Simply Love - Never Say Never

Beverley's Doppelganger

David arrived at the Mandarin Oriental where the Taiwan Bar Association's charity event was held. He reached the Grand Ballroom entrance and took an orange juice from a passing waiter before starting his search for Beverley. They were meant to meet last Thursday but Beverley ended up having to go to a client dinner and ruined David's plans. So this was the first time in a few weeks that he had seen Beverley.

At the hotel, it was just after the cocktail hour, but there were still people standing around their tables in the large dining area which made his search difficult. Nevertheless, a lady with a bright red designer pantsuit caught his attention. She had her back towards him but he easily recognised Beverley's black glossy hair that flowed gently over her shoulders. He smiled instantly and headed towards her.

When David reached the lady in red, he placed his hand gently across her back. As she turned around their eyes met. He instantly jumped back in shock, "Oh I'm sorry! I thought you were someone else!" The lady laughed, "That's alright. Nice to meet you. My name is Laura Wen and you are?"

Offering his hand David replied, "My name is David Tsai. Nice to meet you too." As he stood facing Laura, he noticed her well-proportioned features, bright dark brown eyes, and confident smile. While he was observing her with interest, she asked, "And what do you do?"

"I'm a commercial property lawyer. And yourself?"

"Oh! Me too!" Laura replied giggling.

"Really? What a coincidence. Which firm are you with?"

"I’m a Partner at Lin & Partners. And you?"

"I have my own firm. T & W Associates. Have you heard of it?"

"Oh! I have heard of your firm! I take it then that T stands for Tsai?"

David was impressed, "Yes, that is correct."

"And W stands for Whitfield, as in Dean Whitfield, the award-winning architect. You two are quite the force in the industry. How is business?"

"Business is booming. How about yours?"

"We are doing really well. I specialise in residential to commercial conversions. So, with the multiple rezoning in recent times the market has been great."

"Ah, I see. It definitely has. We should compare notes, a client just came to us with such a conversion for a block of flats. And..."

"David," A familiar female voice from behind made him stop talking and turn around quickly.

"Ah Beverley. I was looking for you..."

Beverley stood there silently observing the pair. She had her arms crossed against her multi-coloured tweet designer pantsuit, holding a gin and tonic. She then offered a small smile to Laura, "Hi, I'm Beverley Chen." Laura flashed her toothy smile back at Beverley, "Hi, I'm Laura Wen. Are you a colleague of David's?"

Beverley glanced at David briefly and said, "No. I am an acquaintance." David could not help but roll his eyes, "Just an acquaintance?"

Laura spoke up, "And what do you do?"

"I'm a Partner at Baker McKenzie. I specialise in intellectual property and patents. And you?"

"I'm a Property Lawyer like David," Laura replied.

Beverley raised her eyebrows, "How long have you known David?"

Laura laughed, "Oh, we literally just met. By the way, I love your suit."

Beverley gave her the faintest smile, "Thanks. I like your suit too."

Laura giggled, "Oh this old thing? Ha-ha. Thank you!"

Keen to get Beverley all to himself, David interrupted, "Beverley, where is our table?" She turned her attention towards David finally, "Oh yes, we're on table 21. Please excuse us. Come, we should get seated. I can hardly see anything with the dim lighting in this place. They shouldn’t have picked this venue again this year. I told the committee last year not to choose this place again, but did they listen? Obviously not!" She went on as they walked away from Laura without a goodbye.

Beverley continued her rant all the way to their table which was halfway down the ballroom. When they arrived at the table, she swapped a few name tags around so that David and her could sit together. She then nodded at a few of her colleagues at the table who had already arrived, and they returned their acknowledgment. A few of them also knew David and gave him nods and smiles which he returned.

"Who was that?" Beverley grimaced.

"Who? Do you mean Laura Wen? She told you. She is a property lawyer like me..."

"I know that. But why were you talking to her?" Beverley huffed.

"I actually thought she was you from behind," David chuckled.

Beverley was offended, "David?! She doesn't look like me at all. We have the same length of black hair but that’s about it. Although I do genuinely like her red suit..."

David became again embarrassed that he had mistaken Laura for Beverley and even touched her inappropriately. He shuddered at the thought after Beverley brought up Laura. "No. you're right. She doesn't look like you at all. The room was dark. It was hard to see..."

