Shanghai Nobody_A Novel

by Vann Chow

  “Marvey, I told you to wear that dress I gave you!” I could hear Shirley streaked as if Marvey had committed a capital offense.

  “No, it was too tight,” Marvey replied as she wobbled on heels over to the group of girls.

  “Did you rip it? It's a Miss Sixty.”

  “Noooo, noooo, of course not. I wouldn't dare to. It's in your wardrobe. I hung it back.”

  “You're showing off too much skin.” Shirley's obnoxious friend said. That was a Chinese girl's way of saying someone was fat.

  “Well, this will do for now. You can buy better ones when you get paid next month.” Shirley said.

  Even though I was not immediately next to her, I could tell from the distance that it appeared Marvey had to take the bus from home to here, for from the way sweats were beading on her forehead and nose, she must have walked a long way on her stilettos. “Anyway, give me a hug,” she said, expecting an American style greeting.

  “Ewww, you're so sweaty. I'm not gonna hug you!” Shirley said.

  “Okay, okay, fine.” Marvey rummaged in her handbag for a piece of facial tissue. One could follow the eyes of the girls from her face to her bag, and caught looks of dismiss on their faces. Obviously, Marvey was no owner of luxury handbag.

  “Why did she take her along?” One of the girls whispered into Shirley's ear.

  “She begged me,” Shirley said. “Zhi would be here tonight, ” Shirley whispered back.

  When Marvey was busy wiping the sweats off her face, I walked over and gave her a hug. The girls were too busy gossiping about something else to notice. Marvey peeled off the last bit of tissue sticking on her forehead to see who was the hugger and she seemed pleased to see it was me.

  Chapter 28: Dancing

  “You have to watch out for that hag,” Shirley's girlfriend said to her.

  “Ya, what's she trying so hard for?” The other friend chimed in. They were sitting on the VIP area on the side of the dance floor in the club, enveloped by pink fluffy cushions on the white chesterfield leather couch.

  “Nah, you girls are idiots. She just wanted to show off in front of Zhi. Like 'Look! I could do so much better than you' kind of thing.”

  “Are you sure?” The girl on the left asked, “Zhi was not really paying any attention.” They eyed the opposite of the club, where Zhi was playing drinking games with some others. Huge amount of pricey alcohol was spilton the floor in their vicinity.

  “Look at her! She's no match to you in looks and class, but she has a really good figure. Men are animals. They can't think straight when there is someone flashing their arms and legs in front of them, you have to keep an eye on them,” The girl on the right said.

  “Should I go and fetch them back?” Shirley asked confirmation from her friends. They both nodded, and up she went. It was at that point a boy came over to ask her to dance. Her smile widened and I was off her mind in an instance.

  On that dance floor, I danced for the first time with a woman. It was less awkward than I had imagined it, perhaps because I could not care less what other people think of me. My sole attention was placed on Marvey, who was swinging her hips and banging her heads to the rhythms of the music. “Wild” was a word came into my mind. Girls in China didn't dance like that. It was nothing promiscuous, for I was very sure Marvey was not interested in me. She was simply enjoying herself, dancing as if she was a superstar in an upbeat pop song music video. Her curls flying in the air, splashing on my chest and my face on occasion. Now she was wiggling her body only a few centimeters away from me. And felt her hot breath steaming on my face. That was no music video, that was a 4D roller-coaster ride at the Universal Studio I swore.

  I found myself actually taking pleasure in dancing for once. I shuffled my steps and spun around. Impressed by, likely not my dance moves but the way how confident I appeared, Marvey leaned her body close to me and grabbed me on my waist as her hands rummage away to the rhythm of the beats. Contrary to what you would think would happen, instead of physical excitement, I felt ecstatic as if I was high. I had never been so-called 'high' before but if I did I suppose it would feel more or less like that. My shirt turned completely transparent from sweats, and so was Marvey. She put her hands around my neck, and her arms left sweaty imprints of that moment on my shirt forever. We put our heads together while our body kept swaying. I could smell the sweetness of her perfume and my head was bubbling with blood boiling at a hundred degrees.

