Chapters (21)
“You mean today?” Jessica stammered. “But I am not prepared!”
“Kuan Eng here has drafted an outline for you.” Omala smiled to reassure her. “He will prep you over the next hour or two and guide you along during the interview. I know this feels like an ambush, Jessica, but in life, challenges will jump at you when you least expect them. It is the brave who will grab the opportunity and make history. Say yes, Jessica. The migrant workers need you to stand up for them.”
Jessica took a deep breath and nodded. She knew an opportunity when she saw one.
“There is one thing, though,” Kuan Eng remarked solemnly. “I am going to make a rather sensitive request.”
“What is it?” Jessica asked, her curiosity once again piqued.
“We are not denying what happened or the suffering you endured, Jessica, but we cannot show this on screen,” Kuan Eng said as he pointed at the bruise on her wrist. “Omala has a wristband that you can wear to cover it up. I hope you understand, Jessica.”
Jessica blushed deeply. It was a good thing Kuan Eng had spotted it. She would be hard put to explain the bruise to the interviewer. “I do.”
Both Kuan Eng and Omala broke out into radiant smiles of relief. Omala unhooked her wristband and handed it over. “I bought this in a souk in Marrakesh when I was backpacking in Morocco many years ago. I would like you to have it. Consider it a little something to thank you for your courage. Now I will leave you two to go over the script. Thank you so much for stepping up to the challenge, Jessica.”
Over the next two hours Kuan Eng went through the script with Jessica and coached her intensively. Omala brought in their lunches. She did not even allow Krison to interrupt the two when he arrived.
The crew from The Online Citizen was ecstatic when they learnt that Omala had arranged for an impromptu interview with the young woman who had disappeared for 15 minutes into the ambulance. They disputed Omala’s request that they not question Jessica about what happened in the ambulance as their viewers might then criticise them for avoiding a sensitive topic. They insisted that Jessica had to make a statement. In the end, it was agreed that the question would be asked and that Jessica would be stating on record that she did not wish to talk about it.
Jessica thought she did well. She had looked squarely into the video camera and enunciated her words properly. At the end of the interview, Kuan Eng gave her a thumbs-up from behind the videographer while Omala stepped forward to give her a warm hug.
What none of the three realised was that the wristband had slid down when Jessica reached out to return Omala’s hug, and that the videographer had not yet switched off the recording device.