The New Year Boyfriend

by Zoey Gong

  “What do you want?” Winnie asked, even though she knew the answer.

  “Marry me,” Chang said. “Come back to Harbin and be my wife.”

  Winnie shook her head. “I can’t,” she said. “My career is important to me.”

  “Marry me or I will tell your parents you’ve been living in Australia,” he said.

  “No,” she said, calling his bluff.

  “Fine,” he said and turned away from her.

  Winnie felt a sudden surge of fear flood her body. Her heart was racing and her face was hot. She couldn’t give up. Her life, her dreams, it couldn’t all come crashing down now. Not when she had come so far. She knew he was going to tell her parents the truth. He had nothing to lose. And she wasn’t the only person he was about to hurt. Her mother would be angry, yes, but also devastated. And Lingling was still in surgery. Everyone needed to be focused on and supporting her right now, not thinking about Winnie and her millions of lies. She had to stop him.

  “Wait,” Winnie said. “Maybe we can compromise.”

  “I’m listening,” Chang said, facing her.

  “I’ll agree to marry you,” Winnie said. “But you’ll keep my secret for now and let me go back to Australia to finish medical school.”

  “I’ll only agree if you announce our engagement publically,” Chang said. “No backing out.”

  “Fine,” Winnie said, “but only after Lingling is out of surgery and the doctors say she is going to be okay. Lingling is the most important thing right now.”

  “Agreed,” Chang said, holding out his hand to shake.

  Tentatively, Winnie shook his hand.

  The whole family, including Kai, were waiting for news about Lingling in her room when Winnie and Chang entered.

  “What’s going on?” Winnie asked. “Is Lingling okay?”

  “We aren’t sure,” Winnie’s mother said. “A doctor came to talk to us, said that Lingling’s condition was more complex than they thought, and then left.”

  Winnie nodded. “That’s okay,” she said. “Good, actually.”

  “Good?” her mother asked. “How can you say that?”

  “It means they found the cause of Lingling’s coughing,” Winnie said gently. “If they only fixed the incision without addressing the underlying cause of the rupture, it would only rupture again, or worse. This is fine. Lingling will come out of this, I’m sure.”

  Her mother sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I hope you’re right.”

  Winnie hoped so too, but all any of them could do was wait for now. She saw Kai leaning against the window across the room. She needed to tell him about her agreement with Chang before Chang could. She just knew that Chang would love rubbing it into Kai that she had agreed to marry him. She couldn’t let that happen. The least she could do was tell Kai the truth and give him a chance to leave with his dignity intact.

  She suddenly felt very sick at the prospect of marrying Chang. How could she have agreed? How would she be able to go through with it? The room was spinning and the walls were closing in. She rushed to the window and threw it open to get a breath of fresh air.

  “Winnie?” Kai asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “We need to talk,” she whispered. “Now.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “But not here,” she said. “Follow me.”

  But as she headed for the door, the doctor and nurses wheeled Lingling back into the room and everyone rushed to her side.

  “Oh, Lingling!” her mother cried. “My baby!”

  “Hi, Mama,” Lingling managed to squeak out.

  “How is she, doctor?” Winnie asked.

  “She will be fine now,” the doctor said. “I don’t know how she knew, but the head of the department called me mid-operation and told me to check for blood clots in her lungs. And wouldn’t you know, she was right? I guess that’s why she’s the head of the department. She must have seen something in her chart.”

  Winnie sighed and closed her eyes, thankful that she had been right and that Lingling was safe. They would still have to keep an eye on her for complications and the recovery would be difficult, but she was alive. Something they could all be grateful for.

  “Wonderful news,” Chang said, stepping up behind Winnie and wrapping his arm around her. “We have wonderful news too.”

  “No,” Winnie whispered behind clenched teeth, but Chang plowed on.

  “Winnie has agreed to marry me,” Chang said.

  The whole room fell silent, with each person looking at each other in turn--except for Winnie and Kai. She could feel his hurt, his anger, his confusion from across the room and couldn’t bear to look at him.

