Nanyang Butterflies: Nanyang Butterflies

Nanyang Butterflies - Chapter 6

Su Zhen took a bus and came to Tanjong Pagar. She seldom came here. It was an office district and people were generally less friendly. She asked her way around and found Mr Tee’s office.

The big sign was quite intimidating. Three big letters TLL stared at her. As if asking if she had what it took to be here.

Mr Tee was not around. A lady at the reception asked her to fill in some forms.

"Ah, you are from Ocean. There are a couple of us from Ocean too!" The lady exclaimed.

"But I have never seen you at Ocean." Su Zhen said.

"Oh we left before you join."

"Why did you leave?"

"Everyone who taught sewing leaves Ocean after some time."

"Really? Why?"

"Most of us love to teach and train young seamstresses. Or work with younger people, help them and be a role model for them. We are not interested in doing other stuff like admin or marketing. But at Ocean, we have to do both and yet we are lowly paid."

"But Mrs Tee just came back to help us. And Ms Lim is still there..."

"Ms Lim? Oh she's different. She was there from the beginning."

"Mrs Tee's really nice, I like her." Su Zhen said.

"Yes... They are both nice actually. I worked under Ms Lim, she helped me a lot." The lady smiled. "Oh by the way, you need to do this language test. You have 30 minutes to finish."

Su Zhen was mildly taken aback. She didn't know there was a test. It was not easy. She struggled a bit but managed to complete it. She took 29 minutes. Cold sweat rolled from her hands. She hadn't had this awkward sensation for a long time.

A man’s voice echoed behind.

“Sorry sorry, I had to attend this meeting. Glad to see you here, Su Zhen.” Mr Tee shouted across the corridor.

“Hello” she replied.

“Oh you did the test? There is no need for that. You are over-qualified.”

“What is it for anyway?”

“Well some of our jobs require some talking, so we just wanted to know if the girls could speak good English, Mandarin, that sort of thing. Don’t worry, you passed.”

“What will I learn?”

“There is one that might fit. You need serve some drinks, talk a bit. It’s a restaurant and bar. You can do it one lah. You can start tomorrow?”

“How about the marketing training?”

“Oh! Yes, marketing, don’t worry. Tomorrow’s job is urgent. There will be a lot of marketing coming after that. Market until you call tolong.”

Su Zhen was not comfortable but she agreed anyway.

"Oh, by the way, here's your Certificate of Entitlement. Take good care of it. It's worth five or six digit! Don't worry about the payment now, you go make money first!" Mr Tee smiled sheepishly.

The next day she arrived at the office but never saw Mr Tee. The same lady put her into a room asked her to change into half dress and shorts and also did some make-up for her. The lady then handed some money to Su Zhen and said with a stern face, "Girl, listen to me carefully, this money is for you to take a cab to your workplace tonight. But if you decided not to go. Take the cab home."

Su Zhen was confused. Why would she take the cab home? She took the cab to her workplace and reported to a lady in her early forties with heavy make-up.

For the early part of the night, she was just taking orders and serving drinks. Some times it was in English but usually in Mandarin. This was not exactly what she wanted but the money was good. In four hours, she would make the same amount she made in Ocean today. Still, she made a mental note to tell Mr Tee tomorrow that she would only want to do marketing.

The crowd started coming in around half past nine and the place got much livelier. Many other waitresses were darting to and fro the place. The place completely was short handed at this hour.

“Su Zhen right?” the lady with heavy make-up asked her quickly.

“You go over that table and help them mix drinks ok? Simple job. Just add lime juice into the one like water. They call it vodka lime. Come back here quickly when you finished.”

Su Zhen obliged.

“Hey new girl, come! Here’s your seat. Make three vodka lime ok?” A pompous man in his late thirties cried in Mandarin. Su Zhen didn’t like him at all.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

Su Zhen didn’t reply. She was getting really uncomfortable. She felt a tinkling down her spine. She sat down and made the three vodkas as quickly as possible.

Then it happened.

The man put his hands on Su Zhen’s left thigh and exclaimed, “Wow, look at these legs, white as dao ni!.”

Su Zhen screamed and got up. But he grabbed her chest and forced her down.

“Wait, wait! Where are you going?” He asked as he laughed loudly while massaging her busts.

“Let go of me! Help!” Su Zhen screamed in Mandarin at the top of her voice. The man did not stop. He continued for a couple seconds for what seemed like an eternity for Su Zhen. The man had his big arms like a giant python over Su Zhen. She could do nothing.

Her heart was almost bursting. She continued to struggled, like a captured butterfly.

The heavy make-up lady came over and pulled her out.

“Mr Gay, don’t be so harsh on her lah, it’s her first day here. You have to be gentle to girls. Then you can touch as much as you want”

Su Zhen was in tears. She felt totally violated. She sobbed uncontrollably on the shoulder of her rescuer.

The lady was definitely experienced in handling such situations. She took Su Zhen to the kitchen.

“Aiyo poor thing, come, let me make you some hot tea.” She told Su Zhen. She gave her a warm towel as well to wipe herself. Her tea had a fresh jasmine smell. Su Zhen sipped her tea, still sobbing. The tea was very soothing but it didn’t help that much.

“I guess Mr Tee never told you the whole story again.” The lady said. “That idiot!”

Su Zhen was not amused. She looked angrily at the lady.

“Tee Lifestyle manages restaurants and bars providing night entertainment for guys. The office you visited was a front where we choose and train our girls to work here.”

“He told me he is running an employment agency!”

“Well... not all the girls work here. Some work at the office. He tests girls like how he is testing you.”

“This is ridiculous!”

"I know."

Su Zhen blood boiled.

“He did tell me not to let you go near clients yet. It was my fault lah. I thought just making three vodkas should be ok. You saw right? We didn’t have enough girls.”

Angry tears trickled down Su Zhen's cheeks.

"But you shouldn't have sat down. I asked you to make 3 vodkas and come back right?" The lady tried to defend herself.

Su Zhen started crying again.

The lady gave her another towel. Then she sighed and said, “Aiyo, I am sorry, young lady. You can go home now. I will ask Mr Tee to pay you full pay tonight even though it’s still not yet ten. You take a hot shower and forget about it okay? Here’s some lemon grass. I prayed at Thian Hock Keng one. Supposed to cleanse evil. Put it in your bath water.”

Su Zhen left in a huff.