Hong Kong

by Luke Richardson

  Yee wasn’t in it. He didn’t need to be. This woman was in their bed, their marital bed. The bed in which they lay every night. The place the girls came when they weren’t feeling well or had nightmares. The place she comforted her daughters when their dad didn’t return from work.

  Then she noticed something that made her blood run cold. On the finger of the naked girl was the ring Yee had given her when he had proposed. It was supposed to be expensive. Priceless even. A family heirloom.

  In the past she had thought of it as security. Whatever happened she’d be able to sell it if needed. And now this girl had it, this random girl he hardly knew.

  Feeling the anger build, her vision began to blur, her hand closed around the envelope.

  There was something else inside it. Putting the photo on the passenger seat, Mrs Yee tipped the envelope over. Into the palm of her hand slid the ring. Thousands of dollars in gold and diamonds. Her ticket home.

  Without another thought and without looking back at her home of nearly ten years, Mrs Yee turned the car around.

  Chapter 103

  “Taking the ring and that picture was a great idea,” Leo said as they made their way back down towards central Hong Kong Island. “That’ll take some serious explaining.”

  The smell of the big-leaved trees had already been replaced by diesel fumes. The sound of birds singing had become idling engines and the hiss of wind through high wire fences.

  “I knew Isobel wouldn’t be the only victim,” Allissa said. “His wife wouldn’t leave him without reason and means, and we just gave her both.”

  “That was a stroke of genius. How did you get Isobel to go along with it?”

  “It was her idea. She asked me to take it while we were in Yee’s bedroom together. She’s such a strong woman.”

  “He’s lost a lot more than he knows,” Leo said, thinking of Yee sitting in his expensive, austere office, only to come back to an empty apartment.

  They were now tracing the route Leo had taken two days before on his way back from The Peak. It seemed so long ago now, so much had happened.

  “There is something you totally should see while we’re here,” Leo said, taking Allissa by the wrist. She stopped and looked at him. Leo knew she wasn’t into tourist spots, but the famous view from The Peak couldn’t be missed and their flights weren’t until tomorrow.

  The taxi set off up the hill at speed, the driver knew the road and took each of the corners quickly. The road took a different route to the one Leo had walked. It circled the slope, twisting and turning back on itself, each time producing a new vista across the back of the island.

  A few minutes later they stepped out into The Peak’s unlikely shopping plaza and walked up a path away from the crowds. Hong Kong’s famous skyline lay below.

  The green lusciousness of the trees tumbled down towards the mid-levels where the buildings clung precariously to the slope. Behind them, the towers of central Hong Kong Island looked small. And behind that, the channel of water separating the island from Kowloon, glimmered lazily.

  Allissa looked out towards it, hands on the railing in front of her.

  “It’s a nice city, to be fair,” she said. “It’s just a shame people keep trying to ruin these places for us.”

  “I know, you’re right.”

  A group of girls next to them took a selfie.

  Leo had promised himself that he would tell Allissa about the picture. Life was too short and dangerous for secrets.

  Walking further up the hill, they found a bench.

  When they were both sat down, Leo drew a deep breath and started to speak.

  “Mya was here.”

  “When?”

  “I’m not sure. At least few months ago.”

  “How do you know that? I thought you’d not got any leads on her.”

  “The day we got to Pokhara I got a message from your dad. He sent me a picture of her taken here with Hong Kong in the background. He said if I told him where you were, he would give me information about Mya.”

  Allissa said nothing. She looked out at the view. The skyline of the city was now partially obscured by two tall, thin trees.

  “Did you reply?” she asked after a while, turning to look at Leo.

  “No. I’d gone through all that effort to find you, and you seemed like a really decent person. I couldn’t betray you like that.”

  “You should have told me about it.”

  “I wanted to, but…” Leo stuttered, “I didn’t tell you about it to start with. Then there was his prosecution and trial. I felt like you had enough to deal with. Then afterwards, it felt like if I told you you’d think I deceived you.”

