The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

Author:Jean Kwok
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Jasmine

I didn’t want to return to Opium but what was the alternative? I sat at my desk, sketching a pigeon perched outside my window. Thoughts of Dawn, Lone Wolf Jack, Lily, and Aunt Glory spun through my mind. I weighed that against being forced to work as a prostitute for the snakeheads. A life far from Fifi. My phone buzzed.

Anthony had given up on words this time. He had texted me a photo. What could this possibly be?

I squinted at the blurry image, impatiently tapping at my phone’s screen until it fully loaded. Some GIF to show me he didn’t care if we ever saw each other again? Despite his recent texts, I couldn’t shake his look of disdain.

When the photo finally came into focus, I gasped. It was a close-up of his wrist, a man’s wrist now, but I immediately recognized the bracelet I’d made for him all those years ago. The red thread and knotted beads had faded but the thick braid was still strong. He’d changed the closure. Was that gold? He’d had a jeweler add a clasp so the bracelet could be taken on and off, probably for when he bathed.

Joy rose in my chest, so sharp it felt like pain. I pressed a fist to my mouth. He had kept my gift all these years, through my union with another man, his belief that I’d betrayed our friendship, his anger and frustration, his move away and arrival in this distant country. A part of him had never stopped being my Anthony.

He was a good man. I couldn’t afford to have someone like that in my life, though. I needed to be free of entanglements. I needed to be ruthless enough to pursue my goals. What would he think of Opium and all that I was doing? And he didn’t even know I had a daughter.

I understood what I had to do.

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