And this one was perfect in her own way. He had scanned through at least a dozen photos sent to him on the Net, and they all looked interesting, but he was jolted when her picture came up. Su Lon. No, it wasn’t her, couldn’t be; but it looked so much like her, as he remembered her, from over sixty years earlier.
Su Lon was the first love of his life. In some ways, still the only special love. His first love, his first sexual experience. And now this one — what was that name? Sharlayne, this Sharlayne looked so much like his Su Lon. As if she had somehow sprung over all those decades, as lovely as ever, preserved simply by his memory of her. Incredible.
He made contact and they bounced several e-mails back and forth before he sent her his telephone number. Then there was nothing for four days. He began to think she was just playing with him, using him as a joke she could share with her gleefully callous friends. But late that Sunday evening the phone rang, waking him up. “Mr Koh, this is Sharlayne. From that Beyond the Borders group? You wanted me to help you with your project?”
“Yes, yes,” he replied. “That’s right. I … I would like your help. Very much.”
They arranged to meet the following weekend, at his place. He would take care of all the formalities, he assured her, including any necessary legal precautions. There would be no way any authorities would associate her with his death. This would be seen as purely a consensual act between two adults — with very unfortunate consequences. He was surprised that she didn’t seem too concerned about this part of the arrangement though.
When she arrived around 4 pm Saturday, he was waiting nervously for her. In fact, Koh was perched on a metal chair facing the front door, reading fitfully from a newspaper while throwing glances at the open door. He had almost convinced himself that she wasn’t going to come after all. Fool, why would such a lovely young woman want to do something as perverse as this anyway? With someone like you?
When the bell rang, he couldn’t see her through the grilclass="underline" evidently, she was standing off to the side. Koh quickly threw his paper down, hauled himself up, went to let her in. When he opened the grill, she peeked from around the corner. “Mr Koh, is it?”
“Yes, yes,” Koh replied. “Koh Kwan How. Just Kwan, if you like. Kwan is fine.”
She nodded and stepped in. She seemed strangely shy at this point, considering how they had met and what she was there for. She was even looking down, demure in a way he would never have expected from this new, anything-goes generation. When she glanced up, this girl looked even more like Su Lon than she had on the monitor. He was staring at her, transfixed, until finally she peered at him nervously. “What?”
“Incredible,” Koh said in a raspy voice. “Oh, sorry, it’s just … You look very much like someone I … I knew. A long, long time ago.”
“Do I? Oh yeah, thanks. You look like a lot of people I know too, uncle.” Koh winced at her calling him uncle, but not enough for her to notice.
He offered her a drink, then found her a can of the Yeo’s chrysanthemum tea she had asked for. After taking a long draught, she frowned and looked around the room, as if assessing his taste in furnishings or sense of feng shui.
For a moment, he was even afraid that she was about to tell him that she had reconsidered and now just wanted to call the whole thing off. But instead, she said something that stunned him. “You want to, like, take our clothes off, uncle, see what we’re talking about?”
“Yes, yes, that might be … That’s a good way to start, I’m sure.” He was still a little stunned by her directness when she started to pull off her shirt, then removed her pants. As she stood there in only bra and panties, he mechanically put his hands to his shirt and began fumbling with the buttons, still staring at her, enthralled.
Curiously, she removed her panties first, then thrust her hips forward slightly, as if displaying some unusual wares to a prospective buyer. He was still fumbling with that same top button as she reached back, unhooked her bra and let it drop to the floor. Koh’s fingers froze on the button. Dear God, even her body looks like Su Lon’s. Or at least the way he remembered it. The compact, tight breasts, the neat, dark triangle of pubic hair with the delicate slit in the middle — everything, so close to how he remembered it. He reacted immediately. It was … he didn’t want to think how many years since he was able to even get this hard without considerable manual or oral stimulation.
“You … you have a fantastic body,” he gasped.
“My tits are too small,” she replied, looking down as if to test his evaluation. “My friends keep telling me I should go and get them enlarged. It doesn’t cost that much at this one place I heard about.”
“Oh no. Oh no, no, don’t … don’t do that. They’re incredible. They fit your body perfectly. You couldn’t ask for a better pair of breasts than what you’ve got there.”
“Well, they’ll do for now, I guess,” she concluded, giving a soft shrug.
He had just managed to get the first button undone at that point and was trying to concentrate intensely on the rest of the task when she stepped forward. “Here, let me help you with that,” she said.
Again, he was taken aback as she reached those delicate hands — so like Su Lon’s — out to touch him. His fingers were frozen again, and she had to move his hands away gently, then she slowly undid every button. He stared at her now deeply intent face, not wanting to peer at his own body. He was deeply ashamed of it, even repulsed at its wattles of loose flesh, its liver flecks splashed sporadically all over his torso and arms, its wrinkles even in what he once thought unlikely places.
After removing the shirt, she reached down and unbuckled his belt, opened the trousers and eased them down over his hips. When they sagged around his knees, he reached down and hastily pulled them off himself.
Again, he was embarrassed: the elaborate webbing of varicose veins made his legs an unpleasant sight, especially to himself.
But again, she was being generous, or just polite. She ignored the varicose legs and began staring directly at the sharp rise in his shorts. She looked at him, smiled, nudged the near-erection slightly up and forwards, then pulled down the briefs.
“Oh look, you’re almost ready for action, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t intend to make your trip over here wasted, la. Bedroom’s over this way.”
He pointed to the room at the end of a hallway, and guided her towards it. Along the way, he grabbed a towel off a nearby chair and drooped it in front of his crotch. He felt giddy with this wholly new experience, but still couldn’t help feeling funny walking around naked in his own flat, especially with a young woman present.
As they headed towards the bedroom, Koh suddenly stopped near the bulky Peranakan table standing guard in the middle of the room and pointed to a small leather bag perched near the edge. “Those are for you by the way.
Don’t forget to take them when you leave.”
“What is it?
“It’s … I know we said no money, no payment, but it’s presents. Some presents I got for you. Just thought it will be nice, lah. The money won’t do me any more good anyway, will it?”
Before he could say anything else, she’d darted over to the table and started fumbling through the bag. “Hey, those are surprises, lah. For later.
Afterwards.”
“Can’t I open one, just one? That’s all.”
Even her little-girl manner when she asked reminded him of Su Lon.
He smiled back at her. “Alright, just one.” He raised an admonishing finger.
“But no more!”
She smiled and chose something in a long, narrow box. “Ooo, what’s this one? Something we might be able to use in there? Looks like it.” He chortled. “No, it’s just for you. It’s all things I thought you might like.”
She slid the top off the thin box, reached in and pulled out a slender gold necklace. “Oh, that’s beautiful,” she whispered. “It’s … wow, just so sweet of you.” Koh smiled sheepishly. She stepped over and gave him a warm kiss, one that actually tasted of mild affection. He was embarrassed — and very pleased. She then broke into a wide smile. “Can I put it on now? Right now?”