by Vann Chow
Sipping my cup of lukewarm tea that was brewed for way too long that it was now dark brown, I tried to control my face so that my foul mood would not be too obvious to the others. On the background, a group was singing old fashion Chinese opera songs to entertain the customers.
“Marvey had it really rough lately after she broke up with Zhi. Most of her close friends were Zhi's friends, and she felt alienated when they broke up. The dance crew was her only solace, she told me once.” Shirley said. The two girls apparently belonged to the same Chinese dance group in Harvard that performed every year at the year-end student show. “Lately, she had become really really skinny I could see her shoulder bones. We all think she is anorexic but she wouldn't go to the health center. Some of us were wondering what might help her get better. And I recalled that she had very fond memories of her times in China. When I saw you, I thought maybe you could help bring back some of those happy memories somehow, cheer her up and make her eat again. You were in almost every photo she posted.”
“Was I?” I was surprised.
“You two were really good friends, right?”
“Emm...you could say that I was the first real Shanghainese she knew outside of school. But we have gotten out of touch since she left for America.”
“That's wonderful! You know what, let's Facetime her together!”
“Now?”
“Yes, now! It's still just late afternoon over there. She should pick up.”
“Where is she now?”
“She's back home with her parents for the break, in Minnesota.”
Before I could protest, Shirley's brother already took out his latest iPhone and started Facetiming Marvey. Shirley dropped her chopsticks, took out her compact mirror to take a look at herself to make sure she still looked as fabulous as she remembered it. Quickly, I took a big glum of the tea to wash my mouth before moving myself behind Simon.
“Hey, Marv!”
“Hey, Shirley. Wasup? Isn't it really late already in Shanghai?”
“Look who's in my English class!” With that, Shirley swiped the camera to my direction. I poked my head out from behind Simon, who was grinning from ear to ear.
“Hi, Marvey my dear.” I said to the fussy image of the girl whom I had missed in the last ten months.
There was a delay on the line. I looked into Marvey's eyes trying to search for some recognition in vein for what felt like eternity,
“Oh, my God! Shirley!!” Marvey screamed to the speaker as she scrambled out of her chair and jumped hysterically behind her desk like a three year old girl who got a bucket of chocolate for Christmas. “Jong, what are you doing there! How did you two know each other?”
“English class, missy! I just told you.” Shirley laughed at her forgetfulness.
“Jong, you have to come visit us! You have to come visit us!”
The two girls giggled through the rest of the conversation. I did not remember much of it, but I remember distinctively that I was invited to Harvard by Marvey and Shirley.
Chapter 20: Ashtray
“No, you're not going to Boston.” Paula said when I broke the news to her that I was invited to visit Harvard the upcoming summer during dinner. “Who's going to take care of Jessie when you're gone?”
“Take her to my mother if you want.”
Little Jessie almost fell off the couch in excitement. Going to my mother means going to the rest of the family to the countryside where all the rest of the relatives lived. He could meet his little girlfriend again, whom he had been keeping in contact with through DouBan.
“Are you going to see that white girl and ask her to marry you?” Paula asked sarcastically. I felt assaulted by the jets of jealousy oozing out of her nostrils as she spoke.
“I am not going to ask her to marry me but I am going to visit her all right. Who knows what would happen.”
“You're so childish you are unbelievable. Romance like that does not exist.”
“It doesn't matter. You know how long I have been looking forward to that.” I stated matter of factly.
“No one would want to be with you except me. You're just going to fall flat on your face in shame over there when you realized that.”
“I wasn't expecting anything. I am just going to visit a friend.”
“Friends. They are all friends. All these sluts who text and call you in the middle of the night.”
“Well, look who's calling other women sluts now?” I said jokingly.
“Don't come back if you insist on leaving!”
“What leaving? I'm coming back.”
“Don't!”
Paula put on her earring, grabbed her handbag, walked out and slammed the front door behind her, just like every time when we could not agree on something. She had the habit of running away in the middle of a conversation as if the world depends on her arriving on time on her next escort appointment.
“Ma thought you've forgotten about the Western girl.” Jessie said me while I was lost in thoughts. “I told her she was wrong.” He grinned as if he won a price for being right.
“What else did your mom say?”
“She thought you would make a good husband. She is sad that you have another girlfriend.”
I grimaced. I always got the feeling that if I was not doing such a good job at looking after her kid, she would like to bash my head into pulp for just breathing the same air with her, occupying space in her vicinity. Was she really that into me?
“No, your mom doesn't like me.”
Little Jessie smirked. “Of course she does. You don't know?”
I tripped over the coffee table as I was walking towards the front door to shut the still opened metal gate. A tray of cigarette ashes spill to the ground in an hazy, ash cloud. It made me choke.
“Smoking is a disgusting habit.” I said to Jessie in between coughs. “I don't like women who smoke.”
