Life as a Venn Diagram

We came within seconds of each other, her first, followed by me pumping my essence inside her as she sucked me dry. She collapsed onto my chest, regaining her breath, then her lips sought mine. She shivered, and I realized that the water was lukewarm. We climbed out, I wrapped her in a large fluffy white towel and hugged her to me. She pressed her forehead against mine and gave me a long look of anguish that chilled me to my bones.

"Whatever happens, this week is going to change us, and I don't want you to get hurt," she whispered, her voice barely discernible above the background hum of the air conditioning. "Just remember, I love you more than anything else."

"I know you do," I said, as much to convince myself as it was to reassure her. "You are the most important thing in my life, and I'll never stop loving you."

"Promise me that?" she said urgently.

"Yes."

She led me into the bedroom, dropped the towel on the floor, and we lay down and wrapped our arms around each other, letting the late afternoon sunlight wash over us. She rolled onto her side, and I curled up, protectively behind her.

Suddenly, without warning, she said, "Ask me the question again."

'Which question,' I thought, there were so many I wanted to ask her! "Which one?"

"The one you always ask me on your birthday."

Ahh, that one. "Is there any reason why I should? I know your answer."

"No, you don't."

"Okay, Amanda Forbes, will you marry me?"

"Yes." One simple word said with such depth of feeling.

I wasn't sure what to think. Why now?

"When?" She said yes, and now I needed to know if she meant it. A date would indicate how serious she was.

"Soon as possible, I promise. I have to resolve a couple of legal issues that relate to my father's death before we can set a date."

"Jesus, Mandy, that was nearly fifteen years ago; there can't still be issues."

"I know." The mix of sadness and bitterness in those two words stunned me.

"Sorry, love, that was callous of me."

She turned to face me. "You never need to apologize to me. I'm the one who's been hiding things from you."

It was as though a mental switch had been flicked to the on position. Her expression became relaxed and resolute at the same time.

Her voice, when she spoke, was low and measured. "My father didn't die in an accident; he killed himself. I wasn't eighteen; I was seventeen and a half. Mum disowned me when I chose to stay with Dad after the divorce. Christ, she didn't have just one affair, she'd had numerous lovers, often several at the same time, and she enjoyed rubbing his nose in her infidelities. I hated her for what she did to him, to our family. She turned him into a weak and bitter cuckold, poisoned his relationship with my bitch sisters. I was all he had left, and when I chose to live with him, the rest of my family disowned me. I haven't seen any of them since the divorce."

She'd been trying to be so stoic, but her emotions got the better of her, and she started crying. All I could do was hold her close and scatter kisses across her face and shoulders. I gently caressed her back, the silky-soft skin a delight to touch. She smiled at me and took my hand and held it to her breast.

When she'd calmed a bit, I did what I should have done earlier. I took her chain from her neck and removed the ring. She watched, frozen in place, as I slipped it on her ring finger and then removed the wedding ring from her other hand.

"You get this when we are married, so the sooner we resolve your issues, the sooner you get it back."

I still wasn't sure what those issues could be, so I waited for her to tell me. She held her hand out so she could see the ring on her finger, and that seemed to firm her resolve to unburden her soul finally, but as she spoke, I was aware that there was something behind all this she still wasn't willing to talk about. She rolled over onto her other side and scooted back against me, obviously finding it more comfortable to talk if she couldn't see my face. She held my hand to her breast, her eyes fixed on the diamond sparkling in the sunlight.

"It's all because I wasn't an adult when he died. Dad planned his death like he did his life in careful detail. It's ancient history now, but it seems he got into serious trouble with a business venture. He'd been using some of the bank's customers' funds without their knowledge. When the venture failed, he couldn't see a way out, so he took his own life."

She gave a soft sob, "I never got to tell him I loved him. I've always wondered if I'd gone sailing with him that weekend, would he still be alive."

I hugged her, and it took Mandy a few minutes before she wanted to continue.

"I knew there were some issues after he died, but not how bad it was for some time. Some of the tales I was told didn't add up, and I forced Alan to tell me the truth."

