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The Chinatown Affair

By: BatteryOperated



It had been years since Mei last visited San Francisco. She'd spent a majority of her life there, but after college she married and moved to her husband's home state. Luckily, Mei had always kept in touch with a few old classmates and they were urging her to please make an appearance at an upcoming college reunion. She hadn't been able to make their first reunion years ago, but this one she made it a point not to miss.

Mei's flight from Texas was long and the hotel room didn't look as nice in person as it had online, but that didn't take away from her excitement. One little black dress with a pair of high heels later and Mei was ready to make her way to a nearby dining hall that was reserved for the reunion. Her husband Mark stood in the cramped bathroom doorway as he watched his wife model her outfit in front of the mirror and play with her new bob-cut hairstyle. It was likely that no one would recognize him at the reunion even though he had been very popular in his college days. Mark's once tight physique was gone and so were most of his boyish good looks. Nearly everything had changed about him except his controlling attitude.

"Are you really gonna where that tight dress?" Mei's husband asked sarcastically.

"Sure, why not?"

"How old are you again?" 

"I admit that it's a little form fitting, but definitely age appropriate. And the women at the boutique didn't see anything wrong with it."

"Were they your age or younger?"

"Well..."

"Listen. Don't embarrass yourself. There's nothing more pathetic than a soccer mom trying to look like a schoolgirl," the woman's husband remarked before walking away.

Mei was finding it harder and harder to get a long with Mark. He had never been perfect and she accepted that, but as 40 approached, she began to realize that much of her marriage had been nothing but criticism. She felt alone in their relationship and Mark's own insecurity was beginning to create her own. Mei took one last look in the mirror wondering if he was right about the dress. All of the mean things he'd said over the years about not loosing all of the baby-weight when their daughter was born or not being a "spring chicken" anymore, made her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She was just about to unzip herself and find something more homely to wear when Mark opened his big mouth again.

"Aren't you ready yet? I'm hungry and I don't want to miss a dinner that we've already paid for!"

"Okay, okay," the dark haired woman rushed. Without time to change, she grabbed a black jacket that was hanging near her suitcase; but not the small one that she had first intended to wear. Instead, she accidentally grabbed the blazer that Mark had worn on the plane ride and didn't notice until they were on the elevator. Any other time she would have been upset with herself for making the mistake, but right now Mei felt so self-conscious that she was more than happy to be swallowed up in its oversized material. 

Mei wasn't at all surprised to hear some familiar 80's tunes when she walked into the dining hall lobby with her husband. She clutched his hand with excitement and began to smile. "Let's dance after we check in," she insisted. Mark just rolled his eyes with a look of irritation. She used to love his eyes, so blue; the color of calm and clarity. Now they just reminded her of how cold and unfeeling he could be, like a block of ice.

"Tickets please," said a narrow man at the hall's inside entrance. Mei handed over the two orange sheets of printed stock card. "Name?"

"Mei-Lin and Mark Hafford."

"Table 36, please sit in the assigned seats," the ticket taker breathed without enthusiasm. "Next!"

Mark was happy to find that their table was closest to the exit. "They spelled my name wrong," the man began to complain as he took his seat and held up the name card in front of it. "It says Hanford instead of Hafford. We paid fifty bucks a piece for this dinner, the least they could do is check the spelling."

Mei could already tell that this was going to be a long night unless she could find something to hold her husband's interest. "Hey look," the woman gestured toward the bar. "Someone with an old varsity jacket. Maybe you know him."

Mark squinted his eyes before a grin slowly spread across his face. "Hey! Hey Bruce!" the man got up from his seat and began walking over to say hello. 

Sure, she was alone and probably the only person sitting down, but Mei felt relieved once her husband left the table. It was still nice to watch all of the other couples dance and have a good time, even if she wasn't included. Plus, she was still anticipating the award ceremony that was scheduled for the end of the night. 

Once the current song ended, someone took hold of the microphone and directed everyone to take their seats. The alumni and their dates scattered from the dance floor quickly, knowing that it meant dinner was about to be served.

Mei smiled as her husband returned to their table. From what she could tell, the other couple assigned to sit with them had never shown up. So she and Mark actually had a good shot at having a very private, romantic dinner together. A female server gracefully set their meals on the linen table cloth; chicken for her and steak for him.

"Looks good," Mark said while inhaling the aroma of his food. It was the first nice thing that he'd said all day and although it wasn't much, those words made his wife feel happy. Unfortunately, that feeling was short lived. He picked up his plate and moved to a nearby table where some of his old sports buddies were sitting with their wives. Mei hadn't been invited over and even if she had been, there were no seats left for her to join in. She had been abandoned. Sitting by herself, it didn't take long to realize that other people were trying to hide that fact that they were staring at her, whispering, joking, pitying...

Embarrassment got the best of her and Mei just wanted to get to the ladies room before she became too upset. She stood up from the table abruptly, accidentally knocking over her glass of water, which caused a domino effect against Mark's glass, and the candelabra centerpiece that would have sent everything up in flames if not for the tablecloth being soaked. Embarrassment turned to utter humiliation as she heard people begin to laugh and saw that Mark was just looking at her, shaking his head as if he were ashamed. Mei grew more frustrated as she tried to undo her mess, but it was impossible. Once two servers came to her aid, she grabbed her purse and ran out of the dining hall.

Outside on the front curb, Mei waved her arms trying to hail a taxi. Her face began to tighten as the trail of tears dried on her skin from the evening air. It was only then that she realized how much she had been crying. 

"Gimme a break!" the dark haired woman stamped her foot. Someone stole the second cab she'd tried to flag down within the last 5 minutes. Just then, a few people from the dining hall began to emerge from inside to have a smoke. Mei turned away, not wanting to be seen, but with no real place to run. From the corner of her eye she saw people seemingly rise up from the pavement and realized that they were climbing the stairs of the subway. Mei rushed down the steps in time to board a two-car train. Not that she was going anyplace in particular; she just needed to get away. Without much of a plan, Mei eventually went to the only place she knew better than she knew herself, Chinatown.

Four dollars later, Mei was in familiar territory. The sight of red lanterns and fresh laundry hanging out on balconies, the smell fried rice, and the chatter of disoriented tourists with bad maps, told her that she was home. The streets were mostly empty now that it was getting late and the popular shops had closed for the night, but it was something that she was grateful for. The midday crowd was irritating as is and she wouldn't have been able to tolerate them right now without making a scene. 

After two blocks, the dark haired woman finally came to her parent's building and began to climb the stairs. For the last 25 years, they had lived in an upstairs apartment while leasing the shop below to a typical Chinese souvenir business. She knocked on the apartment door, but there was no answer. She knocked again.

"Mama!" she called and tried to peek in the curtained side windows. "Mama, it's Mei-Lin!" she said loudly, wondering if her parents were already asleep. It wasn't like her mother and especially not like her father to just leave her out on the porch like that.

"Can I help you?" someone asked from behind.

Mei spun around and saw a young man ascending the staircase with groceries in his arms.

"What? What do you want?" she asked suspiciously, wondering why a stranger was walking his way up to her parent's home in the middle of the night. He was tall and the black knit hat on his head made him look like the thugs that usually hang out in the back alleys.

"Uh, well I live here."

"No you don't. My mom and dad live here. A lot of these old buildings look the same. You're just turned around is all. So—,"

"No," the young man interrupted with just a hint of amusement in his voice and the beginning of a grin. "I'm renting this apartment from an older couple, while they're away."

Suddenly, Mei was struck by the fact that he was indeed telling the truth. She'd totally forgotten that her parents would be visiting relatives in China until the Fall. She slapped a hand to her forehead and began to laugh. It was a bubbly, ridiculous sort of laugh at her own expense. 

"Can, haha...can this night really get any worse?!" she kept giggling and just couldn't stop. "This has probably been one of the worst nights of my life! Hahaha...!" she continued before taking a deep breath and ending it with a depressed sigh. "I'm so sorry to bother you," she shook her head in defeat and began to descend the staircase.

"Well, wait. You look like you need a rest. Maybe just come in and sit for awhile."

"Could I? I mean if it isn't too much trouble. I don't usually ask this sort of thing but—,"

"Hey, I'm the one that offered in the first place, aren't I?" the man interrupted her again. "C'mon up."

The apartment was just as Mei remembered it, aside from a few additions. She began to wonder what her parents were actually charging for the furnished apartment, knowing that they really took pride in their belongings. Chinatown wasn't exactly an ideal place to live with so much daily congestion and all, so the furniture probably made good justification for higher rent. 

"You got a name?" the dark haired woman asked, trying to sound cool. She didn't usually talk like that, but this guy seemed pretty young and she didn't want to feel like an old lady around him.

"Jonathon. I'm guessing that you're Mei-Lin?" 

She nodded to the question. "That's me. But just Mei is fine."

"So, Mei, you want a beer or something?"

"Please," the older woman smiled after taking her shoes off at the door and sliding them next to Jonathon's. She was surprised to see that an Asian male from his generation still honored that tradition. Maybe manners hadn't yet been lost on all people his age.

The house was still momentarily dark, but as her host began to turn on more lights, she was able get a better look at him. He had a pleasant face, beautiful even. After a quick trip to the kitchen to put his groceries away, Jonathon came back out with two long necks of popular Chinese beer. Mei took a sip as she eased herself onto the couch and closed her eyes, savoring the flavor. She wasn't much of a drinker, but if now wasn't the appropriate time for a beer, then there never would be one. She watched as the younger man removed his hat, revealing a long braid that swung down from underneath. He undid the braid and gently massaged his scalp before bringing the long, wild locks over his shoulder. He had a seat in the adjacent arm chair, sinking into its comfort much the way his houseguest had done. Mei blushed, she'd always found long hair attractive on a man.

"So what's with the big jacket?" Jonathon began. "Aren't you hot in here with that thing on?"

"No," the dark haired woman shook her head. It was a lie, especially after all of the walking she'd just done. But she just didn't have the confidence to take it off. 

"Another beer?" the young man asked, noticing that Mei had already drunk her first one rather quickly.

"Yes, please." Jonathon returned with two more long necks from the fridge. "Thank you. I really do appreciate your hospitality and..." suddenly Mei paused before changing her words to something less formal again. "I mean, thanks man. This, this is so awesome of you. Totally," she shrugged while trying to remember some trendy phrases from her youth.

"You okay?" Jonathon asked while tilting his head to one side. "Well, you look like you came from someplace special. I'm guessing you already had a drink or two, right?" the boy smiled.

"Uh...yeah," the woman agreed, realizing now that her attempts to sound younger were only making her seem like a fool and being that she already felt like one, it was time to just drop the charade. She was ready for this night to be over, ready to board the plane back to Texas, and just forget that this trip had ever even occurred. "I have to make a phone call, is it okay if I go into another room for some privacy?"

"No problem," the long haired man insisted.

Mei went to her old bedroom, which was now being used by Jonathon and sat on the bed while making a phone call to her husband. The voicemail picked up so she left a message:

Mark, it's me. I'm at my parent's house. Long story short, I need a ride back. Talk to you later.

It was still partially light outside when Mei had made her journey to Chinatown, but now it was dark and probably not safe to venture back to the hotel in a cocktail dress and spike heels by herself. Either someone would try to take advantage of her or the police might mistake her for a streetwalker.

Back in the living room, Jonathon eyed some of the old family photos that were still hanging on the wall with Mei-Lin in them. She was an only child, so most of the pictures were of her. She looked so happy, so satisfied with life in all of those pictures. But that must have been such a long time ago, because today all he saw was sorrow on her otherwise pretty face; fair with naturally rosy lips.

"I'm back," the woman said upon reentering the room. "I kinda walked here, so I'm waiting on a ride," she said after plopping back down onto the sofa and beginning to fan herself with one hand.