  Leo couldn’t judge Allissa’s reaction; she said nothing, did nothing, just listened.

  “Do you still want to find her?” she asked, finally, turning to look at him.

  “Yeah, of course,” Leo replied. “We’ve got unfinished business, I suppose. I want to know why she left. I want to know if I did anything wrong. I want to know if she’s safe.”

  “Yeah of course,” Allissa said, turning back to look at the city. Watching her, Leo felt a knot twist in his stomach. Since that morning, it had felt like they were living in a bubble where everything was good. They’d woken up together having finished the job. They’d eaten breakfast on the giant bed whilst Allissa flicked through TV channels.

  It was as though things had changed. Things were just, good. And now he was damaging that. Now he was bringing up the past the Allissa had been working hard to forget.

  “It’s not that I love her anymore or anything. I don’t think,” Leo said, talking quickly. “It’s… I just feel I want to know what happened. I need to know. You know if something is unexplained or unfinished…”

  “Yeah, I understand.” Allissa spoke without looking at Leo.

  The pair were silent for a minute.

  “Do you still have the picture?” Allissa asked.

  “Yeah, I deleted the message, but I still have the picture.”

  “Show me.”

  Now it was Leo’s turn not to reply.

  “I want to see the picture my dad sent you. Show me.” Allissa turned to face Leo. As their eyes met, Leo knew he couldn’t argue.

  Unlocking his phone, he scrolled back through the saved pictures. There were pictures from previous cases, pictures of his family. Then, there it was. Eight months earlier. The blue sky, the city stretching out, the unknown faces, and Mya.

  “Here,” Leo said, making it full screen and passing it to Allissa.

  “Which one is she?”

  It hadn’t occurred to Leo that Allissa didn’t know what Mya looked like. Obviously, she knew about her, he’d talked about her on the first day they’d met. In fact, he doubted Allissa would have trusted him had he not bared his own story of loss. He had photos of Mya, but they were all stored away somewhere – there was no reason Allissa would have seen them.

  Putting two fingers on the screen, Leo zoomed in on one of the people in the group. Mya’s bright eyes and wide smile filled the screen.

  “You’re joking,” Allissa said, looking up towards him as though expecting a punch line. “You’re sure this is her?”

  Leo looked again – it definitely was. He would recognise her anywhere. He’d spent years trying to find her in blurry photos. It was definitely her.

  “Yeah, that’s her, that’s the picture your dad sent me. No idea how he got it.”

  There was a silence as Allissa looked at the photo again.

  Hong Kong lay clear and subdued in front of them, as though listening for Allissa’s response. The chaos a distant memory.

  A group of people walked past, stopping further down the path for a photograph. That same world-famous photograph Allissa examined on the screen of Leo’s phone.

  Allissa broke the silence first.

  “I’ve seen this girl.”

  Leo looked at Allissa.

  “I’ve seen this girl in Hong Kong.”

  Chapt
er 104

  Having served a lifelong apprenticeship in stories, watching sitcoms, films, soaps and reading widely, Leo felt he knew how to react in every situation that could arise. He’d learned the best way to tell someone your feelings from late nineties romantic comedies, even if you left it until the last moment. He knew how to deal with loss, projecting the necessary abject sadness into his expression and words. He felt like he knew how to passively disagree with someone to such an extent that it didn’t upset them, or recover from an embarrassing misunderstanding.

  In fact, it occurred to him, on the journey down from The Peak, that perhaps his generation were at a loss. Perhaps you chose your character from the cast of ‘Friends’ and just learned the lines for each and every event. There were over seven billion people on the planet and six characters to choose from – were you a Joey, Phoebe or Rachel?

  With that in mind, had anything in the past ever really surprised him? Before visiting India, Leo knew what it would be like having seen the reaction of a brightly dressed retired politician being shown the slums of Mumbai. He already knew the mysteries of the Egyptian Pyramids from YouTube, and three different theories about who built Maccu Piccu. Was there any point going there? Would visiting actually teach him any more than he already knew?

