“I…”
“Daniel!”
We both look up. There is a young Thai guy standing in the doorway.
“Oh, hi Gan. What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to check if you needed any help. Phroi called me and told me she quit.”
“Did she now? Did she happen to fill you in on why?”
“No, sorry. I just assumed it was her problem. I knew you had that order coming up, so I wanted to make sure you were managing OK. But I see you already have an assistant…”
“Uh, yes. This is Chloe. Chloe, meet Gan.”
Gan smiles at me and holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
I reach out and wrap my hand around his. His open face and laughing eyes instantly put me at ease. “It’s nice to meet you too. Did you say your name was Gun?”
He laughs. “Yeah, but it is spelt with an a instead of a u.”
“Oh. Cool.”
“Gan is my I.T. guy,” Daniel explains. “But he’s quite good at a lot of other things too.”
“Daniel doesn’t want to admit I am a better perfumer than him,” Gan says, winking.
“You are a very talented perfumer, Gan, but you need a bit more restraint before I’d consider you one of the greats,” Daniel says seriously.
“I was kidding. I am not a good perfumer. But thank you for saying I am.”
“So is Daniel one of the greats?” I ask Gan.
“The greatest,” he says, almost reverently.
“I won’t even be considered mediocre if I don’t get this order done,” Daniel says, diverting the conversation. I suspect he’s embarrassed by Gan’s praise. “And since I have both of you here, you might as well make yourselves useful. Gan, if you don’t have anything better to do, do you want to stay and help us?”
“Do you even have to ask that question?” He grabs another lab coat from the wall and grins. “Tell me what you need.”
***
I’m having so much fun hanging out with Daniel and Gan that I completely lose track of time. We stop to eat at around one and I check Facebook to see if Mia has written yet, but she hasn’t. I also call the hotel and ask them to transfer me to our room, but there’s no answer, so I assume it won’t do any harm to stay for a bit longer. But then suddenly it’s 5pm, and it occurs to me I haven’t heard from my sister since I lost her last night. I start to panic again. What if something has happened to her? What if I’m having the time of my life in a perfumery while Mia is lying murdered in a ditch somewhere?
Daniel must see me checking the clock, because he stands up. “I’m sorry I kept you here so long. Do you want me to give you a ride back to your hotel?”
“Oh, no. That’s fine. I’ll just catch a cab.”
“Please. It’s the least I can do.”
“You already helped me last night!”
“And you helped me today. For longer.”
I mock sigh. “Well, if you insist.”
“Great. My ride’s out the back.”
I say goodbye to Gan and follow Daniel out into a garage, where several cars are parked.
“Which one’s yours?” I ask.
“This one,” he says, pointing to a motorbike.
“Um, you don’t have a car?” I say nervously.
He smiles cheerfully at me. “Sorry. I do have a minibus, but it’s in getting a service. Here.” He hands me a helmet.
I eye the motorbike, wondering if I can change my mind about taking a cab without looking rude. I feel so far out of my comfort zone, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to find my way back to it.
“I promise I’ll go slow,” he says, noting my hesitation.
“But what about everyone else on the road?” I point out.
“I’ll drive on the less-crowded streets. Thailand can be dangerous on a motorbike if you don’t know what you’re doing, but most of the people who die weren’t wearing helmets, or they didn’t understand the rules.”
“How long have you lived here?”
“Five years.”
“And you’ve been riding motorbikes the whole time?”
“Even longer. I had a dirt bike back in Scotland that I used to take out every weekend, and a moped I used as my primary method of getting around when I lived in France. But it’s totally up to you. Although, if I had a choice between me and a tuk-tuk driver, I know who I’d choose.”
I smile. “I guess. I’ve already been in a few tuk-tuks, and this couldn’t be much more terrifying.”
“I promise it won’t be.”
I put the helmet on and feel it squish my cheeks. I had never realised how padded and tight they were inside.
Daniel puts his on and throws a leg over the bike. He switches on the ignition and then pats the seat behind him, indicating I should jump on.
I have never been on a motorbike. But then I’d never been in a tuk-tuk either until yesterday. At least the bike, which is a black and silver Honda, feels solid and reliable.
I climb on and wonder what to do with my arms.
Daniel senses my uncertainty and grabs my hands, wrapping them around his waist. I almost gasp as I find myself pressed up against his back.
He revs the bike and takes off down the road. He keeps to his word and drives slowly, but it still feels fast. It takes a moment for me to get used to leaning with the bike when we go around corners, and my grip is so tight that I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel had trouble breathing. I try and control my own air intake, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Daniel smells like a mix of different fragrances, probably as a result of his work, but it’s pleasant. Slightly citrusy, with a touch of spice.
He weaves through the relatively quiet back streets, and I can tell he knows what he’s doing.
But just as I finally start to relax, we pull into the driveway at the Shangri-La. I try to hide my disappointment when we stop, even though I’m keen to see Mia.
He pulls up his visor and helps me remove my helmet.
“All OK?”
“Yes,” I say breathlessly. The sensory overload of the ride is making me feel crazy.
“Well, I just want to thank you again. I hope you have a great rest of your holiday. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“You too. Thanks for everything.”
