those years between us

[01] THE WHITE ROSE AND THE RED FLOWER

AUNTIE IP WALKED out of the kitchen with a plate of freshly cut watermelon and pears in hand, laying it on the table around which we were sitting. On the way back to the kitchen, she gave me a light pat on the head, and we shared a quick grin as she left again.

Uncle Ip leaned back. The years had been kind on him, and despite being in his sixties, time had not left much of a mark. His dark hair had greyed, but it was the only indication of the years that had passed since the first time I had met him as a little girl. "Finally, Yam-yuet is graduating too."

Ma rolled her eyes besides me. "Finally! Off to university, becoming an adult. No care for me and her father, of course not, even when she's home. Her wings have hardened and all she wants is to fly out!"

"I'd argue," Papa said, shaking his head, "that she'd flown out of the nest years ago. Same with your son, Old Ip."

"Ah, well." Uncle Ip shrugged. "Kids these days, they grow up too fast. You might as well let her do what she wants, it'll be inconvenient otherwise. Our lifestyles are too different from youngsters, isn't that right, Yam-yuet?"

"I'm heading out every day," I replied, amused, "because I want to hang out more with my friends. I miss my Hong Kong friends, and my boarding school friends will be scattered all over England and the rest of the world in a matter of weeks. I miss them!"

"It is good, you know," Auntie Ip had come back out to rejoin us, "that she has ideas and so many friends of her own. It means she is independent. She can take care of herself now. Yam-yuet, which university are you going to?"

"Redchester, Auntie."

Uncle Ip raised his head. "Redchester! That is where Tsun-kit is studying as well! Which subject?"

Orion Ip Tsun-kit. The son of Uncle and Auntie Ip, my childhood neighbour, schoolmate in both Hong Kong and the UK, and my childhood crush. That was someone I'd been trying to avoid and forget for the past few years. Damn it. I hadn't realised he was studying at Redchester, but it shouldn't matter all that much.

"Politics and International Relations," I replied.

"We've already rented her a nice little one-bedroom apartment near her department," Ma added. "It's a nice place, we visited before we came back."

"Where is it?" Auntie Ip asked, tilting her head. "Tsun-kit has an apartment too."

"It's on, uh, Edward Street. The really big apartment complex there?" I kept a careful eye on Auntie Ip's expression, praying internally. The chances of me bumping into him was very small, but I didn't like to leave anything up to luck.

But then I saw her expression. Her ecstatic, ecstatic expression. And without thinking, I blurted out, "Don't tell me he lives there too."

My ma frowned at me. "Yam-yuet! Watch your tone, what do you mean don't tell you? Do you not want to be neighbours with Orion?"

No. Of course I didn't. The things I'd done in the past few years to avoid being in the same city as him were not all going to be dashed just because of this. But I didn't want my ma to hit me, so I quickly replied, "No, no, of course not. I just thought... what a coincidence that would be. Auntie?"

"Oh, it's fate! Our families just keep getting tied together," Auntie Ip gushed. "Tsun-kit lives at that complex, yes! He says it is a very nice place to live in. Nice facilities! Which floor? Which apartment? Oh, I can visit you too when I visit him, then! And you can take care of each other!"

"The second floor." My papa replied for me. "Apartment... C, isn't it, dear?"

I nodded. "2C."

Auntie Ip's eyes practically lit up (a startling contrast to my own personal feelings). It was as if someone had turned something on in her. Her back went rigid, straight, and she leaned in to grasp my hands. "Oh, the coincidence! The fate! Tsun-kit is living in 2D!"