"Let me guess, you're naked under there."

"What?!" Mei's eyes shot open and her hair bounced as she sat up at full attention. "What would make you say such a thing?!" she exclaimed in a tone that eerily reminded her of her mother.

"Well, for one you really took to that beer I gave you and now you're fanning yourself, but you won't take off that jacket. Must be naked," the boy shrugged.

"I'm not naked!" the woman said, suddenly standing up and removing the large jacket. For a moment the beer had actually made her feel relaxed enough to do so, but the sensation of cool air on her skin brought her back to the matter at hand and she began to feel shameful again, ready to cover herself back up until—

"Wow..." Jonathon said with his jaw still hanging open as he sized up every inch of her body; the swell of her bosom, the curve of her hips. She wasn't very thin, but still delicate looking. To him, it looked as if the dress she was hiding had been specially made for her body.

Mei paused for a moment, trying to interpret his reaction. "Wow, as in 'that dress looks good on you' or Wow, 'I can't believe you were dumb enough to wear that'?" she asked.

"Wow, as in you look sexy." Jonathon smiled at her in a way that he hadn't before then. "Oh...sorry," he suddenly apologized while shaking his head. "I'm assuming you kept the jacket on to stop guys from leering at you and here I am doing just that. I hope I haven't offended you." 

"No, you haven't. Actually, I kept the jacket because I wasn't feeling very confident before now."

"Why not?"

"Someone said something to me earlier...made me a little upset. But anyway," Mei changed the subject. "I'm flattered, thank you, and definitely not offended. I really needed a compliment tonight," the woman smiled. Suddenly feeling so vindicated for her fashion choice. 

"Well, you smell nice too."

"Thank you again," Mei nodded with a genuine smile.

"And those heels looked pretty good on you when we first met. Gotta love a woman in high heels."

"Uh..." Mei's eyes widened once she realized the direction that this conversation was taking. "Don't you think I'm a little old..." she gulped. "...for you to be hitting on me?" Mei was especially surprised because in their culture, it was still very taboo for a younger male and older female to even flirt with the idea of attraction, let alone actually flirt with each other. She still remembered the way her aunties used to gossip years ago about Thora Yang, the piano teacher who was 41 when everyone discovered that she was having an affair with Po, a 29 year old former student. "Slut," was the nicest thing they had to say about her.

"You look young enough to me," Jonathon shrugged, smiling and obviously very interested in his houseguest. I'm 26 and you don't look that much older than I am."

Mei blushed, not really knowing what more to say. She really hadn't expected to get this much attention tonight. It almost made up for the fiasco of a dinner she'd attended earlier. Anxiously, she began looking at her watch and fiddling with it, thinking of something to say that might take her mind away from how much she was really enjoying Jonathon's company.

"I'm married," the woman said abruptly. She had to say it. It was the only way to keep herself focused on the fact that, no, nothing could ever happen between her and another man. And, no, she shouldn't be enjoying herself right now. "My husband should be picking me up soon. Any minute now," Mei smiled nervously. "Any minute..."

It was around 10:30 and Mark was still at the dinning hall, finishing his second serving of cake while he and Bruce Mackey discussed some of the changes that had occurred on campus since their graduation.

"So hey," Bruce started. "You still married? Didn't you bring your wife to this thing?"

"Oh yeah, she's hangin' around here somewhere."

"Really? I haven't seen her all night."

"Well she was the one who left earlier," Bruce's wife chimed in. "Remember when she knocked all that stuff over? She left the dining hall and then I never saw her come back in again. I even went to look for her, to see if she was okay. But she was gone."

"She probably just went back to the hotel," Mark reasoned.

"Maybe you should give her a call. Just to see if she's okay," Bruce insisted.

"Yeah, maybe so," Mark agreed. Taking out his cell phone, he noticed to that there was a voicemail waiting for him. He had a quick listen before putting the phone back in his pocket. "She left a voicemail. Something about being at her parent's house."

"Good. I'm glad she's safe," Bruce's wife smiled. 

The dessert tray circled back around and everyone went back to their prior conversation while Mei waited patiently in her parent's apartment. She felt nervous to be alone with Jonathon but overall glad that her husband had not shown up yet. 

"So you're a bartender, huh?" the dark haired woman asked, trying not to monopolize the conversation. She'd already done so much talking about herself, but only because Jonathon had asked so many questions, as if he actually cared about the answers. And even if he didn't, she was glad that he at least cared enough to pretend. Although their conversation had been casual, his eyes said other things; such soft brown eyes. She loved the way he looked at her, the way he smiled at the sound of her voice. But it was time to make him do the talking. Besides, listening to whatever he had to say might finally take her mind off that damn reunion party. No matter how hard she tried not to talk about it, it just kept coming up.


The Chinatown Affair Ch. 02



Mei hardly slept at all the night of Mark's promotion. And even after visiting his sister's house for comfort, she only returned home feeling more depressed than beforehand. Over the last several years, Mei had gotten used to feeling hurt and definitely neglected by Mark, but this was the first time in their marriage that she actually felt hated. She had always believed that somewhere deep down inside Mark did love her, but now Mei was forced to question that belief. Whatever respect he may have once expressed for her was gone, lost somewhere between the extra dress size she had gained in the last 6 years and her husband's increasingly controlling attitude.

It wasn't as if divorce had never crossed her mind, but wasn't giving up on a marriage supposed to be wrong? It was all Mei ever heard as a young girl in Chinatown, spending most of her time in the kitchen, while absorbing both culinary and social lessons from the women in her family. Originally, she had been eager to marry outside of her culture, hoping to escape some of the restrictive values that she had grown up with. However, it seemed as if some of those values had managed to sabotage her anyhow; like ignoring signs for divorce and sweeping them under the rug for the sake of tradition. But was it wrong to be optimistic about a bad marriage? Or was it even more wrong to ignore the writing on the wall?

Mei had created so many reasons to stay with Mark such as religion, the birth of Rachel, and unconditional love. But as time passed, her reasons seemed more like convenient excuses to avoid change and possibly spending the rest of her life alone. She was older after all, not young like Amber or any of the other girls Mark openly gave compliments to instead of her. She worried that it was too late to ever fall in love again. No one would want her.

And although it wasn't easy, Mei decided to distance herself emotionally from Jonathon. She was grateful for the brief glimmer of confidence that he had once given her, but life was complicated enough without leading herself on. There was no way that such a young guy could actually feel attracted to her anyway. Instead, she made yet another appeal out of many to Mark about getting some professional help to preserve their relationship.

"Marriage counseling?" Mark sneered while washing his truck in the driveway. "No."

"But Mark, don't you see that we're already headed toward a divorce?"

"I'm not gonna pay someone a hundred dollars an hour to tell me about problems that I don't have. My only problem at the moment is that you're distracting me from washing my truck and I'm trying to get this done before the game starts. So if you could leave me alone, I'd appreciate it," Mark insisted smugly.

"Fine." Mei stormed inside the house and began packing a suitcase. Mark could see her through the bedroom window as he made his way around the garage to wrap up the garden house. She usually just packed a small duffle bag if she planned on leaving for a while, so this was strange. But he was positive that she was just putting on another show and felt like adding a little dramatic effect. The quickest way to resolve the situation in time for her to be willing to make him dinner was to pretend as if he was actually interested in hearing her out. He wiped down the truck one last time before going inside. 

"Need any help?" Mark asked sarcastically, trying to call her bluff. But Mei said nothing. "You'll be back," he said. "You'll stay at Linda's for a day and then you'll come right back. You always do. So why don't we just skip all that, make up, and go back to normal?" 

Mark's reasoning didn't work. Mei kept up the silent treatment and once she was done packing, she and Rachel were gone. Her husband stood at the end of the driveway watching as her car took off down the road.

"She'll be back."

****

"You can't keep doing this forever," Linda reminded her sister as they had a seat on the couch. "Rachel is only in kindergarten now, but she's also about that age when kids start puttin' the pieces together. She's gonna figure out that y'all ain't just having sleepovers at Aunty Linda's house for fun. She'll realize that you're running from Mark and one day she's gonna resent you for it, whether she knows all the details or not. Know what I mean, honey?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Mei sobbed into a fresh tissue. She'd been crying since the moment they got to Linda's house and her head was beginning to hurt.

"Listen, honey. We're best friends, aren't we? Why don't you just hang out here for a while and clear your head? If Mark still hasn't learned how to give 100 percent, maybe you really shouldn't go back to him again. There's nothin' worse than being in a relationship by yourself."

"Tell me about it."

This was a conversation they'd had more than once, but separation was easier said than done. 

****

It wasn't out of the ordinary for Mei to become fed up with her husband and flee to his sister's house for the night. But she'd always come back and during times when she was being particularly stubborn, Mark knew just how to break her.

"But we have a daughter," or "I can change," he'd say. And for a couple of weeks he'd pay attention to her, tell her nice things, but it always ended the same. He'd go right back to his old self. However, Mei was wise to that trick now and it just wasn't working.

By the third day of Mei's absence, her husband still wasn't sweating it. Sure, it was a record for her, but nothing special. It wasn't until the fifth day when he actually began to think that his wife might be serious about leaving him. But he had a quick remedy for that. One phone call to his mother would have Mei back home by way of guilt trip within 24 hours. Searching through the family address book that his wife kept in her study, he found her mother's number.

"Mama Kwan," Mark said into the receiver, hoping that his fake smile was transferable across the line. 

"I'm sorry. Mr. and Mrs. Kwan are still away in Guangzhou right now. Can I take a message for them?" asked a strong male voice. 

Mark paused for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Still away?" he asked.

"Yes, from June through August."

There was a pause between them.

"No message," Mark answered slowly and hung up. It didn't take long to figure out that according to the timeline, Mei's parents hadn't been home the night of the reunion when she slept over at their apartment, but the man he'd just spoken to probably had been. He thought back to the nervous stare that his wife had given him upon returning to the hotel the next morning, as if she had something to get off of her chest. He wondered if the reason that she'd been gone to Linda's house for so long was because she actually had a reason to stay away now. It was one thing to lose Mei temporarily because she was fed up with him; it was another thing to lose her forever to another man.

Digging through mail that had arrived the previous day, Mark found a cell phone bill, something he usually let his wife handle. He ripped open the envelope and emptied the papers inside. There in black and white, date and time, he read where phone calls had transpired between his wife's cell number and one from a 415 area code that he did not recognize.

As the saying goes "You never miss your water 'til your well runs dry." And Mark was finding that out first hand. He had taken Mei's loyalty to him for granted year after unchanging year and for the first time, he felt as if she might not be willing to offer it up anymore. Another man threatened to end the comfortable, one-sided lifestyle that he had created for himself and his wife. 

Like most men, Mark had a fragile ego. An to him, the worst part about this situation wasn't that Mei seemed to be interested in someone else, it was that he felt as if his masculinity was being challenged. He'd been with Mei since college, married her, sired her only child...hell, he practically owned her and now somebody else was trying to steal his property. 

Although he would never actually admit this to her, Mark genuinely believed that he was the best Mei could do. Obviously she believed it too or else she would have divorced him by now instead of annoying him with idle threats. But maybe she was on the verge of believing something new.

Once he had the chance, Mark drove to Linda's house, sneering at the sight of her hard-to-miss front yard. If the big plastic flowers, lawn gnomes, or pink flamingoes didn't give her location away, the Christmas lights from years come and gone that hung from her roof like bare bones bleaching it the sun might do it.

"Daddy!" the man heard a little voice squeal as he knocked on Linda's front door. Rachel could see him on the front porch through the living room window. Soon afterward, Mei came to the door. 

"This is a surprise..." the dark haired woman began. "C'mon in," she said politely, civilly, as if he were nothing more than a door-to-door salesman instead of her husband. Rachel ran up and gave him a squeeze before returning to her seat in front of the television.

