A heart song
As the bus drove through the streets of Kowloon and headed towards the Cross-Harbour tunnel, Diano tried to relax and get work out of his head. He’d been stuck at the Mong Kok office until late and not had dinner yet. He was hungry. His plan was to get off at Causeway Bay and buy a takeaway dinner. He’d have eaten near the office but he preferred going home instead.
He dialed Summer’s number.
“Hi. Where are you?” asked Diano.
“Home.”
“How’s Jai Jai?”
“He’s fine. Fed him already. Going to clean the litter box now. Where are you?”
“Taking a bus back.”
“Okay. What about dinner?” she asked.
“I’ll go for a wonton mein takeaway from the restaurant downstairs. Do you want anything?”
“Get the same for me. Thanks.”
“Cute?”
“Don’t know. No messages from him.”
“Okay. See you later.” Diano hung up.
The traffic had slowed down to a crawl. The TV on the bus was running a program on some road show. It was followed by a short one on spoken English. He was bored.
He was playing with his phone when it buzzed. It was an SMS from Andy. He replied to it. And within moments, he got another one. He replied. And they played this game for some time. It was funny and Diano was happy. He imagined Andy biting his lower lip as he tapped the keys on his cell phone.
The traffic cleared again and he got off at his stop. He headed to the restaurant and bought dinner. Then he huffed and puffed his way up to their flat.
Summer took the food from him and set it up on the table. By the time Diano washed up and sat down to eat, Summer was midway through hers.
“You are hungry.”
“Yes. Sorry.” She laughed.
“Okay, la. Where’s Jai Jai?” Diano asked.
“Sleeping under the sofa. You look excited. What’s up?”
“Guess,” Diano teased her.
“Andy. It’s easy lah.” She laughed and put a wonton into her mouth.
“Chiew.” How did she manage to guess every time?
“Ha-ha. I win,” Summer said.
“Not yet. You need to guess what I’m excited about.”
“Hmm. Let me guess.” She thought for a minute. “He’s coming over.”
“No. One more guess. The last one.”
“Then you’re going over to visit him lah.” She laughed.
“Chiew. How can you tell every time?” He made a face.
“I’m the omniscient one.” She winked.
“Okay, okay. Whatever.” He stuck his tongue at her.
“When are you flying?”
“Friday. We’re thinking of going to Hangzhou.”
“Hangzhou should be close to Shanghai. You could go there on your next business trip.”
“I could. But I wanna see him now. I don’t think I can wait until another business trip, which may happen after several months.” Diano got up to get a drink from the refrigerator.
“Have you booked the ticket yet?” Summer asked gobbling up another wonton.
“Not yet. I’ll book the Shanghai leg tonight. We’ll take a train to Hangzhou. Saving on the hotel in Shanghai for obvious reasons — staying with him.” Diano winked.
“How romantic.” She smiled.
Diano blushed.
After dinner was over, he played peek-a-boo with Jai Jai. Diano would run and hide behind a door. He’d open it wide enough for Jai Jai to enter. But Jai Jai wouldn’t follow him in immediately. So he’d peep out from behind the door and say “Peek-a-boo”. Then Jai Jai would run to him and try to push the door open. He would meow and stretch his full body against the door and throw his weight behind the push. Diano would then run to another door and repeat it. Jai Jai liked the game very much and would start running around and hiding.
After some time he switched on his laptop and launched MSN. He got a pop up as soon as he was logged in.
Andy: Waiting for you.
Diano: I’ve been thinking of you.
Andy: ^^
Diano: 😀 Let’s play a rhyming game. Let’s make our song.
Andy: Our song? How?
Diano: Just write something that rhymes with mine. Okay?
Andy: Okay! Waiting for you
Diano: I’ve been thinking of you
Andy: No plan to meet you at all…
Diano: Just by chance — a phone call.
Andy: When we walked on the streets, raindrops came falling down…
Diano: Under the brolly — together, you put your hand around…
Andy: Then?
Diano: Diamonds in the windows…
Andy: Your hand in my hand… Doesn’t rhyme, I’m afraid. 😛
Diano: Doesn’t have to be perfect lah. Try again.
Andy: 😛
Diano: Diamonds in the windows…
Andy: Your hand in my hand… 😛
Diano: In your eyes, I saw the words
Andy: I so longed to hear…
Diano: Hot coffee, cold day
Andy: Candlelight, flowers, chocolate
Diano: To add to the romance
Andy: You sang my favourite song
Diano: When the snow fell
Andy: For the first time that year…
Diano: The first kiss!
Andy: :$
Diano: Then I had to say goodbye…
Andy: I miss you all the time…
Diano: ^^
Andy: You leave me by myself day by day…
Diano picked up his phone and dialed.
“I’m coming over this weekend.”
“Ha! Why are you calling?” asked Andy. “We’re on MSN already.”
“I wanted to hear your voice,” Diano said.
There was a pause.
“I just wanted to hear your voice, not silence,” Diano said.
“Ha-ha. Sorry. What do you want to hear?” asked Andy.
“Anything. Just talk.”
“Thanks for the surprise visit but I’m flying to Qingdao on Friday night.”
“Really?”
“Not really. Just kidding.” Andy laughed.
“Let’s go to Hangzhou, okay?”
“Okay,” Andy said. “If you fly in on Friday night, we could leave on Saturday morning.”
“Can you buy the train tickets or is there any way I can book it online?” asked Diano.
“Don’t worry about that. But have you considered flying directly to Hangzhou?”
“I want to fly to Shanghai, spend Friday night there,” Diano said.
“So will you stay beyond the weekend?” Andy asked.
“I’ll fly back on Sunday evening.”
“Oh.” Andy paused for a couple of seconds before he spoke again. “Will that be too hectic for you?”
“That’s okay lah. I’ll sleep on the flights.”
“Is that enough?” Andy asked.
“I’ll sleep early everyday until Friday.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to hang up now. Need to book the tickets.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Huh? Did you forget to say something?” asked Diano.
“No. I’ll say it on MSN,” Andy said.
“Why? Why not on the phone?”
“I’m shy.”