Chapter 21: The Shirley Show
Shirley was alone again that evening. Her good brother Simon had gone to a trip to the nearby Hangzhou with his friends. No one else in the family drives but Shirley. That evening, Shirley asked me if I would like to ride with her. I had no reason to say no.
On the way home, we stopped by a noodle shop to get some spicy dumpling soups. Over the steams of the hot soup, I sucked in air through my running nose. Shirley handed me a paper towel and when I did not response since my mind was elsewhere, she took it upon herself to wipe my nose.
“Hey, I can do it myself.” I said in a muffled voice. The paper towel was covering my nose and mouth. I grabbed it from her hand and sneezed.
“I'm so glad we are going to Boston together.” She grabbed my other hand and smiled. “You can stay at Simon and my rental house. There is enough space for the three of us.”
I pulled my hand out from under hand palm, gave hers a squeeze and released it so that I could hold up the bowl of soup to my mouth to drink it up.
That evening, Shirley drove me home. She was surprised I did not proactively ask her to come in for a drink.
“Sorry, my mom and pop are up there. It would be weird for them to see you with me, while we are not...”
“Well, let's be a couple then.” She smiled and pulled the car key of the ignition.
As expected, my parents overreact to Shirley's visit like I thought they would. They were all over her as soon as she stepped through the threshold of our door.”
My mom became instantly ashamed of our cozy apartment and she kept apologizing how small the place was and how everything was old and probably not up to the standards of what Shirley was used to back in her luxurious home.
My dad, on the other hand, took the art of silence to an extreme. He glanced at her for a good five minutes without speaking and responding to her greetings, until he finally decided that based on his face reading theories, she was going to have a fruitful and prosperous married life.
Then they started feeding her snacks. No the preserved dried fruit that had been in the can for at least five
years that my parents served when the neighbor aunt came over for mahjong or the stall biscuits that my dad serve the neighbor uncles whenever they came to watch soccer and drink cheap beers with us. Those were real exquisite imported snacks like chocolate pralines and Belgian mini waffles they kept in their stashes they did not dare to open and share unless there would be important guests.
“You should really have told us if you are bringing a friend to visit.” My mom said as she fussed over the, in her opinion, sub-par conditions of the house and her appearance.
“What does your honorable father do?” My dad asked, using pronouns in polite form, as he received a box of Hawaiian nuts and a bottle of whiskey in return from Shirley.
“He is the owner of the Sun of China group.” Shirley answered monotonously, likely a question she got often since it would be crazy not to notice she must come from a family with impressive pedigree.
Her answered was one that would make any regular Chinese flinch. The Sun of China group was in the middle of IPO discussion to get on the board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The group was evaluated, I could still remember freshly in my mind because it was such an exorbitant amount, at 6 billions. It was the owner of hundreds of luxury real estates and premium shopping locations in and around the area. My dad, who was a feverish news reader, would no doubt had read about Shirley's father.
Shirley grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze in front of my parents, and she said, “I am taking him to Boston with me, so he could see how I live over there.”
“That's wonderful.” My dad said, glad to hear that such an opportunity was bestow to me as if fallen from heaven. Going abroad, even in these days and age of supersonic commercial planes, budget airlines and massive intercontinental flight networks, was still a luxury for most folks. I had the honor to fly a couple of times for business to Xiamen, a two hour flight, where one of our service provider was located to do a face-to-face meet and greet, but that was nothing like the glory you would earn in your social circle if you were to say you have traveled to Boston, to America. “Behave yourself over there in America,” my dad said, not realizing that he was embarrassing me with his cautious words in front of Shirley.
“A long distance relationship is usually very difficult, but I am sure if he come once in a while to me, and me to him, we would have no problem maintaining it until we get married and settle down.” I was salivating on the thought of traversing the Russian airspace on First class once a year to see my beautiful, smart and rich new girlfriend and had not notice she mentioned something about getting married. My parents of course had a bit more foresight than I did. They welcomed the idea of us getting married with big smiles on their faces.
“He could move in with us, at the mansion at Puming Road near the riviera.” She said, then she corrected herself, “no, actually all of you should move in with us! I am sorry I didn't think of that in the first place. We have two floors in the highest residential building in Shanghai, we didn't know what to do with all that space anyway. I am sure my parents would be very happy about it.”
My dad was nodding along, then he stopped and said, all of a sudden remembering our place in the society hierarchy relative to Shirley's family, “we loved your suggestion to live together, but we were planning to retire in our ancestral home at the village.” A factory worker all his life, he felt ashamed of himself and his family. “Thank you for your hospitality, I think we would not fit in the nice mansion. A quiet life at our hometown would be what we need. The two of you could stay in the city.”
“That's ludicrous. We are a family, aren't we?” Shirley squeezed my hand again. It helped me focus back on the conversations at hand from my daydreams about America. “We should live together even after we get married and we must renovate it nicely!” Shirley said enthusiastically, “let me talk to my father's architects. They could design something for us. I am sure my dad would be happy to give me the resources.”