  Then the music ended. 2 am. The lights were turned on without warning and music was stopped. Someone opened the entrance door and the security guard rushed in, telling everybody time was up, we could stay if we wanted but there would be no more music nor there will be any more drinks served.

  Marvey unwrapped herself from me and we stood there laughing.

  “That was fun!” She said.

  “Woo!” I combed my hair backwards with my two sweaty palms. I looked around for where the rest of the group were and spotted Shirley, with her dancing partner.

  “Wanna come back with me?” The white boy asked.

  “No, I am with friends tonight.” She smiled, pointing at our direction with her chin.

  The boy didn't want to let go of her hand. He kept pressing on and resolved to the most degrading form of plead. “I will pay you two hundred dollars,” he said.

  Shirley's forehead wrinkled in disgust and tried to wriggle out of his grip. “Let me go!”

  Seeing that, I budded in between them and separated them two with a bit of force. The boy fell to the ground. All of our friends started circling us. Having been surrounded, the white boy crawled a few steps backwards, stood up and left in a hurry.

  “Are you ooo...?” BAM! I got slapped squarely on the face.

  Marvey screamed.

  “Where were you?!” Shirley barked. “You're my boyfriend!” tears started streaming down her face. I could hardly feel surprised by this act she put on. Her expression was so fake I felt like I was watching a baby feigning tears. As soon as you give the baby a piece of toy, it would stop screeching.

  The others however did not see through that. They walked Shirley out of the premise into Simon's car, who did not care much about the situation, having used to seeing her sister throwing tantrums. He was however annoyed at the fact that he had to drive her home now instead of going to the after party at the next venue. The two girlfriends of hers had lost their appetite in partying as well. They cursed me in difficult American curse words I did not understand and slipped into the back seat of Simon's Audi A7. One of them hit her head when trying to get in. I could not help but let out of a laugh. Marvey gave me a condemning jab in the rib for my inopportune laugh.

  In less than five minutes, the venue was cleared out, leaving behind Marvey and I, and a few stray party-goers determining what to do next. None of the people we came with offered a ride to us and left without saying so much as a goodbye to us, the outsiders. Well, one did, and that was Zhi.

  Zhi was drunk and he had to be carried off by one of his friends, who was even bigger than himself and taller than himself, which made me wonder if they all met each other in the gym. The drunken Zhi, slumped over the shoulder of his friend, caught a glimpse of us on the way out and blew Marvey a kiss, with his middle finger. It was obviously not the kind of kiss one would like to receive, even for such a mellow girl like Marvey who always only see the good side of people.

  “Jerk,” she hissed under her breath.

  “So this is how you use that word.” I said. Marvey let out a sigh.

  “What are you going to do now?” She asked.

  “Let me walk you home,” I said.

  “You better take a taxi now and go after Shirley,” she said. She knew her very well. That would have been what she would have wanted. I however see no point in succumbing to her hissy fit.

  “No, I don't want to. I want to walk you home.” I said with determination. “Jessie is at your dorm anyway.”

  Chapter 29: Dormitory

  The Harvard
dormitory can be cozier than some apartment buildings in Shanghai. After all, it was one of the most expensive, well-worth its price of course, university in America.

  The best part of it, seems to be the common room. The Victorian style room was decorated with television, pool table, gaming area and a small library of hand-me-down antique books from one generation of student to the next. A group of students were discussion El Nino here, and another group debating about GMO labeling there. Marvey asked me to keep to myself and follow her into her dorm room on the second floor. I guess even smart students gossips just like regular people.

  Jessie was fast asleep when we arrived. Marvey had asked her dorm mates to keep an eye on him after she had taken care of his dinner need. Some girls had came over to play with him and he must have had a good time, judging from how deep in dreamland he was, completely exhausted that he did not wake up when we made all the noise coming into the room and settle ourselves.

  “Can I stay here tonight?” I said, then realized it was not just me who needed this favor. “Can both of us stay here tonight?”

  Marvey smiled, as if she would not have thought otherwise. At three am, it was probably best for me to not wander alone, nor with a young, tired kid alone on the streets, even in such a safe part of the city Boston.

