She looked around the room and then out of the window. She went to the door, peeped out and then closed it gently behind her. Hussein stared in amazement at her strange behaviour, but felt compelled to wait. Perhaps...

"I know where Cik An Mei is."

He stood frozen for a second and then a torrent of questions spilled out of him. "Where? How did she leave? Was she forced to go? Is she safe? Can you get me to her?

"Shhh! I will explain, but first I have to get fresh tea and go to Tengku Shalimar otherwise she might look for me and think something is amiss. I will tell her that you apologise for the outburst. Wait here. I will take you to Cik An Mei. I work in shifts and this afternoon I am supposed to go home to my family. No one will miss me then."

"You mean I can see An Mei this afternoon?"

"As soon as I can arrange for transport."

"Then, tell Shalimar that I have gone to my bedroom for a nap and do not want to be disturbed. Tell her I will see her at dinner. That should avoid her seeking me. Will that give us enough time?"

"Yes!" the maid replied and hurried away.

Hussein followed Fawziah out of the servants' entrance at the back of the house. Five hundred yards down the back lane they turned into another lane lined with small houses; most of them no more than one room huts on stilts. Groves of banana trees and coconut palms were dotted between the houses. The scarlet flowers of a scattering of hibiscus bushes gave colour to an otherwise dull domain of dirt. Chickens scratched desultorily in search of food in the dark orange lateritic soil. They bent their heads low to peck at the soil, jerking them up once in a while to survey their surroundings, their beady eyes opened wide in a perpetual expression of surprise. Skinny dogs lay on their sides, thumping their tails at the hovering flies, their skins festering with wounds. Rainwater lay in stagnant pools until a cart or bicycle ran over them, stirring and splattering the murky water over any bystander unfortunate enough to be too close.

"It is very quiet here. Is there no one around?" asked Hussein.

"They are indoors. Normally, everyone would be out here in the courtyard. Children would probably be playing in the puddles and women would be drawing water from the well or washing. Sometimes, they even cook together in the open, sharing a pot to save on fuel. See those strings of ketupat hanging in that veranda? They boil the rice wrapped in leaves in that caldron over there. But these days, people prefer to stay indoors. They are frightened. The curfew was lifted only recently. And we hear so many stories. Come, my cousin is waiting."

They hurried on ignoring the stares of the few people who had dared to peep out of their houses or venture on to the verandas of their homes. But Hussein did not attract their attention for long. He was dressed in a pair of shabby trousers and an old long-sleeved shirt. Once they saw that he was with Fawziah, they returned to what they had been doing. They walked on until they came to a man standing by a ramshackle car, an old black Morris Minor. He was wrestling with one of the car's indicators. It was jammed and stuck out in defiance of the man's attempts to push it down.

"I didn't know that they still allow such old cars on the road," commented Hussein. He stopped aware of his rudeness. "Minta maaf," he said immediately. How stupid of me, he reprimanded himself. Of course, everything was old and decrepit in this little village even though it was just a few minutes away from his palatial home. Wasn't this one of his reasons for returning to Malaysia? To help iron out the inequalities that had emerged even amongst the Malays.

For her part Fawziah was not fazed by his remarks. "It works well enough," was all she said as she opened the door for him. He slid into the car. "Mind the seat," she warned, as his hand connected with stuffing from the torn upholstery. "I won't come with you. My cousin has helped me find where Cik An Mei is staying. Before she left she gave me the name of an aunt who lives in a Chinese village called Sun Chuen. He will drive you right to the house so you will not need to walk into the settlement. It could be dangerous for you. Try to keep a low profile."

"Terima kasih! Thank you! How can I repay you? Won't it be dangerous for him?" he asked looking at Fawziah's cousin.

"We'll talk about it afterwards, but do not bother yourself about my cousin. He is willing to take the risk and I have taken the liberty of promising him that you will reward him well. He knows quite a few families in the village from the days when his car was in better shape and he was a taxi driver."

"I don't have money on me," replied Hussein.

"Don't worry, it's fine. He knows you will pay him later. Go! Go now before he changes his mind."

The shutters were half drawn to keep out the sun. Kai Min sat in the sitting room, nursing a cup of tea in her hands. She held the cup close to her lips and blew gently into it, enjoying the waft of light perfume rising from the rose tea. She closed her eyes. Peace, at last. She did not like the commotion and arguments that had followed An Mei's arrival. She was no longer used to it. Her children had all left home and she valued the feeling of peace in the house. It gave her s.p.a.ce. It made her calm. The ceiling fan whirred above her. She closed her eyes.