  “Wenwen,” her mother said. “Is this true? You are going to marry Chang?”

  Winnie exhaled sharply. “Yes,” she said. There was no point in denying it or trying to delay it.

  The room then erupted into cheers and laughter.

  “I’m so glad you finally came to your senses,” her mother said, rushing to her and hugging her.

  “Congratulations,” her father said. Even Lingling was smiling through her obvious discomfort. But finally, one by one, everyone looked to Kai, who was trapped in the room, still standing by the window, shaking his head in shock.

  Winnie finally looked at him, but she had no words of comfort or explanation for him. She couldn’t tell him the truth with her parents in the room. She would have to try to explain everything to him later--if he would listen, which she didn’t expect him to do.

  Finally, Kai held his head up and walked toward the door.

  “Sorry, man,” Chang said. “Guess the better man won.”

  “Stop it!” Winnie said angrily. He didn’t have to make this harder than it was.

  “If she thinks your the better man,” Kai said, “then she’s not the woman for me anyway.” And he walked out the door.

  18

  Kai stormed out of the hospital, slamming the front door open. What just happened? Did Winnie really announce her engagement to Chang right in front of him? Could she truly be that heartless? Did he just imagine that kiss? Was she lying when she had said that something was happening between them? How could he be such an idiot!

  “Kai!”

  Kai heard Winnie’s voice call out to him, but he kept walking.

  “Kai!” she called again. “Please wait!”

  Kai rolled his eyes and turned to face her. “What?” he asked. “Come to embarrass me further?”

  “I’m sorry!” she said, her eyes glossy. “I didn’t mean for that to happen!”

  “Didn’t mean for what to happen?” he asked. “The part about you getting engaged? Or the part about you lying about your feelings for Chang? Or the part about telling me in front of your family? Was this all a game to make Chang jealous?”

  “No!” she said. “Of course not. You know me better than that.”

  “I don’t think I know you at all right now,” Chang said. “I thought…” He paused, unsure of how to describe the feelings he thought they had been developing for each other. “You said…”

  “I know,” she said. “I’ve never lied to you, Kai. You are the one person I never lied to.”

  “Then why marry him?” Kai asked. “After everything you’ve done to avoid this.”

  “He found out that I’ve been going to school in Australia,” Winnie said. “He threatened to expose me.”

  “You’re letting him blackmail you into marriage?” Kai asked in shocked. “Are you crazy? Just come out with it. Better to have your mother hate you today than be shackled to that maniac forever. Who would blackmail a woman into marriage?”

  “Shut up!” Winnie said. “What do you know about it? What do you know about anything? This is my life. I’ll screw up how I want to.”

  “That...that’s what you want?” Kai asked, utterly confused. “You want to throw your life away?”

  “I want to be able to live my life,” she said. “To make my own choices. I’ll find a way out of this. I jus
t need to get back home. Back to Australia. I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about me.”

  Kai held up his hands helplessly. “Okay. Go to Australia. Run away. Live a lie. Marry a guy you hate. Not my problem. This was all business, right? I was just the New Year boyfriend. None of this was real anyway.”

  Winnie paused as she frowned. “Yeah,” she finally said softly. “Just business.”

  Kai immediately regretted his words, but they were out there now. He was hurt, he knew. He was really feeling something for her. His world was crashing down around him and she had been the one bright spot. It had been a foolish hope, a foolish dream, he knew. They couldn’t be together. They were too different, and both of their lives were a mess. But still, he had hoped. Now that was gone and he needed to face reality.

  Finally, Kai turned and walked away. There was nothing more to say. It was over.

  19

  Winnie watched Kai walk away and her heart hurt. She wanted to run after him. Beg him not to leave. But what did she have to offer him? She’d broken his heart. Betrayed their friendship even. Once he was out of sight, she went back into the hospital to her sister’s room.

  In the hallway outside the room, she saw her parents. Her mother had her head in her hands and her father was rubbing her back.

