Page 18 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Kriya

I hadn’t eavesdropped on Charles’s personal call on purpose, but his expression was almost worth the awkwardness of the moment.

“What?” said Charles.

“I’m not fluent,” I said. “But I can follow most of what’s said to me. A lot of people speak Cantonese in Ipoh, and I watched TVB growing up. And I did lessons for a while here in London, one of my friends wanted to go and she asked me to come along.”

Charles looked like someone had smacked him across the face with a dead fish. “Was it obvious that—.”

“That you were talking about me? It was pretty obvious.” Charles looked so despairing I added, “You didn’t say anything bad. ”

Though it had stung a little, hearing some of the things he’d said.

I hadn’t followed all of it, but what I’d picked up of his account of recent events hadn’t cast me in the most flattering light.

I sounded utterly spineless. The obedient little dogsbody, keeping her head down and hoping the unpleasantness would blow over.

Charles hadn’t mentioned that Arthur had apologised for his behaviour—though, OK, he’d tried to kick me out of my office right after. But I could believe he’d genuinely thought that was for the best, for all concerned.

Arthur had done a lot for me, over the years. Charles wasn’t to know that.

It wasn’t a topic I felt like delving into. I said, “Whose wedding is this?”

Charles passed a hand over his face. “My cousin.”

His tone was so tragic I laughed. “I thought it must be somebody you’re related to, from the way you were bickering with them.”

“I wasn’t bickering,” said Charles, with dignity. “Loretta doesn’t know where to stop. Her mum can be very difficult, to be fair,” he added.

“Why does she want you to bring me to her wedding? Did I get that right?”

Charles hesitated. “This will sound completely mad.”

“Well, you’ve got to tell me now.”

He told me.

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“You know, it sounds like Loretta’s mum may be looking for problems,” I said. “Like, if it wasn’t this, there’d be some other reason she can’t come to the wedding.”

“It’s an excuse,” Charles agreed. “It’s not pure invention, though.

That’s the challenge, what she says always has some basis in the truth.

My mum does worry about me. Though she’d be fine if I brought a boyfriend to the wedding, probably.

That’s the irony, my mum’s more relaxed about all of that.

She’s only not coming because she doesn’t want to embarrass my aunt. ”

I shook my head. “Asian family dynamics. My relatives would be just as bad. Poor Loretta.”

“She hasn’t had an easy time of it,” said Charles. “I’m sorry I told her about, you know, what’s going on. She wasn’t letting it go.”

I shrugged. “Family’s complicated, I get it. When’s the wedding?”

“Saturday.”

“In London?” When Charles nodded, I said, “Why don’t I come with you?”

His head swivelled on his neck like an owl’s. “What?”

“I haven’t got anything on that day,” I said. “And we are supposedly dating.” I grinned.

Charles blushed.

Was I flirting with Kawan Baik? I shouldn’t flirt with Kawan Baik. Goodness knew there was enough going on at work as it was, without me making it weird with my office roommate and long-time work nemesis.

Well, making it weird er. It was already pretty weird, what with the fact Charles was the only other person who knew about Arthur hitting on me, and the fact Arthur believed he was my boyfriend.

A thought struck me. “Wait, does Loretta think we’re together? Is that why she wants you to bring me as your date?”

Charles went from pink to brick red. “No! No. She just—er—I told her I wouldn’t be able to find a date at such short notice. She knows I’m sharing an office with you—that is, with a female lawyer. So she suggested I ask you, as—as a friend.”

He stumbled a little over the word “friend.”

It wasn’t a word I would’ve thought to use of Charles before, despite the nickname. And yet it wasn’t wrong. We weren’t work nemeses anymore, but he was something more than a mere colleague. “Friend” didn’t feel that far off.

“That makes sense,” I said. “How about it? Shall I come?”

Charles scrunched up his forehead, looking at me. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“I’m Asian. It’s not the first time I’ve been to the wedding of someone I don’t know, let’s put it that way.”

Plus, I owed Charles. He’d been so supportive about the whole Arthur situation.

And—the thought came despite myself—if I shared photos of myself at a wedding with an attractive guy on social media, maybe Tom would hear about them, even if he didn’t see them. We’d blocked each other after the breakup, by mutual agreement.

No, what was I thinking? I couldn’t share photos of myself with an attractive guy on social media.

Tom probably wouldn’t hear about them, but I knew who definitely would.

My one million aunties, uncles, cousins, former neighbours, ex-schoolmates, old teachers, and everyone they knew.

There was a global network of spies I was only ever two steps away from stumbling into.

They would guarantee that the next thing I knew, Amma would be on the phone asking, “Who is this Chinese boy ah, you put the photo online? Is he your friend?”

Amma had been more broken up about Tom dumping me than even I was. Despite my first-class education and good job, she seemed to think the fact I was unmarried at thirty-four meant I was a failure destined for a ruinous old age.

It would be feeble-spirited of me to try to use Charles to fend her off. And it wasn’t a long-term solution anyway. What was going to happen when Amma started asking when she was going to get to meet Charles?

“What’s the dress code?” I said.

“Oh, it’s very open-ended. There will be a range of costumes.

” Odd choice of language, but presumably Charles meant “outfits.” He went on, “I’ll be dressed to match the wedding theme, but standard summer wedding attire would be fine for you.

But are you sure? You don’t have to come.

I’m sure it’ll be fine with Loretta’s mum.

Or—well, even if it isn’t, it won’t necessarily be because of this.

There’s no point trying to entertain all of my aunt’s whims. I’ve told Loretta. ”

“I’d like to come,” I said. “I love weddings. So long as you don’t mind the company.”

“It would be nice to have you there,” said Charles.

He met my eyes, then looked away. My cheeks warmed.

“Good,” I said.

“Thank you. It’ll mean a lot to Loretta. And she’ll be very excited about meeting—” At this point Charles was briefly overcome with a coughing fit. “About getting married, I mean,” he said, when it had passed.

“All very exciting,” I said. “I’m looking forward to it.”