Page 32 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Charles

It was with a degree of relief that I left Kriya with her terrifying friends to go to my own flat. Now knew what it felt like to be a lowly staff member at Jurassic Park, cleaning up the raptor enclosure while being eyed up by the inmates.

The moment Kriya had turned her back to do her laundry, the scariest friend, in the yellow dungarees—Zurina—had said:

“Can I ask, are you and Kriya seeing each other?”

CG: “Er, no.”

Zurina: “Hmm.”

The innocent-looking one with the baby (May Yin) piped up. “Can I ask something too?”

Zurina: “I haven’t finished.” To me: “Are you interested in her?”

CG: “Er—”

Kriya must be right that I’ve got a terrible poker face. May Yin patted my arm and said:

“Don’t worry. You don’t need to answer. Is it my turn yet?”

Zurina: “I mean, if you’re going to sabotage my turn…”

May Yin: “Is something going on at work with Kriya’s boss?”

Zurina: “Forget my question. I want to know this too.”

Wasn’t sure what to say. If Kriya hadn’t told her friends about Arthur’s conduct, it hardly seemed my place to.

CG: “Why do you ask?”

May Yin: “I don’t know. It feels like something’s going on. She hasn’t talked about her boss in a while.”

Zurina: “Yeah, usually she’ll mention him. It’s suspicious.”

May Yin: “We should ask you, since you’re in the same industry. Kriya’s always saying we don’t understand about her boss, because we’re not lawyers. Is it normal, how the boss treats her? She’s almost like the second wife like that.”

Zurina: “Without the benefits of being bini kedua!”

CG: “I have limited visibility of their relationship.”

Hesitated, with two hopeful pairs of eyes on me. Three, counting the baby, but he was probably just hoping to have another go at grabbing my spectacles.

CG: “But from what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t say it’s normal, no. It seems fairly dysfunctional.”

Zurina, to May Yin: “I told you.”

May Yin: “I know! I also told her what. We all told her.” She sighed. “The problem with Kriya is she’s so used to looking after other people. But if you ask her to stand up for herself, she doesn’t want.”

Zurina: “It’s because of her parents. They’re nice, but they’re a bit useless. It’s like they’re the children and she has to look after them.”

Thought of Ma and Ba.

CG: “That happens in some families.”

Rice cooker clicked to “keep warm” mode as the rice finished cooking. Zurina opened it and made an approving noise. Said:

“Well, he has my blessing to go out with Kriya.” Looked up at me. “Just please don’t be a manchild like Tom. She earned most of the money, she did all the cooking, she did all the housework.”

May Yin: “Last time I went to see the fortune teller, I asked him to put a curse on Tom. He said they don’t really do that.”

Zurina, cheerfully: “You’re going to put Charles off.”

CG: “I’m not—I don’t think she’s interested.”

Zurina and May Yin exchanged a look.

Zurina: “I’d give it a shot, if I were you.” Gave me a look over the top of her spectacle frames.

Thought about that all the way home. The way Zurina had said, Any good friend of Kriya’s is a good friend of mine.

Stuck with me, for some reason. Not sure Kriya sees me as a friend, much less a good friend. It’s not how I feel about her.

Not that I see her merely as a colleague. But “friend” isn’t the word for it.

My flat felt especially empty when I let myself in, like somewhere abandoned by its occupants in a hurry.

My bedroom was a disaster zone. Worse than I’d imagined. There was a load of ceiling on my bed and a big hole, criss-crossed with beams, where the ceiling should have been. Carpet squelched underfoot.

I’d thought I might be able to sleep in Loretta’s room, if it wasn’t affected. Building management company had said there shouldn’t be any further flooding. But having seen my room, I wasn’t confident it would be safe to stay in the flat.

Opened my wardrobe, prepared for anything. To my surprise, most of my clothes had escaped damage, as well as the suitcase I kept in there.

Removed clothes and suitcase to the living room and packed one into the other. Loretta’s room was OK when I checked it, though the wall adjoining my room needed looking at. Emailed a reminder to myself to raise it with the building management company on Monday.

Reflected a moment, then sent another reminder to buy a suitcase, so I could pack up Loretta’s anime shit. Just in case. Would probably need two bags.

Stomach rumbled while I was locking up. Was glad that I had somewhere to go, and someone who was saving a plate of nasi lemak for me.

Kriya’s friends had left by the time I arrived at her place. The kitchen was clean—no sign of our labours earlier. Kriya was muttering to herself over piles of paper, spread out on the coffee table.