  Was this going to be first situation in his life for which he was completely unprepared. Had he been let down by all the writers, film makers and TV producers of the last thirty years? Cursing them all, he thought of all the nonchalant relationship breakup comebacks, stupid private jokes and chat up lines he’d never use. But what could he do now? What should he say? Had he missed, ‘The One Where Chandler Finds His Missing Girlfriend’?”

  As Allissa turned the corner into the street where the café was, Leo stopped. He had no idea how to go on. If it was her, what would he do? If it wasn’t her what would he do?

  How would Allissa feel? Why was he worried about Allissa’s feelings?

  If it was her, would seeing her bring back painful emotions he had already healed from?

  What if it wasn’t her, would he be disappointed?

  Did he even want it to be her?

  Leo stood on the corner of the street, the busy throng of Nathan Road behind him. Shoppers carried glossy bags from one store to the next and spoke excitedly in a multitude of languages. Despite the noise, Leo didn’t hear anything.

  Allissa walked on, not noticing that Leo had stopped.

  Ahead, the Serendipity Café looked quiet. Leo watched Allissa look left and right for him, then stop. He saw her, the woman he had woken up next to that morning, the woman he had secretly enjoyed waking up next to, stop walking and turn to face him.

  Leo’s loss through Mya had taken him to Kathmandu, events in Kathmandu had connected him to Allissa, and now their expertise had brought them to Hong Kong. Was it so hard to believe that Mya would be here as well? The world was only so big.

  Taking a few steps back, Allissa reached out, took Leo’s hand and together they crossed the road.

  Chapter 105

  Mya flicked through the TV channels in the Serendipity Café. She was being paid by the hour but getting older by the minute.

  On the screen, a pack of tigers picked meat from the bones of a carcass.

  She had been in Hong Kong nine months, ending up in the city after running out of money to keep going. The guy she was travelling with didn’t want to wait, so he carried on without her. They had seen a few places together. It had been fun but didn’t last.

  The café was quiet, the lunchtime rush long since finished but they were still hours from closing. Then after work she was going out again, seeing a band playing somewhere.

  Mya flicked the channel. A news reader spoke silently to the camera. The report cut to footage showing guns being fired and children crying.

  Hong Kong was supposed to be temporary; Mya was saving money to make her next move to Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. She knew someone in Brisbane. She was supposed to be saving anyway, but all these nights out were becoming expensive.

  On the next channel Mya watched a man throw a glass of wine over a woman, the aggression of their argument lost without the sound.

  The door jangled as a customer came into the café.

  On the screen the man and woman continued to argue, human existence reduced to one banal conflict.

  Drums pounded in Leo’s ears as he looked at the woman he had spent two years searching for. Leaning on the counter, her chin in her palm, Leo knew it was Mya instantly. It had to be.

  Looking at him as she turned, she dropped the remote control. It clattered to the counter.

  Leo didn’t move. Mya stared towards him open mouthed.

  Neither said anything for a few long seconds. Allissa watched from the doorway.

  “Hi,” Leo said, finally, realizing someone had to say something.

  Mya shook her head, as though resetting her thoughts.

  “Hello,” she said, brightly. “This is a real surprise. I… I… What are you doing here?”

  Leo didn’t reply, considering Mya through narrowed eyes.

  “How… How long have you been in Hong Kong?”

  He wasn’t doing small talk.

  “Let’s get a table,” he said, pointing towards the corner.

  “I really should stay,” Mya pointed towards the counter. “In case we have customers.”

  Allissa stepped back towards the door, flipped the sign to closed and twisted the lock.

  “This really won’t take that long,” Leo said.

  Watching Mya follow them to the table in the corner, Leo felt detached from himself. If anything, he felt emotionless. Like he was looking at the world through someone else’s eyes.

