Page 40 of Behind Frenemy Lines

Not that Kriya and I were dating. Shouldn’t have fallen into bed with her.

Seemed a great idea at the time, but look at me now.

If I’d courted her properly, or at least confirmed some crucial details up front—like, did she want to be my girlfriend for real, instead of simply pretending for Arthur’s and my family’s benefit—I wouldn’t be in this position.

Kriya was hiding something. I knew her well enough, after sharing an office with her for six weeks, to tell that. But it didn’t matter if it was a date coming to see her. Whatever it was she didn’t want me to know, it wasn’t any of my business.

CG: “Sure. Sorry. Have a good evening.”

Kriya: “Good night, Charles.”

Hotel was fine. You didn’t notice the lack of windows. Who needs a window in central London, anyway? Only going to look out on the walls of other buildings, or a row of dustbins, or some grim road, with pigeons fighting over a discarded box of chips.

Had left my laptop in the office, because there wasn’t anything urgent on. If we were taking on the case for Shaw, we’d have to crack on, but I wasn’t confident that was going to happen. I’d emailed Farah and the CDD team about the concerns Kriya had raised. Farah had responded:

Let’s talk tmrw.

No point trying to do anything on the matter until I’d spoken to her.

Not exactly an attractive case, suing a freelance journalist. Agreed with Kriya there. At least there’s generally equality of arms in the commercial litigation I do.

Thought of the student I’d spoken to at Cittie of Yorke: Razia, with her dissertation on human rights. She wouldn’t be too impressed.

Still, I couldn’t see that it was an inappropriate instruction.

Nothing to indicate the instruction itself was to advance a fraudulent scheme.

Optics were bad, of course. But if one chose one’s clients based on optics, no one accused of murder would have legal representation.

Must be right that it’s for the courts to decide.

Kriya hadn’t mentioned her mad idea of approaching the other side again. Hopefully she’d thought better of it once she’d had a chance to reflect.

Ended up lying on the bed, flipping through channels on the TV. Wasn’t really what I wanted to be doing with my evening. My first choice would have been making progress on some work. Should have brought my laptop with me.

Well, no. My first choice 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.”

CG: “Yes. But she’s quit now.”

Ma: “Oh, what’s she going to do?”

CG: “She’s thinking of going in-house. Working at a company, in industry, instead of a law firm. She’s interviewing with a company in Hong Kong, actually.”

Mistake to mention that.

Ma: “She’s coming to Hong Kong? I told you, it’s a good place to work. The tax is lower. And you’re closer to family. When you get older, you’ll realise that’s important. The parents are in Malaysia? The flight is not too long, I think. Four hours?”

I’d been doing well, but when I opened my mouth to answer, the words got stuck in my throat.

Had known I wanted Kriya. Just hadn’t realised how much I wanted of her. It was as though her rejecting me had unlocked some door in my head, behind which all these fantasies had been lurking.

Now they poured out, images I hadn’t even known I’d been harbouring. Introducing Kriya to Ma. Going on holiday with her. Putting my arm around her on the sofa, arguing about what to watch on Netflix. Pouring her tea at a dim sum restaurant.

Didn’t even know if she liked dim sum. Hardly knew anything about her, really. Except that her ex had broken her heart and her boss was mental and she liked cooking and she had excellent drafting skills and when I made her laugh it felt like I could do anything.

Ma: “Charles? Hello? Can you hear me?”

CG: “Yeah. I’m here. Look, Ma, about Kriya, don’t get too excited. It’s nothing—”

Nothing serious, I was going to say. Nothing real.

Ma said: “Do you like her?”

Stared at the TV. Some kind of reality show playing, about people going on dates. Some guy with unfortunate hair was on the screen, saying: “She’s hot, she’s sexy, she’s fun. I felt there was a real connection there.”

Cut to the woman: “Yeah. No.” She grimaced.

CG: “Yes. I like her. But it doesn’t matter. It’s not going anywhere.”

Ma: “Why not?”

Because she doesn’t like me back. Not enough.

CG: “Never mind. There’s no point talking about it. How’s your leg?” Turned off the TV.