Paradise Street

17

When Yu Teng left the hotel, Zi Hong stood staring at the door for hours. He didn't know what to do, so he started crying and went back to bed. He stayed like that for two days, staring at the door from the bed and hoping that maybe Yu Teng would come back. But he never came back, and Zi Hong knew Yu Teng wouldn't come back.

He's the one who did the shit, so he's the one who's going to have to find a way to fix it.

Zi Hong's first impulse is to go after Yu Teng, call or go to his house, but then he realises he can't do that. He can't just beg for his forgiveness when nothing has changed. Yu Teng was right, Zi Hong's plan was to hide in a hotel room forever, that was never a conscious plan, but coming to think of it now, he realizes it was what he wanted.

Wednesday morning Zi Hong returns home, determined to talk to Joyce, but, surprise! She is ignoring him as much as he was ignoring her.

She doesn't answer any of his calls.

Zi Hong transfers all his work to the home office and stays planted twenty-four hours a day in his living room, waiting for her to come back.

It was his turn to wait for her willingness to talk, and he couldn't blame her.

While waiting for her to return, Zi Hong decides to start packing his things, which doesn't take long and soon he has three suitcases full of his things, on the side of the table where he spends all day facing the door. Every day she doesn't come home is one more day away from Yu Teng, and it's killing him. Zi Hong is getting more and more anxious and impatient. So on Friday night, when Joyce finally comes back, he just wants to get straight to the point.

"Wow...," Joyce says when she sees him, "you really want to talk to me," her gaze drops to Zi Hong's suitcases near the table.

"Can we talk?" Zi Hong asks and Joyce leaves the suitcase that she was holding in the corner of the room and goes to the sofa, "I want a divorce," he says.

"Honestly, I thought you would never have the courage to ask," Joyce says.

"I'm sorry I can't be the husband you deserve," Zi Hong says, sitting next to her and she lets out a weak laugh.

"Who is she?" Joyce asks.

"Joyce...," Zi Hong says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm just asking, I'm not going to go after the woman with a knife, if that's what you're worried about," Joyce says.

She deserves the whole truth, right? Or at least most of it.

"He," Zi Hong says, without look at her.

"What?" Joyce asks, surprised.

"It's a man, I'm with a man," Zi Hong says, still without looking at her.

"You are...?" Joyce asks, standing up and clearly trying to remain calm.

"Yes," Zi Hong gets up too and approaches her, "Joyce, I'm sorry."

"You already knew? When we married, you already knew?" Joyce asked, her eyes watering.

"Yes...," Zi Hong says.

Joyce takes a deep breath and pulls away from Zi Hong. He doesn't say anything, just lets her process the information.

"The bakery guy," Joyce says after a while, approaching him again, "is him, doesn't?"

The fear that Joyce might have noticed something that day at the bakery, already had passed, so it's a shock to Zi Hong that she still remembers it.