  “What’s wrong?” Winnie asked, rushing to her mother’s side.

  “She’s exhausted,” her father said. “She hasn’t slept since we first got the call that something was wrong with the baby...two? Three days ago? Even I’ve lost count.”

  Winnie nodded and felt her mother’s pulse. It was sluggish and erratic. “Ma,” she said. “You need to rest.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “Lingling just got out of surgery. She needs me.”

  “I’m here now,” Winnie said. “I’ll sit with her.”

  He mother sighed and patted Winnie on the cheek. “Yes,” she said. “You are here. Such a good girl. Thank you.”

  Winnie’s eyes watered as her parents walked away. It had been many, many years since her mother had given her such praise. But it was a bitter victory. She knew that her mother was not just happy with her for watching over Lingling, but for agreeing to marry Chang. Her mother had won, and Winnie had lost.

  Winnie shook her head as she went into Lingling’s room. Lingling’s husband was there with the older son, who was crying and fidgeting wildly.

  “He’s so tired,” Lingling’s husband said.

  “Ma and Ba just left,” Winnie said. “Go with them. All of you need to rest. I’ll stay here.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked, looking to his wife for approval. Lingling nodded. He grimaced, unsure if he should really leave, but the crying baby won out and he reluctantly left the room to catch up with his in-laws.

  “He really is devoted to you,” Winnie said.

  “Always keep them in line,” Lingling said with a small smile. “With a second son, he’ll never stray now.”

  “Were you worried about that before?” Winnie asked as she pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.

  “I suppose it’s always a small worry,” she said. “It’s hard to always live up to everyone’s expectations as the perfect wife. Perfect daughter-in-law. Perfect daughter. Now, I’ll have a lot more room to screw up.”

  “You never screw up,” Winnie said. “You could never do wrong, at least in Ma’s eyes.”

  “Ha,” Lingling choked out as she tried to shift positions. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to make up for not being a boy. Hopefully Ma will forgive me now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Winnie asked. “You were always Ma’s favorite.”

  “Because I worked dang hard to be exactly what she wanted,” Lingling said. “Don’t you think I would have liked to have gone to college? Traveled? Not have kids so young?”

  “I...thought you married because it was what you wanted,” Winnie said.

  “No,” Lingling said. “I got offered a soccer scholarship to a school in the UK, but I turned it down because you were already in college. If I went too, Ma would have never forgiven me. She needed at least one daughter living nearby, married and settled. You were gone, so the burden fell to me.”

  Winnie sat back in her seat, lost for words. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

  “You were always so busy with your life,” Lingling said. “And what good would it have done to tell you just how much Ma missed you. It just would have made you miserable too. I’ve been the one taking care of Ma and her feelings since we were kids. Why would I stop now?”

  Winnie wondered if the drugs the doctors had given Lingling were loosening her tongue. Why else would she tell her these things now? She had never thought about the pressure that Lingling was under to be the perfect child--not because she wanted to, but to pick up the pieces Winnie left behind.

  “Are you very unhappy?” Winnie asked, reaching over and squeezing Lingling’s hand.

  “Not all the time,” Lingling said. “Just occasionally. I love my kids. And I’m sure that if I had left, I would miss everyone--even Ma. It just would have been nice to have lived a little before settling down.”

  At that, Lingling exhaled and closed her eyes. Winnie moved her hand to her sister’s wrist and felt her pulse. It was steady and strong. She was fine, just tired. She sat back and let Lingling sleep.

  What a disaster everything was. If only she had known how hard life was for Lingling, maybe she could have done more to help her. Maybe she could have given up some of her freedom to let Lingling have a little more. She’d gladly stay home for a year in exchange for letting Lingling travel. Not that such a thing was really an option. Winnie needed to finish medical school and the whole family was saddled with this new medical debt. They were all trapped right now. If only there was something she could do to help them all out of this mess.

  20

  Kai was still fuming as he stormed into the offices at Whirlwind demanding to see Mr. Yang. The woman at the front desk tried to tell him that Mr. Yang was out of the office, but he would not believe it. He raised his voice and slammed his hand on her desk.

