he had accepted a three-month secondment in Jakarta. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing one would do when one’s fiancée makes a long-awaited move to Singapore, but what the hell do I know.
Also: he told me that he’d been “offered” and he had “immediately rejected” the offer to be lead senior associate on Sungguh, which would now be overseen by Genevieve. That means nothing—maybe he thinks it’s a matter of time before Sungguh ditches our firm for good. I can’t believe I trusted him.
His betrayal is the only reason I’m upset with him, of course. No other reason.
4:50 p.m.
Oh shit. Just saw Massimo Poon and Berenice Chan featured on local news for their “lavish, retro-inspired vow renewal ceremony in Bali.” Shit.
9:10 p.m.
House is suspiciously quiet. Thought Linda was not home until I found her lying, passed-out drunk, behind the couch. Had to prop her up with some pillows and cover her with a blanket, because she was, once again, butt naked in my living room. But I’ll deal with that another day.
Friday 27 May
1:25 p.m.
It’s really not been my week.
Just received news that the VizWare deal is definitely off. Apparently the founder of Chapel Town just passed away from natural causes, which in his case was old age (he was close to ninety). The general counsel of the firm wrote to us to say that nothing will move until the son has come on board and has had a chance to decide on the pending investments, but that would have to wait till they had sorted out other estate matters.
Well. There’s nothing much you can say to that. It was too late for me anyway, because the founder’s death hadn’t absolved my part in the whole Luxembourg kerfuffle that had delayed the signing in the first place. And now Sungguh Capital was pissed at me and the firm.
Things were not looking good for my case for partnership.
I asked Mong what I could do to make up for potentially jeopardizing the Sungguh Capital relationship, since I was already billing like crazy.
He thought about it. “Bring me a huge new client the scale of Sungguh Capital or get the VizWare closing back on track.”
Well, that’s it, I’m doomed.
2:25 p.m.
Got tired of playing out worst-case scenarios in my head and called Eric to ask him out; he said yes. We’re going to watch a community (!) musical tonight.
10:25 p.m.
My dejection must have shown on my face, because Eric asked me what the problem was. Told him all about the Luxemburg fiasco without going into details about the parties involved, and told him about Mong’s challenge to me.
He listened attentively and then said, jokingly I suppose,
although he hardly ever jokes, “I guess that means I’ll really have to give you some business.”
I laughed. “Well, I don’t know if that’s appropriate. It smacks of nepotism.”
He looked bemused. “Why wouldn’t it be? We’re not dating.”
“We’re—not?” I said, taken aback.
“No,” he said, a smile creasing his face. “Not yet. So, I don’t see any conflict of interest that prevents you from being my lawyer if I do pass your firm some work, do you?”
“Nooo,” I conceded. Although I have to say, dear Diary, that I was disappointed to learn that we had really been attending that atrocious play as platonic companions. Because we could have just had a business lunch.
Also—I was starting to like him. In a not-strictly-business kind of way.
Urgh. Just my luck all over again.