Where are you?
Diano was surprised all his calls were going to Andy’s voicemail. Had Andy had forgotten his cell phone somewhere? Had it been stolen? If the phone had been stolen, the thief would turn it off. Andy would have called Diano to inform him. There had been no calls and there had been no messages on MSN either. That was unlike Andy.
As per plan, Diano took an afternoon flight out of Hong Kong and landed in Shanghai a little after 8 p.m. He tried Andy’s number a few more times but still no luck. Hoping to find him at home, Diano hopped on the Maglev and rode into the city. He got off at the Longyang Lu terminus, changed to Line no. 2 of the Shanghai Metro and rode to the Nanjing Road West subway station. Since Andy’s home was in the neighbourhood, he walked the rest of the way.
Arriving at Andy’s flat he found the door locked. He rang the bell a few times and then, thinking it might be out of order, knocked on the door. No answer.
The neighbours had been alerted by the knocking and peeped out of their doors to see who it was. An old lady came out and started shouting at him.
“Who are you? Why are you making so much noise? I knew those boys were trouble. Why have you come here? What do you want? Useless man. Don’t you have anything else to do?” She spoke in one breath.
“Er… I’m looking for….”
“Looking for what? Just let us live in peace. Tell your friends to move out. This isn’t a railway station. Everybody turns up here and starts making noise. Get out of here.”
Her random outburst surprised Diano. He remembered Andy having mentioned the troublesome old lady, but facing her was a different ball game.
“Sorry.” Diano wanted to avoid a confrontation.
However, her neighbours weren’t that forgiving. One of them stepped out and spoke to the old lady.
“Who do you think you are? The police? You’re the one who makes the most noise here. You’ve destroyed the peace in our lives.” He pointed at Diano. “He’s a guest. Why are you shouting at him? Those boys are good. It’s you who have trouble with whoever moves into that flat.” He peeped into the old lady’s home. “Where’s your family? Why do they leave you alone without medication for so long?”
Diano fished out a piece of paper from his wallet and jotted down a note to Andy saying he was in Shanghai and going for a drink. He slipped the note under the door and walked out of the building.
He was lucky he had brought a light backpack instead of a heavy bag. Carrying a heavy bag around would have been a bother.
As he walked along Nanjing Road West, he was glad he’d brought his jacket along. The air was chilly. It blew with an intent, as if to prove winter wasn’t over yet. Diano pulled up the zipper and tucked his hands into the pockets, as it started drizzling. He crossed a familiar section of the road. He’d walked along it with Andy on their first evening together. It had been a special one. Where was Andy?
The drizzle had intensified by the time he reached the flower shop. Diano crossed the street and went into the Starbucks coffee shop. He wanted a mug of hot chocolate.
###
Oliver sat inside the Starbucks shop sipping a Mocha Frappuccino.
Flying to Shanghai had been a last minute decision. He’d wanted to get away from Hong Kong that weekend. It reminded him of Priscilla especially with all his relatives asking about her at the Chinese New Year gatherings. So when Energy had mentioned he was flying to Shanghai to attend a friend’s wedding, Oliver had decided to tag along with him.
The deal was Energy would go attend the wedding while Oliver would hang out by himself on Friday night. They’d then team up on Saturday. Since Energy had booked a room at the Grand Hyatt, he’d asked Oliver to stay with him. He’d be at the wedding on Friday night anyway and Saturday was marked for some wild fun. Oliver had agreed to stay with him to save costs, however he was skeptical of the wild fun part. Every time Energy mentioned wild fun, there had been nothing but trouble.
Oliver smiled as he took another sip. The evening had just begun and he had no idea what to do. Hitting the disco alone was a bit boring? Too bad he knew nobody in Shanghai that he could call to hang out with him.
The door opened and in stepped somebody who looked familiar to him. It was Diano! Summer had mentioned Diano came to Shanghai often. Oliver wondered if he should say hello and check if Diano would want to join him for a night at the discos. If he was alone, and had no other plans, he’d probably say yes.
He waited for Diano to place his order and then walked up to the counter. When Diano turned towards him, Oliver forgot what he’d wanted to say.
“Hi?” Diano went first.
“Hi.” All of a sudden the whole idea seemed preposterous. Why would somebody who was meeting him for the first time want to go clubbing with him? In order to save himself further embarrassment he turned towards the self-help counter and fumbled around.
“Have we met before?” Diano spoke again as Oliver was about to walk back to his chair.
Oliver stopped and smiled. “Yes.”
“I can’t remember where, I beg your pardon, but your face looks familiar.”
Oliver wanted to tell him about the night Diano had passed out from drunkenness. He wanted to tell Diano how he’d carried his unconscious body from the ground floor up to their 7th floor apartment and tucked him into bed. Summer had mentioned that Diano had been very embarrassed about it. But they didn’t know Diano had tried to kiss Oliver, while mumbling somebody else’s name. Oliver laughed.
“Oh, yes! I remember now. I’ve seen you in Hong Kong. You’re from Hong Kong, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen you all over Hong Kong. In Causeway Bay. In Central. In the MTR. In Lan Kwai Fong. No wonder your face looks familiar.” Diano smiled.
“Really? That’s funny. Do you want to join me over there?” Oliver pointed towards a sofa.
“Sure. By the way, I’m Diano. Nice to meet you.”
Oliver thought Diano would be embarrassed once he heard his name. That would definitely work against Oliver’s plans for hanging out together.
“Norman.” He lied as he shook Diano’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
If it still didn’t work out, he’d walk away and disappear.