Mark immediately noticed that Mei's suitcase was near the front door as if she had expected him to show up any minute now to take her home. He smirked, feeling it was obvious now that she was eager to leave with him and his cocky attitude returned.

"So," he began. "You ready to leave this dump or what? Get the kid together and let's go," the man said after reaching over to pick up her suitcase.

"Put that back!" his wife demanded.

"But..." Mark stopped mid-sentence, wide eyed and confused by the look of contempt on his wife's face. "Then what's it just sitting here for?"

"I told you five days ago that I was still considering going to California and the conversation we had before I left the house last week has been my deciding factor. I'm leaving Wednesday night."

"Going to California for what?" the man's heart pounded in chest. Was this it? Was she going to admit to him now that she was cheating? He prepared himself, thinking of a dirty name to call her after the confession; bitch, cunt, slut, maybe all of them!

"Dammit, I told you that my parent's house is halfway burnt down!" Mark jumped a little at the ferocity of his wife's voice and hoped that she hadn't noticed. He wasn't used to hearing Mei raise her voice. She was really mad. "And don't worry about having to take care of Rachel by yourself, Linda already offered to do it if I decided to leave."

Mark was quiet at first. Not being the one in control was a new and frightening experience for him.

"This stuff is pretty serious."

"What d'you care?" the man's wife snapped. "You said to just let my parent's handle it. 'That's your Mom and Dad's problem,' remember saying that?" Mei replied in a mocking voice and squinted her eyes.

"Well, I just thought that, ya know, maybe I should go with you. Like I said, this is serious. You're gonna need someone to help you out, especially when it comes to finding the right repairmen. You're a female and people might try to take advantage of you," Mark swallowed, hoping that what he'd said was believable. His real motive was to tag along in case there was a potential chance to ruin any type of relationship Mei might have with whoever it was that he'd spoken to on the phone earlier. 

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Mei was clearly still upset, but her voice was slightly softer now and that meant that Mark's offer had touched her. It wasn't often that he acted like he cared.

"No, no. I definitely want to go. I mean, last time we were in San Francisco we didn't really get to enjoy ourselves. But that was my fault. And, and uh...I'd like to make it up to you." Mei tilted her head suspiciously, but couldn't stifle the teasing feeling at the corners of her lips as they drew upward into a small smile. "And make sure to pack that black dress, looks like you've lost a little weight recently."

Mark's weight loss comment was the oldest trick in the book, but Mei was still ready to take any kindness she could get.

"Well, I'll get online and see if I can snag you a ticket on my flight. You should start packing so we don't have to rush when it's time to leave. And when Linda gets home I'll tell her that we're both gonna be outta here for a few days."

"It's settled then," Mark grinned. His wife practically dove into him as she outstretched her arms for an embrace. 

"Thanks," she mumbled into his chest. It really didn't take much to make a woman like her happy. If only her husband could learn to respect that fact.

****

Mei sunk into the rickety mattress of their motel while her husband fished through the tattered, complementary phonebook for a contractor. Someone was supposed to have met them earlier, but the couple was stood up and found out later that he had been arrested the previous night with a DUI charge. 

Looking up at the ceiling Mei stared at the brown stain above her and shimmied out of its path with a groan. They'd left Texas in a hurry and it was the middle of summer vacation for most people, so a cheap "roach-motel" was the only immediate vacancy they could find near the airport.

"You get what you pay for," Mei whispered to herself. The recent smell of bug spray didn't help her impression of the motel. She and Mark found themselves leaving its cramped quarters before they got the chance to settle in; as if anyone would even want to.

Seeing as it wasn't even past noon yet, Mei tried to make the best of their time by stopping at the office of her family's insurance agent, Mr. Woo. 

Linda's advice had been right. Things usually don't translate over the phone they way they might in person and Mei felt glad that she had made the last minute decision to come to California. One thing the agent had not explained to her in their previous conversation was that the tenants of the downstairs souvenir shop had an annual lease, plus a business contract with her parents and because the fire had displaced them from said business, they had the right to sue if repairs were not be made within a timely manner as outlined in the written agreement. There really wasn't a moment to waste.

"Well, let's go see the damage," Mei insisted after they emerged from Woo's office. Upon arriving in front of her parent's building, she was surprised to see that it was already under construction. Men in well-worn coveralls and baseball caps were coming in and out of the downstairs shop with wood, tools, or buckets of paint in hand.

"What's all this?" Mark asked as he parked the rental car.

"I dunno. Give me a minute to investigate." Quickly, Mei rushed over to find out what was going on. She could hear the men speaking in Chinese, but it wasn't a dialect that she could understand. The woman silently cursed herself for not learning Mandarin when she had the chance as a teenager. "Ni hao...uh...Zao ahn," Mei called out hesitantly, not sure if she was even making sense. Finally, she just decided to use body language, waving her arms to get someone's attention. After making eye contact, a man wiped his hands on a rag and started walking over. "Hey, what's going on? I didn't arrange for anyone to come out here yet," she told him, hoping English would be okay.

"Mr. J. He say do the work."

"Mr. J?"

"Jonnaton."

"Jonnaton?" the woman whispered to herself thoughtfully. "Oh, Jonathon!"

"Yeah, that's what I tell you. He say do the work. Landlady say okay." 

Mark snuck out of the car while his wife made conversation and began looking around the worksite feverishly, wondering which one of these men might be his competition. Jonathon, that's the name he had heard wasn't it? But everyone just looked like hired help, much too fresh off the boat to match that name and the clear voice he'd spoken to on the phone.

"The landlady, alright," Mei nodded, acknowledging that the workman was referring to her mother's approval. "Keep going then," the woman said as she began walking back to the car. "Mark," she called. "We can go now. It's okay." But her husband was still nosing around and looking inside of the unfinished shop. "Hello, Earth to Mark!"

"Huh? Oh, sure. Let's get outta here."

For lunch, Mei and her husband went to a favored cafe on the pier. 

"Your food okay?" the dark haired woman asked. It was hard to ignore that Mark seemed mentally preoccupied as he just picked at his food and stared off into space. His thoughts were on Jonathon. "Well, you better eat all you can if you don't want to be hungry during the movie. It starts pretty soon, ya know."

"Sure..." her husband mumbled with a still vacant expression across his face. Mei couldn't help but feel concerned about Mark. He just didn't seem like his usual self and although that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it made her feel curious. His behavior had been different in general these last several days. He'd been so helpful, so thoughtful. If she didn't know any better, which Mei unfortunately didn't, she'd determine that Mark was in the process of some soul searching in terms of their marriage. With any luck, it was just a matter of time before he turned over a new leaf completely. 

Cautiously looking from side to side first, Mei slipped off one of her heels and gently placed a foot between her husband's legs, under their table. Mark became alert as her toes massaged his private area. It was something she used to do all time when they were dating. Usually, he was put off by her attempts to be sexy with him. Marriage and certainly motherhood had really killed his attraction to her. But at the moment he couldn't be more aroused. Feeling like he was in control again did that to him. The way he saw it, Mark was slowly winding her back up around his finger where she belonged and the more attention she gave to him, the less she'd be able to offer his competition. This was one game that he was in the process of winning.

After lunch, the couple walked out to the parking lot hand in hand. Mark had rarely seen her smile so much and honestly he was beginning to like it again, that smile he had stopped appreciating long ago. But to him it looked better when she wasn't so fat. What was her dress size by now? Her waistline must have bordered around 28 inches, not the 24 that he used to wrap his hands around. No, that just wasn't very attractive. She looked much better before Rachel.

At the theatre, Mei wanted to continue holding Mark's hand during the movie like old times, but he was busy chewing at his fingernails and hardly paying attention to the screen. He had a plan and was still trying to work through the details in his head.

"I'll be back," the man whispered to his wife and exited the room quickly. In fact, he left the movie theatre entirely, practically running to the car. Knowing that the rest of the film wouldn't last for more than an hour, he high-tailed it Chinatown where he had some unfinished business to take care of.

When Mei's childhood home came into view, Mark was already smiling like the Grinch as he watched a young man climb up the apartment stairs. 

"Gotcha!" Mark said to himself. If his wife was seriously trying to pull the wool over his eyes, she had another thing coming. No one was allowed to have the upper hand but him. 

Mark parked the rental car and with all of the arrogance he could muster, stamped his way up the apartment steps. He barely got a knock in before the front door swung open. A man with long hair and a handsome face stood before him in the threshold. 

"Are you Jonathon?" Mark asked.

"Yep, that's me. I've been expecting you."

"Oh, you have, have you?" Mark said rhetorically, wondering if Mei had advised him to be on the look out.

"Of course, especially when it comes to matters of the heart! I had a feeling that someone would eventually come by," Jonathon explained before walking back into the living room and returning with a white box made of thin material. Mark accepted it without thinking. He didn't understand what was going on anymore. "Sorry for not dropping it off earlier."




The Chinatown Affair Ch. 02



"Well, uh—,"

"Now don't worry," the other man interrupted. "I love volunteering with you guys. And I'm sorry that I couldn't make it last Tuesday. I was feeling a little under the weather." Mark furrowed his eyebrows. He was still confused and the other man's quick pace made it hard to follow along. "But I'm totally gonna be there next week! Okay?" Jonathon smiled. "Wait, how did you get here? Do you need a ride back to the center?"

"I, I have a ride," Mark managed to stammer out, unsure of what that had to do with anything.

"Oh, that's right; the shuttle must have brought you. Well, I'm kinda busy right now. See you Tuesday!" the younger man beamed before closing the front door.

Mark stood there a moment. The conversation really hadn't made much sense or gone the way he'd planned, but that was alright. He began to smile and even laugh as he descended the apartment stairs. There was no way in hell that a young, good looking guy like him could ever be seriously attracted to his aging wife. He'd obviously been worried over nothing and couldn't help but laugh at the fact. His original assumptions about her chances with another man seemed more valid than ever, Mei couldn't do any better than him. 

Satisfied with his findings, Mark got back in the car and tossed the white box into the passenger's seat. His first thought was to just throw away whatever the poor bastard had given him, but curiosity made him open up the flimsy lid. A stack of freshly printed, neon pink flyers was tucked inside. His blue eyes flew open and his skin began to burn with embarrassment as he read their content.

"Come one, come all to the Golden Gate Senior Center's 4th annual singles ball...Live performance by the Andrews Sisters impersonators...Lots of food and raffles....Be there or be square!...60+ only." 

Mark stared into the rearview mirror examining the lines in his face, the thinning, graying hair on his head. How old did he look exactly?! He wasn't even 45 yet and already people were mistaking him for a senior citizen? And were those freckles on the backs on his hands or age spots? He couldn't tell anymore. But whatever. Mark didn't have time for this. The man quickly sped off, chucking the box of flyers out of his window and into the gutter.

When Mei's husband returned to his seat in the movie, he'd already been gone roughly half an hour by her calculations. 

"Where were you?" she whispered.

"Bathroom," Mark said simply. "Felt sick." 

Mei wasn't buying it. His clothes smelled different, like he'd been outside. She let the issue go and didn't think about it again until the next night when they went out for dinner. She had chosen a classy restaurant in the Chinese district, but away from the popular tourist traps that put soy sauce on top of garbage and called it "authentic" cuisine. She wore her reunion dress and a jacket that didn't hide her figure. Mark was dressed in jeans and a button up shirt. She wished he had worn something a little more special, but just having him there was special enough. It was clear to her that Mark's appetite had returned and he seemed to be having a good time in general.

"So are you excited about going to the jazz club after this? Gosh, we haven't been to one of those places in so long," Mei beamed at her husband after the waitress placed their bill on the table.