"Listen, are you sure you want to tell me all this?"

"Yes... No, but I need to tell you all that I can. I think he knew that there would be problems after he died. He was worried that the Chinese authorities would hand me over to Mum, and he didn't want that, so he arranged for a friend of his to become my legal guardian until I was twenty-one."

"And this was Alan?"

"Not in the beginning; you need to remember that Alan was Dad's boss. I think he was worried when the bank found out what Dad had been up to, he might get dragged into the mess, which would have caused me more issues. No, my first guardian was a Chinese business colleague of my father's. He and his wife were kind to me, but she didn't know what to do with a moody gwailo teenage girl. After everything calmed down, Alan came up with the idea that he should share my guardianship. That's when I went to stay at Alan's."

I kept a neutral expression fixed to my features, not that she could see me, and the benefit of years of working with troubled children had given me an ability to mask my body language. Inside, I was confused and concerned. Her father had said he loved her and yet committed suicide. The things she was saying, in addition to her body language, had my professional alarm bells sounding.

I could also tell that she was skirting around the truth; there was far more to her first guardian than she was admitted; she'd spoken in reverential tones when she mentioned him. Then I mentally kicked myself; of course, he was her first lover, and she still had feelings for him. He probably proposed the change in the guardianship when he grew weary of what the moody teenager could do to his home life.

Alan had been single and would have been the perfect choice to take the daughter of an old friend under his protection once the ramifications of her father's suicide had faded away. This, of course, made him her second lover, and she would have become his mistress after he got married.

"And when you lived with Alan, how long before you became his lover?"

There was a long pause before she answered, admitting what I'd thought. "A few months; we sort of slipped into the relationship. It started a few months before I was due to spend four years at a university in Australia. I'd always liked him, and it seemed a natural progression. I had the odd casual lover at uni, but no one serious. I'd always come back to Alan during the semester breaks. After uni, I was a twenty-two-year-old graduate, and he sorted out a job at the bank for me. So I started at the Hong Kong office working as his assistant."

"Wasn't that awkward for him, having his lover working with him?"

She started to say yes and stopped. "Christ, I keep forgetting what you are," she said ruefully. "You're analyzing me, aren't you?"

I kissed her and shrugged, "Not intentionally, but it's tough for me not to do it. This bed is the best consulting room I've ever had." I began caressing the breast my hand rested on while she'd been speaking and kissed the back of her neck. "I love my subject."

"And I love my analyst," she replied. She half-turned and lay on the back so she could look at my face. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I'd hate to think what I'm saying will hurt us."

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Then I can't see how you can hurt me."

Her eyes were locked onto mine, and she must have felt comfortable with what she saw in them, so she continued.

"You were asking if it was challenging to work as my lover's assistant; the answer is yes and no. Yes, because in the beginning, I still thought I was was in love with him, and all I wanted to do was be close to him. And no, because he was the perfect gentleman at all times in the office. But being so close, at work and home, was what made us see the cracks in our relationship. He was in love with me. I thought I was in love with him, but not enough to make it work. As soon as it was opportune, he aided pushing through my promotion at the bank. He used the old-boy network, but I was fully qualified for the post. It was the job I had when I first met you.

"This was the one at the office in London?"

"Yes, they wanted someone who spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese and could deal with the bank's top Chinese customers who had business dealings in London and Hong Kong. These customers were looking for a single person who would be able to deal with their issues. I was able to offer the bank a major bonus. I'd gone to school with a good number of the customers' sons and daughters, and had their friendship and trust."

She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes, and I wondered if this was as far as she was going to go. But no, after a moment, she continued.

"In the beginning, I was spending two out of three weeks in Hong Kong, but by the time we met, it had settled down to the one in three you are used to."

"And what about Alan?"

"After a year, we'd become more like friends than lovers. I'd always had my room at his villa. I'd sleep in his room on the nights we were together, but then I would go back to my room afterward. I doubt we slept together more than a couple of times in those last months before I met you, I think it was more habit than anything else. He'd already begun to convert the staff accommodation into an apartment for me, so I'd have a place of my own in Hong Kong. He'd got together with my other guardian, and they helped me buy the flat in London."

