Strange encounters, made possible, by fate, or just, her guilty conscience that’s, leading her, because she failed to keep her promise to her friend, who knows??? Translated…
I’d started working at a publisher that year, was only a casual contact with my coworker, Shu-Yi, once she’d told me with this excitement, that she’d just bought herself a suite, and had the carpenter put in a double-decker bookshelf, and she’d shown it to me from the magazines, “look, like this!”, I’d given the compliments on it, “Very well in appearance, and useful too”, and I’d casually told her, that I was going to pay a visit to her new home once it gets set up, she was full of joy, “I’ll be waiting for you then.”
Several months later, she’d invited me over for a meal, I was compounded by my heavy workload, and a whole lot of other things that were stressing me out, how can I possibly find the time to visit? So, I’d made excuses to not go, and she’d, stopped prodding too, and not long thereafter, she’d gone to the U.S. to further her education.
Several years later, one day, I was walking on the streets of Taipei, there was a realtor who’d handed me a flyer of a house put up for sale, and persuaded me that there was a small and pretty place close by, and I was in a daze of sorts, and followed her there. The moment I’d entered, there was this dual mobile bookshelf that appealed to me, I’d heard the real estate agents voice far and near, “Do you like it? Because the owner of this property was murdered in the U.S., her family wanted to quickly sell the place, the price is negotiable.”
At which time, I’d taken a book off the shelves, and turned to the pages on the inside, “Book Collection of Shu-Yi” leapt into my eyes. I felt shocked, the book slid off my hands, fell onto the floors. “Don’t fear, the owner was murdered in the U.S., so this doesn’t constitute as a bad property. So, do you like it?”, I drew a blank for a very long time, couldn’t say a single word.
I’d never believed in the supernatural, but, I’d started losing sleep and appetite over this, I’d gone to the local temples to get treated, and, saw on the Master’s bookshelves, in a volume, it’d said, that “keeping promises is what good friends do”. I can’t help, but feel embarrassed, and later, I’d always kept my promises made to people I know, to prevent myself, from living with the regrets.
So, it is, by fate, that this woman went to her deceased friend’s property to look, perhaps it’s because of that unfinished business she’d felt she had with her friend, and she’d learned the lessons from her friend, to ALWAYS keep her promises.
Life, the Obstacle Course 