"No," Mark answered with a faint smirk and opened up his wallet. "I don't wanna go."

"Oh honey, you can't stay cooped up in that awful motel room. I thought that's why we planned all this stuff, so we wouldn't have to spend as much time there."

"Who says I'm going back to the motel? I called Bruce Mackey earlier and he's got tickets to see the Giants play."

"Mark! Is that why you wore those jeans instead of slacks? You should have told me and I wouldn't have gotten so dressed up. I'll look strange going to a baseball game like this," the dark haired woman complained.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Mark assured his wife as he folded money into the leather folder of their bill and stood up. "You aren't invited."

Mei stared up at Mark from her seat, absolutely stunned. There were almost no words for the betrayal she suddenly felt. Their trip was turning out to be so nice, this evening in particular and now the rug had just been pulled out from under her. It was the reunion all over again only this time it was worse because she felt like he'd purposely built her up only to throw her back down again and she didn't understand why. What was going on?

It wasn't until Mark had almost completely exited the restaurant that his wife snapped back into the moment and followed him outside, her legs feeling weak and untrustworthy at first. 

Mark hummed to himself contentedly while he started up the car. Mei climbed in slowly as raw anxiety began to inhibit her motor skills. She sat their bewildered and wondering if it was something she said before dinner that made him upset. But tonight had been a good night hadn't it? Was she going crazy? 

"Motel or the jazz club?" Mark asked. She didn't answer him, still too much in shock. Her hands were trembling as she held them together, hoping to make them stop. Her mind was spinning, toes becoming numb, and pulse racing. The games he played were killing her. She was having a nervous breakdown. "Motel or jazz club, Mei? I'm not gonna ask again. Either tell me or I'll just drop you off at the mo—Hey!" the man yelled as his wife's hand clutched the door handle and started to open it just when the car began moving forward. Mark slammed on his brakes.

Beep! Beep Honnnkk!!!! Other drivers responded to the stalled car in front of them and the woman escaping from it.

"Hey, get back here!" Mark yelled as he trailed behind her in the car once she reached the sidewalk. Mei turned to look at him once, a glazed over expression on her face before she ducked into a back alley and he lost all sight of her. "Fine, you crazy bitch! Run away, that's what you do best!" Mark growled out of the drivers' window. "Dammit!" he cursed himself after rolling it back up. He'd really pushed her too far this time and he knew it.

***

Mei wandered down the alley she'd practically thrown herself into, trying her best not to step in the run-off that was quickly spilling down a nearby sewer drain. The space was secluded and it probably dangerous to be back there, but her sense of awareness was still in a haze and her judgment was poor. She couldn't think straight right now. All she could do was feel. All she could do was hurt...

"Hey, legs. Wanna share a cigarette?" It wasn't until someone approached Mei out of the darkness that adrenaline woke the woman from her dazed state. He reeked of alcohol and tobacco. Mei turned away, but it became obvious that he was following her. "C'mon, love me long time, Lucy Liu! Rub Mai Ting!" the man laughed as his drunken steps caught up with her.

Mei scurried off toward the light at the end of the alleyway, frantically trying to put distance between herself and the stalker. Finally, she reached safety at the open sidewalk, but by that time something inside of her had snapped. She turned around to face the alley and yelled.

"Fuck you, asshole! You wanna follow me?!" she asked, taking off one of her heels to use as a weapon. "Just try me!" The man's pace stopped once he realized how serious she was and he slithered back in the direction that he'd come from. "Man..." the woman breathed, leaning against one of the buildings as she put her shoe back on and tried to catch her breath. Suddenly, someone began speaking to her again.

"God, being gorgeous must be painful."

"Wha..? Mei questioned with a slight jump as she looked all around her. She was weary of men's voices by now. But it turned out to be Jonathon. His trademark long hair was gently being blown by the wind as he started walking toward her. She sighed with exhaustion. 

"Well, every time I see you looking the best, you seem to be feeling the worst, little girl. What's wrong?" the young man asked softly as he read the frustration in her face. 

"Just life, that's all," Mei said straightening up and trying to recompose herself. "What're you doing out this late?" the woman added, trying to change the direction of their conversation. He was right. It seemed as if every time they met, she was in some kind of mess and she didn't want that to be his overall impression of her.

"Just on my way to work. I'm a bartender, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Mei nodded, still a bit breathless. "Mind if I tag along? I could really use a drink right about now."

"Sure, the pleasure's all mine, but it might be a bit of trek in those heels," Jonathon warned. "The bar is about a block and a half away."

"That's okay," Mei shrugged. 

The pair walked slowly while Mei unloaded the trouble she had encountered over the past week to a willing ear. She'd been trying to tip toe around the subject, but Jonathon insisted that she vent a little. He could tell that she needed it. The woman soon realized that her escort kept looking down at her and smiling from time to time. "What is it?" she finally asked once they were almost to the bar. 

"Want a piggy-back ride?"

"What? No!"

"Oh, c'mon. I know your feet must hurt and it's just a short distance." The woman looked as if she was really considering the offer. "Just say, yes."

"But my dress will ride up."

"So?"

"So, I'm not wearing any underwear," Mei finally blurted out. The look on Jonathon's face was priceless. "Gosh this is so embarrassing. I can't believe I actually admitted that to you. I mean this isn't something I do all time, but Mark and I were supposed to have this romantic evening together and...well, you know the rest," the woman's voice died down and she put her hands over her face for a moment.

"The streets are pretty empty tonight. Get on my back," the younger man said simply.

"Listen, I consider myself to be a very open-minded person, but this is just crazy. I'm not gonna give the world a chance to see my naked bum. Nuh-uh, nope!"

****

Mei held on tight as Jonathon carried her quickly. She could feel cool air on her increasingly exposed skin and it made her laugh. She hadn't had a piggy-back ride since grade school.

"Alright," Jonathon breathed once they were just a few steps from his workplace. Mei slid down from his back easily and he turned around to face her, but his eyes immediately made contact with her private area as she worked to pull her dress back down.

"Hey, you weren't supposed to look," she pouted with a small grin.

"Show me yours again and I'll show you mine."

Mei rolled her eyes.

Once inside the bar, the dark haired woman began to feel a lot better. Not just because she was getting free booze, but because the environment was alive and happy. It was a typical Chinatown hangout with a jukebox in the corner and murals of the Buddha or other Chinese themed artwork. 

"Hey, I never thanked you for helping take care of repairs at the house for my mom. Hope you didn't mind taking orders from her. I should've been here sooner to handle it myself, but I'm surprised Dad wasn't the one giving orders," Mei explained to Jonathon as he poured her another drink.

"What? No, your mother didn't tell me to do any of that. I knew a couple of really good contractors and when I called her about it, she said that she trusted my judgment."

"Oh, really? I should've known something was up when I heard the workers speaking Mandarin. They're a minority in Chinatown," Mei reasoned. "Wait...are you Cantonese?" 

"No, I'm from Taiwan," Jonathon admitted. "I know your dad doesn't like Taiwanese very much. He barely tolerates me, so I knew he wouldn't like hiring a bunch of them to fix his building. That's why I ended up approaching your mother for permission."

"Makes sense," Mei nodded.

"And to be honest, yes, I took the initiative to handle all of the repairs to help your family out, but really I had an ulterior motive." The long haired man started to blush as he wiped down the bar and found the right words to say next. "A few days after the fire, you're mom called to tell me that you'd be coming back to California soon in order to hire a contractor. That's when I got the idea to just have it all taken care of ahead of time. I thought if you didn't have too much stuff to do, maybe you and I could spend some time together." Jonathon's face was getting redder by the moment.

"Really? But you never called or anything."

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise. Then I found out from the repair team that a lady came by with her husband yesterday. Your mom didn't mention that he'd be coming too."

"He wasn't supposed to," Mei sighed with irritation. She now regretted allowing her husband to invite himself along.

"Anyway, I hope that doesn't sound too forward of me. I know you're married, but I was also excited to see you again."

Mei hadn't expected Jonathon to open up so much with her, but she liked it. His sincerity was refreshing.

"Thank you. Xie xie ni," the older woman replied softly with a tender smile. "Or no, wait...fei chang gan xie ni!" she thanked him with even more gratitude. 

"Oh damn, getting fancy on me!" the younger man beamed with amusement.

It was fun watching Jonathon at work. He really was a people person, very likable, jovial and it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes. But as much as she liked talking him up and many of the other people who took a seat next to her, it was only a matter of time before the alcohol sent Mei looking to the ladies room. If there was one thing she hated about bars in Chinatown, it was that the restrooms were usually in the basement. And that meant climbing down stairs that were likely built one hundred years earlier, give or take a decade. They were narrow, lopsided and it took a lot of effort not to fall down them while wearing heels and intoxicated.

Jonathon watched as the woman struggled to carefully make her way down the first flight of steps. While someone else covered the bar, he quickly made his way to her aid.

"You okay?" he called down to her from the upstairs landing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mei assured him, right before she lost her footing. "Ah!" she yelped and Jonathon came rushing down. Luckily, she was alright. But he passed her anyway, and waited at the bottom of the staircase as she rounded the corner, carefully descending the second flight. The woman grabbed his shoulders for balance as she made it toward the landing and fell into him after misjudging the last step. Jonathon held Mei up by wrapping his arms around her, but when it was time to let go, he didn't. Unexpectedly, Mei pushed herself upward to kiss him. He kissed back at first, but stopped.

"Wait. You're vulnerable right now. I shouldn't be taking advantage of you like this." 

"Then I'll take advantage of you," the older woman breathed. Their lips met again before their tongues were introduced for the first time, gliding over one another in a sensual dance. She started kissing his neck and letting her hands roam underneath his shirt, where she could feel tight muscles under smooth skin. "Yeah..." she moaned while he kneaded the curves of her bottom. His hands felt strong, skilled, and creative. Suddenly, he pulled her dress up above her hips and crouched down to put his face between her legs. 

Within moments, Jonathon had completely taken Mei out of her comfort zone, but somehow she was okay with that. He had that effect on her. It was always easy to feel comfortable around him. And easy to..."OH!" Mei cupped a hand over her mouth as the younger man's tongue began to manipulate her clit.

Jonathon closed his eyes, enjoying the soft, supple touch of Mei's labia against his lips as he kissed them. He stopped only for a moment, inhaling her faint feminine scent and swallowing it. Then he opened his eyes again as he crouched lower beneath her and widened Mei's legs. Starting at her asshole, he licked upward to her pubic mound, adorned with pin-straight black hair. Repeating the motion over and over again, the older woman squirmed under his touch. Finally, his tongue parted the envelope of her pink inner labia and worked it into her vaginal canal. Mei crossed her eyes absentmindedly as he kept it up while brushing the tip of his nose against her clit. She could see his face getting wet with his spit and her natural essence.

Mei could hardly believe her own actions, slutting it up in the dimly lit basement of an active bar. And pleasurable or not, until now she'd been doing her best to stay reserved while Jonathon went down on her, but eventually that became too hard to keep up with, especially when he started sucking her clit again, evoking it from the hood. 

"Uhhh..." the woman groaned, driving a hand through his long, raven hair. He really seemed to like that and began to lick her more greedily; eating her to his heart's content while palming her ass at the same time. Jonathon was so sexy; his tan skin, those deep brown eyes with almond shape. Oh, and that long hair...it meant that he was wild. "God, yes!" Mei nearly screamed while rocking her hips back and forth, riding his mouth to a powerful orgasm. "Ahhh!!!" She'd honestly never come that hard or that quickly before and her knees started to buckle. Jonathon held her up before she slid to the floor.

Standing face to face, the pair looked into each others eyes. Mei could feel a warm bulge pressed against the front of Jonathon's pants. He reached a hand down to the older woman's still sensitive pussy, toying with the wetness there before bringing his fingertips into view. He sucked at them, rolling his tongue between each of the digits, savoring her taste.