She made everything she was saying sound convincing, but I couldn't help feeling that I was getting her safe for my boyfriend version,, and the reality was somewhat different. How different was the question?

"I thought you bought that with the insurance money from your father's settlement?" I asked, sure that she'd told me exactly that.

She shook her head. "There was almost nothing left of his insurance settlement after his executor had finished. Dad had cashed out most of his policies, and he had lots of debt. I only had enough left for the deposit on the flat; my guardians lent me the rest. The bank gives me a generous living allowance, and I've been using that and any bonuses I get to pay them back."

When I first met Mandy, she had a flatmate, who was still living in the London apartment. I didn't know if she had one here. "So when you're here, do you have a flatmate?"

She gave me a startled look and shook her head. "It's my apartment; I live on my own. Anyway, it's not a big place, only one bedroom. After I moved in, he included a small parcel of land that runs around the side of the garage block. He had it landscaped so I could have somewhere to sit outside and admire the view. I have a tiny terrace garden and a place to park my car. I'll show it to you tomorrow."

She seemed to have finished, but I still had one question, and I felt her stiffen when I asked it.

"So those little issues you need to sort out before we can get married. What are they?"

"It's just some local legal red tape." She said dismissively but was not willing to look at me.

"That can't be still the issue all these years later!" She could hear the disbelief in my voice.

"Unfortunately, it is; my guardianship was set up to run until I was twenty-five, mainly because of the situation I found myself in after my father's death, the way I was going off the rails."

"And..." This wasn't making much sense to me; she'd been twenty-six when we first met.

"My Chinese guardian inserted a clause, giving them the right to approve any major decisions until I'm thirty-four."

"Thirty-four, that's ridiculous. Mandy, you're thirty-two. How is it your guardians can still be creating problems. Christ, am I supposed to ask them for permission to marry you?"

"Not you... I'm sorry I can't talk about it anymore until I have permission, but we will be getting married, that I promise you, and I keep my promises." Her tone brooked no arguments, and she doubled down, ending our discussion by rolling on top of me, and for a few minutes, we made out like a couple of school kids.

She rolled away. "Come on, we need to get dressed. I want you to meet a couple of my friends. We are meeting them at one of my regular haunts down by the waterfront."

"How much do they know about me?" I asked as I rummaged around in my bags for something suitable to wear. Indoors was air-conditioned; my brief foray outside earlier had warned me it was going to be warm and very humid this evening.

"You are probably the only thing I talk about to them nowadays."

"And who are they?"

"Sian and Zhi Rou. Sian is an Aussie; she was one of my best friends at uni. My stories of growing up here intrigued her so much she got a job with Cathay Pacific in their marketing department. Her girlfriend, Zhi Ruo, is the sister of a boy I used to go to school with. They are two of my closest Hong Kong friends. How do I look?"

She'd been dressing while she'd been talking and now sat on a chair brushing her hair. I stared at her in amazement. I'd thought the green dress from earlier had looked great on her, but now she wore a navy-blue raw silk version of the little black dress. It was embroidered with sunbursts in a golden thread. The neckline was a sharp V that extended a fair way below the curve of her breasts. Her long legs had a slight shimmer from the pattern woven into the stockings that covered them. On her wrist were several thin jade bangles I couldn't recall seeing before. As she waved her arm, they gave off a soft, tinkling sound.

"You're beautiful, and now I feel drab in comparison. Are those new?" I asked, gesturing to the bangles.

"No, I've had them for some time; they are rather valuable, and I don't wear them very often. I thought they went with this outfit."

She stood up and stepped closer, reaching to pull me close, and then we kissed. There was something about this kiss that reached a different place within us. I sensed our relationship had subtly changed since she opened up to me, for the better, I believed.

I couldn't resist reaching down and running my hand down her back to caress her ass. She moaned in my ear, put her hand on my chest, and started to push me away.

"No, if you carry on, we'll never leave this room, and I'm hungry." She put on a pitiful little-lost-girl expression that had me laughing.

