“Hey, babe. How are you?”
“Good.” I experience my usual sense of relief at knowing he is still alive and well as I drink in his features like always—his square jaw and piercing blue eyes…the straight nose. My boyfriend is a handsome man, even with his standard issue army buzz-cut. I think he is one of the only guys on the planet who can actually pull it off.
“How’s Thailand?”
“Not bad.” I know that isn’t much of an answer, but I’m still trying to figure out what to tell him after the events of the past few days. And despite my best efforts to rationalise his last message to me, I can’t help but feel a bit…I don’t know. Put out or something.
“Is everything OK?” He seems to sense my mood.
“Yeah, it’s just…I guess…your last message…” I don’t normally like to say anything negative, but for some reason, I can’t help it today.
“Oh, that. I’m so sorry, babe. I was just looking out for your safety. I didn’t mean to sound crazy. Are you mad?”
I immediately soften. “No, I’m not mad. I just think maybe sometimes you don’t think I’m capable of looking after myself.”
“I know you are more than capable. It’s just that stupid protective part of me that wants to make sure you’re OK, wherever you are. I feel so helpless all the way over here. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you…”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me. And it’s not your job to protect me.”
“It is,” he says.
“No, it isn’t,” I say gently. I’m definitely not telling him about the pickpocketing now, or the head injury. I took off the bandage this morning and the cut doesn’t look too bad.
“What happened to your forehead?” he asks, as if reading my mind.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I bumped it on the table when I bent down to pick something up.”
“It looks like a pretty nasty cut. Does it hurt?”
“It did a little at the time. But it’s OK now.”
He studies me for a moment, not saying anything.
“What?” I ask self-consciously.
“So, what have you been up to? Anything interesting happen so far?”
“No, not really. Mia is pretty wrapped up in what’s going on with her friends, so I feel like a fifth wheel, but otherwise it’s fine.”
“So there’s nothing you want to tell me?”
“What do you mean?” Honestly, Aaron is weirding me out a little. Can he tell I’m not in the hotel I was supposed to be in by the background? I glance around and see a plain white wall. There’s nothing that would give it away. I don’t think it’s worth stressing him out by telling him where I actually am.
“I don’t know. You’re in Thailand. I expected you to have stories.”
“Oh. Um, we went out on the first night to Khaosan Road. It was pretty wild, but I didn’t stay out that long. And then yesterday we went on a river tour. It was OK.”
He keeps staring at me.
“What’s going on, Aaron?”
“Nothing. Hey, listen, sorry but I have to go. I would love to talk longer, but we’ve been told to limit comms tonight. I’ll email you in a couple of days, OK?”
“Uh, yeah. I miss you,” I say.
“I miss you too, babe. Talk soon.”
He signs off abruptly.
That was bizarre, even for Aaron.
What was that all about? I feel so paranoid that I wonder if somehow he really was able to read my mind and see all the things I was keeping from him. I normally don’t hide anything, but I think Mia’s comment about him being controlling kind of hit deeper than I realised. Aaron may be thousands of kilometres away in the Middle East, but he does always feel like a very heavy presence in my life. It would only make him worse, knowing what I’ve been through the last few days.
And then I think about Daniel. I don’t want to believe that meeting him could be affecting my relationship with Aaron in any way, but I’m afraid that maybe it already is.
And I don’t know what to do about it.
TEN
Before I head into the perfumery the next morning, I check my work email. God knows how many messages are waiting for me.
Over two hundred, apparently. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Most of them are not even relevant to me, but Keith has this habit of cc’ing me in on pretty much everything he sends to everyone else so I have a copy. That way, he can always just ask me if he needs anything down the track, rather than have his own filing system.
I start with the newest ones first, but then decide it makes more sense to sort from the day I left and work forwards.
I see the first message Keith sent through on Saturday, before I called him. It’s basically just a whole bunch of silly questions he could easily have confirmed with Imogen or Bethany. I’ll ignore that for the moment.
But the second message is worrying. It’s an email that Bethany had forwarded to Keith. As I start to read it, my heart sinks. It doesn’t exactly put my judgment in the best light.
Hi Keith,
I just wanted to raise my concerns about one of the new recruits for the Robert Chang account. I went to school with a Leanne Smith, but ended the friendship because she was openly racist and antagonistic online. I’ve confirmed this is the same woman who has been offered the role, and I don’t believe Robert Chang will appreciate her white supremacist opinions, should she voice them in the workplace. Please let me know if you’d like to discuss this further.
Also, I noticed that Chloe doesn’t seem to have sent through the tax file number and superannuation forms to the other new recruits yet, so would you like me to get onto that?
Kind regards,
Bethany Kingston.
Damn. Did I really forget those forms? I’m sure I didn’t. I distinctly remember posting them off. Or did I just think I did? I have no way of checking, because everything is on my computer in the office. I mean, it’s not really the end of the world, but I do like to have those kinds of things sorted out well in advance to make everyone’s lives easier.
