White Tiger

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Iheld Simone’s hand as we walked through the airport behind Leo and Mr Chen. Chinese New Year was always a busy time and the airport was packed with people going in both directions.

Leo checked in, and we accompanied him to the immigration gates. He knelt to hug Simone.

She kissed him on the cheek. ‘Say hello to your mummy for me.’

‘I will, sweetheart.’ He rose, hesitated, then pulled me into his arms and embraced me, surrounding me with the musky smell of his cologne. ‘Look after them for me,’ he whispered into my hair. ‘Don’t let him do anything stupid.’

I pulled back to smile up at him. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll look after them.’ He embraced me again, then released me.

He turned to Mr Chen and stood rigid without looking at him for a long moment. Then he fell to one knee and saluted. He gazed up into Mr Chen’s eyes and for a fleeting second his true feelings showed.

Mr Chen nodded.

Leo ignored the amused looks from passing people. He rose, grabbed his bag and went into the immigration area without looking back.

‘I do not require looking after,’ Mr Chen growled softly as we walked back to the car.

‘Yes, you do, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘You’re hopeless by yourself.’

Mr Chen smiled and shook his head.

I sat in the back of the car with Simone as Mr Chen drove us home. Chinese New Year had come in early February, and the weather was still quite cold.

‘Can you drive, Emma?’ Mr Chen said as he navigated the North Lantau expressway.

‘I have an Australian driver’s licence, but I’ve never been game to drive in Hong Kong,’ I said over the back of the seat. ‘Everybody drives so close, it’s scary.’

‘It’s not so bad once you’re used to it.’ He slid through the auto toll lane and moved into the right lane to pass over the Tsing Ma Bridge. ‘There is method to the madness, I assure you.’

I didn’t say anything; I wasn’t sure where he was headed.

‘If you want to borrow the car over the Chinese New Year break, you can,’ he said. ‘I won’t be using it.’

‘You won’t be visiting anybody?’

‘Since I can’t travel, they’ll all come to me.’

I inhaled sharply as I understood. ‘How many freaking gods are coming over?’

‘Pretty much all of them, I think.’

I dropped my head into my hands. ‘I should have gone to visit my family. Leo’s the lucky one.’

‘That’s what you’re supposed to do at New Year—visit your family. For some couples in China, New Year is the only time they see each other.’

‘I have a friend like that. She’s in Australia, her husband’s here, and he’ll visit her at New Year and she’s quite happy with the situation.’

‘They’re called “astronauts”.’

‘Yeah. Is Monica going home to the Philippines?’

‘I suggested it, but she wouldn’t go. She’s arranged to spend time with her sister at her sister’s employer’s apartment on Stubbs Road. The employer won’t be there, so they’ll have the place to themselves. Some other members of the family are coming to see them. Even the sister and brother from Singapore, but I think the sister in the Middle East can’t make it.’

‘How many brothers and sisters does she have?’ I said, incredulous.

‘I think she’s in the middle of about nine.’

‘So it’ll just be the three of us for the entire New Year break.’

Simone piped up. ‘We’ll be like a family!’

‘We are a family,’ he said.

‘Yes, we are,’ I said.

‘We’re a family,’ Simone said softly.

A couple of days later Mr Chen tapped on my door. ‘Can I talk to you?’

‘Come on in.’

‘I was wondering if you’d help us,’ he said. ‘Monica’s done most of it, but my study and the Kitchen God still need to be done, and I’d like to take the mats up in the training room and vacuum underneath them.’

‘Oh, the New Year clean-out,’ I said. ‘Sure. I’ll take your paperwork, you do the rest of the study, and then we can do the mats together.’

‘Thanks. You know why we do this?’

‘Something about the Kitchen God taking the annual report to the Jade Emperor, and coming back with the new good luck for the whole year.’ I stopped when I heard what I’d said. ‘You saw the Jade Emperor yourself not long ago. Is this really necessary?’

His eyes sparkled. ‘Oh, absolutely.’

