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‘How many square feet is this apartment, anyway?’ I said when we reached the front door.
‘Big enough.’
The front door was a standard wooden one, but as usual in Hong Kong it had a large steel gate in front of it. Leo entered the code for the security gate into the pad next to the wall and opened it outwards. He unlocked the deadbolt on the wooden door and held it open for me.
We kicked off our shoes at the entrance, then Leo led me down the main hall and turned right. He passed the first door and opened the second on the left. ‘This is your room.’
I went in and stopped dead. It wasn’t a room, it was a suite. The huge rectangular space had been divided in two: the first part was a living room with a comfortable leather couch, a small television and a desk with a computer. Further in, the bedroom had a trim modern double bed and a door on each side.
Leo lowered the box he was carrying. He opened one of the doors. ‘This connects with Simone’s room.’ He closed the door and went to the other one. ‘Your bathroom.’
‘I get my own bathroom?’
‘Yep. Anything you need, tell me.’
I looked around. ‘This is terrific. I wasn’t expecting anything as good as this.’ The large picture window overlooked Hong Kong Harbour and the highrises of Kowloon beyond. ‘What a view.’
‘Let me show you around,’ Leo said, ‘and then we’ll get the rest of the boxes.’
‘Thanks.’
He took me out to the hallway, which ran the full width of the apartment, and pointed to the doors on the same side as my room. ‘Mr Chen’s bedroom. Mine. Simone’s. You.’
I nodded.
‘All of ours are the same size; Mr Chen’s is slightly larger,’ he said. He opened the door opposite. ‘This is the music room.’ The room had a piano, a table holding a Chinese musical instrument called a guzheng, which was something like a zither, and a black electric guitar in one corner. ‘Next to the music room, the TV room. The surround sound is really good. You can use it if nobody else is.’
He stopped at the door next to my bedroom and hesitated.
‘What’s in there?’ I said.
‘You might as well know, you’ll be living here. Here goes.’ He opened the door.
At first I thought it was a dance studio. Soft white mats completely covered the floor. One wall was mirrors from the floor to the ceiling.
And then I saw the other wall. A fearsome array of martial arts weapons sat on racks on the floor and hung off hooks on the wall. Swords, staves, chucks, knives, axes, everything.
‘Holy shit,’ I said softly.
Leo crossed his arms in front of his chest. ‘Use language like that in front of Mr Chen and you’ll be out the door before you know it.’
I wandered closer to the weapons. I bent to lift a sword from the rack but Leo put his hand on my wrist to stop me. ‘Don’t touch anything. All of these are extremely sharp and you could easily get hurt. Don’t come in here if the door is closed, or you could be seriously injured,’ he said. ‘Stay out. Okay?’
I nodded. ‘Whatever you say.’
He took my elbow and gently led me out, closing the door behind us. He gestured towards the end of the hall. ‘Mr Chen sometimes has…’ he hesitated, searching for the right word ‘ people come here to learn from him. They stay in two rooms at the end of the hall there. Don’t try to talk to them, they are here to…ah, learn and not socialise. So don’t talk to them, okay?’
I shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
He glowered down at me. ‘I mean it.’
‘I won’t talk to them.’
‘Good.’
He led me back up the hall to the main corridor. ‘Linen closet and powder room on the corner.’ He gestured to the doors on the left, across the hall from the large living room with its twin cream couches and picture windows overlooking the spectacular South side of Hong Kong Island. ‘Mr Chen’s…’ He hesitated again. ‘Study.’
‘Disaster area,’ I said, looking through the open door. He made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I’ve seen some messy offices, Leo, but his absolutely has to win first prize.’
‘I’ll tell him you said that. Dining room next, then the kitchen.’ He took me into the kitchen, past Monica who was cutting up some vegetables on the counter. He led me to the back. ‘Monica’s room’s in the back here. Next to it, the storeroom.’
I went into the storeroom and looked around. Most of the stuff seemed to be poles covered in cloth. An enormous glass jar, easily up to my waist, sat in the corner. It appeared to be full of large black beads, like olives, and had a complicated metal seal. I bent to study it, curious.