  Mya sat across the table from them.

  “Two years I’ve been looking for you,” Leo said, his voice deep and monotone. “Two years every night I’d come home from work and I’d look for you. Go through newspapers, pictures, forums, anything that might be you.”

  Mya looked up at him, her wide eyes glistening.

  “I wanted to tell you,” Mya said, her fingers dancing across the table.

  Leo didn’t reply.

  “I wanted to. I couldn’t find the words. I didn’t know how.”

  “So you just ran away? You let me think you were missing or dead?”

  “That night, it was so hard to leave you, but I couldn’t go back with you. I knew that. I wanted to tell you. To say something. But then you asked me to…” She breathed hard. “Then you gave me that ring. I just couldn’t do that. That was totally not my life. I couldn’t go back to Brighton and just do nothing…”

  Leo moved his hands together on the table. Mya looked just as he had remembered; dark hair, slender neck, wide bright eyes that used to absorb him completely.

  “I get that, I think,” Leo said. “But you needed to tell me. What you did was cruel.”

  Mya looked at her hands.

  “We just weren’t…” Mya trailed off. “It just wasn’t what I wanted. What I needed.”

  “I looked for you,” Leo said again, knitting his hands together. “For two years. For two years. Every day I would sit at my computer and try to find clues about where you’d gone. I thought you’d been kidnapped… or worse.”

  “I know, I felt so bad afterwards. I’m sorry.”

  “No, you’re not, and even if you were, I wouldn’t care.” Leo felt anger rising. “You meant something to me. However hard it was to have that conversation, you should have done that.”

  “I wrote you loads of letters,” Mya said, sniffing, “but could never send them. They just didn’t sound right.”

  “I’m sure,” Leo said, his breath becoming tight. “I was so…”

  He stopped. Each breath tighter than the last.

  The rising panic absorbing his thoughts.

  Breathe in and out.

  This is what Mya did to him. She’d done this for years and was still doing it.

  Calm, focus, breathe.


  How could she…

  Breathe in and out.

  Mya watched Leo silently as he tried to focus.

  Calm, focus, breathe.

  Breathe in and out.

  Then Leo felt Allissa’s hand on his arm.

  Through the tempest of his anger he remembered what Allissa had said to Isobel two days ago.

  “If we were in your situation, we’d have done the same thing.”

  Leo realized, for the first time, he was in control. The choice was his, he could choose to hate, or forgive. He could choose to destroy or unite. He could choose order or chaos.

  “I did, I thought about you… I’m… I’m…” Mya said.

  Calm, focus, breathe.

  Leo looked up at Mya, the eyes he’d wanted to see for so long. The woman that he thought for years would bring him solace.

  Calm and focus.

  He took a moment to calm himself. Swallowing his anxiety, Leo looked directly at Mya. She was just a person. She had no control over him. The only thing that gave her power was Leo himself.

  The choice was his.

  Breathe in, and out.

  He was in control.

  Calm and focus.

  Calm.

  Leo exhaled slowly.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “You did what you did, and I did what I did. I’m glad you’re alright.”

  Mya looked back at him blankly.

  “It’s been nice to see you because there was still a part of me that worried about you. I did wonder where you’d gone and why you didn’t want to be found. But now I can put that to rest. I suppose I just wanted to have the conversation that you didn’t think was important.”

  With that Leo got to his feet.

  “I’m going to go now because there’s lots of people who need my help. And we’ve got a flight to catch.”

  Leo walked to the door. Allissa followed.

  Mya said nothing. Watching Leo, her eyes sparkled.

  At the door Leo paused, turned and looked back at Mya. For the last time he saw the lips he had hoped to kiss again. The eyes he had longed to stare into. But the woman who stared back at him wasn’t the woman he wanted. It wasn’t the Mya he had known those years ago, or the Mya he had longed to see again. She was just another person. Yes, a person he had once loved, but one that he now had nothing more to say to.