Kriya: “I’ve been catching up on life admin. Your nasi lemak’s in the oven, but it might be cold by now. You can microwave it if you’d like it hot, but the chicken you should probably air-fry. Or you could pop it under the grill—”

CG: “I’m sure it’s fine. Thanks.”

Kriya seemed busy, so I shoved my bag in a corner and tried to be inconspicuous.

Not easy, given the size of the place. One bedroom, tiny hall with a bathroom off it, and the open plan lounge-cum-kitchen I’d slept in the night before.

While Kriya was in the lounge, there was nowhere for me to go, to give her space.

Did my best anyway. After finishing my nasi lemak, I checked my work inbox. Wasn’t expecting anything to have come in, given we’d sent off the advice note late last night, but there was an email from Shaw:

Thanks. Reading advice now. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.

Felt somehow typical of Shaw. Though I’d never worked with him before, I could have predicted he’d have no respect for work/life balance. Of course, I don’t have a personal life to disrespect, but he wasn’t to know that.

Knocked through my emails, then went for a run. Partly because it was a nice day out, but mostly because I needed the exercise. I was getting edgy, spending all that time with Kriya in her flat.

A discreet wank would have been more to the point, but that was out of the question for now. Could have tossed one off in the bathroom, I suppose, but didn’t feel right.

Kriya had tidied away the papers on the coffee table when I got back. She stared at me.

Looked down at myself, wondering if I’d stepped in something, or got splattered with mud.

Kriya: “Those shorts are very… tight.”

CG: “Compression shorts. They help recovery. Well, they’re said to. I haven’t actually looked at the research.”

Kriya: “Learn something new every day. What do you want to have for dinner?”

We had hard-boiled eggs, fried so they were crispy on the outside, in the sambal Kriya’s friends had made earlier, along with the leftover rice cooked in coconut milk, and other leftovers scrounged from Kriya’s fridge: the rasam and some wilting bok choy, stir-fried with garlic.

Best day’s eating I’d had in a while. Food at Loretta’s wedding was good, too, but Western food never quite hit the spot in the same way.

That said, Western cuisine had its virtues. After dinner, Kriya said: “I’m going to open the bottle of wine Esther brought over. Do you want some?”

We ended up drinking it on the sofa, with some kdrama playing on the TV.

Felt relaxed and fuzzy and weirdly at home, as though I belonged there. Dangerously easy to imagine living there for real, waking up with Kriya every day.

Kriya: “I forgot to ask, how was your flat?”

CG: “Not great. Loretta’s things are all right, but I’ll have to move out till they’ve fixed the place. They said repairs should take a couple of weeks.”

Kriya made a face. “Aren’t you broke?”

CG: “Yeah.” Two weeks at a London hotel would have been a significant expense at any time—one I could afford, usually, but that I would notice.

Right now, when I was cleaned out from sending money to Ba…

“I’ll have to put it on my credit card, if the building management company doesn’t agree to cover it. ”

Kriya: “If they don’t pay, why don’t you just stay here?”

She wouldn’t have offered if she knew how comfortable I was after all of one day. She’d have to pry me out with a crowbar if she let me stay for two whole weeks.

CG: “It’s not so bad. I’ll only have to hang on till we get paid at the end of the month.”

Kriya sat up. “Seriously, Charles. I’d rather you take my sofa than give some depressing Travelodge all that money. It’s only for two weeks.”

A strand of hair fell over her face. She was so exercised she didn’t seem to notice it.

Wanted to reach out to tuck it behind her ear. I could almost feel the warmth of her skin, the springy texture of her hair against my fingers. Looked away, clutching the stem of my wine glass.

CG: “It might take longer, you never know with repairs. We’ll see on Monday. Hopefully they’ll stump up. They’ve been pretty good historically. I’ve lived there a long time.”

Kriya: “Do you own the flat?”

Nodded. “I started out renting it with another trainee in my intake, when we both started at Swithin Watkins. He dropped out and went off to Australia—he’s a scuba diving instructor now—but I kept the place.

Then the landlord wanted to sell up and offered me the flat, so I went for it.

It’s in Kentish Town, easy commute to the office. ”

Kriya: “Yeah, Thameslink, right? It’s a nice area.”

CG: “I should probably think about selling, once they’ve sorted the repairs and Loretta moves out. I don’t really need the space.”

Hate the idea of selling. After Ba left, Ma and I had to move all the time. It’s been nice, being able to stay in one place. I’m used to the flat now.

But I don’t need a second bedroom. If I downsized to a studio, that would free up some money.

For what, though? Ba’s next emergency? He’s never going to be done having those.

Kriya: “Where are Loretta and Hayley moving to?”