November 2, 2008

Sold Soul (a fiction of epic proportion) continues...

(This is an ongoing online novel started as a fictionalised events of my life. Its based on true events not all experienced by me but there were some total fictions too)As I followed them to their car, I observed these two supposedly dynamic husband and wife.




While I was waiting, Dr. K was kind enough to lounge on the sofa next to me when he was taking a break from training the nurses on the usage of some medical equipments. As he was smoking, he told me some stories about the couple I saw in the vicinity of the house.

Mr. N was an investment banker who was at the height of his career a few back when he suffered a heart condition which made him bedridden for a few months. He lost the control of his body and he needed a few more months to get back on his feet and he had to quit his job as his work was taken over by someone younger. Before the attacked occurred, he was the head for one of the most important department in the investment bank. His job is to find a good target company, buy their share in the market, then make a mandatory offer, then strip the company of its worthwhile assets and then wind it up like it was another empty shell. Little did I know then, this was the description of a 'corporate raider' although I had really loved this one movie called Other People Money once.

He was ruthless in his job. It was a required trait as he would need to meet most of the employees of the target company and informed them of his company's takeover. Then, he lay them off..

When he was hit by the disease, he was still his old self without the feeling of remorse at all. He was bitter that the bank that he worked for footed the bill but never send anyone to express their condolence or offer him to stay on. They paid his bill and when he did came to the office to sign certain documents, the CEO just told him, in not so many words, the 20 years old who was running the show would be Mr. N's permanent replacement and Mr. N will be assign a desk job. Mr. N, in not so many word, quit.

He then became obsessed with the disease that attacked his body. He was already about it when he could get up from his bed but after quitting he became really obsessed. He also studied about how a clinic is run and how doctors made decisions on treating disease. He also studied about how American HMO works. As he was also an investment banker at heart, insurance also played a part. His analytical mind was used in recognising the flaws and values of the business. Although his body was weak, his mind was as strong as ever.

His wife is a Chinese lady whom he met and married when he divorced for the third time. The wives before her only produced one girl and he had believed in marriage since he was young. That did not stop him from having affairs which became the reason for all of his divorce. But the current Mrs. N who had nurtured him back to health had her hook on him and this time it might last forever.

From my own observation, Mr. N was walking with an apparent limp and he did look like his body was ravaged by a disease. I was told he was 39 years of age but he look more like 50. His hair was thinning and his round face showed that he was tired. As he was short, his dressing of a tight t-shirt with a collar neck and a khaki pants made him look short. His choice of a sandal didn't help him there. He has this sling bag which he carried around which made him a bit out of his element. It was supposed to make him cool, but it seems to be out of place.

Mrs. N dressed simply in a loose blouse which went down to her knee and a pants. He wore an oversize spectacles which framed her faced with hair like a mini-mohawk. She was a bit chubby and she looked more like a Chinese auntie than a corporate type workoholic that Dr. K described. Maybe I would see whether she was as good as she was said to be.

The place they brought Dr. K and I for dinner was just around SS2 in Petaling Jaya. Mr. N told me that his mother's house was within the vicinity of the area. The stall that we had dinner was a Chinese stall but was said to be halal by Mr. N. I had no qualms eating Chinese food but was not too keen on certain type of food be it Chinese or even Malay. He was going to order everyone a bowl of rice porridge with everything on top when I declined (I hate rice porridge). I asked for some Cantonese mee just to show that I don't mind eating Chinese food but just didn't eat certain kind of food.
As we eat, I wondered whether the girl who I was supposed to meet had gone out with her boyfriend....

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