‘Don’t touch that!’ Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me away. ‘Don’t ever go near that. If you open it, it could kill you.’ He released my arm. ‘Don’t ever go anywhere near that.’
‘What the hell’s it doing here if it’s toxic?’ I said. ‘Simone could get into it.’
‘She knows better, and now so do you,’ he said. ‘Stay away.’
‘What is it? It looks like preserved fruit.’
‘I think you’ve seen enough.’ He closed the door behind us after we went out of the storeroom. ‘We’ll bring up the rest of your boxes, and then, if you don’t mind, we’ll go through Simone’s schedule. She’s a very busy little girl.’
‘Sure.’
After dropping the boxes in my room, Leo led me into the dining room. It had a round rosewood twelve-seater table and a rosewood side table. A couple of fluid ink paintings adorned the walls.
He went out and came back with a large folder bulging with coloured paper. He thumped it onto the table between us. ‘Thank God you’re handling this now – this schedule is enough to drive anybody crazy.’
He opened the folder and handed me the papers one at a time. ‘Chinese lessons. Violin. Piano.’ He put one paper aside. ‘Not singing any more. You’re here full-time, so no English either.’ He raised a pink piece of paper and studied it, expressionless. ‘Ballet. Damn.’
‘What?’
He put the paper on the table, then ran his hand over his bald head, finally dropping his hand onto the table with a slap. ‘Please don’t be too freaked out by this, Emma.’
‘Freaked out?’
‘Ballet is in Central. You’ve worked out that I’m a bodyguard. Okay. I’ll take you down in the car and wait. You are not to take her anywhere without either me or Mr Chen along. It’s because of who her dad is.’
‘Who is he?’
Leo smiled slightly. ‘Don’t take her on public transport. She must be driven by me or Mr Chen, and one of us must be with her at all times to guard her. I know it sounds strange, but her safety is paramount.’
‘Who’s after her?’
Leo pushed the papers over to me. ‘And that’s all. Oh,’ he said, suddenly remembering, ‘she goes out to Lo Wu on Saturday mornings to ride a pony. Any questions?’
I studied the huge stack of papers on the table. ‘I thought he was paying me well. Now I think he’s not paying me enough.’
‘Don’t worry, as long as one of us is with you, you’ll be perfectly safe.’
‘Tell me, Leo.’
‘Right now, just settle in, get the feel for the job. I’ll tell you more later.’
‘Promise?’
He smiled. ‘Promise. Mr Chen teaches her Wu shu as well – he’ll tell you when they have a session. Drop her off in the training room, come back half an hour later…easy.’
‘What’s Wu shu?’
‘Martial arts. Kung fu. Ask her to show you; she’s really cute.’
‘It’s normal for children to learn off their parents, isn’t it?’
‘If there’s a family tradition, then it’s absolutely expected. He teaches me too.’
‘Mr Chen learnt from his father?’
‘What an interesting idea,’ he said. ‘But I don’t think so.’
‘Leo?’ I tapped on his bedroom door.
‘Come on in, Emma.’
Leo sat at his desk reading a website on his computer.
I raised the pile of books. ‘Someone left these on the desk in my room.’
‘Oh.’ He spun in his chair to face me. ‘The last nanny must have left them there. You can have them if you want.’
‘This one looks valuable,’ I said, indicating the large illustrated compendium of Chinese gods.
He shrugged. ‘Keep ’em.’
I shrugged as well. ‘Okay. I’m interested in Chinese mythology, anyway. I go with my friend April when she has festival stuff to do, it’s really interesting.’
That caught his attention. ‘You’re interested in the Chinese gods?’
‘Yeah.’ I raised the books again. ‘This is a good collection. I borrowed some of these from the library before.’
He turned back to his computer. ‘Definitely keep them then. They’ll be useful.’
‘How come all the furniture’s new? Even though there was someone there before?’
‘Just is,’ Leo said.
I shrugged again. ‘Whatever.’
