Read Online White Tiger by Kylie Chan - Free Book Online Page B

so.’
    Louise stared at her. ‘You only see your husband once every six weeks?’
    April nodded through the dim sum. ‘We’ve decided to go and live in Australia. He wants to get Australian citizenship. I’ll go first, do the papers, find us a place to live. He’ll come later.’
    ‘You’re leaving Hong Kong?’ I said. ‘When?’
    ‘In about a month, I think,’ April said. ‘September, October.’
    ‘I’ll miss you.’
    ‘I’ll be back all the time,’ she said. ‘To visit. And go shopping.’
    Another trolley rolled up beside us. Instead of the little bamboo steamers, it had four square pots with lids and ladles. ‘Who wants pig’s blood?’ April said. ‘Congee, mixed beef guts. Anybody?’
    Everybody shook their heads. April ordered some pig’s blood anyway: dark red jelly-like cubes in clear broth. She passed the card to the waitress who stamped it with a tiny circular stamp held on a string around her neck.
    April stirred the blood. ‘Emma, you have to go and see Aunty Kitty.’
    ‘Aunty who?’ Louise said. ‘Aunty Kitty.’ ‘Kitty Kwok?’ I said.
    ‘Yes. She wants to see you.’ ‘What for?’
    ‘Don’t go, Emma, she just wants to bully you into working there again,’ Louise said. ‘Business has really gone downhill at the kindergarten since you left.’
    ‘You have to go and see her,’ April said again.
    ‘No, I don’t.’
    ‘Call her then,’ April said. ‘She wants to talk to you.’
    I rose and went to the ladies’ room without saying another word. Louise followed me. As soon as we were out of earshot, she was onto me. ‘Quick, tell me all.’
    ‘About what? Kitty Kwok?’
    ‘No, silly,’ she hissed with a grin. ‘Your new job.’
    ‘Nothing much to tell,’ I said. ‘I work as a nanny, I look after Simone, end of story.’
    ‘What about her dad?’ she said. ‘What’s he like? Are he and Leo…’ She nodded back towards the dining room. ‘You know?’
    I smiled. ‘He’s absolutely gorgeous. A total gentleman. And him and Leo? No.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘I’m sure of it. Leo brings guys home all the time. Real man-about-town. Leo even told me himself: not Mr Chen.’
    ‘But what about Mr Chen? What’s he do ?’
    ‘I have no idea,’ I said. ‘I think he’s a spy. He teaches
    martial arts to kids, but he says that he works for the
    government.’
    Louise stared incredulously at me. I nodded, reinforcing the point.
    ‘Can you invite me up?’ she said as we went through the doors. ‘I’d love to check him out, Emma. Sounds unreal.’
    ‘You have no idea.’ I lowered my voice. ‘You know he only ever wears black? Everything. Sometimes he even wears a black shirt with his suits.’
    ‘You have to get me up there,’ Louise whispered. ‘I have to see. Please, Emma.’ ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
    She reached out and squeezed my arm. ‘ Please .’
    We walked out from City Hall and back along the waterfront.
    ‘Can we go to the shops in Central before we go home, Emma?’ Simone said. ‘Is that okay, Leo?’ ‘Yeah, no problem.’
    We walked towards the pedestrian underpass that would take us across the road to the shops. The concrete walls were black from car exhaust fumes. Advertising billboards blanketed the underpass, and a beggar crouched under one of the columns, displaying his withered limbs.
    On the other side of the underpass we stopped at the kerb to cross Chater Road. The pedestrian light turned green, and I went to lead Simone across the road, but she wouldn’t move.
    ‘Leo!’ she called loudly.
    Leo had taken a few steps to cross the road, but quickly returned to us. He bent to Simone. ‘What, sweetheart?’
    Simone cast around, her eyes unseeing. ‘Take me home, Leo, now .’
    Leo scooped her up and hurried back to the underpass. ‘Come on, Emma,’ he called.
    ‘Hurry, Leo,’ Simone said.
    Leo strode down the underpass, pushing through the crowd. ‘How many, sweetheart?’ I struggled to keep up with him.
    ‘I don’t