Jim Rescues a Woman: Book One
Copyright© 2026 by Kim Chee
Chapter 11
Denise: Am I not good enough?
Jim: Sigh ... I’m too old for you Denise.
Denise: No, you’re just right for me.
Jim: Don’t be crazy Denise. Respect yourself. Don’t do this.
Denise: I’m still a little confused about the respect and attention part with you Jim. I think I’m having a crush on you. How do I get both from you, you know, your attention and your respect.
Jim: Not possible. Go to bed. I’m not sleeping with you. Come on. I’m an old guy already.
Denise: Why not?
Jim: Go masturbate yourself or something. I’m too old for you.
Denise: We’ll see. Goodnight.
We didn’t want to drag this out longer than necessary, so the plan was for Marie to contact her sister on the pretext of asking how she was doing. I’m pretty sure her sister would initiate the request to meet up.
16th January 2017
Monday
11.30 am
Marie gave her sister a call and as expected, her sister asked her to drop by her café when she was free. She asked her about it and her sister came clean, saying that Issac had approached her because he wanted to talk to her. Marie told me that her sister had actually given her contact number to Issac, but she was not sure why he hadn’t made contact.
I told her it was fine. Just to tell her sister she was dropping by her café on the 18th. And so as not to contact Issac personally, I asked her to get her sister to pass along the message.
Jim: Tell her to inform Issac you want your passport back, and you guys are done. That should be enough.
Marie told me she would text me the updates after she was done.
15 minutes later, I received a message from Marie
Marie sms: Done. Going there on the 18th.
2.30 pm
Soh gathered us together for a quick briefing after lunch.
Soh: It’ll happen on the 18th at 2 pm. Issac has contacted the café owner and has booked the whole place for the day. Only Marie’s sister will be there.
We were to be at the café the moment it opened at 11 am. Issac would arrive at 1.30 pm. Marie would arrive at 2 pm.
Soh: Dress casual. Don’t fucking give yourself away. Issac wants us to pretend we don’t know each other and we don’t know him.
Rizwan: That’s a bit of overkill like a Hong Kong cop and spy movie.
Mohan: Soh have you ever seen an Indian sit in a café the whole day? Can we do it at a prata shop or not?
Soh: Shut up. If I ask you to do, you just do. You dress up as a student.
Rizwan: Soh, Mohan looks like a student? He should wear like IT worker from the Chennai business park in Changi there.
Soh threw a folder at Rizwan as the rest of us laughed.
Soh: Guys, this is serious. It’s a $5500 contract for a day’s work so be serious. And Issac promised a $500 cash bonus for each of you after this is over.
That got the guys’ attention immediately.
Eric: Wow. I can pay for 1 month childcare fees.
Tommy: Really? That’s like enough to cover the nursing home fees for my grandmother.
Nelson: Woh ... steady. I can give my grandma more allowance this month just in time for Chinese New Year.
Soh: Yeah so don’t fuck it up.
17th January 2017
Tuesday
5.30 pm
Just before we all wrapped up our work that day, Issac came down to the office again. He wanted to give us a final briefing before his so call operation.
Issac: I’ve been trying to reach Marie on the phone the past couple of days.
Issac revealed that Marie was not answering his calls, but she was replying to his messages.
Issac: Her messages are not simple replies. Every one of them are carefully formed. She is not like this because her command of English is limited. This further reinforces the fact that someone is helping her. It feels like she is being manipulated. I want to know who is manipulating her, who are the ones telling her to do this. Who is coming in between us?
I almost rolled my eyes at the comment. It was an obvious lie. Issac made no attempt to contact Marie at all. I don’t know what kind of picture he was trying to paint but it only made him appear paranoid.
Issac: I don’t like it when someone fucks with me, so please when he or she shows up, make sure no one leaves the café. I want to talk to them.
Eric whispered to me when Issac was not looking.
Eric: Eh ... this guy, serious case ... tsk ... tsk ... tsk...
18th January 2017
Wednesday
10.30 am
We were to arrive separately at the café location located in Hougang Street 21. Issac was paranoid about the details. He wanted everyone to be in casual home clothes, something that you would wear to a café. I took a backpack, packed with my laptop and files. I don’t look like a student, but I could play the role of a writer or some budding entrepreneur. I’d be at table 6. Mohan came in business attire together with Rizwan. They would play the roles of businessmen engaged in talks on table 5. Nelson would be there with Tommy pretending that they were playing games on their phones on table 4. Eric and Derrick would be at table 1, with Eric trying to sell an insurance policy.