"Oh hello!" Both David's and Beverley's heads flipped towards the voice. It was Laura. "It looks like my table is right next to yours. What a coincidence!"

David looked at Beverley, who offered Laura again her faint smile. "I wonder why she doesn't look pleased," He wondered.

Ignoring Beverley, Laura held something in her hand for David, "Here is my card. I would love to catch up and see whether we can offer additional services to each other's clients."

David took Laura's embossed business card eagerly, "That's actually a great idea. Like I said before, some of my clients are looking for assistance and advice on residential conversions and consolidations, which we do very little of. So, your area of expertise will be much appreciated. And here is mine."

Beverley could not believe her ears but continued to silently glare at David. In the meantime, Laura scanned David's business card, "Great. Thank you. I will give you a call tomorrow on this number?" She leaned over towards him so that he could see where she was pointing. He unconsciously leaned in to take a look, "Yes. Yes. Exactly, that's my cell so you can call me on that number. Maybe in the morning? I'm usually freer in the morning..."

"I heard that your firm is working on the Airport project. How is that going?"

"Ah. They always keep adding scope, but they end up telling us that they don’t have additional funding for it. So, we're constantly having to manage their expectations against scope, costs, and our timelines. It's been hard but it's getting better now that we know how to deal with them..."

"I know what you mean. I'm working with Taichung City Council and the same thing happens with their new culture park," Laura sighed.

Beverley stood up, "I'm going to get a drink, excuse me." As soon as Beverley left her seat, Laura sat down in it. Beverley’s mouth flew open. She calmed herself, turned, and walked away towards the bar. On the way, she briefly turned to look at David and Laura. Frowning, she thought to herself, "This is going to be an interesting night."

Even after Beverley got herself a glass of champagne, she could see that Laura and David were still deep in conversation. She deliberately walked slowly towards them and stopped at a nearby table to speak to other lawyers that she knew. All this time, she kept an eye on them and watched their body language closely. She could see them sitting facing each other and at times, David would lean in to hear what Laura was saying, heads almost touching. At such a scene, something inside of Beverley stirred.

After what seemed like forever to Beverley, Laura got up to go back to her table when the caterers began serving the entrees. Beverley returned to her seat silently while feeling strangely defeated.

David welcomed her return eagerly, "Do you want the tuna carpaccio or the smoked salmon salad?"

"Huh, oh I don't mind either."

"You can have my tuna carpaccio. I know you're not a big fan of salmon."

Receiving David's plate, Beverley picked at her entree. Noticing the unusual silence from Beverley, David asked, "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well? Should I take you home?"

"No. No. I'm alright. I just don't have much of an appetite this evening. Maybe I drank too much gin and tonic."

However, after a long pause, Beverley put her cutlery down, "David. Do you think Laura's pretty?"

"What? Where did that question come from?" David replied, surprised.

"Well. She is pretty..."

"Am I allowed to say that she looks like you?"

"No."

"Okay..."

"Wait. What do you mean by that?"

"Well. I think you're very pretty and she looks like you."

"David, that is not a compliment..."

"Oh." David frowned, disappointed. But Beverley could not help herself but started to chuckle, “David, you are so bad with girls.” Then, she put her cutlery down again, “David, did you realise that she was flirting with you?”

“Laura?” David waved his hand, “No. No. No. She sees me as an opportunity to expand her client base and likewise I do too.”

“I thought you were super busy this time of the year with architecture awards and everything else.”

“I am but that doesn’t necessarily bring in clients. We still have to work hard to network to build our client base.” David added with a grin, “And if the person looks like you, that’s an added bonus.”

“David. Again. That is not a compliment.”

“Oh.” Now David was very confused, “Well then. Give me an example of a compliment that would woo someone like you.”

Beverley raised her eyebrows at David but accepted the challenge, “Ok...” After a brief moment, she turned to David, “You look like you work out?” David was bewildered, “How is that a compliment?!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a question.”

Beverley grunted, “It implies that I think you have a nice, sculptured body.”

“Oh.” David's face turned red, but he had to ask, “So, you think I have a nice…body?”

“David!”

“What?!”

---***---

After the event came to an end and the crowd began to leave. David stood up and placed Beverley’s suit jacket around her shoulders, “Come. I will take you home…”

“It’s ok. I can Uber it.”