I hesitate, wondering if I should shake his hand or give him a hug. But he’s already busying himself to leave.
He tucks my helmet up under the rear seat and then revs the motor again.
“Bye, Chloe,” he says before closing his visor and disappearing.
I almost fan my face, like some maiden in a Jane Austen novel.
And then I physically shake myself.
I need to find my sister.
SEVEN
I head back up to my room. Now that I don’t have Daniel and Gan to distract me, I feel awful. I am the worst person ever, abandoning my sister on her birthday and not even knowing if she’s safe.
I quickly unlock the door and push it open.
“Where the hell have you been?” Mia asks, sitting on the bed and looking up from her phone, her lips pinched together disapprovingly.
“I’m really, really sorry, Mia.” I run over and give her a hug, ridiculously relieved to see her. “I’m so glad you’re OK.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asks, still annoyed. “Oh, that’s right. Because you ditched us last night and then were doing God knows what all day today, so you wouldn’t know. And on my birthday too!”
“I know, it’s unforgiveable. But I did send you a couple of messages on Facebook and I tried calling the hotel to see if you were here. I got pickpocketed last night and ended up being stranded on some random dark street.” I start to tear up, mostly out of guilt, but also at the reminder of how I felt before I stumbled across Daniel’s perfumery.
Mia’s expression softens. “Oh, babe, I’m sorry.” She pats my arm. “It’ll be alright. I apologise for being so snarky. I’ve just had the worst hangover all day and then when you weren’t here this afterno
on, I got kind of mad, you know? But you’re OK?”
“Yeah, I am now. And I promise I didn’t mean to stay out all day. I had to go and get some money wired from Keith and then I went to pay back this guy who gave me money for a cab…”
“Wait up. Who gave you money for a cab?”
I suddenly feel a bit shy. “Uh, he’s this really nice Scottish guy who works at a perfumery.”
Mia’s eyes light up. “Was he hot?”
I try not to blush. “He was pretty good looking.”
“Ooh. Tell me more.”
Mia instantly switches to gossipy gal pal, and I explain how I helped out at the perfumery all day.
“That sounds really cool. Maybe I should go and make a perfume while we’re here.”
“Maybe. If they’re open tomorrow.” I know it’s silly, but the idea of introducing Daniel to Mia makes me uneasy. I’m not quite sure why.
“Oh, yeah. And I guess if we’re leaving on Tuesday, tomorrow will be our only proper day to explore…”
“Actually, I need to talk to you about that. When I was pickpocketed, my passport was stolen. And with it being Songkran, the consulate isn’t open, so I won’t be able to organise a replacement until Thursday.”
Mia’s pouty face is back. “So what does that mean?”
“I probably need to stay in Bangkok. I’m not sure I can travel around the country without my passport.”
“But you have a copy, right? Can’t you just carry that around with you?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to check online. But where are we supposed to be on Thursday? Halfway to Phuket? If I don’t sort out a replacement as soon as the consulate opens, then I might not be able to get on my flight back to Australia at the end of the holiday.”
“So what are you proposing?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet.”
She dramatically throws herself backwards on the bed. “Agh! This is so frustrating! If we don’t keep to the schedule, what are we going to do about accommodation? It’s all pre-paid, and I can’t afford to book anything else. I mean, I’m not mad at you, Chloe. At least, not anymore. And I feel bad for you that your stuff was stolen—it must have been pretty scary to be stranded on some random street in the middle of the night—but you losing your stuff is sucky, and it’s going to really mess with our plans.”
“I know, I know. It’s crap. I’ll try and figure something out later. But enough about that. What are we doing tonight?”
“Nothing. The others all wanted to go out again, but I’m too tired. I thought we could just get room service and hang out here.”
“That sounds good to me.”
Mia perks up a little. “I feel like a club sandwich. Do you think they have them on the menu?”
“Actually, I know for a fact that they do.” I give my sister a small smile. I’m sure everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.
***
Mia and I have a relatively early night. We watch an old Kate Hudson film on pay-per-view while eating our club sandwiches and then pass out. But before we fall asleep, I manage to get out of Mia what she’d been up to since we became separated the night before. She had, in fact, stayed out with her friends all night and gone back to their hostel when the sun came up, and then she’d slept until after lunch. When she’d woken up, she’d been so hungover that she’d spent a couple of hours lying beside the toilet before returning to the hotel. Needless to say, she hadn’t seen my Facebook messages, and I felt a bit better knowing that my absence hadn’t actually affected her day, despite her earlier complaints.
After getting a great night’s sleep, I wake up feeling quite optimistic. I’m guessing I might have to stay at a backpacker resort on my own for a couple of days until the consulate re-opens, and then catch up with Mia and her friends later. That won’t be the complete end of the world.
I decide to discuss the logistics with Mia this afternoon, after the boat tour she’s booked us all on. We’ll be taken around the canals, or Khlongs as I think they’re called. We head downstairs to meet up with Grant, Todd and Ava.
Todd looks even sicker than when I saw him the other night. “Are you going to be alright on a boat today?” I ask him.
His face turns green at the mention of the boat.