When I returned to my room I put the books on the desk and did an internet search on John Chen. It was a very common name and produced more than a million hits. When I narrowed it with his address, ‘One Black Road, Peak’, I found a news story in the English newspaper, a translation of an article in one of the Chinese tabloids. Apparently Mr Chen’s building was widely considered to be haunted because many people had seen dragons flying around the top floor. The reporter had asked the opinion of a number of local experts in the supernatural. Three said it was because the building was cursed; two said it was because the building had exceptionally good luck; and one said it was the spirit of a dragon that had died when the building was constructed.
I shrugged, and opened the large compendium of Chinese gods. It was a good one; the introduction explained how Chinese mythology was a mishmash of Confucian precepts, Taoist alchemy and Buddhist philosophy. All three religions existed side by side in Chinese society (although Confucianism was widely regarded as a set of social rules rather than a true religion). Confucianism had sets of gods that were rather like saints: deified humans. Buddhism taught reincarnation and karma, and the eternal search for freedom of the soul and attainment of Nirvana; but there were also Buddhist gods who returned to Earth to help people attain Nirvana themselves.
I found Taoism the most interesting. Taoism’s basic principle was similar to Buddhism, in the search for the Tao, or the Way, and attainment of Immortality, something similar to Nirvana. But Taoism also taught a variety of ways to gain Immortality, including physical and elemental alchemy and magic.
I put the book down and returned to unpacking the last of my stuff from the boxes. I didn’t really have much to show for my four years in Hong Kong; I’d never had space to store very much in any of the places I’d lived. But it looked as though my life had taken a turn for the better: a tremendously attractive employer and his daughter, who was a delight to be with.
CHAPTER THREE (#ud15e178b-55da-58d7-83d3-070620fa7604)
Later in the afternoon the door slammed and Simone yelled, ‘Is Emma here?’
I went out to find them taking their shoes off at the front door, Simone and Mr Chen together. He hadn’t taken his sword, he’d left it on its hooks near the front door. Simone carefully put her little shoes in the shoe cupboard, then did the same for her father. He watched her with delight, then smiled at me. He looked right into my eyes, and for a split second those gorgeous dark eyes hypnotised me; then Simone charged to tackle me, nearly knocking me over.
‘Hello, Emma!’ she yelled. ‘Are you here all the time now?’
I bent and picked her up, warm with pleasure at the thought of being full-time with her. ‘Yes, sweetheart, I’m all yours.’
She threw her little arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek. Then she rested her forehead against mine and looked seriously into my eyes. ‘Good.’
She wriggled out of my arms and took my hand. ‘Have you seen everything?’
‘Yes I have, Simone. Leo showed me around.’
She screwed up her face. ‘I’m hungry.’
‘Dinner will be soon, Simone, don’t ruin your appetite,’ Mr Chen said from the doorway where he was watching us with amusement. ‘Did Leo tell you about meals, Miss Donahoe?’
‘No, sir.’
‘When I am home at dinner time, we’ll have a family dinner together – me and Simone, you and Leo. We can discuss what we’ve done during the day. Is that acceptable?’
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Will I be able to go out occasionally? I’m supposed to be having dinner with some friends this evening. I usually go out on Saturday night.’
‘Of course. We don’t want to impinge too much on your private life. If you want to have dinner with someone outside, of course, go.’
Louise didn’t bring a guy along for me for a change. She seemed to know every unattached male in Hong Kong and constantly set me up. Sometimes it worked and I would spend a few months in a pleasant casual relationship; sometimes it didn’t and I was left to my own devices. Either way suited me just fine. I couldn’t keep a relationship in Hong Kong for long anyway; people were always coming and going.
We all drank far too much and stayed well past our welcome in the Thai restaurant in Wan Chai, but we continued to order food so the staff tolerated us.
‘You should go and see Miss Kwok,’ April said. ‘You should have talked to me if you were unhappy there. She’s very upset that you left.’
‘Of course she’s upset.’ I sipped my beer. ‘She’ll lose half the kids without me working there.’
Louise’s blue eyes sparkled. ‘Don’t go back to working for that bitch, Emma. You can do better.’
April was offended. ‘Don’t be mean. Miss Kwok is a nice person. She’s very rich; you should respect her.’
‘You’re just saying that because your fiancé’s related to her,’ Louise said. ‘She doesn’t even pay you to fix the computers at the kindergarten.’