"Mmm..." Jonathon hummed. Mei's eyes lit up with excitement, eager to have another orgasm, but this time she wanted it to happen while sucking his penis. She was so aroused, just seeing it might make her come again and she could already imagine what it might feel like pulsating against her tongue. Eagerly, her hands met the front of his belt buckle and he leaned into her with anticipation, just as footsteps were heard coming toward the top of the stairs. They both turned sharply, hoping that no one would round the corner as Mei pulled her dress back down and Jonathon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Hey, Jon, we're gettin' pretty busy up here," a coworker yelled.

"Alright. Gimme a minute," Jonathon yelled back. He looked at Mei again, a thoughtful smile on his face. "I gotta go," he told her with gentle kiss.

"But what about..." the woman pointed to his erection. 

"I'll put some ice on it," the younger man sighed. He walked over to the basement freezer and unlocked the hatch, pulling out a disposable ice-pack. "But you owe me one," he said with a wink. "Little girl's room is that way," he nodded toward the left.

"Thanks."

Mei closed the wobbly bathroom door and immediately went to the mirror. Her face was flushed, but glowing. It was as if Jonathon had put some kind of spell on her. Then she remembered something; Mark! God, how it had felt good to forget about him for a little while. Then guilt started to set in. She'd never done anything like this before and didn't know how to feel yet. She wanted to tell someone, she wanted to call Linda, but Texas was two hours behind. The redhead was likely asleep by now. Checking her phone to see if her husband had called, she saw that the ID bar was blank. Maybe she wasn't supposed to feel anything at all, apparently Mark didn't. She finished using the restroom and went back up to the bar.

****

Mark studied the hands on his watch. It was 2:00 am. He'd been partying it up all night with Bruce and some other friends, but at some point they all agreed that it was time to get home to their wives or girlfriends. It was only then that he realized Mei had their motel room key and the concierge was gone for the night. He knocked on the motel room door a few times, but no one answered and he knew it meant she wasn't there, not that she was ignoring him. It was a dump after all and she'd ran away from the car while they were still in the Chinese district, so it made more sense that she'd spend the night at her old apartment again. But there he was sitting on the front steps and no one was home. 




The Chinatown Affair Ch. 02



After 10 minutes had passed, Mark decided to call his wife, but that's when he saw her step out of a cab with Jonathon. They were making eyes at each other and laughing as they paid the cabby. Mark stood up in utter disbelief. Surprise, surprise, he actually did have something to worry about. This other guy was a real threat.

Mei stopped dead in her tracks as her husband's face came into view. She was speechless, but not Jonathon.

"Hey there, friend," the younger man smiled. "I remember you. Do you need help?" he asked sweetly. Mark's face contorted into foul expression. He was tired of this young punk thinking he was an old man. "Well, calm down. We can figure something out."

"Shut up!" Mark yelled. "And you!" he pointed to Mei. "Get in the fucking car!"

"Listen Gramps, you don't talk to a lady like that!"

"That's no lady. That's my wife!" Mark bit back. "Now get in the car, Mei!" he growled. 

Jonathon's eyes widened with surprise as Mei looked up at him humbly.

"Sorry," she pleaded softly.

"It's okay," he assured her. "But you don't have to go if you don't want to. You can stay here."

"Now, Mei!" the woman's husbanded demanded again as he opened the passengers' side door.

"I have to," the woman said and gave Jonathon's hand one last squeeze before climbing into the car.

One more silent car ride later, Mark and his wife were back at the motel. He watched angrily as his wife hung her jacket in the small closet, removed her shoes and sat in a chair to start rubbing her feet. A brief glimpse at her bare private area reminded him that she hadn't worn any panties for their date. He waited until she was standing again to reach under her dress.

"What are you doing?!" the woman exclaimed while pushing her husband away.

"Are you wet under there? Did you guys fuck?!"

"No. Now leave me alone!" Mei grabbed her share of the pillows and a spare blanket, opting to sleep on the couch. It meant having a stiff neck in the morning, but at least she'd have some peace of mind.

*Author's note: Sorry it took so long to post Pt 2. I wanted to upload it with the first one, but my work got deleted and I basically had to start all over again, which really sucked. Oh well, rewriting Pt 2 made me consider expanding the story to Pt 3. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been patient. I appreciate your motivation.



The Chinatown Affair Ch. 03



At Mark's insistence, he and his wife returned to Texas as soon as possible. He could no longer rely on his own dissatisfaction with Mei to reassure him that no one else would want her. He wasn't sure as to how serious the bond between she and Jonathon had become, but whatever the height, tricks and games designed to sabotage their relationship were out of the question. They'd all backfired on him so far and sent Mei rushing into the arms of his competition. Mark had practically arranged their date at the bar for them by pushing his wife away so aggressively.

Where Mei's husband had wanted her self-esteem to evaporate, it had become a deluge and Jonathon was happy to bathe in it. All Mark could do now was make sure that they stayed separated. He couldn't have been happier once their plane touched down in Texas.

****

Mei woke up with her heart thundering against the inside of her chest. She put a hand over it to soothe the stress inside. Dreams corrupted by a guilt-ridden spirit were constantly interrupting her sleep. After a solid month of wresting with the idea, she had come to a conclusion; it was one thing for Mark to be an inconsiderate asshole, but it was another thing for her to follow in his footsteps. Being a liar and being untrustworthy just wasn't in Mei's nature.

Keeping secrets from her husband was beginning to stir up old memories, haunts, and feelings of shame. Although Mark was more difficult to live with now than ever, the real torment had begun around 7 years earlier...

It had been a typical Sunday afternoon, a time that Mei usually reserved for cleaning the house. But that came to a halt one weekend when she and her husband began arguing over her decision to buy a new vacuum cleaner. The machine wasn't even very expensive, but Mark had really been tight with their expenses lately, so she reminded him that their old vacuum was on its last leg and that the new one was more efficient. Observing that Mark still seemed unconvinced, his wife got straight to work, determined to prove that it had been a good investment.

In the garage, Mei quickly assembled the vacuum's long-reach nozzle before suctioning out her car and Mark's new truck. Her husband took a lot of pride in his vehicle and she knew that showing him how well she could clean it with the new machine was sure to win him over. But in

the middle of vacuuming, a piece of paper nearly clogged the nozzle. It was a receipt. Wondering if she should hold onto it for her husband or not, the woman read its content for signs of importance. Seeing that it was just from the corner store, she almost crumpled the paper up, but that was before her eyes caught something.

Pepsi Bvrg SftDk 1.69

Lpiton Tea Swtnd 1.05

Sndwch Turk/PP Jack 3.99

Sndwch Salami/Prov 3.99

Trojan Ltx Condoms 12.03

Men/Deodorant 7.44

Mei froze as she stared down at the little white receipt. Condoms? She and Mark didn't even use those anymore. They were having fertility issues at the time, so condoms would have only added to their frustration of wanting to conceive. There was only one reason as to why Mark might need to buy them; he was having an affair. Just processing the idea in her mind was a struggle for Mei. This was honestly something that the woman didn't expect from him, especially not so early on in their marriage.

Upset and needing an explanation, Mei confronted her husband. He seemed speechless at first, but eventually the words came to him.

"That's not even mine," Mark defended himself with his brows knitted together at the center.

"But I found it in your truck."

"Well..." the man hesitated. "Well, it probably got stuck to my shoe or something and I accidentally tracked it in. See how it's kinda dirty around the edge here? That's a shoe print." Mei focused her eyes on the faint smudge that the receipt bared. "It makes perfect sense," Mark pushed. By now his arms were crossed and it was obvious that he felt uncomfortable.

"I can't really tell," the man's wife replied.

"Fine then, don't believe me!" Mark huffed. "Go ahead and think the worst of me if it makes you feel any better," he roared sarcastically before storming off and leaving his wife to feel like a fool for not trusting him. Not wanting to further disappoint her husband or herself, Mei tore up the receipt and dropped the idea of Mark cheating on her.

Two months later, a woman came to the couple's the front door. She had wavy brunette hair and hazel eyes. Judging by her nose ring and style of dress, she was probably in her early to mid twenties.

"Can I help you?" Mei asked. The girl just stood there a moment. Her lips seemed to move a little, but no words came out. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Wrong house," the girl finally managed to say before practically running away. She got into her beat up car and drove off quickly. It wasn't until a week or so later that Mei realized why the girl had seemed so familiar. She did know her from somewhere. Driving home one day, Mei recognized the girl's beat up car in the corner store parking lot. Carefully snooping around, Mei discovered that she was a clerk in the store. Her name was Tamera. Upon recognition, Mei immediately began to feel very uneasy, so she left. But one evening, she came back to the store and waited for Tamera's shift to be over.

After clocking out from work, Tamera was surprised to see Mei standing next to her car. Initially, the brunette seemed very nervous, but gradually her eyes resigned to a look of acceptance over the situation.

"Hi," the girl breathed.

"My husband's name is Mark Hafford," Mei began, cutting straight to the chase. "And you're the one he's been having an affair with, aren't you?"

Tamera nodded her head.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but this is just so scary. I know it was stupid to try and come to you about all this at your home, but I'm desperate. I thought if you just had the chance to meet me and see that I'm not a monster...well, then maybe—"

"Stay away from my husband," Mei said without flinching.

"Of course, I know that you want me out of his life," the girl explained before pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her jacket with shaky hands. She lit up, but decidedly cast her cigarette to the ground after just half a drag. "But I can't handle this pregnancy thing all by myself. I really thought I could, but I can't."

"Pregnancy..." Mei replied without even meaning to say anything. It was bad enough when she just thought that Mark was cheating, but it hurt her to the bone to find that he had gotten another woman pregnant, especially being that she hadn't been able to give him a baby yet herself. She wondered if the birth of this child might make Tamera seem more appealing as a wife. "I can't do this. I have to go now."

"But wait!" Tamera pleaded. It was no use. Mei climbed back into her car and began to drive. She went all the way to the edge of town where there was nothing but open space for miles. After parking on the shoulder of the road, she exited her vehicle again. Mei paced in the dirt a few times, kicking up dust before clutching her fists together and letting all of her frustration out with a scream.

"Ahhhhhh!!! Fuck, why is this happening to me?!!" She couldn't help but ask.

Upon returning home, Mei felt as though her house looked different. It looked strange and lacked the intimacy that its walls once provided for her; lacked warmth and security. She wondered how many times Tamera had been inside. Is this where she had gotten pregnant? Is this where her husband had decided that she wasn't worthy of his fidelity?

Mark came home soon afterward to find his wife sitting at the kitchen table in the darkness. She'd been there for hours, just thinking, pondering. She was in the middle of experiencing her very first nervous breakdown due to their marital woes.

"What's wrong with you?" Mark asked, but his wife could barely make out the words. She was still recovering mentally from everything that she had learned earlier.

"You got her pregnant." The words finally escaped from Mei's lips. "You cheated and you got her pregnant."

"What?"

Mei stood up from her chair, flipped on the lights and stared her husband in the face.

"Stop lying to me. Stop pretending like you don't understand me. You know what I just said!"

Mark looked stunned.

"She's lying," the man started.

"So then you admit that there's a she."

"We only had sex once and we used condoms. You remember that receipt? Yes, it was mine, okay? I admit that now!" Mark rushed to explain.

"Are you gonna leave me?"

"No! Why would I do that?!"

"Well, she's having your kid. That's what you want isn't it? The one thing I haven't been able to give you."

"No, that's crazy. It's not mine. She's just trying to pin it on me because she knows I have a good job. I agreed to pay the full $800 for her abortion and now she thinks I'm made out of money or something."

