Epilogue

A basic mobile phone beeped discreetly.

Its only ornament was a hanging mobile trinket of a silver star encircling a diamond moon.

A dainty manicured hand reached into the branded handbag for the communication tool.

The phone ordinariness a glaring misfit to the shiny two toned Bvlgari ring.  

An SMS awaited the recipient.

'Little tunas all canned. Tanker to go?'

Before she could reply, the waiting room door opened, breaking her attention from the message.

"The press is ready for you, Senator," Jason announced.

A folder bearing new releases and factsheets on 'Stop the child trafiking campaign' in his hands.

Senator Song looked up with a serious and determined look on her face.

"I'll be right with you, Jason," she said softly.

"Neh.... Oh, and Senator," he said. "The University has accepted our request for them to host the 'Conference', and our international delegates."

She smiled.

"That's good news. They are with us now," she said, before wistfully adding. "He would be so proud of his Alma Mater."

"Yes, Noona, he would," Jason said softly, returning her smile before stepping out of the room.

The Senator returned her attention to her phone.

Swiftly, she typed.

'Go. Sushi Chef awaits in NY.'

Once done, and with a charming smile plastered on her face, she left the room to her expecting audience.

+++

In an upclass cosmetics surgery clinic south of Taipeh, a clinical aide stepped out from a room marked Janitor 3.

In his hand, a metallic tiffin carrier.

He walked briskly towards a consultation room and waited patiently for the last patient to leave.

"All you needed was a touch of collagen here," the doctor pointed to her patient's nose tip, "and you're all good."

The patient admired her new nose.

"Shie shie ni, Dr Liu, you really have a Midas touch," she gushed. "My friends are all asking me where I'm getting my touch ups, but I'm not about to share you. You are really worth the money I spent on you."

The plastic woman gave a tinkling laugh.

"I'll see you in 3 months?"

"Yes, we'll see you then. Take care and remember to be careful in the sun," smiled the pretty doctor, her china doll haircut brushing softly on her shoulders.

As the patient stepped out without a glance at the aide, the latter came to put the lunch box on the table.

"Your lunch, Dr A."

"Thanks."

She stared the container for a long time.

Then divert her attention to a framed poster on the wall.

Bearing the famed tagline of her alma mater.

'Humanity, Righteousness, Propriety and Wisdom'.

I have the action and the intellect; Only the spirit is lacking and the conscience misplaced, she thought sadly.

(Flashback)

"Please, let's leave her be. Oppa is gone now. We don't really need her to be with us. It was Oppa who really wanted her."

Her Unni was not convinced.

"Please, Unni, let's not let a mere girl disrupt all the hard work we put in the operations," she tried again. "She's really not worth it. Let's just leave her be."

"You're not off the hook, you know," her Unni finally relented. "Killing your own, for whatever reason, is not our way."

"I know, Unni. And I've apologized countless times. I miss Oppa too, and I know I've committed a grave sin. I'm yours now. To do whatever's your bidding. I won't ever run away again. I'll support you all the way. Just leave her be..."

(End of flashback)

And at last, she broke her reverie by reaching for her 'insulin' syringe from the bottom drawer of her desk.

She took a long shot and sigh as the drug ran through her body.

Only then did she take the lunch box lid off.

A lid with an embossed star and diamond logo on top.

A note sat on her seafood fried rice.

< 8 year old female for cornea. Room J3. >

She put her syringe back in its pouch and pushed it right to the back of the drawer.

With a different sigh and  a slightly glazed eyes, she got up  unsteadily from her plush leather seat.

Her food remained untouched.

And the petite doctor muttered ... “Kaja…! Googoo!"

~ End of Epilogue ~