‘So there’s another god around here that I haven’t noticed—the Kitchen God?’

‘You want to see?’

‘Sure.’

He led me into the kitchen. One of the cupboards had an open altar underneath. The interior was painted red and contained an inscribed tablet over the top of an incense pot. The pot and tablet were nearly black with the dust from the incense.

‘I’ve seen you put incense in that. That’s him?’

‘Yep.’

‘What does he look like?’

He gestured towards the pot. ‘That.’

‘You are really annoying sometimes, you know that?’

‘Good,’ he said with a perfectly straight face.

That evening the three of us went out for a vegetarian meal in a restaurant in Wellington Street. Afterwards, we walked together to the pier and boarded Mr Chen’s boat. A cheerful deckhand helped me aboard, and Mr Chen carried Simone. Every boat in Hong Kong seemed to be floating on the Harbour to watch the show, and the promenade on both sides was thick with thousands of people.

We sat on the cushioned top of the boat and leaned on the soft backrest. One of the deckhands provided us with a blanket and a thermos of tea. The wind whistling across the Harbour was bitter and seemed to cut straight through my jacket.

Simone sat between us as the boat moved into position. Three barges had been moored in the Harbour to launch the fireworks.

‘I’m cold, Daddy,’ she said.

We moved closer together with Simone between us. Mr Chen put his arm around her shoulders and I pulled the blanket up to her chin. All three of us wriggled down under the blanket.

He gazed at me and my heart leapt. It was a look that said everything. He smiled slightly and I knew he felt it too. Both of us sighed and glanced down at Simone.

‘Cold,’ Simone said.

I bundled her into my lap. Mr Chen moved closer and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling both of us into him. I didn’t care about anything else apart from the feeling of having both of them so close to me. I nestled against him and put my head on his shoulder. He squeezed me gently and pulled me closer.

The fireworks began and Simone yelled, ‘Wah!’

Her shout was echoed by everybody around the Harbour. The explosions vibrated through the boat.

Mr Chen brushed my shoulder, then gently leaned over me and pushed his face into my hair.

I didn’t move. Simone was busy watching the fireworks and didn’t notice.

I turned my head to see him.

He smiled down at me. His eyes were very dark and shining.

‘Don’t you have to be careful?’ I whispered.

He moved his mouth next to my ear. ‘I could never hurt my child, even unintentionally. She is your shield.’

‘You can’t hurt me while we have her between us like this?’

He moved his face further down to the side of my throat. ‘No,’ he breathed, and I felt the word more than heard it.

I gazed into his glowing dark eyes. Our faces were very close. ‘It’s wrong to use her like this.’

‘I know. But sometimes you have to take the chance when it’s given you.’

Another firework went off above our heads. Neither of us noticed. He lowered his face to mine and closed his eyes. Our lips touched. He opened to me.

It was what I had wanted from the moment I’d seen him.

He pushed harder into me, deepening the kiss. The explosions went off over our heads and neither of us cared. I put my free arm behind his neck and buried my fingers into his wonderful silken hair. My whole body was like an electric wire, strumming to his touch.

But both of us were intensely aware of Simone in my lap. It had to end, and he pulled back first. He gazed into my eyes, then moved in and touched his mouth to mine again, a light brush. He smiled. ‘We are a pair of fools. Now I must be even more careful about touching you.’

‘Tell me it’s not worth it.’

He smiled again. I ran my hand through his hair. He drifted his fingertips over my face.

‘Why aren’t you watching the fireworks, Daddy?’ Simone said loudly.

We dropped our hands and looked down at her.

‘Why are you looking at Emma and not at the fireworks? Are you okay, Emma?’ Simone’s little face lit up. ‘Oh.’ She smiled slightly and looked back to the fireworks, wriggling her little bottom in my lap as she turned. ‘Don’t mind me.’

We laughed softly together.

I put my head on his shoulder.

He squeezed me around the shoulders and brushed his hand over my arm. ‘We will probably never have another chance like this.’

‘This is more than I ever hoped for.’