“A big fan of yours,” Andreae replied as she texted furiously into her mobile phone. “I asked her to hang out at the gallery down the street until I text her. Now she can come.”

“But why am I meeting her?” Jessica asked, puzzled.

“You know I run two websites selling merchandise online right? I’ve started a third one and you’re part of it.”

Jessica was familiar with Andreae’s online shops. One sold baby products and the other fashion knickknacks she imported from Thailand. She was initially dismissive when Andreae had started the ventures with great enthusiasm back in junior college but they appeared to have thrived over the past few years.

“You have not answered my question.”

Andreae shushed her, pointing her mobile phone at the entrance and preparing to film. Jessica too fixed her gaze on the glass door, her heart thudding with a mix of trepidation and curiosity. She could not even begin to guess what Andreae was up to.

A moment later, the glass door swung open and a woman who looked to be in her twenties stepped in. There was a streak of meekness in the way she held on to one wrist with the other palm, in the slouching of her shoulders and in her hesitant shamble. Both her hair and her sense of dressing were dull, as though she were trying to be invisible in a crowd. When she came to their table, she glanced up at Jessica, flushed, and said in a thin voice, “You are such an inspiration. I am so honoured to meet you.”

Jessica looked across at Andreae with a questioning frown, but the latter gestured at Jessica to interact with the newcomer. Her own role was merely to capture the exchange on film.

“Please take a seat,” Jessica offered, and stretched her arm to summon the waiter. “Do you know what you want?”

“Water is fine.”

When the waiter arrived, the young woman kept her head bowed and remained silent. It took Jessica a retrospective second to realise that she expected Jessica to place the order for her.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Ho Yoke Peng,” the woman replied. Her head remained bowed.

“Well, Yoke Peng, I have a confession to make. My friend here did not prepare me so I have not the slightest idea why we are meeting. Perhaps you would like to enlighten me?”

Yoke Peng looked meekly up at Jessica. This time, there was a steely glint in her eyes.

“I want to be like you.”

Jessica looked stunned. “What do you mean?”

Yoke Peng moved her hands from her lap onto the tabletop and removed the palm that was covering her left wrist. Andreae leant forward with her mobile phone for a close-up shot. On the inside of her wrist was a beautifully-tattooed “J” in a shade of green and blue that resembled the colour of a fresh bruise.