Chapter 7
Kai
J enny’s words came as a surprise. Was she right though? June was unquestionably different to most of the women that I’ve dated, but in what way? I didn’t have an answer.
“You mean American girls?” June chimed in. She didn’t seem surprised at all. If anything, she seemed kind of happy about what Jenny implied.
Jenny smiled cryptically and didn’t answer. I hated when she did that – left things unsaid. It drove me mad, and she had done this to me all my life.
It was nice to see Jenny warming up to June so quickly, interacting like they’d known each other for a long time. Jenny wasn’t a difficult woman, but she’d had a very sheltered life. Her parents had been planting this idea in her head her whole life that people only befriended her for her money.
To be honest, her parents weren’t wrong about that.
Over the years, I've met plenty of gold diggers.
Not everyone wanted to marry me of course.
They befriended me for any kind of monetary reward – from something as small as a free meal, to something as big as a business partnership for those who were really ambitious.
The ultimate prize was of course, marrying the trophy and inheriting their fortune.
Growing up, I never believed people would do things like that – until I got kidnapped. I could only remember part of the terrifying experience. In the immediate aftermath, I couldn’t remember anything. But eventually, fragments of my memory came back to me when I least expected them.
I found out later that it was my best friend’s mother who collaborated with the kidnappers. So, at a very young age, I had learned that some people would do anything to get money.
“American girls are really nice,” I teased.
Jenny was kind of right. I did like western girls. They were generally more open-minded and not constrained by the unspoken social rules and emotional blackmail of their overbearing parents.
“What’s the difference? You just want someone pretty to fuck, right?” June tried to sound nonchalant. But her face turned the color of a tomato, as if she was a virgin.
“Think about your upbringing, June. Didn’t they tell you nonsense about how to behave? Women shouldn’t do this. Women aren’t allowed to go to certain places. Women shouldn’t say certain things. Women shouldn’t think in certain ways.” Jenny let out a sigh.
“Excuse me,” I interrupted, “it applies to men as well.”
Jenny rolled her eyes at me. I knew it wasn’t quite the same, but I was not in the mood to argue with her.
She had no idea how many times my parents expected me to perform so I could carry on the family torch, simply because I was their son.
There were plenty of ridiculous rules that men had to follow too.
“And the pressure to be stick thin.” Jenny coughed out those words.
June coughed in agreement. “Exactly. Although it might be impolite to talk about it, it is implied. But things are changing now.”
“Some people are obsessed with ancient teachings. But you know what, Confucius was a sexist pig who divorced his wife because she stopped him from being successful in his career. You know what, I think he was a closeted gay. And he much preferred to spend all his days hanging out in his boy’s club, with his all male students – rather than going home to his wife and kids. ”
I nodded. I never thought about Mr. Moral in that way.
There was no way of knowing Confucius’s sexuality now that he had been dead for thousands of years, but a lot of his teachings were dated.
It made me question whether the man should be worshiped like he is in some countries.
Kind of like how slave owners shouldn’t be looked up to in this day and age.
June was eating her dinner like she was snacking in the cinema. Clearly having fun enjoying the banter between Jenny and me.
“It can’t be that bad being a woman, can it?” I asked, not seeing how being burdened with upholding the family name and being raised to be the heir was less than what women endured.
“Yes, it can. Ask Jenny.” June replied, causing me to turn to look at Jenny.
Tears welled up a little in her eyes and I knew that I’d said the wrong thing.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s been hard for you growing up. You should have talked to me about…stuff. And, uh, just let me help you. Whatever you need.”
I stuffed a mouthful of abalone in my mouth and shook my head. “It’s all about you right now.”
I mouthed out the words as best as I could, as I’d do when a waitress came asking about how my food tasted when my mouth was full – which was somehow all the time.
“Thanks, Didi.” Didi meant little brother in Mandarin. Even though Jenny was only a month older than me, she never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was the younger one. “ But you have enough on your plate.”
It was figurative as much as literal. Jenny had hardly eaten anything. I was oddly pleased about what she said. I knew things hadn’t been easy for Jenny back home. But it must have taken her a lot of courage to talk about her personal thoughts.