“It’s late. Don’t be silly. We are both in Xinyi.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. Do you even have to ask? Of course, I will take you home.”

David gently pushed Beverley towards the exiting doors and lead her to the carpark.

In his Arctic Plain silver Bentley Bentayga, David replayed in his mind how he would approach asking Beverley to an evening of classical music. He decided to turn on the radio and tuned it to the classical radio station. A symphony orchestra piece was playing. David recognised it but could not place the tune. Beverley's ears perked up and she glanced at David’s face. As if reading his mind she answered, “It’s The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Astonished, David slowly nodded. He glanced sideways at Beverley full of respect… and love.

Beverley, who was taking off her large dangling earrings to place in her clutch bag, asked, “Oh yes. Do you remember the cellist that I love, Sheku Kanneh-Mason?”

“Yeah?”

“He’s coming to Taipei next month. I’m thinking of going. Do you want to go with me? I was thinking of going alone but I thought you might like to too since you’re into classical music too?”

David could not believe his ears. To be honest, he had only shown interest in classical music because of Beverley, who grew up as a classical violinist. “Absolutely. I would love to hear his music live!”

"Great! I will book the tickets for us.” Beverley added, “Did you want to go to dinner beforehand? It’s going to be at the National Concert Hall. So, we can go to Xiang Se?”

David looked at Beverley strangely, who was sitting in her passenger seat with her legs curled up under her by this stage, she looked back at him, “What?”

“Nothing. Sure, I would love to have dinner before the show. I can make the booking at Xiang Se if you want?”

“Ok. I will let you know once I book the tickets as I can’t remember what time the concert starts. But I’m willing to leave work early for him, for sure,” Beverley swooned.

“I can get the tickets as well…” David was eager to lock Beverley into her plans.

“No. No. I will do it. I want to choose the seats. I know the national concert hall pretty well and I want to make sure I get the forward stalls.” She clapped her hands excitedly, “I can’t wait!”

David was still curious, “Did...Did you speak to Mia today?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Oh. Nothing. Did she mention classical music events or something?”

“Mia? She’s not interested in classical music. She’s into jazz and bossanova. Why? Do you want to invite her to come along?” Beverley's face was expressionless but there was reluctance in her voice.

“No. No. I must have mistaken.”

Still suspicious, Beverley watched David’s face closely, “Why were you thinking of Mia all of a sudden?”

David briefly glanced at Beverley, “Like I said I recalled her mentioning a classical music event, that is all.” He swallowed and focused on the road ahead.

“You would tell me if you liked Mia, right?”

“What?!” David almost stepped on the brakes in the middle of the road.

“Well. Are you?”

David nearly had a heart attack, “No. Definitely not. 100% not. She is your best friend!”

“Well, if she wasn’t my best friend, would you consider it?”

“No!” David almost shouted.

Satisfied with David’s reaction, Beverley concluded with a smile, “Ok…”

Soon, the 4WD slowly came to a halt in front of Beverley’s Xinyi apartment block. David got out of the car to help Beverley out. As always, he took the opportunity to keep holding her hand. Surprisingly, she did not let go of his hand this time. He held on to her hand with a firm grip. They stopped in front of her apartment entrance and only then did she let go of his hand to search for her house keys. With his hands dangling at his side, David contemplated whether to make a move.

“You look really nice with your hair down…as always…”

“Damn it,” David thought, “She’s going to scold me again saying that it wasn’t a compliment.”

Beverley looked up at David with a grin, “…Thank you.” Her reply gave him courage. He leaned in to kiss her on the cheeks, “About…You know that I only think of you, don’t you.”

“I did it! I did it!” David triumphantly thought to himself.

Beverley felt the warmth of his kiss linger on her cheeks. A gentle smile spread across her plump lips, “…Thanks for dropping me off, David. I will speak to you tomorrow?”

“Yes. Most definitely.” David rubbed his hand on Beverley’s shoulder and muttered, “It’s cold. Get going inside.”

Beverley nodded and turned on her heels to enter the building. As she walked towards her elevators, she turned back to see if David was still waiting. He was, and he waved his hand signaling for her to go into the elevator. He waited until the elevator closed in front of her. Then, he sighed heavily holding on to his chest, “What am I going to do now that I have finally secured a date with Beverley!”