Ice Cream

Chapter One

"Sir there's someone at the lobby who said he has something for you." My personal assistant announced after knocking and gracing me with her presence. I predicted the identity of my August visitor but to be a hundred percent sure, I asked for more information.

"His name is Stan and he said he brought you the information you requested. I didn't let him in because I checked and he had no appointment with you." She replied, a tad overconfident that she was doing her job well. I commended her efforts inwardly. She was truly a great personal assistant that I could trust with the affairs of my business.

"I know who he is. Let him in." I ordered to which she gave a curt nod and walked out of my office to bring Stan in. Stan was the private investigator I hired to help satisfy my curiosity on the railway-singing lady. I found it difficult to understand why I suddenly had the strong desire to know her identity but here I sat, hoping when he came into my office, he'd give me the answers I needed.

It'd been five days since the incident at the train station and a few things had changed. Immediately I left the train station, I went to my penthouse and got to my fax machine to print out the prescription medication the doctor had sent. The next day, I was scheduled for chemotherapy. I was told what to eat and what to abstain from, the right kind of exercise I was going to work on and basically the new healthy lifestyle to practice. The sad news however, was the cancer was already in its third stage and was much worse than it would have been if earlier detected. I didn't think there was much life left for me to live but I was consoled by the nurses that if I did according to all that was required for me, I could live longer and if things got worse, surgery would be the next option.

Yay! How fortunate!

To be honest, a tiny part of me wanted to cancel it all and just go home to die but the other larger part agreed that fighting for my life was the right decision. The last thing I wanted was to disappoint my mother. If she wanted me stay alive then there was an underlying purpose behind it and I had to stay alive to find out exactly what it was. That brought me to the singing lady at the station.

Ever since I slept that night, she was always in my dreams singing and smiling at me and each time I wanted to ask her questions, I'd wake up. From my dreams she proceeded to invade my mind in reality. It grew worse that while I was supposed to be at a meeting two days ago, handling financial matters, I was busy racking my brain to get the exact lyrics to her song. When I got my consciousness back, I realised that if I didn't do something about it, I would go crazy. So I called Stan and asked him to investigate her whereabouts so I would at least get to know her more. Who knew maybe she might be a piece of this whole puzzle.

The sound of a firm knock on my door brought me out of my reverie. I watched as a man of Asian descent walk right into my office. He was a good friend of mine who helped me in many of my private researches but had never shown up in my office. We usually met at a bar or somewhere private but because I was instructed not to take alcohol anymore, I suggested we met in my office to curb any temptation to drink at the bar.

I stood up immediately to shake hands with him and gestured for him to sit. When we were both comfortably seated, I offered to get him a drink to which he declined.

"Its been what, six months since we last met, you look different. Also, you changed our meeting setting. I hope you're all right Mr Adams?" He expressed his concern, a questionable look on his face, no doubt employing his investigative skills to find out what was going on.

"I'm fine Stan. I just thought I'd change a few things around here." I lied through gritted teeth, praying he'd believe my lie.

"You know you can't lie to an investigator right? I can see through your words that you're hiding something and from the look of your face and body, that 'something' is pretty serious." I looked at my body, trying to see if my blue suit and white dress shirt gave off my emaciation but to me it all seemed like I was hiding it pretty well. Oh well, he truly knew his job. I clasped my hands and leaned my forehead on them debating whether to tell him the truth or not. Ultimately, I told him.