“Isn’t it amazing to be surrounded by your own culture, though?” It was faint but I could hear the bitterness in her smooth tiny voice. Jenny played with the food in front of her but without any intention, it seemed, of putting any of it into her mouth.
“Yes, I guess it is,” I admitted. “I do miss China when I’m here for too long. The food, the people, just the way people do things.”
“What was it like growing up here?” Jenny put down her fork, ready for a story from June.
“I don’t know, I guess I don’t think about it too much most of the time. But sometimes, I feel like I don’t really understand the other half of me. My Chinese side that is.” June flicked her wavy black hair.
“Your mother never brought you to visit China?”
“No, my mother is actually part Chinese and part British. My grandmother is Malaysian Chinese.” She chuckled. “That means I’m only a quarter Chinese.”
“Oh, that sounds so interesting. Is your mother very Asian? I mean, is she a tiger mom?”
June lifted up her hand to cover her chewing mouth.
“Yes, she is.” She swallowed her food and continued, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that it was a thing until that Tiger Mom book came out! I thought I just had a super strict mother.”
“To be honest, we don’t really have tiger moms. Me and Kai.
” Jenny sounded sad. “Our parents weren’t always there, I mean they were never there, really.
We were brought up by our housekeepers, drivers, and other staff.
And when we did see them, it was mostly to report our performance at school, and all these fun activities that they thought would make us great when we got older. ”
“Fun, huh? What kind of activities?”
“Fencing. Violin. Piano. Karate. Kung Fu. Tennis. Swimming.”
“My god, that is a lot.”
“And finance, fashion, ballet, traditional dancing, calligraphy, painting…” Jenny kept adding the list.
“I didn’t have to do ballet, or traditional dancing.” I knew it didn’t help but I just wanted to point that out.
“That’s because you were a boy,” Jenny clarified. “But your violin was surprisingly good for a boy.”
I rolled my eyes so hard that I swore I could hear them hit the back of my skull. “You’re not allowed to say that here. Not in America. No sexist BS here.”
“Wow, so you can do all that stuff you just mentioned?” June tried to keep track of what Jenny had told her. “You guys must have been busy growing up.”
“Well, if it was something I liked, then I paid more attention. Otherwise, I just pretended to be useless,” Jenny offered that information.
“My little cousin here is good at everything. Even the things that he pretended to hate. Unlike him, I dropped out of most of them apart from fashion, painting, and traditional dancing.”
I noticed that June’s eyes sparkled, like a child who just figured out a new feature of her favorite toy – that made her golden-brown eyes even more irresistible .
“That’s still pretty impressive. I don’t have any hobbies.” June took a sip of her sparkling water. “I used to dance around with Chloe, my best friend, when we were little. I would go to her house and watch her do ballet in her studio, then I would copy her dance moves here and there.”
“Oh? Why didn’t you take lessons if you enjoyed it so much?” Jenny asked the question that I had always wanted to know.
“My mother wanted me to focus on my studies.” She laughed awkwardly. “Become a doctor, follow in my dad’s footsteps and all.”
Typical Asian parent.
“You mean you were never allowed to do anything for fun outside of school?” Jenny sounded as if she enjoyed the after-school activities that she hated so much.
“No, not really. I guess hanging out with Chloe was kind of fun. Plus, when you grow up with two older brothers, you can have all kinds of unexpected fun that they swing your way.”
My heart ached. I knew that Lincoln was a good brother.
But he had no common interests with June at all.
Apart from their love for Chloe. He loved swimming and was captain of the swim team at university.
And he was free to pursue whatever career he wanted – other than medicine.
It was so sad that June’s mom held a different standard for her.
“But you’re a doctor now and that’s amazing.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“Yeah, but sometimes I hate it.”
* * *
After dinner, a team of cleaning staff came round and tidied up. It took them less than five minutes and it looked as if we didn’t even have dinner at all. I liked my teams invisible and unseen – most of the time. All the time if possible. Though my staff kept telling me that it wasn’t possible.