62. Can't hold a candle

"They can't hold a candle to you" I said, not quite sure whether this fair lady would understand the English idiom involving candles. She was a healthy young woman in her late twenties. Slim and a wash board tummy that did not need hours of gym workout. Not a gram of fat like so many Singapore girls before marriage.

A pair of large brown eyes that sparkled when she talked to you. A pair of reddish brown rectangular framed spectacles illuminates and magnifies the friendliness of her eyes. A lovely small sharp proportioned nose like some English belles, so unlike the usual rounded-ended ones of most Chinese women. An oval face so much desired by the Chinese. A sharp chin and lips that are not too large. Shoulders that were not too broad and masculine.

I elaborated without flattery, "I mean you will not lose out (in beauty) to the starlet or the daughter of the owner of Hartman's International Jewellers. It is just that you don't dress up or use make up." These were her two significant rivals.

"I used to dress up during work," the fair lady with the fairest complexion of which the China's Swatow girls are famous for, said. "But many men come into the shop but they do not buy anything. They just waste my time chatting to me. So, nowadays, I just dress casually."

Whenever I went to her shop, she was shabbily dressed. What's wrong with being dressed to kill and attract moths to the candle? Increase the walk-in traffic. Men with ulterior motives are always a nuisance and a health hazard of beauty. But some men may buy something.

Her fashion boutique shop was profitable probably as it had existed for some years.

"If you procrastinate, he may marry one of them and it will be too late for you," I said. "It is better to be loved than to love. Marrying this man means that you need not work anymore."

She did not respond to my simple outlook about love, materialism and marriage. Financial security and a family were not what she wants, I discovered further into our conversation. It was just that so many marriages ended in divorces and bitterness. That was her main concern.

I had met this boyfriend in her fashion boutique. I shook my head in disbelief as my informant said, "I do not think a young man in his early forties can afford three upscale automobiles in Singapore. Each exotic branded sports car costs over half a million dollars and much more to maintain."

"But it is true," my informant insisted.

I asked the fair lady when I met her in her shop. She affirmed and since I was quite interested in dream cars, said, "The Maserati showroom is just a short drive. Why don't you drop by and see the Maseratis"

Now I realised how provincial I had become after spending so many decades with animals. Why can't a Singapore man be extremely successful financially in his own right when he is in his early forties? There would be many of them that my network had no contact with.

I have no reason to doubt my informant as he had no motive to deceive me.

While I was in the shop, the fair lady answered a phone call "I am busy now. I can't go out." She crinkled her forehead and put down her phone promptly. No 'goodbye honey' and 'I love you' talk as she was not a Caucasian.

"Why don't you close the shop and have dinner with him?" I suggested.

"I have to deliver some wedding accessories after closing the shop," she said sharply.


How could a young man with financial success win the heart of this fair lady? A Maserati might impresss her. A Ferrari did not make her swoon. There are 400 Ferraris in Singapore, a source told me. Perhaps a Lamborghini which is less common would win the heart of this fair lady? A Lotus car perhaps? There are only a handful of such cars in Singapore as they are over a million dollars to buy.

She knew a rising starlet and a jewellry heiress were her competitors in love. How she knew and how many more rivals in love, I did not ask her. She had seen many friends getting divorced over the past years and was now cautious as she approached her thirties.

"How come your marriage can last so long?" she asked me.

"I don't know the secrets," I said. "Maybe my wife and I spent so much time in our careers and bringing up two kids and time just flew by."

This boyfriend is very successful if one measures his material wealth.

"Why didn't he marry you during the early years of courtship?" I asked this fair lady.

"I would have said yes," she said. "But he had his plans to be successful in his business ventures and was not ready to commit." A successful man's secret was perhaps revealed. Make your fortune without the distraction and nagging of a wife first. Then get married. This is too simplistic a statement.

The boyfriend did not strike while the iron was hot. He had good intentions. Now, she was not sure that marriage and children are that great in a Singapore that sees the rising number of divorces every year.

Is it possible that she has other fishes in the pond of love? I dare not ask her as I did not know her sufficiently well.

Perseverance and persistence may yet win the heart of the fair lady. What is that something that can win her heart? I don't know. This fair lady has her worries and if he can address her concerns about the increasing divorce rates in Singapore, he might win her heart.