  Turned out Marvey had a set of silk pajama Simon had asked Marvey to dry clean it for him that I could use. I told her I would pay for the second round of dry cleaning but she would not hear it. I slipped into the cashmere soft garments and felt the silk touched this fine silk on my skin. It was soft, but rather cold. The appeal started to wear off when I sneezed in the climatized dorm room with central air conditioning.

  “Turn off the lights and crawl in.” Marvey, already changed and lying on the bed made a gap under her blanket and invited me in. Seeing my sudden onset of shyness which made me stand there motionless contemplating what to do, she said, “it will be fine. Just think of this as sleepover party.”

  I climbed next to her under the blanket and felt her body warmth oozing off from her soft skin. Many a nights I had shared a bed with women, as well as men, on soccer camps or school trips in case you were wondering, and I would not feel an ounce of embarrassment. And yet here I was, nervous. My heartbeat was raising as I slowly came to terms with the reality. I was lying next to the girl I had in my mind for almost a year day and night, and worse still, she was not my girlfriend. With other girls, I would pounce on them as if they were captured preys. With Marvey, a traditional, conservative girl, I could do no such thing. I would never forgive myself for even thinking about it, for she was to be cherished, and not a tool to fulfill a man's moment of feverish sexual desire.

  I sneezed again in the middle of the night.

  In half sleep I felt a warm body hugging me. I hugged back, believing that it was the fluffy rabbit plush toy I had when I was a child.

  “Tschukk.” I kissed the rabbit on its forehead and said, “I love you.”

  Chapter 30: Land

  For whatever reason it might be, Shirley chose to forgive me. Her way of forgiving suits me very well, she did not even give me so much as a care when I finally arrived the next day back at her apartment.

  My growing suspicion of her unreasonable tolerance towards me was getting on my nerves. I decided to share it with Kelvin. Using Shirley's Galaxy Note, I Skyped him and told him everything I knew when Shirley and Simon were both out in classes. Marvey was bringing Jessie back in two hours so I had plenty to time to discuss the matter at hand with my best friend.

  “It would make total sense for Shirley to have another boyfriend, while dating you.” Kelvin said, as if my certain deficiencies in life entitled me to an unfaithful girlfriend and nothing more. “The thing is why she picked you and not someone else, if she needs a front for boyfriend.”

  “I feel like I am in a trap but I don't know what it is.”

  “And you're too cheap to get up and go.”

  “Hey, you talked me into it.” I retorted. “She used to be a lot more...amiable.”

  “And she's pretty, and generous, and she is studying in Harvard...”

  “Blah, blah, blah.” I said. “Harvard students are not that impressive.”

  “What gives you the qualification to criticize them?”

  “The Chinese students here were not here to study. They were here to play, to have fun, to showoff.”

  “I think that's true for all of America's university students. It's called socializing, networking for the future. You should too. God knows who you might meet in there.”

  “I have already met enough sons and daughters of big business moguls.” I said, “I am a bit fed up.”

  “Let's switch then.” Kelvin said, to which I told him to dream on.

  PING.

  A whatsapp message arrived for Shirley. I never used Whatsapp before, because it was banned in China. It was however not that hard to figure out how it worked, and how it could be tricked. I opened the notification list and I could read the first part of the message from a boy called Will. “I have contacted your boyfriend's parents. They signed today.”

  Her boyfriend's parents? That would mean my parents. Why was this man Will contacting them and what did they sign that would concern Shirley?

  I told Kelvin about it and he he told me not to click on the message, in case Shirley would notice. My heart was burning inside my chest. What did Shirley get my parents to sign? Kelvin told me to call back in fifteen minutes. He would go to my parents to find out himself.

  “Hi, son! How are you in Boston? Is it cold over there?” My mom blasted over Skype. Kelvin was holding up his phone in front of my mom so she could speak with me. My dad was reading the newspaper nonchalantly in the background. His papers were held so low I could tell he was sneaking a peek at the two from time to time, wondering what Kelvin and his wife were doing in front of the block of electronics, smiling and waving to the dead object like idiots.

  “It's summer, mom,” I replied. “Did you sign some papers today?”