But it seems that I really did drop the ball on Leanne. I normally conduct a Google and social media search on potential new recruits, but with Leanne having such a common surname, it was difficult for me to find anything. I quickly open Facebook and search for her again. There are hundreds of results, and I can’t figure out which one might be her. Many of the them don’t even have profile photos. But then I do a search for Bethany Kingston and note down her high school. Leanne had only put her hospitality training on her CV, so I wasn’t able to use her prior education in my research. Until now. I do another search for Leanne, cross-checking against the high school name.
Found her.
Oh. My. God.
It’s awful.
Leanne’s profile is full of white pride memes and dozens of posts about how she supports One Nation and wishes all foreigners would go back to their own country. And her entire profile is set to public.
But she seemed so normal and capable in the interview! It’s not like she was covered in southern cross tattoos (at least that I could see) or talked about how much she admired Pauline Hanson.
This is a disaster. We’ve already made the offer and she’s accepted it. I don’t know how we can go back on that without getting ourselves in legal trouble. Obviously, she will be on probation for the first few weeks of the job, so we can maybe find a loophole to let her go then, but if she starts talking about the KKK or Hitler’s Aryan race on the first day, it won’t look good for us.
I quickly whip off an email to Bethany and let her know I’m now aware of the issue—and that I’ll keep a close eye on it. I also ask her to chase up the missing forms for me. I swear I did send them off, but who knows? I have dozens of clients to follow up on most days, so it’s possible that one task slipped through the net.
I feel a little unsettled, but figure there’s not much else I can do right now. And I owe Daniel my time in return for giving me a roof over my head.
<
br /> I sigh. Why does my life have to be so complicated?
***
When I arrive at the perfumery, it’s practically bustling. There aren’t any customers in the shop yet, but there are several people out the back, and I can see another two in the lab.
Daniel is at his computer again and waves his hand around to the staff.
“Everyone, this is Chloe. She’ll be helping out for a few days until I get a chance to hire someone more permanent.”
I awkwardly wave.
“I’m sure you’ll forget straight away, but I’ll just quickly introduce everyone,” he says. “That’s Kitty, Kannika, Pen and Lek. Oh, and of course you know Gan already.”
“Happy Birthday!” I say, remembering.
Gan looks up from his work and grins. “Thanks! So have you decided if you’re coming out with us tonight?”
He’s so puppy-dog-eyed that I couldn’t possibly say no, even if I wanted to. “Of course I am. Thank you. It’s very nice of you to include me.”
Daniel points to the corner.
“Why don’t you work with Kitty this morning? She can show you what she’s doing, and you can be her assistant.”
“Sure.”
I go over to a very sweet looking Thai woman in her mid-twenties. She has her hair pulled up in two buns with fluoro pink ties wrapped around each one.
“I am putting together some starter kits,” she explains. “For people who want to learn perfume but don’t know where to begin.”
“Oh, great.”
She points to a bunch of plastic containers the size of lunchboxes and hands me some foam.
“Put a piece of foam in the bottom of each one, and then place a set of bottles on top,” she instructs, pointing to small groupings of bottles on another table. “You must check them off on the list here before putting more foam around them to keep them padded.”
“Great. Can do.”
I start placing pieces of foam in each of the containers. The woman who I think was called Kannika walks past at that moment and says something in Thai. Kitty glares at her.
Then I feel a sharp elbow jab in my back.
“Ow!” I turn around and see Kannika steadying herself.
“Sorry,” she says, not sounding at all apologetic. “I slipped.”
I try to rub the sore bit on my back. Kitty stares at her suspiciously.
“Don’t worry about her,” she says after Kannika is out of earshot. “She is in bad mood today.”
I wonder if I have anything to do with it, or if it’s just a general feeling of ill-will towards everyone.
But I’m not going to let that bother me. Everyone else is super nice. I’ll focus on them instead.
***
By 11.30am, Daniel has gone out to meet another client and taken Gan with him. Kitty is down the road ordering lunch for everyone. Pen and Lek are in the lab, and Kannika is nowhere to be found.
Before he left, Daniel suggested that when I was done helping Kitty, I should check the levels of the bottles in the shop and top them up if necessary.
I grab a piece of paper to make notes on, and decide to improve my perfume knowledge at the same time.
I go through the compounds, smelling each of them and writing down what they remind me of, and then mark down the bottles that are almost empty on the other side of the paper.
I’m guessing that the staff do a pretty good job of keeping things well stocked, because most of the bottles are already full.
The phone at the front counter rings. I look around.
“Guys? The phone is ringing!” I call out the back.
No one responds.
I wait for another moment before making the decision to answer it myself.
“Uh, hello?”
The male voice at the other end sounds disconcerted.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Oh, hi, sorry. It’s Chloe. I’m helping Daniel out for a few days.”
“Is Kannika there?”
He has a strong German accent.
“Um, no, Kannika isn’t here right now. Can I take a message?”
“Tell her the deal is off.”