At that point, we looked like a picture-perfect family. Everyone was happy, the filial son had a filial wife-to-be, and the parents' big city hopes and dreams, what they couldn't realize in their youth when they arrived in Shanghai, would soon to be fulfilled through their beloved son.
When Shirley was gone, my parents could still not sit still from excitement of having met their perfect future daughter-in-law.
“Now this is more like it, son! I like her very much. Good job.” My mom complimented me. “I need to say a prayer to the ancestors and give thanks for looking after you boy.” Then she walked into the kitchen.
My dad yelled out to her, “what did I always say, huh, both of you? Inside a book you will find girls with complexions like jade; Inside a book, you will find houses made of gold. ” He recited a Chinese proverb, proud that a theory he held so dear was finally proved true. “Educate yourself and you will find everything you need from it.” He was referring to my long-dued decision to go back to school.
“Yes, old man. You're right again!” Mom yelled back from the kitchen as she warmed up my dinner for me.
“Will you take care of Jessie for me when I go to Boston?”
“Forget about Paula and Jessie. Don't even bring them up in front of Shirley. You don't want to let this girl has any reason to break up with you.”
“Mom!” I was shocked by her directness. “What's wrong with Paula and Jessie?” I certainly knew what was wrong with Paula and Jessie, but they were after all our family acquaintance now after all these times they have spent with Jessie in the country side during Chinese New Year. By extension they should be nice to Paula as well, she being my friend, mother of Jessie and all.
“Okay, I will take care of Jessie. But remember what I told you. No woman likes to share a boyfriend with someone else.”
The next day when I met Kelvin, he was jut as excited as my parents about Shirley. “That was a good call from you to go to night school.” Kelvin said. “Are there other beautiful misses? From Chinese class? History class?”
“Piss off.”
“True. There can't be anymore like Shirley. Beautiful and smart. The most important quality of all is that she is rich. She doesn't need your money. Even a penniless fool like you can make her fall in love with you. That's just miracle.”
“Everything about her is perfect. Yet I didn't get the same feeling towards her as I have with Marvey.”
“Feeling? You're still so stubborn about relationships. You're looking at a goldmine.”
“Not everything has to be about money.”
“Let me analyze it for you. Marvey is an American girl and she lives a thousand miles if not more away. She would never become anyone more than a female friend who lives in an exotic foreign place to you. In the process of obtaining even a chance to take a shot at having a relationship with her, you have saved all your salary for the trip, sacrificed your social life and wasted hours of your time studying English. Now Shirley is different. She's native Shanghainese. She could communicate with your family. Her family business is going to be yours or at least partly yours if you marry her and you, being the son-in-law of such a big tycoon, could live like a king. Your life is all set, only from making such a tiny, tiny life decision. Many others would kill for such an opportunity. Didn't you say she upgraded your flight to first class so the two of you could travel together in comfort and style? If I were you I would proposed to her on the flight, marry her in the next opportunity and visit Boston together like it is our honeymoon. I would just skip the whole Marvey thing if I were you.”
“How are we different from the gold-diggers that we always made fun of. How are we then different from the women who want to marry rich?”
“The difference is you don't have a role in that scenario because you can't afford to give your woman the life she wants. This city is expensive. The person who gets the most money gets the girl. This is a scenario you are familiar with because you are constantly being rejected in the auditions for the role of future husband. Now there is a different show coming on stage and
you have already passed the audition. That's the Shirley show. Go for it man!”
In order not to be called the disgrace for men, Shirley and I officially started a relationship two weeks before we were due for Boston. That evening I gave her an upgraded version of my virtual reality proposal animation in the car. The roses were not red but pink, with golden ribbons and the diamond ring was replaced with a diamond necklace.
“I couldn't afford a lot. I hope you like this.” I added the subtitle in the background as she watched the animation through the VR goggle.
“This is the best gift ever. Thank you!” Shirley hugged me so tight I almost could not breath.
“I am glad you liked it.” And I was more surprised at how similar products could elicit such different responses from two different persons.
Chapter 22: Soccer Field
One of the kids kicked the ball towards the direction of the goal. It narrowly missed the frame and hit me on the face instead. The corner of my right eye started bleeding without me noticing, until Shirley ran into the field and told everyone to stop. I sat down the field and tried to wipe my face with the corner of my soccer shirt.
“The shirt is brand new!” She said, as she was pulled out a paper towel from a fresh package of Tempo she had on her and started dabbing the corner of my eyes with it. I cringed as the menthol on the towel stung my eyes and my nose.
“It's okay.” Just when I was reaching out to grab the towel from her hand, it was her turn to cringed backwards. My hands were muddy, she did not want me to touch her. She waved her servant over from the side of the field who was holding up the water bottles and a box of what I gathered to be travel size first-aid kit. The middle-age man rushed over and knelt by my side despite his suit. He started treating me with stuff from his magic box while I scanned what was happening around us. All the kids have gathered around us and some of them were snickering.