CHAPTER 4: BLACK & WHITE DON'T MIX

I woke up with a pounding headache. Damn this hangover. I remembered stumbling home in a drunken state after a night of partying with Jordan and some girls from my nightclub. Shit, I hope Jess didn’t see me like this. I reached across the bed and fumbled for the clock. 11.30 am. Oh boy, I’d slept the whole morning away. Hmm…I wondered what Jess was doing for lunch. I crawled about my bed, tossing the covers and sheets, searching for my phone, which I finally found under my pillow. Still reeling from the alcohol last night, I tried to concentrate as I punched in Jess’ phone number on the keypad.

“Hello.”

“Jess,” I slurred.

“I see you finally decided to get up. What time did you get home last night?” she laughed.

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “Hey, what are you doing for lunch today?”

“Lunch? I’m meeting a friend. Why don’t you join us? 12.45 at Hard Rock Café.”

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I walked towards the table Jess was sitting. The sight of her once again put butterflies in my stomach. She was giggling away at some guy next to her. I had to admit he was rather handsome - the tall, dark kind. I tried to restrain the jealousy that was creeping up my spine.

“Hi,” I waved.

“Terri!” Jess exclaimed excitedly. Her smile was even more intoxicating than the alcohol that was in my system.

“Let me introduce you. Louis, this is my best friend, Terri. Terri, Louis.”

I pulled up a chair and seated myself next to Jess. Jess continued her conversation with that Louis guy. They seemed to be kicking it off rather nicely. Jess was her usual self – laughing and giggling at every single comment. If I didn’t know her better, I’d swear she was flirting with him. They were talking about some case they were working on. So I assumed Louis was her colleague. I was somewhat quiet throughout lunch 'cos I didn’t know the case they were talking about. But mostly, I was sizing up Louis. Was he interested in Jess? I couldn’t tell.

“So Louis, are you Jess’ colleague?”

Jess burst out laughing at my question. I shot her an inquiring glance.

“Which part of him looks like a lawyer?” she chortled.

I shrugged. I had long given up judging a book by its cover.

“Hey, I could look like a lawyer if I wanted to,” Louis protested.

“I’m sure you could,” Jess sniggered. The bantering continued back and forth as if I wasn’t there at all.

“Ahem.” I pretended to clear my throat.

“Terri! I’m so sorry. We forgot you were here!” Jess giggled.

I gave her a pained expression. “Thanks.” She cracked up again at my look. Gosh, her laughter was driving me crazy.

“Okay, if Louis isn’t your colleague, isn’t a lawyer, what does he do then?”

“Yip Sir, why don’t you tell her,” Jess chuckled at Louis.

Yip Sir? Oh no. That didn’t sound good at all. There were only two possibilities – he was either a teacher or a cop. And this guy looked more like a cop than a teacher. Nope, definitely not good at all. Especially seeing how he and Jess seemed to get along like the best of buddies.

“Louis is a cop?” I asked apprehensively.

He nodded with a smile. I tensed a little and quickly recomposed myself. I wasn’t sure if he noticed my uneasiness. If he did, he didn’t show it.

“What about you? Terri, is it? What do you do?” he asked me in return.

Before I could say anything, Jess answered for me. “She’s a big shot Managing Director!” she laughed.

“Oh? What company?” Louis inquired again.

Was it my imagination or did he seem too anxious to know more about me?

“Yea, Terri. Come to think of it, I still don’t know your company’s name,” Jess said doubtfully.

Jeez… thanks, Jess. Damn, how I wanted to kick her there and then. How was I supposed to answer that? Hi, you might have heard of the White Dragons? We’re triad and we control a large part of Kowloon. Oh, did I forget to mention? I’m their ringleader. You know… the head honcho. The baddest of the bad. Drugs. Prostitution. Illegal trade. Murder. We do them all. So, why don’t you just arrest me now, Mr. Cop? I stifled a sigh and tried to think of a possible answer.

“It’s some family business. The company’s so small, you won’t have heard of it before.” I shot Jess a desperate look that said no more questions please. She caught my glance.

“That’s Terri, always so modest. Hey, what do you guys think of the food here?” she said without hesitation.

Thank goodness. I was relieved that Jess had noticed my discomfort and was trying to change the subject. I quickly took the cue from her and rattled off some opinion. But it was too late. I had caught Louis staring at me discreetly. Uneasiness crept in. I had a bad feeling he knew more than he showed. And I knew there and then, I had to make sure Jess wouldn’t get too close to him.