  “Today?” My mom asked, searching her memory. “No, that was last Sunday.”

  “What was it about?” I chased, while on the back of my mind wondering how could such a message been sent only after the weekend. Of course, it happened when the application of a device was not turned on to receive messages. The backlog was only flushed after a certain amount of time.

  “The house in our hometown,” my mom said. “Your future wife wanted to renovate it for the two of you when you live there, didn't she tell you? Your dad signed some papers so she could bring in the architects.”

  “What renovate? What architect?” I was in shock. Of course, that house was the only thing a destitute, uncharacteristic man such as I had. No, technically I did not have the house yet. It still belonged to my father. But my father was too old to be approached with the Honeypot trap, so Shirley approached me. She had whisked me away from him to America so I would not be around to object.

  “Kelvin, read the contract. Read the contract now!” I hissed.

  My dad dropped his papers and looked towards the camera. The look of concerns and confusions matched my own. Again, we had the same question in our mind. “What on earth did we just sign away?” The heightened sense of alert was of no use after the fact. We had watched thousands of news like that and had warned each other of such scams, but yet the little people, people like us, kept falling for them.

  “Call us back in a while.” Kelvin said, as he scrambled after my mom towards to safe to retrieve the papers.

  When Kelvin tried to call me back, I was already offline for Shirley was back. I had locked myself in the guest room contemplating what to do.

  On my own cell I sent a WeChat to Kelvin asking for updates. His message reply confirmed my worst nightmare. My dad had unknowingly signed our the land on which our ancestral home was built upon away to the group Shirley's dad own. He also said my mom kept asking what did it mean, for she still believed that Shirley was going to be her future d
aughter-in-law, and if that was the case, the house would still belonged within 'the family', which was not too bad. Unfortunately my dad knew what that meant, so the two old people quarreled.

  I made Kelvin to promise to take care of them for me until I come back.

  The doorbell rang. It was Marvey and Jessie. I rushed out with a suitcase full of my belongings and the small backpack that belonged to Jessie, grabbed Marvey's hand and left with them without so much as looking back at Shirley.

  “What was that about?” Simon, who was peeling the shell off some peanuts while watching a Spanish soccer game over the internet TV, asked his sister.

  “I guess he found out.” She said coldly. “It doesn't matter. The deal was done.”

  “You're such a bitch.” He said.

  “I told you it would work,” she said. “Dad will believe me now.”

  “Woman,” Simon said, “you make me cringe.”

  Chapter 31: Leave

  “My superman figure!” Jessie threw the comic book I bought for him on the ground. “I want it back!”

  “It's not possible anymore.” I said, too tired to argue with him. “I will get you something else actually made in the USA.” Only then he got a bit calmer, that little bastard.

  “What's happening?” Marvey asked nervously.

  “It's a sick world out there,” I could not help but felt pessimistic over mankind. “I expected more from them. More integrity, more openness from these Harvard students...I have fallen victim to trickery again. I couldn't believe myself that I have ignored all the warning signs just to get two free flight tickets to come see you in Boston.” I put my face in my hands, unable to reconcile the reality with the lies I had been living in. I thought I had it all just a few moment ago, and now all was lost.

  Kelvin had called upon his father for advice on the matter. The best lawyers working for him had given their advises, that unless there was solid proof of any illegal means the Shirley's father company, the Sun of China Group, had used to coerce my parents into signing of the contract, or when there was any tampering of the contract, it could not be voided nor countered in court. The fact that Shirley's men had my parents' trust at the time of signing and the later reversal of the verbal promise given, which was related to renovating of the apartment as our future family home, it was our own private matters, which should be solved privately and not through legal means. Basically, there was nothing they can do, Kelvin told me gingerly over the phone. The 'good' news about this was, there were more families who had been misled into signing contracts in giving up their lands on the same area. Kelvin's father, being a family friend, had committed the legal resources he had on hand to help us build a case for class action against the Sun of China Group. While I was still in Boston, Kelvin said, his head a lot clearer than mine, I should just enjoy myself. There would be a lengthy and complicated process ahead of me.