"Why would you fork over that much cash unless you were sure that this was your child? You were you trying to cover up the evidence." Now Mei understood the reason for Mark's recent stinginess with their finances.

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you. You and I have known each other years, but you've just barely met Tamera and already you're taking her side. Don't you trust me?!"

"No!"

"Look, getting involved with that girl was a mistake and now I'm just trying to cut her out of our lives, alright?" Mark finished; a look of panic written all across his face. He just wanted his wife to forgive him already and forget this entire mess.

"Whatever," Mei hissed as she walked away. Her husband could tell that she had reached their bedroom once she slammed the door shut. He'd dug himself into a pit and could only think of one way out, but Tamera had to cooperate and she wasn't at the moment.

In the coming days, Mei couldn't seem to get Tamera off of her mind, not even for a moment. Empty bags of cookies and chips all around the house served as evidence of her emotional-eating due to bad nerves. She wanted to know when the other girl was finally going to terminate her pregnancy. But what she wanted most of all was for her marriage to go back to normal and none of that could happen as long as Tamera was till carrying her husband's baby. Moreover, none of that could happen unless she could learn to trust Mark again.

"Has she done it yet?" Mei asked her husband out of the blue one morning. Vague as it was, he knew exactly what she meant because it was always on his mind too.

"No, it's taking a little bit of time. She's scared, but it'll pass. She already knows that I don't want anything to do with her or her stupid baby. I wish she'd go hit up the kid's real father."

No matter what Mark said, Mei never seemed to take any comfort from it. There was always a delay, an excuse, a cancellation at the clinic. And although he denied the child time and time again, she knew that it was his. Another unexpected visit from Tamera convinced her of that.

"I appreciate you letting me into your home like this," Tamera insisted with true sincerity. Her stomach had risen slightly and her face was definitely fuller since the last time Mei had seen her last. She looked tired.

"Mark's not rich, ya know," the man's wife said plainly.

"Money isn't the issue."

"Then what is?"

"I'm not sure how much you know about Mark and I's relationship, but it went on for quite awhile. I know that he's offered to pay for an abortion, but now I really feel abandoned."

Mei smiled inwardly at Tamera's confession. It did her heart a little good to know that Mark had at least told her a little bit of the truth earlier. In no shape or form was he trying to start a family with this girl.

"Well, you should've known that he wouldn't want to have a baby with you. He's married and he even bought condoms to make sure that something like this wouldn't happen," Mei explained smugly.

"Condoms? No, we only used those in the beginning. Like I said, we were together for a while, so sometimes it was just easier to forget about them. Besides, I really didn't think I could get pregnant. I've had so many health issues in the past. I even had one of my ovaries removed when I was like 13 because of an infection. Doctors always told my mom that getting pregnant wasn't going to be an option for me." Tamera paused for a moment. "This baby is like a miracle. And that's why I'm here." She paused again and her face became very serious. "Woman to woman, please allow your husband to come to the clinic with me. I don't have any close family or friends, just him and I could really use the moral support. Can't you see? I'm no monster."

Mei hadn't expected the other girl to have a story that she could identify with so easily.

"Sure, I mean...why wouldn't I allow him to go? Is that what you've been worried about? Yes, I'm very protective of my marriage, but I'm not completely callous."

"Well, Mark said that once you found out about us that you didn't want him anywhere near me. That's why he ended things in the first place and why he can't go to the clinic with me."

"Tamera," Mei began with a sigh. Whatever faith Mei originally had in her husband was quickly dissolving. Had he really used his own wife as a scapegoat to dodge such an important responsibility? What a miserable thing to do. "Did he say all this before or after he found out that you were pregnant?"

"Oh...I guess it was after." The two women sat in silence, mentally taking inventory of just how many lies Mark had told between the two of them, but feeling too embarrassed to speak about it. No one wants to feel like a fool. "Anyway, thanks for letting me talk to you," Tamera said as she began heading out of the front door.

"I'll tell him to go," Mei said abruptly. "I won't let him hide behind me. He'll have to man-up and he'll have to go to the clinic with you."

"No," the brunette said shaking her head. "I'd rather go there by myself than with someone who obviously resents me. I'll be okay on my own."

Even after Tamera left, Mei could still feel tension that lingered around in the house and threatened to destroy her. She was a firm believer in the fact that everything happened for a reason and began to examine some of the more difficult trials that were happening in her life at the moment. Gullible as she was, the woman had been quick to believe her husband when he first denied his infidelity. So maybe Tamera's pregnancy was meant to serve as proof of it. And although Mei had been desperate to give her husband a child, maybe her much hated infertility had actually saved the young woman from being tied down to someone she couldn't trust.

Staring down at her wedding ring, Mei's beautiful diamond looked like nothing more than a piece of glass. A hurdle like this wasn't something that she could just get over. She knew that it might be time to leave Mark and that hurt. They'd only been married a little over 4 years and already the very fabric of their relationship was coming apart at the seams.

"I need a break," the woman said to herself. Her whole body felt as it was suffering from the stress of Mark's affair. She was fatigued and aching all over. Mei now understood firsthand why people complained so much while going through a divorce; she was barely on the cusp of one and already it was exhausting her.

With the pressure that bore down on her increasing exponentially, Mei hoped that getting out of the house might alleviate some tension. A walk around the trail in a nearby park seemed reasonable. The fresh air was strengthening and the scent of flowers in bloom was therapeutic. Unfortunately, the trail wound past a small playground. Seeing mothers with their children, especially with babies, suddenly became a stressful ordeal. Every child was a constant reminder of what Mei was up against concerning Tamera. Unable to cope, the woman began heading home when she almost bumped into a pregnant mother.

"Oops, sorry!" the other woman smiled with a hand on her round belly. It was just too much. Mei started to feel light headed, then dizzy as she heard the faint sound of blood rushing through her head and ears. "Miss, are you alright? Miss?!" The whole world felt as if it was spinning around and around, then she felt herself fall backward. "Help! Somebody call an ambulance!"

****

The hospital was a cool and calm place, but it smelled like disinfectant and the odor stopped Mei from getting any rest. Upon becoming fully aware of her surroundings again, she saw that a doctor was hovering over her bed with a clipboard.

"Welcome back."

"What happened?" Mei asked while beginning to massage her temples.

"You fainted and hit your head on a park bench. But it's no big deal. Dizzy spells are actually quite common among pregnant women. Did you know that you were pregnant?" the doctor asked with slight concern. Her patient looked very surprised.

"No..." Mei replied softly. Then she began to think of how hungry she'd been lately and her body aches. Maybe they hadn't just been symptoms of stress.

"Well, fainting can stem anywhere from circulation issues in the brain because of hormonal changes all the way to poor blood sugar levels while your body adjusts itself for the baby," the doctor smiled. "But nothing to worry about. Have you been under a lot of stress lately?"

"Too much."

"That'll trigger it too," the doctor nodded. "Anyway, let me just wrap a few things up here and I can discharge you within the hour. Also I'd like to recommend you to a pediatrician if you don't already have in mind. Alright?"

"Sure," Mei shrugged, a smile playing on her lips, but it faded once the doctor closed her beside curtain and left. She was pregnant, finally pregnant...but at the worst time possible. It made her think of Tamera's pending abortion. And for the first time, she sympathized with the girl. Just like Mei, Tamera had once felt hopeless about conceiving, but at long last came the miracle and now she was forced to destroy it. Was it really asking so much to have a shoulder to cry on when that time came?

The next day, Mei tracked Tamera down and it was just in time. She was on her way to the clinic all alone. Maybe Mark wasn't willing to be there, but his wife had somehow mustered the courage to show up.

"You came, I can't believe you came!" the pregnant woman said with so much gratitude while the two women hugged in the parking. Mei had gotten Tamera's number from Mark's phone a mere twenty minutes earlier and called to tell the girl that it had been a tough decision, but she wanted to be Tamera's moral support in her time of need. "You of all people, I just can't believe it! My own sister didn't even want to come," she cried.

"Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride. I think you taught me that by accident," Mei laughed through a couple of tears. She knew now that it had taken the other woman a lot of strength to introduce herself in the first place. It's not everyday that a husband's mistress shows up at his home begging his wife for help.

"Alright," Tamera exhaled with a deep breath. "I'm ready."

The abortion clinic wasn't much unlike a regular doctor's office. The two women sat in the waiting room quietly while Tamera filled out some paperwork. Mei flipped through a few magazines with pages that had been dog-eared to death, but she wasn't really looking at them anyway, just making busywork for her brain as a thought kept passing through it.

"Do you really wanna do this?" Mei finally asked. "I remember how you threw that cigarette down in the parking lot the day I came to see you. You're already attached to this baby, aren't you? You want it."

"So," the pregnant woman shrugged somberly and looked away.

"Let's get outta here," Mei insisted. She grabbed the clipboard out of Tamera's hands and surrendered it back to the receptionist at the front desk. "Sorry, we've changed our minds," she said plainly before taking Tamera by the hand.




The Chinatown Affair Ch. 03



"Happens all the time," the receptionist smiled politely. "Have a nice day."

The fact of the matter was that Mei couldn't expect Tamera to do something with her child that she wasn't prepared to do with her own, no matter what the circumstances of Tamera's pregnancy.

"Mei, let's hold up a minute," the brunette finally said once they'd reached the outside again. "You know just as well as I do that Mark doesn't want anything to do with this baby. I grew up without a dad and I just don't know if I can put my own child through that. It was awful. My mother was always in a bad mood raising me by herself. And sometimes I felt like she hated me for complicating her life."

"Well, maybe that's 'cause she raised you out of obligation instead of love. You actually love your baby. And Besides, I can help you. You see...I'm pregnant too. I'm not sure if I ever will be again and I know that you feel the same way, don't you?" Tamera nodded in agreement. "Now I know that we're not gonna be some big happy family all of a sudden, but let's face it...this may be a once in a life time deal for both of us. I can't deny you this gift. I can't allow you to have this abortion when I know that you really don't want to. You didn't make this baby by yourself. My husband won't be there for you, but I will."

Whether it was the hormones talking or her own goodwill, Mei wasn't sure, but she intended to keep her promise. Mark looked as if he might have stroke once he heard the news. His face was red, his chest was heaving, and his fists had balled up in a way that made his wife feel afraid at first. He had two children on the way and one that he could care less about. It was all supposed to have been taken care of, but Mei had stuck her nose into his business and now she was ruining everything.

Roughly six months later, Tamera went into labor and Mei drove her to the hospital. The young woman was excited to finally greet her new baby into the world, but complications ensued.

"What's going on?" she asked, noticing a change in the demeanor of her doctor and the nurses. Something wasn't right, wasn't normal. Mei was asked to leave the delivery room. Two hours later, Tamera gave birth to a stillborn baby girl; beautiful and healthy in every way except for the fact that her umbilical cord had accidentally wrapped around the infant's neck, choking her to death. "It's not fair..." the grieving mother spoke once the nurses handed her the lifeless child. "She died on her birthday. It's not fair."

Mei sat with Tamera in silence as she cradled her child. Ten minutes, then twenty, then an hour passed by and it was time to let the little body go. The ordeal had been scarier than words could allow Mei to express. Carrying a daughter of her own at the moment, she couldn't help but feel afraid that this could happen to her too.

At home, Mark was of no comfort. He had no soothing words, no loving arms to reassure his wife that everything would be okay. No, he resented her too much. Boy, if looks could kill...All he could see in Mei was that she was his meddling wife who had put him through hell over some girl he'd accidentally knocked up. Didn't she understand it was nothing personal, just an accident? As his wife, she was supposed to be on his side alone, not anybody else's.

Mark felt wronged and his wife had been paying for it ever since...

