Page 86 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Well, no. Myfirstchoice would have been spending the evening with Kriya at her place. But that wasn’t an option.

Loretta and Ma and all the rest of them can have a go at me for working too much. But work is better than people. You know where you are with it.

Phone rang. Personal phone—the one I don’t look at in the evening.

For a moment, I thought it might be Kriya. But what would she be ringing for?I changed my mind, Charles. A hook-up with you is exactly what I want, given everything else going on in my life.

That wasn’t I wanted from her, or not the only thing.

Would have taken it, though. I’d take any scraps she was willing to throw me.

Wasn’t Kriya ringing, obviously.

CG: “Hi, Ma.”

Early in Hong Kong, but Ma can never lie in. Goes and does hei gung in a park at eight a.m. with a lot of other aunties and uncles. She hasn’t learned to levitate yet, but the exercise is good for her.

Ma: “Where are you?”

CG: “Where are you? I can only see hair.”

Slight exaggeration: I could see a bit of forehead as well as Ma’s hairline and perm. Most of the image consisted of ceiling. Ma can never figure out how to position her phone so the camera captures her face.

Ma: “That’s not your flat, is it? Are you travelling?”

Hadn’t told Ma about the flat. Ma gets worried about things—bad for her—and when she’s worried, she gives me advice—annoys me.

CG: “I’m at a hotel. The building management company’s having works done to the flat. Should be done in a couple of weeks. They’re paying for the hotel.”

Ma, impressed: “For two weeks? That’s very good. You should give the building manager a present.”

CG: “I’ll think about it.” Never seen the building manager in person. Could be a robot for all I know. “What’s up?”

Ma looked shifty. “I saw Ah Yi and Yi Cheung yesterday.”

Could see what was coming. Heart sank. I wasn’t up for this, not after the evening I’d had.

Should have thought harder about the potential consequences of bringing Kriya along as my date for the wedding, so the relatives would believe I had a girlfriend. Namely, that they would think she was my girlfriend.

But I couldn’t have guessed how painful that misunderstanding would be. A week ago, I wouldn’t have believed Kriya would kiss me, or sleep with me, or do any of the things we’d done over the weekend.

CG: “How are they?”

Ma: “Very tired, but they said Loretta’s party was nice. It was at an expensive hotel, they said. How much did you give? Loretta wouldn’t tell them.”

CG: “Enough.”

Ma might have nagged me for the amount another day, but that wasn’t the line of inquiry she’d rung me to pursue.

She said: “Ah Yi and Yi Cheung said you brought a friend? Ah Yi told me her name, what was it…”

CG: “Kriya. She’s my coworker.”

Ma: “Oh? They said she’s your friend. Indian girl?”

CG: “She’s from Malaysia.”

Ma: “Is that why she speaks Cantonese? Ah Yi said. She showed me the photo. Very pretty girl. She’s at your firm, you said? A lawyer? She must be clever.”

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