Kiss and Die

Chapter 60

Shrimp sat on the mosque steps. Amongst the neon and brashness of Nathan Road whose buildings bulged and leant like collapsing card houses, it was white and beautifully uniform: an oasis on the eye. It was a perfect square, a white dome in the centre, towers at each corner, it had arched windows running along each face.

Shrimp had got a text from Nina asking him to meet her at lunchtime. He had arranged to meet with David first. David came down the steps from prayer and sat beside Shrimp. He shook Shrimp’s hand.

‘Have you brought me any news of my brother?’

Shrimp shook his head. ‘Not yet, I’m sorry. How are things at the Mansions?’

David didn’t answer for a few minutes. They sat on the steps and watched the people hurry by. He shook his head. ‘Things are bad. Very bad. My friends and I will have to take action soon. We have no choice now. They are children but they are killers. They meet on the rooftop at night. They wear their weapons openly in the day. No one stops them. They rule the Mansions now. But, they forget, where we come from, we are used to fighting, street battles. We are used to death. We will arm ourselves and fight to live.’

‘When they have the meetings on the roof, do you go there?’

David shook his head. ‘To go there would mean death, my friend. They would eat you like hungry piranhas. But, since we talked I have watched the people very closely. I see a woman come and go, beautiful, in disguise. She keeps her head down so that I cannot look into her eyes but I know she belongs with them, even though she is older. I think that is the woman you talk about. She is the leader.’

‘Is she Chinese?’

‘I don’t know. She hides her face but her skin is paler than most. She wears nice shoes. I notice things like shoes, it’s what I trade in.’

Shrimp looked at his watch. ‘I have to go now. Keep watching for me, David, and I will keep looking for your brother.’

Shrimp left David, crossed the road and made his way up the stairs in block B, fifth floor.

He stood as he saw her approach. He almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing jeans. ‘Nina?’ She came down the stairs as he was coming up.

She smiled nervously. ‘Hello. Thank you for coming. I’m sorry if it’s been inconvenient.’ Her long hair was loose. It fell around her shoulders.

‘Of course not; it’s no trouble.’ Shrimp felt his heart hammer inside his checked shirt. He had chosen to wear his vintage American cowboy boots beneath his Levi’s. ‘I didn’t recognize you, sorry. I was really glad to get your text.’ Shrimp felt his face turning red. ‘You look lovely.’

‘I can wear jeans sometimes.’

‘You look lovely whatever you wear.’

‘I can’t go outside the Mansions like this. But I can wear it for you, here,’ she smiled.

In the ill-lit stairwell Shrimp couldn’t get over her beauty.

‘We can sit here, if that’s okay.’ She led him to the stairs. They sat on the concrete stairwell in the shadows.

‘Anywhere will be fine. Is everything all right? Your text sounded urgent.’

‘My brother, Mahmud? I worry about him constantly. The whole family is distraught. My grandmother cries all the time. My father cannot work without stopping every few minutes to say prayers. We are still hoping that Mahmud will come home any day. How is he? Have you seen him?’

‘He’s been moved. I wasn’t there when he was interviewed but he didn’t say a lot. He needs to help himself. But…’ he looked at her face, ‘…I will go and see him for you.’

‘We are all stuck in our own way here, but Mahmud – he has everything. He will be someone. He is innocent. He doesn’t need help from Victoria Chan or anyone.’

‘Has she promised you things?’

‘Yes. She has…she promised us a lot.’

‘What?’

‘My father dreams of a beautiful new restaurant. Ali thinks he will be a billionaire before he is thirty.’

‘And Hafiz?’

She shook her head. ‘I know what you’re thinking about Hafiz. But he doesn’t listen to me. Now he talks about these people as his new family. He has a new phone. He has money in his pocket. I can’t blame him wanting more.’

‘What about you, Nina, what do you want?’

They heard doors banging on another floor, music drifting up from below. They heard muted conversations in other languages. Her eyes glued onto his. In the dark stairwell he wanted to reach for her but he didn’t dare.

‘I want to find happiness. I want to feel happy.’ She had a package of food for him. ‘I brought you something to eat. Here…’ She unfolded a napkin with two samosas inside; the smell of cumin burst out into the rank air. They sat with arms touching on the cramped stairwell. Shrimp ate the samosas.

‘Thanks for the food. You’re a fantastic cook.’

‘Thank you. I love cooking.’

‘Have you been back to cook curries for Rizal?’

Nina looked anxious at the mention of it. ‘No. Lilly will have to do it. Is Michelle coming home soon?’

‘I don’t know. She’s in a lot of trouble. She’s suspected of having murdered someone.’

‘I don’t know what’s happening to the Mansions. They’re falling apart. All the nice people are being put in prison, all the bad ones left out. It’s not right.’

Nina fiddled with her hair; Shrimp rested his elbows on his knees and struggled to think of what to say. He felt more nervous than he had felt for a long time.

They turned at the sound of a door banging on the next landing. Nina smiled at his concerned expression. ‘Don’t worry. No one will see me. I know the Mansions well. I was born here. I know the stairwells and the landings; I can get away if I need to.’

They looked at one another and exchanged an awkward smile.

‘Do you live with your brothers?’

‘No. I live with my grandmother in a flat on the fifth floor. Do you have a girlfriend, Li?’ She looked away as she asked.

‘Call me Shrimp, please, everyone does. No,’ he looked at her and looked away, ‘I don’t, right now; my work kind of takes over most of the time. I like going out though, like a boogie. What about you? Do you get out? Your brother said you were going to be married next month.’

Nina became agitated. ‘Anything could happen between now and then. The arrangements are being made. I have to go along with it but I don’t intend to go through with it.’

‘What are you going to do?’

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. ‘Run away? I don’t know yet. It’s not fair. I am being given to an old friend of my father’s. He’s an old man.’

‘Don’t you have a say?’

‘No. I should be married by now but when my mother died everything changed. I took over the running of the restaurant. The last few years have been difficult for all of us. I am old to be unmarried.’ She was getting increasingly more uncomfortable. ‘Sorry, I have to go now.’

Shrimp jumped up beside her. Before he had time to think of something to say, Nina reached up, kissed him on his cheek.

‘Meet me here tomorrow, same time?’

‘Nina?’ Shrimp called to her as she disappeared.

She stopped and ran back to him. ‘Yes?’

‘I am sorry if I caused offence or said anything wrong. I like you.’

She giggled. ‘I know.’