Mei still held a hand to her chest as the feelings evoked by all of those memories began to subside. Looking at the clock, she realized that ten minutes had passed, just remembering everything. But, her heart was beating a little slower now, returning to normal. And although she really needed the rest, she wouldn't allow herself to get back to sleep, avoiding more bad dreams.

It was 6:30 in the morning and Rachel would need to be ready for school soon. The girl's mother prepared her plush unicorn lunchbox with a snack and tucked a few extra graham crackers in the side-pocket. She really liked those.

Having Rachel had been the deciding factor to stay with Mark after his relationship with Tamera. Back then, Mei had been so afraid of being a single mother, afraid of the stigma, the judgment. She had grown up in a world where women just didn't make decisions like that and divorced women were considered undesirable, especially ones with small children.

It wasn't until Jonathon came along that Mei seriously began to wonder if all of the social "rules" she had learned as a girl were actually breakable. He sure seemed to be doing a fine job of it. Maybe other people were breaking them. Maybe she could too.

Soon enough, Mark was awake and wandering into the kitchen for breakfast.

"We have to talk," the man's wife began while turning on the stove top.

"About?"

"Jonathon and I. Something's going on between us."

"Oh, please," Mark scoffed. "I hope you don't actually think that guy really likes you."

"Yes, I do think he likes me," Mei said with a confident glare in her husband's direction.

"Think about it. What would an attractive twenty-something want with the married mother of a 6 year old? Let's see, he's renting your parent's Chinatown apartment, which means he's broke and he lives in another state, which means he doesn't have to be around you all the time. Face it. He's probably hoping to score some free rent and some no-strings-attached pussy. Perfect for saving money to take pretty girls out on dates when you're not around."

"That's right Mark, take all the cheap shots you can. Cause sooner than later, I'm not gonna be around for you to beat up on anymore."

"Oh, sure. So I guess this is the part where you threaten to file for divorce then, spend the night at my sister's house to teach me a lesson," the woman's husband said snickered.

"Nope. This is my house too and I'm stayin' put," Mei responded. "At least until the divorce," she smiled while cracking an egg over the hot skillet. The sizzling sound seemed to add a little sting to her declaration. "You want bacon with this?"

Mark looked at his wife with contempt.

"I'm not hungry."

****

After dinner and clean up, Mei used the guest bathroom for a nice hot soak. No one ever used that room, so it felt much more pristine and exclusive. In fact, she had decided to relocate herself to the guestroom completely. Exercising her newfound privacy, Mei decided to call Jonathon for another one of their late night conversations. Oddly, the phone rang more times than usual and when he finally picked she could faintly hear another voice in the background. The woman's pulse raced a little and she struggled not to think about what Mark had told her earlier about Jonathon seeing other girls while she was away.

"Hey baby," a masculine voice said into the receiver.

"Hi. Did I call at a bad time?"

"Kinda. Uhm, can I call you right back?"

"Sure," Mei swallowed hard. She could hear Jonathon talking to someone else and laughing just as he hung up the phone. But what more was she to expect from a good looking, faraway, twenty something, who probably just saw her as a potential sugar mama and nothing else? Mark might have been wrong about a lot of things, but he was definitely right about others.

Just not this thing!

Ten minutes later, Jonathon called back.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "Damn, this house repair stuff isn't going very smoothly."

"Oh. Well, if something has gone wrong, just tell me and I'll take care of it. What else is wrong in the apartment?"

"No, my house. Not the apartment. I have a home that's being renovated. That's how I was able to find contractors for your parent's building so easily. They were already working on my property." Mei felt pleasantly surprised to hear the younger man prove one of her husband's theories wrong. Jonathon was not using her for financial reasons. "Anyway, I've been really lax with the workers for being so flexible about the extra work load and now they think its party time or something."

"Oh, is that who you were talking to when I called?" Mei asked with a little relief.

"Yeah, they finished rewiring upstairs today, but then they started raiding the refrigerator. It took forever to get them out of here. None of them have returned to work on my house yet and I'm on a deadline. I hope they don't come back looking for more free stuff."

"Do you have a lot of food in the apartment?"

"No, not anymore."

"Then trust me, they won't come back," the older assured her lover and they both laughed a little.

"So, what are you wearing?" Jonathon changed the subject. He heard a stifled giggle across the phone line.

"Well," the woman began. "It's a silk nightie with white lace and I've opted not to wear any panties again," Mei explained while getting comfortable on her bed. "What are you wearing?"

"Nothing but a smile."

"Oh, my gosh!" the woman laughed.

"It's true. I'm just getting into bed now while listening to you. Too bad you're not here. I'd like to wear you."

It felt so good to hear Jonathon's voice gain. He really encouraged Mei to feel sexy.

"I'm touching myself," the woman admitted.

"Can you come for me on the phone?" Jonathon asked huskily. The sound of his heavy breathing let Mei know that he was very aroused and probably stroking himself too. She could just imagine his length erect and stiff, yearning for release. She wanted to lick his cockhead and smear his pre-come across her lips; to tease him and taunt him; to drive him wild with lust for her warm body.

"Oh Jon, I'm so horny," Mei replied. Two fingers gently moved in and out of her hole while manipulating her clit by rubbing it against her palm. The woman moaned and cooed into the phone as she listened to Jonathon do the same. Her hand was becoming slick with natural lubricant. The more aroused she became, the more it poured out of her and soon it was making a mess between her thighs. She closed her eyes and remembered the last time Jonathon's face was between those thighs.

"What are you thinking about, baby?" the younger man asked. "You thinking about how I tongue-fucked you at the bar? We almost got caught," he breathed with a smile.

"Yeah, I loved that. I miss you licking me," the older woman hissed while paying closer attention to her sensitive clit. "Ahh..." she whimpered into the phone a little.

"Baby, I can't wait to see you again. I wish you still lived out here. I wanna make like you like that all the time."

Mei's skin was hot, excited, elated.

"Oh, shit! I think it's about to happen..." She could feel her vaginal muscles tightening around her fingers. Her body was obviously going to its "happy place" and she was amazed at how involuntary the experience seemed, as if she was being controlled by her own sexuality.

"Fuck!" the younger man groaned as he listened, concentrating on the soft sound of Mei's hand slamming against her wet opening. He could remember her delicate taste, her scent, the softness of her feminine pubic hair and the fleshy, pink frills of her seductive labia. "I want you!"

"Oh, Ohhhh..." the woman moaned, signaling her climax. She squeezed her thighs together as her body shook with satisfaction.

"Yes!" Jonathon hissed, his own orgasm becoming apparent. "Ohhh! Oh shit, babe, that was great," he moaned exhaustedly. "I gotta clean up."

"Me too," Mei panted. "Talk again soon?"

"You know it," Jonathon replied and they each hung up.

****

It was a Saturday morning and Mark had been waking up alone for the past three weeks while his wife took refuge in the guestroom. But today was the day he took back control over the household. Mei had set up an appointment for the two of them to meet with their respective lawyers and if she thought he was just going to cooperate with this divorce fairly, well she had another thing coming. Both of their vehicles were already in his name, so he was definitely taking possession of them and he had already come up with a scheme to make the house his too; that might make her think twice!

The sound of laughter and shuffling in the living room made Mark want to investigate. He found Mei and his sister setting up moving boxes. To say that it was surprising would be an understatement. His soon to be ex-wife was packing everything that she had personally brought into the marriage; her books, some linen, a few appliances. Apparently, she didn't even want the damn house that he was sure would make her re-evaluate a divorce. The two women quieted down once they saw him watching.

"Oh. Hi, Mark," Linda greeted her brother unenthusiastically.

"What's all this?" the man asked. This was definitely not the usual suitcase trick his wife used to pull on him.

"I'm just getting my stuff together before it's time for me to move out. I don't to waste time."

"This is your fault!" Mark suddenly exploded while pointing to his sister. "You've always made her think that she needed to hide from me by telling her to come over whenever we argue. But it was really just an opportunity for you to fill her head with a bunch of dumb ideas about leaving me."

"No, Mark," the man's wife chimed in as she finished taping up a box. She stopped for a moment and looked at him very seriously. "This is my fault. For years you've treated me like crap, like I was disgusting, and unattractive, but only because I let you. I let you get away with it time and time again and now you're used to it. I should've nipped this in the bud all those years ago when you got that other girl pregnant, but I just didn't believe in myself. I didn't give myself enough credit. Now I'm finally ready to leave you. And if that means starting all over and being a single mother and worrying about whether any other man will ever want me again, I'm finally ready to deal with that."

"Well, you're making a big mistake. And are you really gonna stand there bringing shit up from almost 10 years ago as your excuse for ending our marriage?! You act like such a victim. My dad had other women at times, but do you think my mother bitched about it like you? No! She always forgave him, always knew that he had chosen her to be the wife and not any of those other tramps."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You just stop right there, honey," Linda held up a finger. At this point Mark was indirectly talking about her mother. "Mark, I really loved your mama, so don't take offense to this, but she was a wimp!"

"No, my mother didn't sweat the small stuff!"

"Do you really think she ate all the time because she was hungry? No, Ellen was depressed because Dad was killing her inside. She didn't know how to just stand up for herself, so she ate all the damn time. That's how come she got so damn fat."

"She didn't get that way until after you were born," Mark said resentfully. "She got depressed because you and your mother tried to force your way into our family, but it didn't even work cause Dad may have treated my mom poorly sometimes, but he would never leave her."

"Of course he wouldn't leave. Who the hell else was gonna let him walk all over them? It's the same damn thing with you and Mei. For all the lies, the insults, the way you treat her as if she's unworthy of your love, why not just divorce her already?! The truth is that you stay with her for a reason, just like Dad stayed with Ellen. You want someone you can control."

After listening long enough, Mei left the room abruptly and stood on the back porch for some air. It hurt to face the fact that Mark's main reason for staying married to her was likely because she was just like Ellen, a wimp. Now it seemed so fitting that she had worn her mother's dress to the retirement party. That night, she actually was Ellen; a miserable wife, loyally standing by for the stake of tradition and low self-esteem. If she had harbored any doubts beforehand about leaving Mark, they had all disappeared during that moment.

In the living room, Mark just stood there for a moment with a strange look on his face. His sister wondered if he was about to lose his temper and do something crazy, but no, she could see now that a light bulb was starting to go off in Mark's head. Like many men, he had modeled his marriage after that of his parents. In his eyes, his father had always been a ladies man who just happened to be married and his mother was the all-forgiving wife who was too wise to hold a grudge. Maybe deep down he knew otherwise, but he was too in love with the idea of having power over his wife to ever actually be in love with his wife. What a shame.

****

The divorce was miserable and at times painful for both sides, but it was a long time coming. Mei moved herself and her daughter out to San Francisco. The bad news was that everything in the city was even more expensive than she remembered. The good news was that her job was transferable and she was finally free from a bad marriage!

At first, Mei's mother was not at all accepting of her divorce, she especially hated the idea of her daughter dating a younger man. But the noticeable change in Mei's attitude and love of life made her see differently. Mei was a whole new woman. Jonathon had been trying to give her some space while she settled into her new life, but after nearly a month, he just couldn't stay away any longer. So one night he reserved a table for two at a restaurant of her choice and they had their first real date.   An after dinner stroll through Jonathon's neighborhood led the couple straight to his front door. He had chauffeured Mei past it once in the car, but this was her first time going inside the beautifully restored Victorian home; an ordinary sight in San Francisco that always felt extraordinary at the same time.

"Well, here we are," Jonathon announced while locking up the front door. "I know it still smells a little musty in here 'cause the building's so old, but I'm trying to get rid of tha—." Mei quickly silenced his lips with a passionate kiss. "Wow..." he exhaled when she finally broke away. "You know, another thing about this house is that I've never made love in it before. Maybe you could help me change that."

Mei was already circling the tip of Jonathon's erection through the material of his pants when she agreed to his offer.

