Adam became the adopted son of Christina and Joseph Yong and they and Lucinda and Patrick were the only family he ever knew. Christina, a brown-skinned Sinhalese beauty and the youngest of three daughters born to Rohini and Dilip Navarajasingham, met Joseph while she was on an exchange visit for students between universities in Hong Kong and Colombo. Joseph was an unusually tall Hong Kong Chinese man, the son of very wealthy parents, and their wealth had allowed him to start his own import/export business when he was only nineteen years old. He joined forces with Stuart Harrison and Jack Pennington when he was twenty-three, and they, being well-established businessmen in Hong Kong, saw Joseph as a bit of a threat. The offer they made was one Joseph could not refuse.
So when Christina - her name was Salani when she left Colombo - met Joseph he was already a US dollar millionaire, very young and the best looking man around. She received a lot of grief from her parents when she wrote home to tell them she was giving up her studies and marrying Joseph. There was also the religious aspect to consider because Christina had been brought up in the Hindu faith and Joseph was a Christian, but there was also a significant cultural difference. Although Christina’s father was a doctor and her mother a nurse, they wouldn’t earn in a lifetime what Joseph could earn in a year.
But after meeting Joseph they mellowed considerably and eventually gave the union their blessing. Joseph’s father, Henry - western forenames had become the norm in the Yong family after Joseph’s grandparents embraced Christianity prior to World War II - was smitten with Christina’s beauty the moment he met her, and Helena, Joseph’s mother, took only a little longer to follow suit.
Harrison, Pennington and Yong Inc. thrived and by the time Joseph was thirty, with Patrick and Lucinda born before Christina was twenty-three, he was looking at his second US dollar million.
After his parents’ tragic deaths, Adam moved from the luxury of a six-bedroom mansion in Repulse Bay - a select area on the south coast of Hong Kong Island - to equal luxury close to Clear Water Bay to the North East of Kowloon.
His Cantonese was fluent by the time he was eight and in the Yong household all five of them could discuss anything in either Cantonese or English. They used to drift from language to language, each choosing the word or phrase that was most expressive. Adam and Lucinda were in the same class at the local school and Patrick two years above them. All three children were deemed to be of above average intelligence, the headmistress’s way of saying that they were academically a class above many others. Adam and Lucinda were in the top grades for all subjects and each evening their homework was attended to with great enthusiasm and, what was to be more important, together.
* * *
‘ We’re so lucky,’ Joseph told his wife, his arm round her waist as they watched the group of nine, ten and eleven-year olds enjoying themselves. ‘It’s hard to believe that five years ago we were facing possible ruin.’
‘ You never told me that,’ Christina said without taking her eyes off Adam and Lucinda. As usual they were together. They were giving most of their attention to their guests but every now and again they caught each other’s eye, and smiled. Christina was more watchful than Joseph. She was only too aware how close the two children had become and to some extent to the exclusion of Patrick. He was at the party as well, and he too was watching his sister and brother very closely. He’d never said anything to his mother, but she had sensed there was resentment.
‘ I didn’t have to tell you. You knew but you were too tactful to say anything. If the company hadn’t been bought so swiftly we could have gone under very quickly.’ He tightened his grip on Christina’s waist. ‘But we didn’t and thanks to your brilliance we’re now doing as well
So when Christina - her name was Salani when she left Colombo - met Joseph he was already a US dollar millionaire, very young and the best looking man around. She received a lot of grief from her parents when she wrote home to tell them she was giving up her studies and marrying Joseph. There was also the religious aspect to consider because Christina had been brought up in the Hindu faith and Joseph was a Christian, but there was also a significant cultural difference. Although Christina’s father was a doctor and her mother a nurse, they wouldn’t earn in a lifetime what Joseph could earn in a year.
But after meeting Joseph they mellowed considerably and eventually gave the union their blessing. Joseph’s father, Henry - western forenames had become the norm in the Yong family after Joseph’s grandparents embraced Christianity prior to World War II - was smitten with Christina’s beauty the moment he met her, and Helena, Joseph’s mother, took only a little longer to follow suit.
Harrison, Pennington and Yong Inc. thrived and by the time Joseph was thirty, with Patrick and Lucinda born before Christina was twenty-three, he was looking at his second US dollar million.
After his parents’ tragic deaths, Adam moved from the luxury of a six-bedroom mansion in Repulse Bay - a select area on the south coast of Hong Kong Island - to equal luxury close to Clear Water Bay to the North East of Kowloon.
His Cantonese was fluent by the time he was eight and in the Yong household all five of them could discuss anything in either Cantonese or English. They used to drift from language to language, each choosing the word or phrase that was most expressive. Adam and Lucinda were in the same class at the local school and Patrick two years above them. All three children were deemed to be of above average intelligence, the headmistress’s way of saying that they were academically a class above many others. Adam and Lucinda were in the top grades for all subjects and each evening their homework was attended to with great enthusiasm and, what was to be more important, together.
* * *
‘ We’re so lucky,’ Joseph told his wife, his arm round her waist as they watched the group of nine, ten and eleven-year olds enjoying themselves. ‘It’s hard to believe that five years ago we were facing possible ruin.’
‘ You never told me that,’ Christina said without taking her eyes off Adam and Lucinda. As usual they were together. They were giving most of their attention to their guests but every now and again they caught each other’s eye, and smiled. Christina was more watchful than Joseph. She was only too aware how close the two children had become and to some extent to the exclusion of Patrick. He was at the party as well, and he too was watching his sister and brother very closely. He’d never said anything to his mother, but she had sensed there was resentment.
‘ I didn’t have to tell you. You knew but you were too tactful to say anything. If the company hadn’t been bought so swiftly we could have gone under very quickly.’ He tightened his grip on Christina’s waist. ‘But we didn’t and thanks to your brilliance we’re now doing as well
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