Chapter 38 (1/1)

Charmaine met Wayne in the corridor and together they walked towards the conference room where Ron Ng was waiting for them.  Ron looked up with a smile when he saw Wayne.  His eyes widened a little when he noticed Charmaine coming into the room behind him.  "Barrister Lai, it's good to see you again.  This is?" he looked over at Charmaine.Wayne shook Ron's hand and propelled Charmaine forward.  "This is Charmaine Sheh.  She will be one of the lawyers who will be working on your case with me."Ron held his hand out to Charmaine and greeted, "Nice to meet you Barrister Sheh."Charmaine shook his hand and returned, "Mr. Ng, how are you?"Withdrawing his hand, Ron's face turned grim and he grumbled, "Not so good considering that I've been charged with rape."Charmaine saw the annoyance on his face and merely smile.  Gesturing towards the chairs she said, "Why don't we all take a seat and begin.""Excellent idea!" Wayne chimed in and occupied the seat at the head of the table.  He relaxed against his chair and directed a look at Charmaine to begin.Reading his cue, Charmaine took out her notepad and focused her attention on Ron.  "Mr. Ng, I know that Barrister Lai had already asked you questions about that night but if you don’t mind can I ask a few questions as well."Ron shrugged and with a positive attitude said, "Go ahead.  Ask anything you want.""Thank you Mr. Ng," Charmaine said and pulled out a sheet of paper from her folder."Please call me Ron.  Mr. Ng is my father," Ron jested with humor.Charmaine nodded her head, "Alright, Ron, can you tell me approximately what time was it when you returned home with the victim?"Ron lifted his head upwards as he tried to recall the exact time.  "I don't know the exact time but I would say about 1:30 am."Charmaine scribbled the time down onto her notepad.  "Inside your apartment, did you guys immediately headed towards the bedroom?"Ron shook his head and responded drearily, "We were in my living room having drinks at first.  After a couple of glasses of wine she said she wanted to have a look in my bedroom."Looking straight at him, Charmaine leaned forward on the table and fired, "You guys went into your bedroom.  She wanted to look around as she said but you didn't want to waste any more time so you came onto her.  Strongly too.  She refused and you had no choice but to force her to submit.  Is that how it happened?""No!" Ron burst out with indignation.  Slamming his hands on the table he yelled, "I did not force her to do anything!  I did not rape her!"Wayne gave Charmaine a reproaching look before looking at Ron, "Mr. Ng.  Please relax.  Barrister Sheh didn't mean it that way."Ron angrily pushed his chair back, and although his words were said to Wayne, his eyes glared hotly at Charmaine, "How can I relax when my own lawyers are accusing me of rape?!"Charmaine met Ron's glare without flinching.  In a cajoling tone she said, "I'm sorry Mr. Ng.  I was just showing you how the prosecutors will question when you're on trial.  As your lawyer, of course I believe in my client."Wayne smiled and asked, "So you're going to work on this case with me?""Yes," Charmaine replied with a diplomatic grin.  Looking back at Ron, she said, "If you don't mind can you tell me what happened that night.  I know you've already told your story to Wayne but I would like to hear it myself."Ron sat there staring glumly at her.  He neither accepted nor denied her request.Sensing Ron's reluctance to cooperate, Wayne put in, "Barrister Sheh definitely believes that you're innocent.  If she didn't she wouldn't assist me in your case.  I hope you can trust her in the same way that you trust me."With the prior escapade forgotten, Ron relaxed back in his chair as he began to recant the events of that night.  "That night I was at a bar with my friends.  We were drinking and she came over to me.  She introduced herself and we started drinking together.  We then…."Charmaine listened attentively to each and every word Ron said all the while jotting down notes on her notepad.-----------------------------------------------------"Cut!" the director called out.Raymond quickly released his hold on his female co-star and walked towards his chair.  Jazz approached and handed him a bottle of water while he worked at wiping the sweat off Raymond's face.  "It's so hot in here," Raymond complained."I know.  The air conditioning is not working today," Jazz added in as he too wiped at the beads of sweat on his own face.  "You only have two more scenes to go."Recapping his bottle of water, Raymond snipped, "Yeah and both those scenes require me to embrace Linda.  We're both already sweating like pigs and to have to be so close to each other… do you know how uncomfortable that is?"Jazz chuckled and asked with surprise, "Uncomfortable to embrace a woman?  It's so unlike you to say something like that.""I've changed," Raymond said defensively and plucked a tissue from Jazz's hand and began blotting it on his face.Jazz didn't say anything as he studied Raymond.  After a moment, he said quietly, "You have.  I can't tell you exactly when it happened but I noticed it too.  You haven't been clubbing or even socializing outside of job requirements in the past week.  The only time you did go out is with Ron Ng for your weekly drinks.  Other than that I can always find you at home.  I'm only curious to know what brought about this change.""I guess I got tired of the partying life," Raymond said.Jazz looked at him skeptically, "Really?  That fast?  What about Fala Chen?"The mention of her irritated the hell out of Raymond.  Although she had taken back her accusations and he didn't have to make any settlement on her, he was still upset about the entire fiasco.  For her to lie about something like that was extremely damaging to his image.  Then to have to admit to having sex with her in front of Charmaine, someone whom he thought he would never see again, was like a bucket of cold water dropping on his head.  That moment, faced with Charmaine's question, he had never felt so low, and so disgusted with himself.  Charmaine may have acted indifferent to his answer but he thought he saw a flicker of jealousy and hurt flash across her face.  He hoped he was right.  For if that was the case then it meant he still had a chance with her.  Seeing her again was fate.  It meant that they're not over.  Given this second chance, Raymond knew he can't afford to mess up like he did before.  She may not want to see him now but he wasn't going to give up.  In time, he believes she will forgive him.  But first he must prove to her that he's worth forgiving and he was going to start by turning over a new leaf.  No more clubbing or picking up girls from now on.  Charmaine is all he wants.  Just the idea of them being together again brought a dreamy smile to his face."Ray?  You okay?" Jazz's question interrupted his thoughts.Embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming, Raymond said, "Yeah, fine.  Why don't you ask the Director can we hurry with the scenes?  I want to get out of here fast.  The heat is becoming more and more unbearable."Jazz nodded and was about to look for the director when the director came over."We're calling it for the day," the director announced.  "It's too hot in here to work.  Hopefully, they'll get the air conditioning fixed in time for us to finish those scenes tomorrow.  If not then I'll look for a free studio to finish.""Sounds good to me!" Raymond said eagerly.  He was up and standing in record time.  "Come on Jazz.  Let's go cool off.""Where?" Jazz asked as he walked beside Raymond out of TTT Network's building."How about buying us some ice cold lattes and we'll drink it back in my apartment while we go over next week's schedule?""Ice cold lattes?" Jazz repeated in astonishment.  Giving Raymond a wry look, he asked, "Don't you mean ice cold beer?"Laughing softly, Raymond shook his head.  "You heard me right the first time."They arrived at Jazz's car and Jazz stopped at the driver's side to give Raymond a strange look.  "You really have changed."Raymond rolled his eyes upward and jumped into the passenger seat.  When Jazz got in, he said, "Can we drop this topic?"Biting back a smile, Jazz said, "Sure but before we do can you just tell me one thing?"Buckling his seatbelt, Raymond glanced over at Jazz and said, "Shoot.""Who is this woman you're changing for?"Instead of answering Jazz's question, Raymond simply turned his head to look out the window.