Nancy's BFADT Thesis

Story in written form

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It’s morning in the city of Shanghai and the clouds are rolling in. The office was quiet with the exception of the sound of typing coming from behind the desk. Outside the office, people are trickling into work. Over the course of the day, people come in and out of her office, but the woman behind the computer is unfazed and busy working. Her cellular phone starts to ring while she is in the middle of a conversation on the telephone at her desk. She ends her telephone conversation and takes the call on her cellular phone. Meanwhile, she packs her bag and leaves the office.

After a long day at work, the woman enters her dark house, reaching for the switch to turn the light on. Much to her surprise, family and friends were there to give her a surprise party for her 32nd birthday, giving her quite a shock. She smiles and is grateful for their thoughtfulness. When she is presented with a birthday cake with the candles 3 and 2 prominently sticking up from it, she concentrates to make a wish. Just as she is about to blow the candles, she feels that there are two figures standing behind her. Her parents stare at her ring finger and voice their disappointment that she has yet to find a significant other and settle down. She is reminded of her last failed relationship, where she got her heartbroken and threw herself completely into her work. Her parents knew what she went through so they came prepared with a plan of attack. They present her with an advertisement of a famous matchmaker. Her mother tells her that the matchmaker is famous for always finding the right match for her clients, as if she magically ties a red string to bring them together. The woman however is reluctant about the whole situation. Years of hearing horror stories from her friends and co-workers about their own personal matchmaking experiences have completely shaped the way she feels about the matchmaking business. She immediately imagines the matchmaker setting her up with a sleazy and greasy-looking man, definitely someone who isn’t her type. She quickly shakes away her thoughts. It was just too unbearable to even think about getting herself into that kind of situation. However, she forgets she wasn’t alone and finds that her parents are glaring at her disapprovingly. There was absolutely no way of getting out of this situation. She immediately feels herself shrinking in her seat and has no choice but to comply with her parents’ wishes. How can she say no to the two people who worked so hard for her to get to where she is today? Surely she couldn’t disobey her parents.

The next day at work, she is busily working on her computer when she’s interrupted by a notification from an application on her computer. She looks at it closely to see that she’s getting a phone call from her mother online. Her face immediately changes. Her mother is definitely calling to follow up on the matchmaking details. The woman can’t help but sigh, there was no way out at all.
She finally accepts her mother’s phone invitation. The woman tells her mom that she’s busy working and asks if they could talk about this when she gets home. Private personal issues should not be discussed at work. Her mother replies that it’ll be quick because she has someone who wants to speak with her. Her mother adds a caller who turns out to be the matchmaker. The woman is alarmed and panics. She awkwardly greets the matchmaker who spoke non-stop about the perfect guy she found who will definitely become her prince charming. Hearing this, her father joins her mother in videoconference, rejoicing the possibility that his daughter may finally find someone to settle down with. The woman, however, feels rather the opposite. The matchmaker then adds another caller whose identity is unknown until the woman accepts. The woman is reluctant to accept the request. Her parents and the matchmaker immediately find excuses to sign off and leave the two to talk alone. The woman begs her parents not to go but they went offline within seconds. She’s left with the guy waiting on the other end for her to accept his request. Before she decides to accept, her mind takes over.

The room is pitch black until a bright spotlight shines above her, she squints to adjust her eyes, briefly seeing the mystery guy sitting in the dark across from her. Before she could take in her surroundings or do anything, the matchmaker and her parents appear. The matchmaker is holding a red string, and proceeds to tie one end on the woman’s finger and the other end on the mystery guy’s finger. However, the red string turned into a shackle weighing her arms down onto the table. The woman looks up to see the matchmaker’s huge face smiling wickedly over her along with her parents looking deliriously happy as she struggles to break free. Their faces get bigger and bigger like balloons, crowding towards her. In a moment of panic, she pushes back and falls off her high chair, which felt like an endless pit, onto the floor. She regains consciousness and hears strange noises coming towards her. Despite still being shackled, she makes a run away from what sounds like incoming monstrosity. When she looks over her shoulders as she ran, a weird parade of traditional wedding objects is chasing after her. As she turns back, the matchmaker and her parents’ large delirious faces appear in front of her, blocking her path, and begins closing in on her as well. The woman makes a sharp right turn to avoid the growing faces. Just as she runs up a hill, barely escaping the pursuers, something catches her leg causing her to trip. She is in shock as she is being pulled back, and falls violently to the floor face first. She is tied up in a bundle of chains, and finds a large figure looming over her. She sees a scary figure, whose head is a ring box with a large diamond ring in it, approaching her. The scary figure turns out to be the mystery man since he is shackled to her. He gets closer and closer to her, reaching for her shackled arm. She shuts her eyes and screams loudly. Instead of being crushed with more chains, the woman hears a light clicking sound as her shackle is unlocked.

She blinks to focus on the figure in front of her. The scary figure with a ring box as its head had transformed into a man in his thirties standing in front of her. He bares a kind and gentle smile as he reaches out his hand to her. She stares at the man with wide eyes. Finally understanding his actions, she relaxes and smiles back, extending her hand to his. They shake hands, say goodbye, and turn to walk away in opposite directions. As they parted ways, a bundle of red string appears between them, each end tied to one of them. The bundle of red strings slowly lessens, showing that these two individuals will eventually come together when the red string is fully stretched out.

Main Character
Basic Info
Name:  Jane (?)
Age:  32
Hometown: ...  
Current Residence:  Shanghai
Occupation:  Avionics sales and marketing manager
(Reference: AviationJobSearch.com)
Income:  $80,000.00 and up
Talents/Skills:
- Proven experience of account management and relationship building in the airline industry.
- Rapport building and influencing skills
- Interpersonal awareness and sensitivity
- Selling externally and internally
- Team Leadership
- Persuasive Proposal / Presentation preparation and delivery
- A confident communicator and negotiator
- Commercial Awareness
- Building and selling Value Propositions
- High level of IT literacy Office tools, plus ERP systems, Document retrieval etc.
- Marketing Planning / Forecasting
- Flexible approach to work and ability to work under pressure
- High level of personal presentation with good manners, social expertise and poise
- Culturally aware and able to operate as part of a diverse workforce

Main Character References

-Matchmaker

Matchmaker References
Otafuku is the name for the female half of a traditional Japanese Kyogen theatre pair She is considered to be the goddess of mirth and is frequently seen in Japanese art.
(information from here)