  “Mr. Yang will see me right now!” Kai said, and the woman lowered her voice as she spoke rapidly into her phone.

  “J-j-just a moment,” she stammered.

  Kai felt bad for scaring her, but he needed Yang to take him seriously. He paced the foyer anxiously, chewing on his thumbnail.

  “Mr. Zhong,” Mr. Yang finally called out as he walked forward, his hand extended in a shake and a smile on his face. “How good to see you.”

  “Mr. Yang,” Kai said, his handshake firm and his face stern. “We need to talk.”

  “About what?” Mr. Yang asked.

  Kai was surprised that Mr. Yang didn’t invite him back to his office, but he tried to not let it fluster him.

  “I need a job,” Kai said. “And I want you to hire me.”

  Mr. Yang laughed. “And why would I do that?” he asked.

  “I was caught,” Kai said. “Rad Phoenix knew immediately that I was the person who stole the code for you.”

  “Unfortunate,” Mr. Yang said. “You were sloppy. But I’m still not sure why you think that means I should give you a job.”

  “I did it for you,” Kai said. “I stole for you. I lost my job for you. I was fined more money than I will make in a lifetime because of you. You owe me.”

  “Owe you?” Mr. Yang asked. “I believe we already paid you for the information.”

  “But I still had a job then,” Kai said, trying not to lose his cool. Why was Mr. Yang toying with him like this? “Now, I don’t. I need a job, and I think you should be the person to give me one.”

  Mr. Yang shook his head. “Kai, we here at Whirlwind are like a family. And family doesn’t turn on one another.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kai asked.

  “You’re disloyal,” Mr. Yang said. “You betrayed your last company. We can’t have someone like that on team Whirlwind.”

 
; “But it was all for you!” Kai said.

  “And I appreciate that,” Mr. Yang said. “But I’m afraid there is nothing else I can do.”

  “You mean won’t do,” Kai said.

  Mr. Yang smiled and cocked his head. “However you want to interpret it doesn’t matter to me as long as you are off Whirlwind property in the next five minutes.”

  “What?” Kai asked.

  Mr. Yang looked at his watch. “Four minutes and forty-five seconds until I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing. Oh, forty-four.”

  Kai was fuming. He could feel his nostrils flaring. He wanted nothing more than to punch Mr. Yang in the face, but he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t go to jail. If he did, he’d have no chance of earning money or finding another job. For the second time today, he had to swallow his pride and walk away. He turned away from Mr. Yang and headed to the stairwell. He didn’t have time to wait for the elevator.

  “Mr. Zhong,” the woman on the other end of the phone said.

  Kai swallowed. He had been dreading this call. He knew it was coming, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  “Mr. Zhong, the payment for your mother’s treatments is due,” the woman said. “When will you be coming by to pay?”

  “I...I won’t,” Kai said shamefully. “I don’t have the money.”

  “Oh,” the woman said, surprised. “I’m sorry to hear that. Well, you understand that we will have to cease treatments right away.”

  “I know,” Kai said.

  “I will let your mother’s doctor know,” the woman said. “If there is any change and you wish to resume treatments, please contact the doctor directly.”

  “I will,” Kai said, even though he knew he wouldn’t be contacting her anytime soon. He put his phone in his pocket and walked the lonely road toward his mother’s apartment. They needed to leave. They weren’t being kicked out, but if his mother wasn’t receiving treatment at the hospital, they needed to vacate the apartment so someone else who needed it could move in. Of course, if his mother was living with him, he couldn't rent out his apartment as an AirBnB anymore, which would cut into the already meager living he was now eeking out. He wasn’t sure if he would even have the money for his next fine payment. In a month, he might be in jail. Then what was his mother going to do? Kai couldn’t even think that far ahead. He just needed to get through the next few minutes of telling his mother the terrible truth--that he couldn’t afford her treatments anymore. Was there any possible way to tell your mother that she was going to die?