I love you, 바보...

Settling Down

Hookie
She's getting better quickly, but who knows? We're a gang after all, there's going to be people knocking on our doors armed with guns or worse, blades. If you run out of ammo, that's it, you're going home. And besides, it's not exactly silent, even with a muzzle silencer. Knives, you can keep going, and you can have more than two on you at once. Guns, you can only hide so many because they're heavy, and you can't shoot one in each hand even if you're extremely experienced. There's not enough control, but, even if you're not in full control of your non-dominant hand, you can use two knives at once and hide more in a dozen places. Some even have a little surprise on the tang. Kimmy says it's a good thing I don't have any younger siblings running around and finding my stash of knives (all legal here in England, of course, including the hunting knives) under my bed in a locker trunk. Kids. They always find a way to break open trunks and anything they get their hands on. I was one of them once. Smash something, anything at the locks and they'll break. One time, it was an athletics trophy. Took the base out from under the plastic figure in one hit, then I grabbed the base itself and smashed the locks off. That was Kimmy's eldest brother's that we smashed. It was seriously Kimmy's idea, no joke. Both of us were reprimanded, Kimmy more than I was. We became friends after that, I was barely 8 and she was 6. Her family hates both of us. Her, because to them, she's always been and always will be, a nuisance. Me, because my family are peasants and they are by far wealthier.

Jamie
Hey James, I've settled into my accommodation now. We're having a whole bunch of activities tomorrow. If you need any new recruits, I'll do some recruiting here. Not long after, Zain texted me.
Tiger, you settled in? I'm back from what James got me to do. Think I nearly died 10 times today. Never get into Will's car, it's a trap.
Who's the hostage? Guy or girl? Fit?
Then Kimmy texts me. Hasn't been 8 hours and your Zeddy has a crush. On the new girl.
The one Zeddy went up north to escort?
Think so. He's acting like it a little.
Ah, that boy.
James replies to me. Find friends first.
Ah, ok. But after that? Here in law school there's so many Asians I can't just not recruit a few!
If you're friends with them and they're any good, and you know what I mean, sure, go ahead.
Zain finally replies. Girl. She's alright, come-c-come.
That's not what Kimmy said.
That girl! House got shot up and she's gossiping. Priorities.
To Kimmy: Zeddy told me your house got shot up. Everyone alright?
Yeah. We're all fine, don't worry
Seriously, I leave for 6 hours and a house gets shot up, Zeddy finds a fit girl and I find out Will's a dangerous driver.
Only now?
Don't know him well. You know who I hang out with.
"Who's Kimmy?"
"My second cousin once removed 'geh' girlfriend. It's rude to look over people's shoulders, you know."
"Sorry about that. I'm Kevin Law. I'm new here, from over in Leeds." He enthusiastically introduces himself then sticks his hand out.
"Jamie," I spit, nonetheless shaking his hand firmly. "But I prefer Tiger."
"Oh. Why's that?"
"When I was in year 8, the boys said my name was too boyish, I'm a girl, I can't have that name. To annoy them, I came up with Tiger. Named after my favourite style in the martial arts I do. In addition, I punched a few of them because they wouldn't shut up," I add offhandedly. "Do you speak Canto?"
"Yeah. You?"
"You've got the most Canto surname there is out there. I'm from Hong Kong, got family in Canada, Australia, way out in Wales, and on the mainland."
"You ever been back?"
"Nah. Not to the mainland. I've seen my dad's Sunday night news broadcasted in Hong Kong, I don't even want to try to cross the road out there. And anyway, we never had enough money. We would have gone to Beijing, but we're a Bradford family. We don't have the quids to go. Just going to Salisbury Plain was a big deal, I'm tellin' ya."
"Ah, we've been back. We have to cross the roads in Beijing in big groups, otherwise they won't stop."
"What part of China you from? Your dad's hometown, I mean."
"Teochew."
"Ah, like me. Have you heard of Bak kut teh?"
"No."
"Pork rib soup. I had my first Bak kut teh in Singapore. It's good. It's really nice."
"Does it taste like Chinese medicine?"
"Uh... just a little. It's a more Cantonese thing to have the herbal taste."
"Eck."
"Yeah. When I was younger, I was in Hong Kong when I got sick. My gran found a herbal shop in some back street. Awful. Even with the sugar syrup after, seriously. Just stick a couple needles in me for acupuncture, I'll go with that thanks."
"Which would you choose if I were to ask you to pick: durian, or herbal meds?"
"Death." He looked at me surprised. I raised an eyebrow. "My parents and sister died. It was a few years ago."
"I'm sorry about what happened." He looked at me with a strange look, though not quite the kicked puppy one, thankfully.
"Don't need to be. Wasn't you that shot up the restaurant they were in."
"Wait... so how did you get enough money to come, then? I mean-"
"Magic. Come with me tonight, I'm gonna take you to the best Chinese there is in town. Soft shelled crab. It's a delicacy."
"With... with the shell?"
"When they're growing, they lose their shell and grow a new one, right?"
"Right."
"At specified times of the year, the growing shell is thin enough to be edible, ok?"
"Yeah."
"Well when you fry that," I tell him, "with salt and pepper, it's the most amazing food you'll ever have. Sometimes it's a little on the squishy side. Still great though. In that case, I spit out the oil. Mum used to say-"
"Well someone wants to live 200 years!"
"Yeah, that."
"You coming to The Green?"
"Yeah."
"It's two miles from there to school of management. I did homework on the area."
"I'll walk."
"You don't have a bike?"
"Can't ride one. Never learnt to."
"Hop on to mine then."
"No thanks. If we're getting to class together, I'll run."

Dinner that night was the best I'd eaten in maybe a year. On top of that, I'd found myself a new friend, glasses and all. For Saturday night, he promised me Bak kut teh. His family bought boxes of the soup base in powder when they were in Malaysia, tomorrow morning he'll go to the butcher for the pork ribs.