It was almost lunch time and Johnny wondered if Zoe Kwang would make her usual trip to the hot food stall on the edge of the market. She was there most days and she always bought a bowl of rice for him too, fetching it over to his stall and sitting beside him. He knew that this was just an excuse to eat lunch with him, but he didn’t mind. Zoe was was really very attractive.

He took a pink plastic comb from his pocket and rubbed it on his shirt to clean some of the black grease from between the teeth. Then, he spat on it and used the moisture to comb his hair back. An old tin lid made a makeshift mirror and he checked his appearance.

‘How’s it going, market boy?’ called Zoe, ‘You made a fortune yet, then?’

He smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders. He was summoning up the courage to ask her out when she said to him, ‘Where are you taking me tomorrow, then? It’s my birthday.’
Johnny couldn’t believe his luck.
Zoe was a very beautiful girl with those long legs, that sleek black hair and gorgeous, almond shaped eyes. He has fancied her for a long time but had never had the nerve to ask her out. His friends talked about her and told him that she was out of his league. Joey even warned him that old man Kwang, her father, was leader of the most powerful triad gang in all Hong Kong and that it wasn’t wise to get to close to the Kwang family.

What did Joey know, anyway? He was probably just jealous. There was no way he was going to pass up this opportunity. He would take her to the Aberdeen Golden Dragon which was the best floating restaurant on the Island, and then buy her a few drinks.

You never know what might happen, he thought to himself with a mischievous grin.

Zoe finished her rice and moved very close to his face. He could feel her breathing on his mouth.
‘Six o’clock tomorrow by the Star Ferry Terminal,’ she whispered, and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek.