The Chinatown Affair

"Sure am," Jonathon nodded heading back to the kitchen. He returned with two glasses and a bottle of champagne. "I was saving it for your Mom and Dad's homecoming. They really like this stuff," Jonathon explained while pouring them each a drink. "But I hate to see a dress like that go to waste," the younger man teased while gesturing to Mei's new freedom without the big jacket on. "Happy, uhh, reunion!" Jonathon announced, spontaneously and raised his glass.

Mei found herself lauging unexpectedly before finally forcing herself to stop. "Happy reunion!" she beamed and raised her glass to complete the toast.

****

The next day, Mei was startled by a distant noise. She batted her eyes open and stretched her arms slowly, before realizing that she was in her parent's bed and it was daylight. Sunbeams were bursting through the blinds and drawing horizontal lines on the floor. Then it really hit her. She was in her parent's bed, it was morning, and she was not at the hotel with her husband!

"Shit!" the woman cursed herself while looking around. The previous night started flooding back to her, but parts of it were missing. Then the smell of breakfast wafted its way to the bedroom. She could hear Jonathon's voice as he sang to himself while cooking. "Oh, shit, what've I done!" she whispered. Throwing back the covers, Mei saw that her dress was still on and that was a good sign, but she couldn't help wondering if the two of them had slept together. Trying to keep calm, she lifted up her dress to see that her panties were still on and in place. Nor did she feel 'different' between her legs. Nothing had happened.

"Hey, you hungry?" Jonathon asked upon peeking his head in the doorway.

Mei quickly pulled her dress back down.

"Yeah, sure." Breakfast was a treat. It felt strange to be waited on by someone else, but she liked it. And the meal gave her time to think of what she was going to tell her husband about why she'd stayed out all night. "I can't believe I did this," the dark haired woman began. "I'm not usually this irresponsible."

"Well, if you ask me, you weren't the one being irresponsible. I watched you call your husband three times asking for help and he never returned any of your phone calls. "Besides, I kinda screwed up too. I waited too long to offer you a cab. By the time it got here, you were completely knocked out. So I just put you to bed."

"No, that was the right thing to do. I guess I owe you, don't I? Maybe ask my parent's to shave a little off next month's rent?" Mei smiled.

"No way, they'd start asking questions and eventually find out that I got their daughter drunk," Jonathon laughed. "How about you buy me another bottle of champagne and we call it even," he said gesturing to the numerous empty bottle that was left on the coffee table next to her purse.

"Of course," Mei beamed and continued to eat.

One expensive cab ride later, Mei was finally back at the hotel. Her heart pounded as she slipped her card-key into the lock and pushed the door open. Mark was having a smoke with the window open and watching a game on television.

"Hey Mark," the woman began softly.

"Shhh!" the man hushed his wife.

Moments later the commercials started and Mei saw this as her opportunity to explain why she was just barely arriving.

"About last night. I'm so sorry for staying out. I—,"

"Hey, you're parent's didn't want me to come see them or anything, did they?" Mark interrupted. That wasn't supposed to be part of our trip."

"What?"

"Well, that's where you were last night, weren't you? Somethin' like that. I was busy, so I didn't listen to the whole message that you left," Mark admitted. "Oh quiet! Game's back on."

Mei stood their thoughtfully. It was obvious that her husband had also forgotten that her parents were in China for the summer and that someone else was renting the apartment. And since he wasn't one for listening anyway, she no longer felt obligated to tell him everything that had happened last night, especially not the part about spending the night in a house with a younger man.

****

Back in Texas, things returned to usual with the only excitement being when Mei picked up her daughter Rachel, from a stay with relatives.

"Was it fun, Mommy?" Rachel asked from the backseat of the car.

"Yes, of course," the girl's mother agreed insincerely. Then she thought about Jonathon and the short time she spent with him. They'd talked for hours and he seemed eager to hear anything she had to say. But was it even normal to feel so connected to someone she'd just met? Maybe the rest of the trip had been a disaster, but for half a night and half a morning she felt whole with a complete stranger.

Two nights after their return from San Francisco, Mei waited until everyone was asleep to do something she promised herself that she wouldn't. She called her parent's house.

"Hello," said a deep voice, Jonathon's voice.

"Uhm, yeah. It's just me, Mei. And uh, I just wanted to thank you again for being so nice to me when you didn't have to. So...."

"I've been thinking about you too," the long haired man answered as if he could read her real thoughts. He was impressed that she had called. "Even if it's wrong for me to say so. There's something reallyspecialabout you. I like you a lot." There was a pause on the line. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"I like you too," Mei admitted. "But..." her voice died down.

"Well, it's okay to be friends, isn't it? We live so far apart anyway. It's not as if we could do anything bad together."

"Right, right. That's just what I was thinking before I called you. And I'm so much older, ya know. I'm more like a big sister to you or something, I'm sure. Nothing romantic," the woman said shyly, rejecting herself before Jonathon eventually could.

"You're beautiful, Mei," said a very serious voice over the line. "I don't care if you don't think so. You're beautiful."

Mei's heart began to beat so loudly, she was sure that Jonathon could probably hear it over the phone.

"I have to go now," she said weakly. "Talk to you later."

After hanging up the phone, Mei took a moment to catch her breath. She began to notice that her body had reacted to the conversation in a way that she had not first realized. Her nipples were stiff, poking through the material of her nightgown and she had the urge to touch herself.

Locking herself in the master bathroom, the woman tucked a hand into her lace underwear; slender fingers making contact with a neatly trimmed bush of black pubic above her opening. She toyed with her clit, manipulating its aroused state before sinking further to her labia and parting them for entrance. She was wet and excited from the sound of Jonathon's voice. Over and over again, she thought about the way he told her that she was beautiful. Mei thought about his long, sexy hair and what it would be like to feel him drag it across her nude body.

Suddenly, the door handle began to shake. "You on the toilet?" Mark asked. "I have to take a leak."

The man's wife sighed with disappointment and washed her hands before returning to bed.

****

"You seem different," Linda squinted, while nursing her cup of coffee across the lunchroom table. "What happened in California?" she asked. Mei just shook her head. "C'mon honey, spit it out."

"Nothing."

"Baloney. You've got so much more energy and you're happier. Did Mark die?" the redhead teased.

"Linda!" No one knew Mark quite like Linda on account of her being his younger half-sister and no one despised him like Linda either.

"Alright, alright, but tell me. I thought we were supposed to be best friends." Against her better judgment, Mei finally explained what was on her mind. "Well, you've been back over a week. How come you didn't tell me this sooner?"

"Because talking about it makes it real."

"Makeswhatreal?" Linda furrowed her eyebrows.

"That I'm, ya know, involved with another man," Mei whispered the last part, afraid that their co-workers might be listening.

"Wake up, honey. You're barelyinvolvedwith your own husband," the redhead finished before returning to her desk.

After work, Mei was walking out to the car when she felt her cell phone vibrate. She'd received a text message from Jonathon; a simple note explaining that he hoped she was having a nice day. And more notes just like that one started to arrive every few days as their friendship grew.

Mei had achieved a renewed sense of self-worth through Jonathon. But no matter how well the two of them got along, she made sure to remind herself that their relationship could never progress beyond the telephone or e-mails. And that was okay because it meant that there was less room for her to get hurt in the long run and less guilt for accepting his attention while still being married. Jonathon was twenty-something, he lived out of state, and their cultural values made it wrong for them to be together; values that could cause a great deal of embarrassment for Mei's parents who still lived in Chinatown. The way she saw it, they couldn't really be together anyway, so there was no use even considering it.

****

One month after returning from San Francisco, Mei was presented with another reason to get all dressed up and the very thought of it made her nervous. A retirement party was being held at the courthouse where her husband worked, in honor of his soon to be ex-supervisor.

Mark was feeling good as he adjusted the silk tie around his neck. The retirement of his old supervisor meant that he was up for promotion and tonight, the announcement would be made. If anyone at work didn't fear him yet, they ought to now. He smiled in the mirror with satisfaction before looking over his shoulder to see if Mei was ready yet. Her hair and make up were done, but she was still standing in the middle of their closet, deciding on the right outfit, not wanting to feel so self-conscious like the last time they went out together. Finally, she settled on an ivory blouse with a dusky red skirt.

"God, you're such an easy target," Mark finally chimed in. "That red just makes your ass look like the side of a barn. And aren't women your size supposed to wear dark colors? Here, put this on," the man finally decided for her, pulling out a navy blue dress that had once belonged to Mark's mother, Ellen before she passed. The faded, pilling material fit her like a circus tent, but at least her husband approved this time, so Mei kept it on. After all, tonight washisnight.

At the retirement party, Mei and her husband were immediately greeted by different people that Mark worked with. When it was time to mingle, Mei found herself having a lot of fun. She and Mark even started getting along better once he officially received his promotion that evening.

"I'm proud of you," the dark haired woman made sure to tell her husband. "You deserve this." As a wife it was better to just be forgiving sometimes and move on, even if her husband had been a real jerk earlier. He didn't seem very receptive of her praises, but his insults came to a halt for the time being.

As usual, someone had brought a karaoke machine to the party. At first, it only seemed as if the drunkest people would even dare to get up on stage and sing, but slowly others of a more sober nature began to take hold of the microphone. Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath my Wings," was a favorite, not only for the people singing but for the people laughing in the audience.

The music was so loud that it had taken Mei awhile to recognize the sound of her cell phone vibrating at the bottom of her purse. She was too late to answer and the lighting was too dim for her to read the ID bar correctly. Noticing a well lit area, she stood up and began making her way over to it when she heard someone say:

"Another volunteer!"

"What?" Mei questioned. Then it hit her that she had accidentally volunteered to sing karaoke by standing up. "Oh no, I can't. I was just—,"

"Get on up here! The next song is by The Jets. C'mon girl, let's go!" the drunken fool on stage called to her.

Mei turned herself slowly to the stage with a slight smirk. "Dammit..." she whispered to herself. Why oh why did they have to tempt her with that band, one of her favorites as a young girl? She remembered swaying around her bedroom and singing into a hairbrush while listening to The Jets back then. A flush of good feelings, warm feelings that can only be felt by reliving an old memory pulsed through her body. "Okay," she nodded, tucking the cell phone into her dress pocket and got up on stage.

The song was "Make it Real." After clearing her throat a moment, Mei began to sing. She started off averagely enough and people really seemed to enjoy her voice. It didn't take much effort to remember all of the words, but at some point she found herself looking at the karaoke monitor and staring at the lyrics as they moved up the screen. It was the first time she had ever actually read them and the first time she ever realized how similar the song scenario was to her own marriage. She saw her husband out in the sea of faces. The words suddenly became very painful to sing. "Give me one more chance to make it real..." When the song finally ended, Mei exited the stage somberly, even though everyone was clapping for her and smiling. She hated realizations like the one she'd had on stage, the ones when she realized how often it seemed that she had to struggle for Mark's attention, his approval, his love.

Mei holed herself up in the ladies room, letting herself turn into an emotional train wreck as she thought about all of the dreams she used to have for her and Mark's life together. How had things gotten so far off track?

Suddenly, the phone in Mei's pocket went off again. Jonathon's name scrolled across the ID bar. It was he who had called earlier as well. The dark haired woman let out a sigh of frustration. Now really wasn't the time to be receiving calls from him. Jonathon was just a fantasy, her marriage to Mark was real life and that's all she had the strength to think about right now. But after making up her mind to accept the call, Mei began to feel suspicious over the fact that Jonathon called more than once in such a short amount of time. That really wasn't like him.

"Hi Jonathon."

"Listen," the younger man started abruptly. "There was a fire in the shop under your parents' apartment."

"What?! Are you serious? Is anybody hurt?"

"No, it wasn't anything major. And I just got off the phone with your Mom. She wants to know if you can handle talking to the insurance agency during their investigation."

"Shit," the dark haired woman cursed, her words reverberating off of the bathroom tile. Sometimes it really sucked to be an only child. "Sure, whatever," Mei resigned.

"You okay? Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I have to take care of this on my own. I'll talk to you later."

Eventually Mei came out of the ladies room. After getting bad news from Jonathon, the party was over for her. All she wanted to do was get home and start taking care of business. To Mei's relief, other people were already packing up and ready to go, so she wouldn't look like the nagging wife who dragged her man home from the party before everyone else was ready to go.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Mark agreed. "I don't wanna be suckered into helping clean up."

Mei quickly walked back to the table where she'd been sitting to get her purse while Mark continued to exit the building. When she finally got out to the parking lot and spotted him near the car, he was chatting with a co-worker, Amber. Mei noted that she was also Asian and roughly the same height as her, but a little younger. She didn't usually pay so much attention to other women, but something about this one seemed so familiar. "Nice dress, by the way," Mei heard her husband tell the other woman and that's when she realized the similarity. Amber was wearing the exact same dress that Mei had worn to their reunion. The older woman suddenly felt very ugly, uglier than she'd ever felt. Why did Mark think that dress was acceptable on Amber, but not on her?

"Hi, you must be Mark's wife," Amber said and held out her hand once Mei got close enough to shake it.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," the younger woman said while eyeing Mei's raggedy dress. She didn't mean to be impolite, but the expression on her face gave away exactly what she was thinking about her co-worker's wife. "Well, I should go now. See you on Monday,Boss!" the girl teased, noting that Mark was now her superior due to his promotion.

The car ride home was a silent one, Mei not trusting her voice enough to speak without cracking while she tried to come to terms with what had happened in the parking lot. At home, she started making phone calls on behalf of her parents to collect information about what should happen next in terms of the shop fire.

"But wait a minute," Mei struggled to get a word in edgewise over the phone to an insurance representative. "The tenants in the souvenir shop have their own renter's insurance. Why are my parents being penalized? They shouldn't have to take responsibility for the damage."

"Because an investigation showed that the tenants were not at fault. They created no fire hazards on their own. The problem is due to faulty wiring within the building itself." Mei dragged a hand up and down her face with frustration as she tried to bring her thoughts together.

"So what do I do? Just have our insurance pay the damages and fix the wiring or what?"

"Yes, you'll have to find an electrical contractor to update the building. Then if you pass inspection, the downstairs shop will be able to continue business. Until then, only the apartment upstairs is habitable, but even that unit is considered dangerous at this point."

"...contractor..." that was the key word in their conversation and Mei had heard it loud and clear.

"Sorry to take you away from dinner, Mr. Woo. It's just that I was worried."

"No harm done. And honestly, youshouldbe worried," the man emphasized. "Anyway, 'night Mei-Lin. Don't forget to tell your parents I said hello!" Mr. Woo said in a cheerful tone and hung up.

Mei tried to concentrate on her breathing for a moment, attempting to calm herself down. She didn't know who to turn to and Mark sure wasn't being any help.

"That's your Mom and Dad's problem. Let them handle it," had been her husband's only words of wisdom.

Half an hour later, the dark haired woman found herself at Linda's house. She was the only person Mei could really count on for moral support.

"Hey there," the redhead smiled after opening up her front door in a pink bathrobe. "Dang, honey. You look like you could use an Irish coffee."

"Please," Mei said after shrugging off her jacket and hanging it on the coat rack. She followed Linda to the kitchen while filling her in on the latest trouble she was facing. "So now I'm in charge of finding a contractor and all these other responsibilities. This is just too much for me right now. It'd be different if I still lived in San Francisco, but I'm half way across the country. You know what I mean?"

"Of course. That's why I ended up moving back to Houston when my step-mom was in her final days. It was too just hard helpin' take care of all her medical affairs without being nearby. Things don't always translate over the phone the way they do in person," Linda said while staring at Mei oddly.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that? It's the dress, isn't it? I know it's kinda ugly, but me and Mark had to go to this retirement thing tonight and I needed something to wear that he wouldn't criticize, so I just threw it on."

"But aint that used to be my step-mama's dress?"

"Yeah, Mark told me to wear it. I hope it doesn't offend you. I don't mean to disrespect her or anything. I thought it was okay," Mei apologized quickly.