"I'd love that."

A narrow hallway led the couple to Jonathon's room. The sight of a large bed gave Mei butterflies as the moment began to feel more and more real. A soft sound made her turn in Jonathon's direction. She saw him lighting a few candles.

"Cut out the lights," the younger man insisted. Afterward, the dim glimmer of the candles provided a more romantic sort of ambiance than the artificial lights. Jonathon lifted his shirt up over his head, tossing it to a nearby chair. The soft lighting gave shadow to his tight muscles. Steadily, he began walking toward his target. Mei felt her heart float its way up into her throat with anxiousness.

"Touch me," the younger man said, putting his woman's hands to his chest. She gave him a gentle squeeze before concentrating on his nipples, running her fingers over them a couple of times then, her tongue. His skin tasted clean and felt silky against her mouth. With her lips still tied to his pecs, Mei deftly unbuckled the man's belt and stripped him completely nude. She stood back for a moment looking at him and feeling pleasantly intimidated. Her eyes fell to his arousal as she stared at the glistening eye, weeping tears of sexual joy. She let a drop of his pre-ejaculate dribble onto her finger before putting the digit to her mouth. It was a little salty, a little tangy, and apparently, a little something of an aphrodisiac as she felt herself becoming rapidly wet.

Gently and teasingly slow, Jonathon began to unbutton the older woman's blouse. He threw it to the chair with his shirt just before working on her bra. For the first time, her breasts were completely exposed to him. Mei took a deep breath as the younger man fondled them experimentally. They seemed to fill his hands so perfectly. He smiled at their soft, but firmness and brought her close, wanting to feel her bare skin against his. In a sensual embrace, their bodies moved against one another, just breathing and touching one another.




The Chinatown Affair Ch. 03



Jonathon made quick use of his lips against Mei's neck. His long hair cascaded down her back, her shoulders, and slinked its way between her cleavage. Every time his head moved, so did his hair, caressing her sensitive skin. She could feel that her underwear were almost soaked with excitement by now. With her lover's help she removed them, including her skirt.

Jonathon nodded in the direction of his bed, leading Mei to it. Lying down with his head propped up against the pillows and legs spread, he gave the woman a knowing smile. She crept onto the bed with him, resting between his knees. Mei rocked back and forth against him, massaging his manhood between her breasts.

"Oh, that's good," the younger man hissed. He raised his hips in time with her rocking for more stimulation. "Oh yeah." Soon, Jonathon was holding the woman's breasts and pumping his cock through them. Mei arched her neck, licking the crown of his length. More thick salty liquid entered her mouth a little at a time as pre-cum continued to escape. Holding Jonathon's manhood at the base, Mei changed positions and began sucking him off more effectively. "More..." Jonathon breathed, writhing on the bed under her skillful touch. She kept her eyes on him, slurping around his engorged penis before bathing his scrotum with her tongue. "Sit on my face," the man suddenly said.

Mei climbed over her lover's body backward with her face in his lap and vise versa.

"Ah!" the woman exclaimed with surprise as Jonathon aggressively pulled her down to his mouth and began licking her private area. She continued blowing him with even more passion while his tongue snaked its way inside of her. It felt longer than she last remembered. He caressed her backside and thighs, moaning into her each time she sucked him just the right way. Eventually, his tongue found her anal opening, circling and prodding it gently. She mimicked his idea, reaching her mouth further than before. The situation felt so satisfying, so desperately needed instead of just wanted. Mei couldn't keep it a secret when she finally came. "Yes! Oh, god..." she panted against the inside of Jonathon's leg. Her body continued to shake for a few moments.

"How 'bout you sit on me the other way," Jonathon suggested.

Looking over her shoulder, Mei saw his face. He was still busy licking her essence from his lips. She turned around to straddle his hips. But before he penetrated her, Jonathon took Mei by the hands and they just looked into each other's eyes for a moment. And at that moment, she knew that he didn't just like her, he had fallen in love with her. He sat up to kiss the woman briefly before lying back down again. She started to laugh.

"What is it?"

"I'm happy. Aren't people supposed to laugh when they're happy?" the older woman asked while better positioning herself over his lenght. When she sank downward, there was a notable resistance. Although she and Mark had continued to have sex throughout most of their troubled marriage, it was too infrequent and short-lived to stop her from tightening up to an almost virginal state. Jonathon held her hips as he eased himself up into her body.

"Mmm," the younger man hummed with a big smile on his face. She was tighter than expected. Pleasantly surprised, he began toying with her breasts again while she allowed herself to adjust to him being inside. To Jonathon, she felt so warm up there and comforting, as if she were hugging him in a very intimate way. It was so gratifying.

When she felt ready, Mei began rocking her body on top of Jonathon's. He was still playing with her tits and she liked that, liked feeling as though every part of her was desirable. Trying to get her rhythm right, she started out slow, but quickly began riding her man with fury.

"Ugh! Ugh!" her moans filled the room.

"Good girl..."

"Uh, huh..."

After a while, Mei could feel tiny beads of sweat slide down her back. Jonathon was glistening with his own perspiration; strands of hair were sticking to his neck and the sides of his face. She leaned down to him, pressing their lips together while still making love. He accepted her tongue into his mouth, sucking on it. His strong hands reached around to her ass, feeling its feminine roundness and smacking it a few times. He searched her all over with the same hands, wanting to know her, discover her in ways that he couldn't before now. His interest made her feel so special. Suddenly, she gripped his shoulders.

"Ahhh! Uhgh...Oh, yeah!" the woman screamed as another orgasm wracked its way through her body. Jonathon could feel her convulsing around him while he remained deep inside.

"Fuck," the younger man took a deep breath just as his own orgasm finally happened. He held Mei tight while his cock unloaded into her awaiting pussy. "Yeah, take it!" he breathed. After a minute, the two separated. Jonathon was still hard, but he could tell that Mei still needed a little rest. She was fanning herself with an empty envelope she'd found on his nightstand and panting heavily. The younger man tried to help cool her down with a rice paper fan from nearby.

"Thank you," the woman smiled with rosy cheeks as she laid there and attempted to catch her breath. Jonathon began kissing her all over. He started at the top of Mei's head and worked his way down to her thighs. Spreading them, he could see his semen spilling form her opening. A smirk crept its way across his face as some primal, instinctual feeling took over him. He had marked her with his sperm and this meant that they were bonded now.

"Maybe one more time?" a small voice questioned.

Jonathon looked upward and saw that Mei was smiling at him shyly. Her cheeks were still red, but not from being active. In truth, she felt a little bashful. She'd already come twice and felt worried that asking for a third might make her seem a little slutty.

"As many time as you want," the younger man answered, reassuring her that it was normal to want more and more and more! He climbed over her, pulling the woman's body to him. He kissed her mouth softly, licking her lips and letting her feel safe before he became aggressive. Holding Mei down to the bed, he thrust himself inside of her.

"Uhh!" she whimpered from the shock. Jonathon raised her legs until the back of her knees were resting on his shoulders.

"Is this what you want?" He asked. His tone was rough and almost frightening, but somehow that made it sexier.

"Yes," the older woman replied in a soft voice.

"Tell me!"

"Yes, baby!" Mei replied more loudly.

Jonathon started pumping himself inside repeatedly. His eyes were gazing deep into Mei's. The moment became too intense, so she looked away, but he pulled her face back into position.

"Look at me while I'm fucking you," he demanded. His strokes became slower, but longer as he worked on giving Mei as much pleasure as she could handle.

"Ohhh...that feels great," she moaned. "Now fast again." Jonathon took orders well, thrusting himself into Mei's body. She arched her back up off of the bed growling and swearing at him. She almost seemed possessed. "Ah! Fuck me! Fuck my pussy harder!"

"Like this! Huh?!" the younger man obeyed. The sound of his sweaty sac slapping against her ass echoed against the walls.

"Yes!" the woman screamed. She started bucking her hips wildly against her lover. "I want you to come on me!!" she screamed again as a third climax struck her. There was still so much adrenaline coursing through her blood stream.

After a few more pumps, Jonathon obliged his woman's request. Pulling out of her warmth, he began jerking his cock with one hand while she played with her clit at the same time.

"Fuck, here it comes!" the younger man warned. Ropes of his sperm came flying from the tip of his penis. Jonathon angled the first few spurts toward her face, she opened her mouth and caught them greedily. She came for a fourth and final time, her thighs clamping down on her wrist, while Jonathon pumped a couple last spurts onto her breasts. Feeling spent, he laid himself down beside her for a quick rest. "Man-o-man," he said. "That was great."

"It was more than great. It was wonderful," Mei added, still a bit short of breath. She turned on her side to face Jonathon. Stroking his hair, she made a confession to him. "I love you."

"And I love you." The younger man turned to her. "You're so beautiful. I've always believed that."

"Yes. But now I do too," Mei smiled and the couple embraced.

After a few minutes of basking in the after glow of their lovemaking, the couple showered together. They held each other in the water, kissing, talking, loving... It was the very beginning of a never ending romance.

****

Jonathon continued to dry his long locks in the bathroom while Mei went back to the bedroom. She heard her phone ringing.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey, it's me," said Mark. "I just called to talk to Rachel." The man had given his ex-wife full custody of their daughter without any protest, but after having some time alone and recognizing his life for what it really was, Mark had made it a point not to let this relationship go down the drain too. At least once a week, he had agreed to call his daughter before her bedtime.

"I'm sorry. You'll have to call my parent's place. I'm not at home right now."

Listening to the noise in the background and judging by how late it was, Mark could tell that she was probably with her new beau.

"Yeah, okay. Uhm, for what it's worth, make that guy treat you right, okay? I know that must sound stupid, coming from me."

"No, that doesn't sound stupid. It sounds like you're finally coming to terms with things."

"Yeah, I'm working on it."

"Well, for what it's worth, I want you to be happy, okay?"

"Okay," Mark agreed. "I'm gonna call your folk's place now. Goodnight."

"Night," Mei whispered as she hung up her cell phone. Just then, Jonathon returned to the bedroom.

"You alright?" the younger man asked as he sat beside her on the bed.

"I am now," Mei replied as she looked into Jonathon's caring eyes. Sometimes his sincerity made her feel uncomfortable. After all, she wasn't used to someone genuinely loving her. But just like Mark was working on the changes in his life, she was still working on hers. Accepting that she was actually worthy of someone else's appreciation was the first step. "Let's get some sleep."

Mei allowed her lover to tuck her into bed. He wrapped his arms around her and they drifted off peacefully.



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 really special about 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."

"Makes what real?" 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 barely involved with 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 was his night.

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, you should be 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.




The Chinatown Affair



"Nah honey, I don't care about that. It's just that, well, you remember how she kinda had that weight problem after a while from being bed ridden?"

"Uh, huh," the dark haired woman nodded suspiciously.

"Well, she couldn't really it into none of her other clothes after a while cause she was too big. So she used to wear that everyday cause it was the only thing what fit her good."

"Linda," Mei began softly with a pause in between. "Are you trying to tell me that Ellen died in this dress?"

"I really do think so..." the redhead sort of cringed while nodding her head at the same time.

"Ahhh!" Mei screamed and started pulling at the dress to get it off as soon as possible. She threw it to the ground once the material finally lifted over her head. "Ewe! Ewe! God, that's creepy!" she said standing their in her bra and panties while Linda tried to stop herself from sliding to the floor with laughter. "I can't believe Mark let me wear that shit. What the fuck is wrong with him?!" Mei ranted. "Shit!"

"Coffee's on," Linda said gently while pouring it into to mugs; a big smile still on her face. "I'll go get you something else to wear.

Mei looked down at the dress one last time and it sent a shiver up her spine, so she kicked it away, imagining that she was kicking someone instead of something.