The next morning, Peter sat at his desk in his office trying to work, but really waiting to see Cindy log on to the internal message system. His heart was comforted when he saw her name light up, and he was able to focus more on his work, with the soothing presence of her lighted name on the internal message system.
About an hour passed, and then the door behind him opened, and Cindy walked in without knocking. He stood, and said "Good morning, Cindy."
"Good morning, Peter." Her voice was soft and tender.
She sat down on the sofa beside his desk without being asked, and then said to him "Sit down."
He sat down and met her eyes. She was looking at him warmly. She said "Are you ok?"
"I'm ok, thank you Cindy."
She gave him a caring and slightly worried half smile. "You know Laura and Steve are not very good people."
"I know that Cindy."
"I am friends with them now because they are funny, and I have fun with them. They will not stay in China for long though. They don't mean so much to me. You have been my colleague for six years, and maybe we will work together for long time." Her voice was so soft and so tender: he loved her so much. Being near her though was like standing in fire.
"That's what I want, Cindy, I want to work together with you forever."
She watched his face closely with Siddhartha eyes. She looked down, and then up again to his eyes. "Brian want you give me your bank card and your credit card."
Peter took out his wallet, and handed her his bank card and his credit card. She took these, and put them in her purse, then again met his eyes. "You know you can trust me. I will look after your money. Brian want to take these cards, but I told him I take them."
"Thank you Cindy. Of course I know I can trust you. I will always trust you. You are the only one in the world I can trust."
"Thank you Peter," she said sincerely. "When you need money you tell me. When I give it to you, you can sign in here," she held up a notebook, "so we can keep record."
"Thank you Cindy."
She smiled from one side of her mouth, and then sighed sadly. She looked into his eyes again.
"I give you warning. You won't find what you want. You be careful Peter. Sometimes young woman is attracted to man who is master, to man who is cruel. If you are Brian's slave, you push me to him more. I am normal young woman. I like the man who is strong. Also, I hate weak man. When I see how low you let him push you, it make me feel I hate you, make me feel you are disgusting. Peter, I don't want to hate you."
She ceased speaking, and looked deeply into his eyes for a response. He held her frank and honest eyes, and tried to show her through his own eyes the depths of his despair.
When he said nothing, she continued: "I warn you, Brian is very cruel, and he has ideas. He really want make you his slave. Really slave, not just playing."
Peter looked down from her eyes, thinking, and then looked up. "Cindy, you are so good to me. You are the only one in the world who cares about me. You know I have no family, and no friends. Only you and our business: that's all there is for me in this world. I want this business to be strong so that we will always be safe. If I can't have you though, I need to give myself up to you. Cindy, I love you so much. . ." He looked at her pleadingly, and slipped to his knees in front of her.
Her cheeks flushed suddenly, from both anger and arousal. She stood up, and stepped toward the door. "You be careful," she said fiercely, "I am starting to get idea too. I start to feel I want see Brian cruel to you, and I want be cruel to you too." She looked down for an instant, with a trace of shame. "I am good girl, normal girl. You put these bad ideas in my mind!"
"All I wanted, needed, was for you to love me. I would have looked after our family with all my heart, and you would have been the only thing I cared about and worked for. Cindy, I would have done anything for you. . ."
"That can never happen. I don't want." Cindy said coldly and emphatically. There was a trace of cruel mirth in her expression.
"It was my destiny to be with you, but if you can never love me. . ."
"Never," she interjected firmly.
"My destiny is broken, and so if you can't love me, I want you to be cruel to me. I need to feel something coming from you. The only thing I couldn't bear is no connection to you at all, or a connection that was weak, and had no passion, no intensity. You are the only meaning in my life, Cindy. Without you, it's emptiness, like I am floating in space. Please, have mercy. . ."
"I have no more patience for you."
"I love you Cindy. I need you in the same way that I need air. Please. . ."
Cindy took another step toward the door, and opened it. She looked down at him kneeling, her lip curled in scorn, and a gleam of rage in her eyes.
"I will tell Brian what you said!" She sneered at him. "You remember what you said."