At Mandy's suggestion, we played tourist and took the famous Star Ferry across the harbor. We stood on the upper deck with our arms around each other's waist and watched the lights of the city as we crossed the busy waterway.

Mandy gave me a slightly guilty look and admitted, "It's always worried me that I enjoy this place so much, and I haven't shared it with you before. It's my second home, and I kept it to myself. You shared all you had with me, I live in your home, and you've never seen mine."

"I've been to your flat."

"Not the flat, that was just a place to live in when I was in London. I mean, the apartment I own here." She pointed in the direction of the black hills behind us.

I'd misunderstood her earlier; I'd assumed when she'd said Alan had converted the apartment for her, she'd meant it was still his, and he was letting her use it. "I thought you said the apartment was Alan's," I said. "And that he was letting you use it."

"No, it's mine. I think he intended to rent it out, but after I told him about you, he had it registered as a separate residence and gave me the deeds. He told me that it would be better for all of us if I had my place with no ties to him."

That sounded a bit odd, actually more than a bit odd. From what I'd read, the property prices up in the hills were astronomical. It sounded like Alan had given her a place worth a cool million or more. Why would he do that? And better for who, I wondered, her or Alan, or was it for our relationship? Nothing seemed to make much sense to me. I guessed better for her and our relationship; as now that I thought about it, she'd kept mentioning how she was moving into her apartment as soon as we'd met.

The ferry docked, and we took a taxi to the place we were meeting her friends. Sian and Zhi Ruo were sitting at an outside table as we walked over. The girls rose, and the three of them did that group-hug thing women seem to love. Her friends turned and gave me the most intense scrutiny I think I'd ever been given. I felt like I was under the microscope, and I wasn't sure I'd passed muster. With the briefest of glances at Mandy, they greeted me with big smiles.

Sian was beautiful in that brash, confident Australian manner: tall, blonde, and suntanned. Zhi Ruo, or Roo as she told me to call her, was the complete opposite, a small Chinese doll, no taller than five feet, golden skin, and long black hair that framed the cutest of faces. She was so tiny I almost felt I could hold her in the palm of my hand. On the inside of her wrist was a small tattoo, half-hidden by jade bangles that looked similar to the ones on Mandy's wrist. Mandy saw me glancing at Roo's tattoo and slid her matching bangles down to half cover hers. An odd thing to do, I thought, and then dismissed it.

When Mandy had called Roo, Sian's girlfriend, I'd assumed she'd meant her best friend, but now it was apparent that they were lovers. Roo began talking in Chinese to Mandy, but she stopped her. "Tonight, we only use English so Alex can understand us."

"So this is the mysterious Alex," Sian said in a soft Australian accent to Mandy. I tried to look mysterious but failed miserably. I sensed that behind her comment was a whole raft of open questions.

"What do you think of the view from Mandy's, Alex?" Roo asked. "Magnificent, isn't it, set so high in the hills."

I shook my head, "I wouldn't know; I've never been there. We're staying at the Mandarin, though the view from our suite, over the harbor, is pretty good." Mandy glanced at me, sensitive to the sarcasm in my voice.

"Why aren't you staying at your place, Mandy?" It was a question from Sian, but there was a degree of surprise in her voice.

Mandy held my gaze before she answered. "Long story, the Mandarin's a bit of a bribe from Alan to Alex. We were supposed to be lying on the beach in the Maldives."

"Yeah, I was a bit surprised when I got your message that you were here and wanted to meet up," Sian said. "We weren't expecting to see you until the..."

"Bribe?" Roo interrupted Sian. She added something in rapid Chinese; the only word I recognized was Alan's name.

Mandy snapped back at her in the same language, and Roo stiffened. Sian took hold of her lover's arm in a calming gesture. I kept quiet, they were Mandy's friends, and I was getting very interested to see how she spun the situation to them, and why they needed to talk in Chinese.

There was a pause as the three appeared to settle before Mandy said. "There's a problem with one of my client's accounts," she started to explain. "It's making management run around like headless chickens."