“Probably not,” he admits.
Grant slaps him on the back. “You’ll be fine, bud. And at least you can hurl over the side if you need to.”
Todd smiles weakly. “Yeah.”
We all walk down to the jetty to our boat—a long, narrow wooden thing with a rainbow-striped sail overhead and fake chiffon flowers stuck to the bow.
There are a couple of people already waiting on-board. Grant and Todd climb in and sit in front of them. Mia and Ava climb in next. I am about to join them when the driver puts his arm out, preventing me from sitting down.
“Wait, I’m with them!” I protest.
“This one full. You get in that one,” he says, pointing to another boat parked a few metres away. It’s much smaller and not nearly as cute. I’m surprised it’s even seaworthy.
“But then I won’t be able to hang out with my sister and her friends!”
“We travel together. You be OK,” he assures me.
I look beseechingly at Mia.
She frowns. “Maybe it will be alright if the boats are leaving at the same time. We can talk across the water.”
Seriously? We don’t know that at all. This is like the plane all over again.
“I could just stay behind?” I suggest.
“No! You can’t do that. Come on, Chloe. Just get in the boat. We’ll be stopping heaps, anyway. Then it won’t matter.”
I sigh. “Fine.” I reluctantly climb into the other boat. It’s empty except for me and the driver. I figure maybe that won’t be so bad. I can pretend I have a private chartered ride around the river. And at least I won’t have to be near Todd if he throws up.
Just as I’m starting to come around to the idea of having the entire boat to myself, an American couple show up. The driver appears to have been waiting for them and ushers them into the boat with me. For some reason, the woman plonks down beside me, rather than sitting with her husband. She has a brittle appearance about her, with an over-bleached bob and deep smoker’s lines around her mouth. She is very obviously not wearing any deodorant.
“It’s hot as a mofo out here, huh?” she says to me, wiping down her face with a washcloth that she’d had tucked into the waistband of her pants.
I press up against the side of the boat in an attempt to maximise the distance between us. “Yeah, it’s quite warm.”
“Brian! Pass me the water, would you?” she bellows at the beaten-down looking man sitting in front of us.
Brian grunts and rummages around in an oversized backpack, pulling out a bottle of water and handing it to her.
She opens it up and guzzles half of it in one swallow.
I’m so busy fluctuating between fascinated and horrified that at first I don’t notice Mia’s boat sailing off into the canal. It’s only after I accidentally glance away that I see they’re already halfway across the large part of the river.
So much for our boats staying together.
I close my eyes. Maybe if I keep them shut, I can pretend this is all just a nightmare.
Finally, we pull away from the dock and putter across to the smaller canals. I concentrate on the view and the fact that I’m in Thailand. I need to appreciate this a lot more than I have been doing.
A small market boat pulls up beside us.
“You buy keyring?” the vendor asks, holding up a handful of metal keyrings in the shape of elephants. They’re kind of sweet. Maybe I could buy a couple as souvenirs.
“How much?” I ask.
“Five hundred baht,” he says, straight-faced.
“Twenty dollars? You want twenty dollars for a keyring?”
“You get five of them,” he explains.
“Oh. Right. No, thank you.”
/> “Come on. You buy!”
“No thanks.” I politely turn away.
The woman next to me laughs. “Those damn Thais are persistent, aren’t they?”
My boat driver doesn’t seem keen to rescue me, and allows the vendor to stay beside us for much longer than I would have thought necessary.
“That guy isn’t happy with you,” the woman remarks.
I steal a glance back at the vendor. He is scowling at me.
Jeez.
“Fine. Give me five keyrings,” I say, handing over five hundred baht. I really can’t afford this. But then I remind myself that most Thai people only earn a fraction of what I do back in Australia, and I feel a tiny bit better.
He’s suddenly all smiles. “Khob khun krup. Thank you.” He gives me a pack and then holds his hands together in a prayer.
“Sucker,” says the woman beside me. “The secret is to not engage with them from the start.”
“Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out,” I sigh.
We sail off after Mia’s boat and I open the pack of keyrings. The shiny silver paint on them sticks to my hands like glitter. One even snaps in half with the lightest touch.
I am totally a sucker.
And the morning doesn’t get any better. My boat trails significantly behind Mia’s for most of the tour. We pull in at a couple of temples, but their group is always just leaving as ours arrives. I have nothing in common with the American couple, and they seem to find everything quaint and amusing—constantly commenting on how third world their surroundings are.
Around lunchtime, we stop at a café on the edge of the canal. The food seems to be taking a while to arrive, because Mia and her friends haven’t yet been served.
Mia waves me over. “Babe! Come sit next to me!” She pushes Todd out of the way and makes a small gap on the bench beside her.
“Thanks, Mia.” I squeeze in and awkwardly rest my elbows on the table.
“Are you having fun?” she asks.
This is typical of my sister. She doesn’t ever seem to notice what’s happening unless you spell it out for her.
“Uh, not exactly.”
“Oh? How come?”
“Because I’m riding in a boat with those two,” I say, pointing to the American couple, who are now engaged in a noisy debate over whether the nearby waitress moonlights as a prostitute.
Perfume Therapy Page 6