“You don’t have to speak. Yoke Peng will do the talking,” Andreae instructed. “Towards the end, when you see Yoke Peng lift up her right hand to point, you lift up your left hand and point too.”

“Point where?”

“Your left nipple.”

“What?!”

Andreae gesticulated at Jessica to wipe the incredulous look from her face and tapped the screen to initiate recording. Yoke Peng launched into a rehearsed speech. She spoke passionately about the tough journey a rape victim had to undergo to transform herself into a rape survivor. The victim would need all the affirmation and support she could get from society. In view of that, she and Jessica have decided to team up for a fund-raising effort. Over the next six months, they intended to raise $30,000 by selling white “J Bruise” T-shirts. For every T-shirt sold, fifty per cent of the revenue will be donated to the AWARE arm that offered rape counselling services. The public could purchase these white “J Bruise” T-shirts by clicking on a link. At this point, Yoke Peng lifted her right hand to point at her right nipple. Jessica followed suit and pointed at her own left nipple, although she would rather be pointing a pistol at Andreae.

Jessica waited until Yoke Peng had left their company before she finally exploded. “Andreae Ngian! I give you ten minutes to explain this before I throw this glass of lemon fizzy at your face!”

“Chill, Jess! Let me show you something.”

Andreae fired up her laptop and navigated to a website titled “J Bruise”. The home page featured a photo of Jessica posing beside a standee of Chong Jin and a write-up of how she had transformed herself from a victim in the Little India riot to a social activist who inspired an entire nation. It stated that Jessica intended to kick-start the J Bruise Movement to encourage victimised women to rise above their trauma and to move on in life. The very first initiative was to raise $30,000 for charity via the sale of white “J Bruise” T-shirts.

As much as Jessica remained infuriated, she could not deny the fascination that she felt. The design of the “J Bruise” website was sleek and polished, and the photo featuring her and Chong Jin’s standee was so glossy they could well pass off as popular Korean TV stars. If the J Bruise Movement took off, she would be revered as an influencer of her times.

“Looks great, doesn’t it? Took me close to a week to come up with this,” Andreae gloated. “Now let me induct you into the J Bruise shopping experience!”

Jessica gasped. There must have been more than twenty types of merchandise on offer. There were J Bruise T-shirts, bandannas and wristbands in seven colours, and paraphernalia such as key chains and stationery items with the J Bruise logo inscribed. Even Jessica felt the inner shopper in her yearn to click and move some items to the shopping cart.