My Docklands Encounter

It was an unusually hot evening. The past week had been terribly cold, but on the second day of autumn, Melbourne’s weather decides to give us a hot summer’s day.

It was a perfect day for swimming and sun tanning at the beach.

It was a perfect day for lazing around in the gardens: picnic rugs spread on the grass with crackers and dips on trays; summer fruits, sandwiches and foccaccia in baskets. Great company was of importance: girls in their colourful summer dresses, boys in their T-shirts and shorts, all lying down on their backs, putting on their different shades of sunnies, enjoying the warm sunshine and the beauty of the earth.

But I had spent the day quite differently from described: my Sunday was the usual attending service in the morning and then joining my church friends for lunch at Footscray. At 6.15pm, I was walking towards Docklands to meet my friends for dinner. Even at such an hour, the setting sun was still heating the earth.

Walking in my pair of high-heel shoes and carrying my white chunky bag, I was desperate to find some shade. I was casually dressed that very day: a mini skirt and a pretty V-neck top from Forever 21. I had my big sunnies sitting on the bridge of my nose and my long necklace dangling, adorning the laces of my V-neck top.

An orange glow was visible from the borders of my top’s white fabric, and as I walked along the streets of the dock, my butterfly sleeves flapped, creating a luminescence glow around my shoulders and my arms.

Finally, I found some shade several metres away from the tram-stop. I looked around to find my fashionably late friends and as expected, they weren’t in sight. Inwardly, I was hoping they would come earlier, so I could be home before 8.30pm to watch Grey’s Anatomy Season 4.

While I was standing there, waiting, I saw an Asian man - probably in his late twenties from the corner of my eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of shorts, and on his nose, sits a pair of thick-plastic-rimmed spectacles, like a typical nerd. He ambled towards me and smiled at me. I returned a forced smile and looked away. We were meters away, so he called out, asking me whether I was Jin. “No.” I replied. From his accent, he is perhaps Japanese or Korean. His English wasn’t too bad but the accent bothers me.

Man: “Oh okay. It’s just you look like someone I know.”

Me: *Chuckled* “No, I am not who you think I am.” *What the heck*

Man: “Are you waiting for someone?”

Me: “Yes” *Forced smile, looked away*

Jingling the bunch of keys in his hands for a better grip, he asked, “Do you want to come over to my apartment?” Shocked and offended, I rolled my eyes at him and said, “NO!” Then I turned around and walk away, and under my breath, I whispered “What the f**k?! Eww!” I walked away as fast as my feet could carry me and a few minutes later, I turned around to check whether that disgusting man was still following me. Fortunately, he was already crossing the road and was walking towards the apartments opposite the dock. With a sigh of relief, I quickly call Chris to inform him my scary encounter.