Have a little Faith...
 

Friday, 1 Feb 2019

“Your new teammate is joining next week isn’t she? She’s soooo pretty… 很有女人味.”

I chuckled at this sudden outburst from my HR business partner – a very attractive lady herself, by the way.

“Oh yes that’s right. Her photo in the intro email you sent out to the team wasn’t that nice though…” with that, I dismissed the thought and ordered us another round of Friday happy hour drinks.

***

Monday, 5 Feb 2019

“Hello! I’m Faith.” She greeted me with a bright smile which showed off a cute dimple in her right cheek. She wasn’t a SYT by any means – with close to 20 years’ experiene in the banking industry, I estimated she was in her early 40s. But she certainly looked damn good for her age – dressed elegantly in a fitting (but not body-hugging) white blouse and black pencil skirt with matching Ferragamos. With her flowing wavy hair and red lips, standing at around 1.65m tall and with a lithe, trim figure, she turned some heads around my desk area when she spoke.

“Not bad… not bad at all. Photos really don’t do some people justice…” I thought to myself as I shook her hand and welcome her aboard.

***

The next couple of weeks flew by with the holiday season upon us. Faith had been hired into the team to take on a lead role – having to juggle between getting to know her new subordinates as well as navigating the political minefield that is a financial services ship like ours, I found myself talking to her a lot each day, at first just about work stuff but slowly venturing into personal life as well.

I found out she was married with two children of school-going age, was quite into the great outdoors, and shared a similar interest as me in good food and good wine. She was also super warm, fun and engaging to be around… just someone that made me feel better about going through the daily grind.

***

Friday, 1 Mar 2019

I slammed my desk phone in frustration and muttered an expletive under my breath. Somehow my boss just knew how to push my buttons – and on a Friday afternoon, no less.

*ding* Faith’s face popped up in the corner of my screen.

Psst.. why so angry! Who pisseed you off ah??! I go and punch their face!

I laughed out loud. For a 40something lady with two kids, she conversed like an excited teenager at times, which made her quite endearing I felt.

I typed back:

I’m okay lah, thanks. Just another shitty day at work. Don’t you have to be somewhere soon? Going dinner with your ex colleagues right?

Faith’s IM status changed from “Available” to “Away. Assuming that my message had reminded her to get a move on, I refocused my attention to my emails.

“Knock knock!” I looked up and who should be at my cubicle but Faith, in her Friday best of white button down top and slim jeans.

“Yes, how I can help you madam?” I bowed in mock salute.

She smacked my arm (the first of many, many times she has done that till date).

“Don’t be stupid lah. Come let’s go for a drink downstairs. I buy you!”

“Don’t you have dinner plans?”

“I always have time for one drink. Gia!!!”

I grinned at her, forgetting about my boss instantly and logged off from my terminal. “Let’s see if we can drink fast enough to have you have two drinks instead of one…”

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

thanks for sharing bro :D

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Thanks for sharing this nice story TS, look forward to your next updates.

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice start. Please continue having Faith!

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice start bro, thanks for sharing

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice bro. Is the setting in a big 4 haha

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

great share, waiting here for more of this really nice story.

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Good start TS, please continue! :)

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice start. Thanks!

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice! Camping....

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice start TS, looking forward to more updates!

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Friday, 1 Mar 2019

"Okay, my friends are here to pick me up! Gotta run..." Faith gulped down the last remnants of her prosecco as she picked up her Bottega handbag and waved a hasty goodbye, leaving me alone at the bar downstairs of our office building.

We really just did have that one drink that Friday evening -- but i) she footed the bill, and ii) it was the first of many after-work drinks to come in the weeks thereafter.

***

Thank you, SBF bros for your support of this story thus far! As you may have gathered from the timeline, this is truly happening in real-time so updates may be lagged depending on whether there's anything of note to share with everyone. But for now, there are at least a few more posts coming up...

***

Wednesday, 6 Mar 2019

March rolled along and I began talking to Faith more, and spending more time with her inside and outside of work. She was a serial texter like I was, which meant we spent all day at work, after work and on weekends just texting about work stuff and personal life as well.

I found out that she has been married for about 15 years, and had met her hubby at a fairly young age (19). She seems to be happily married and talked about her family freely and frequently, sending me random photos of her kids on WhatsApp. Instead of feeling jealous or sian that she didn't seem "down to f**k" so to speak, I instead felt quite pleased that we had clicked so quickly and became quite firm friends in a short span of time.

On that Wednesday, our team took the day off from work to travel offsite for a work planning workshop. Run by external facilitators, the workshop went smoothly -- but all I can remember now beyond that is the "warm-up exercise" at the start of the workshop where we played a game of "human rubber band" and Faith stood opposite me and we held hands firmly as part of the gameplay.

I looked into her large brown eyes and tried not to be distracted by her outfit of slim jeans and a black tank top which showed just a little hint of cleavage. She held my gaze expertly and smiled back at me.

"I hope you are enjoying this..." she mouthed.

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

Nice story TS, do continue..

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

interesting and nicely written story TS, great share and please do keep it going.

Re: Have a little Faith...
 

love this story, waiting here for much juicy updates.