“Will she know what this is in regard to?”
He hangs up.
I stare at the receiver for a moment, thinking how bizarre the call was, when the woman herself struts through the front door.
“What are you doing?” she asks suspiciously.
“Oh, I just answered the phone because no one else was around.”
“Who was it?”
“Some guy asking for you, actually. But he didn’t tell me his name.”
Her face turns dark.
“What did he say?”
“He mentioned something about calling off a deal? I think he had a German accent. Do you know what that might mean? I tried to ask him, but…”
“Shit.” She storms off, leaving me talking to thin air.
I shrug and go back to checking bottles. There’s something going on with that woman. I think I’d best steer clear of her from now on.
ELEVEN
The rest of the day is blissfully uneventful. I have familiarised myself with dozens of compounds in the shop, and I can’t wait to try making my own fragrance soon. Everyone except Kannika treats me like I’ve been part of the team forever, and I find myself almost wishing this was my job, rather than my stressful HR position back in Australia.
At 6pm, Gan comes to find me. “We are leaving soon. Are you almost ready?”
“Oh, um…sure.”
“Good. Daniel is driving us all in the minibus.”
“I’ll just pack up.”
I put away the materials I had been making notes on and follow everyone outside.
Daniel is already in the driver’s seat. “Hop in,” he calls through the open window. Kannika jumps straight into the front passenger seat beside Daniel. She shoots me a glare that I find slightly off-putting. Everyone else climbs into the back. I sit near Gan, hoping Kannika won’t have a problem with that.
“So, how old are you today, Gan?” I ask.
“Twenty-seven!”
“And did you get any nice gifts?”
“Daniel gave me an iPad,” he says, proudly. “He is an awesome boss.”
“I got it so you can work at home after hours,” Daniel quips.
Gan laughs good naturedly and it confirms my thought that Daniel really must be a decent person to work for.
“Where are we going to celebrate tonight?” I ask.
“We’re going to the Swissotel to pick up my girlfriend, Roong,” Gan says. “And then we’re having dinner at Sirocco. Have you seen The Hangover 2?”
“No, why?”
“The restaurant was featured in that movie. I have always wanted to try it, but could never afford to go.”
I frown. It sounds expensive. Can my already dwindling cash reserves handle this?
“What’s so special about it?”
“Just you wait and see,” he says mysteriously.
We soon pull up out the front of the Swissotel. “Alright, everyone out,” Daniel instructs. “I’ll park around the back and see you in a minute.”
“Roong finishes in half an hour, so I thought we could have a drink here while we wait,” Gan explains. “But I want to show you something first.”
I raise an eyebrow. He’s acting like an overenthusiastic school boy. The other staff members are all whispering excitedly to each other, so I think they must already know where we’re going.
We walk around the side of the luxury hotel and down a narrow path until we come to a small courtyard.
I survey the many sculptures dotted around the place, brow furrowed.
“Are they what I think they are?” I ask.
Gan roars with laughter.
“Yes! They are cocks!”
I blink. “Why are there so many? And why are they tucked away behind this five star hotel?”
“I am not sure why it is here. But it’s a fertility shrine. If y
ou touch the cock, you will get pregnant.”
“Oh!” The idea of being pregnant right now actually isn’t that appealing to me. Aaron and I are both much too busy with our careers to think about kids. And we always said we’d like to buy a house first…
It’s at this exact moment that Daniel reappears.
“What do you think, Chloe?” he asks casually. “Do you believe in this stuff?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I don’t think so.” It feels very odd having a conversation with Daniel while surrounded by large stone penises.
The others are milling around the shrine and giggling, but I can see they aren’t touching anything.
Kannika looks at me, shrewdly. “If you don’t believe in it, you should prove it by touching one.”
Seriously, what is this woman’s problem?
“Chloe, don’t listen to her,” Daniel says, giving Kannika a warning look. “She’s just being silly.”
Kannika’s eyes are challenging. I don’t know why I’m letting her get to me, but I am.
“It’s OK. I’ll do it.”
I approach the nearest phallus, which is slightly crooked and has several brightly coloured bits of fabric wrapped around it. If I squint, I can pretend it’s a worm. Or one of those minions from Despicable Me. Or a little armless soldier with a helmet.
I reach out to touch it when Gan suddenly calls out.
“I’m thirsty! Who wants a drink?”
I yank my hand back and breathe a sigh of relief.
Daniel chuckles. “Saved by the bell, huh?”
Kannika huffs. “Chicken.”
I decide to ignore her from now on. I notice she hasn’t touched one of the phalluses, but she does seem to loiter at the back of the group.
And while I can’t be completely sure, I think I see her surreptitiously brush up against one on the way out.
Huh. Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.
***
After having a quick drink and picking up Roong, we head over to Sirocco—and I finally understand what all the fuss is about.
I step out of the elevator and follow the others through a small foyer out into an open air courtyard. The view is amazing. As you’d expect from the sixty-third floor.
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