Soh would take table 3 leaving table 2 empty for Issac.
___[COUNTER]___ [ 1] [ 2] [3 ] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6] ___[DOOR]___
All was set.
Now we just needed to wait for things to happen.
11.00 am
The café opened for business and Mohan was the first to arrive.
11.45 am
All of us were in the café by then, there was only 1 staff on duty that day, Marie’s sister, Nelly. Nelly was aware that the café had been booked for the day by Issac on the pretext of a private function.
Nelly: What is going on? Why are you guys here?
Soh reassured Nelly that everything was fine and that she just needed to go on with her work as usual. Walk in customers were served only if they were taking out. Many left when they realised the place had been booked.
I powered up my laptop, sat with my back facing the glass panels and pretended to surf the net and read the folders I brought. Everyone did their own things and waited. Coffee, pastries and ice cream were served whenever we wanted.
1.30 pm
I could feel the tension go up a notch when Issac arrived. He came in and took a look at us before talking to Nelly.
Nelly: Issac, what is happening? Why is there a need for this? Is everything ok? These people - are they actors or something? They’re not doing anything, just sitting there. You booked the café for this?
Issac: It’s fine. Don’t worry. What time is your sister coming?
Nelly: 2 pm. Issac what is going on?
Issac: I’ll tell you later.
1.45 pm
The café became eerily quiet. Nelly leaned on the counter as she kept checking her phone.
Issac just sat at his table facing the exit flanked by 2 full height glass panels. The clear glass offered a good view of the exterior. If Marie showed up, even before she crossed the street, Issac would be able to see her and anyone she was with.
I could see his expression from the corner of my eye as he scanned the exterior for signs of Marie. He is not a patient man. His body language gave it away.
1.55 pm
I watched him take out Marie’s passport and put it on the table in front of him. He took a deep breath, folded his arms and closed his eyes. He was trying to compose himself, probably thinking of a way to retain the upper hand and trade for the hard drive back.
No one said anything. The silence of the café was shattered by the ringing of Nelly’s phone.
Nelly: Hello? Marie?
The mere mention of the name made Issac open his eyes.
Nelly: Where are you? Are you coming? What? ... oh ok.
Nelly looked puzzled as she came out from behind the counter and passed the phone to Issac.
Nelly: Marie wants to talk to you.
Issac answered the phone but said nothing. First order of the day. Send Nelly away. I had told Marie that if she didn’t want Issac to bother her sister, she should not be there. Keep everything between the 2 of them. My heart thumped as I flipped a folder, pretending to look at some charts as I waited. Issac looked at Nelly 30 seconds later and spoke.
Issac: Do me a favour Nelly. Go for your lunch. Come back in 2 hours.
Nelly: But ... the cafe...
Issac: It’s ok, we’ll be fine. We booked the place.
Nelly hesitated for a moment before taking her phone from Issac. She turned the sign to closed on the glass door before stepping out.
Issac took out his phone and put it on the table in front of him. The way he breathed betrayed his emotions. He was getting angry. For someone like him, being told what to do was the same as asking him to die. The fact that Marie was fucking with him was probably causing his blood to boil right now. Taking instructions over the phone from a girl who just a few days ago was at his mercy must be unbearable.
His eyes scanned the exterior like a hawk, alternating between the streets and his phone. The angry vibration of the phone on the café table filled the café and Issac answered it immediately, losing his temper in front of everyone.
Issac: Where the FUCK ARE YOU!!? Why don’t you ask whoever is pulling your strings to come to the phone!!!! You don’t have the guts to do something like that to me!!!
Issac breathed heavily as he cursed into the speaker. There was a pause of 5 seconds before he put his phone down on the table and hit the speaker button.
Issac: YOU’RE ON SPEAKER NOW!! ... WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?
Almost everyone looked at Issac after his outburst except Soh who calmly drank his coffee. Denise’s voice came on the phone and I held back a smile and typed away on my laptop. Issac knew he was being played, but he didn’t know the extent we were going to take things.
Denise spoke calmly in a composed manner.
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