Encountering Spring

Author: Ji Heli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: I stood blankly in that moment, while he burned like a flame. He was my spring, warm and bright, yet I remained a dark current frozen by a curse. Suddenly, he embraced me, and I heard his heart pounding loudly and rapidly. My love always appeared suddenly, like an uninvited guest. I work at a Taiwanese-owned clothing company, where my responsibility is to find creative ideas for each season's sales. The so-called creativity is to constantly cut and paste others' or my own discarded inspirations. Chain is the company's newly hired sales representative, only twenty-two years old. Until yesterday, I had never seen him because he was always on business trips. Yesterday was Christmas, and the boss treated us to a meal. Chain finally transformed from a symbol into a real person. He smiled, his teeth were very white. This was the only appearance of him that I could recall after coming home. But I had a deep feeling: when he smiled, I truly felt as if I had seen spring. Chain rarely spoke, a quiet young man. The boss was in high spirits and kept urging everyone to drink. Alcohol is an aphrodisiac, capable of making people lose their senses. At the table, only Feng and I were female employees, while the other male employees and the boss seemed to take pleasure in getting us drunk. Feng was already nine parts drunk, while I remained sober. They began to make advances on Feng. I wanted to drag Feng out, but I was already too weak. I wanted to spit the wine in their faces. The boss was particularly interested in Feng; he was a fierce predator. I lay on the table, eyes open, watching Feng already unconscious, her shirt buttons undone halfway. Chain went out and brought in a hot towel, placing it on Feng's forehead, then helping her fasten her buttons and supporting her as he led her out. I heard them laughing, lewdly.