In the days following the civil riots, she had kept to herself at home. She did not dare to venture out, not even to buy fresh provisions. She was thankful that they were so well stocked with canned foods from her husband's stores. She had been very sorry to see her brother Ming Kong leave with his family for England but had accepted it. She missed them and she was hurt that they had not called her for help. She sighed. Would she have done the same thing if one of her girls had run off with a Malay boy? Perhaps she too would not have wanted the other family members to know. She supposed Jenny had to be involved because she was the link to this Hussein. She should not be upset and jealous over it. Children, she mused, they were such headaches.

She heard approaching footsteps and felt someone touch her arm lightly.

"Siew nai, mistress, please come. Someone is blaring his horn and shouting for your niece, the one who arrived yesterday. I do not know who it can be. The car is very old. Aiyah lan cheh, a complete wreck of a car."

The maid sniffed dismissively. She ran to the window and lifted the shutters to look out. "Oh! Oh! The car has left. A Malai chai, a Malay boy with a ponytail is outside. He is shouting for An Mei. Who can the sooi chai, bringer of bad luck boy, be?"

"Mind what you say, Ah Foong," chastised Kai Min b.u.t.toning up her tunic. She did not appreciate being so rudely disturbed by her maid and she certainly did not appreciate someone calling loudly at her gate for her niece.

"An Mei," shouted Hussein, rattling the gate. "Open up. Let me in. I know you are there. I can explain."

Kai Min went out to the gate, her temper rising by the minute. All signs of the peace and tranquillity that she had been enjoying earlier wiped away from her face.

"Tell An Mei to come down," she commanded the maid. But An Mei had already heard and was scrambling down the stairs. "Hussein, Hussein," she cried, breaking into a run. She ran past her aunt and went straight to the gate, grabbing the grill. "Please," she cried to Ah Foong, "please open the gate."

The maid turned to Kai Min uncertain what to do. She waited for instructions, but kept glaring at Hussein muttering, "Nooi yan ying, like a woman, wearing his hair like that!"

Kai Min gave a brief sign to the maid to open the door. Surprised, the maid took the bunch of keys that hung from her waist band with a great show of unwillingness and brusquely told An Mei to step aside, "mn ho chou qi sai, don't block my way." She pulled open the gate with much force and clanging. "What will the neighbours say if they see us consorting with a Malay man," she muttered.

Hussein came in and reached out to take An Mei in his arms.

Kai Min immediately stepped between them. She pushed Hussein away. "Hey, this is my house. Remember your manners. Who do you think you are? An Mei, go in." Addressing Hussein, she said. "You can come in only if you behave yourself."

"Aiyah, he is a Malay boy, Mistress," said the maid disapprovingly, her upper lips curled into a sneer. "This is what happens when they go overseas. Mo-kah gow. They lose all their family teachings."

"This is not for you to say," scolded Kai Min. "Go to the kitchen!"

An Mei and Hussein followed Kai Min into the house. They stood waiting for Kai Min to sit down, not daring to sit themselves.

"You might as well sit down," said Kai Min with a sigh, feeling that she was fast losing control of the situation. She wished that Tek San was there with them. She looked disapprovingly at Hussein and immediately thought of her brother, Ming Kong. He certainly would disapprove of his hairstyle! And a Malay! Even if he was the son of an important man, a Datuk. I bet my brother would say, those t.i.tles were a dime a dozen, she thought to herself. She frowned at An Mei.

"I can explain everything," said Hussein. Turning to An Mei, he explained how his attempts to get in touch with her had been thwarted and how Fawziah had helped.

Kai Min snorted. "Do you believe him? A tall story, don't you think?" She tried to convey her disapproval and disbelief by fixing her eyes on An Mei with a look of pity, challenging her niece to disagree with her.

"His parents did not put him in chains, did they? So why is it that he can come to Kuala Lumpur so freely with this new girlfriend and couldn't do the same on his own earlier. Listen, whatever it is, your father would not agree. Do you want to hurt your parents and disappoint them yet again?"

An Mei, stung by the sarcasm, looked desperately at her aunt Kai Min. Her mind was in a whirl. She turned to Hussein. "Promise me you are telling the truth?"

"Yes!" he said, his eyes looked into hers, willing her to trust him.

An Mei turned to Kai Min. "I believe him." A gasp came from the kitchen.

"Ah Foong, mind your own business and stay in the kitchen," Kai Min reprimanded her maid. She did not know what to do. An Mei was not her daughter; she was twenty-four years old. She got up. "I must speak to your mother. I'll call her right now."

Chapter 10.

The house was quiet. Oxford was steeped in darkness, broken only by the soft glow of the streetlights and the headlights of the occasional car that was still about in the early hours of the morning. Peace reigned.

Mei Yin eased herself out of the bed, careful not to wake Ming Kong. It was four o'clock. Barefoot, she tiptoed out of the room. It was dark. She made her way to the top of the landing feeling for the banister. The phone rang; its sharp shrill sound echoed through the house. She retraced her steps quickly to a wall phone in the adjacent corner and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the receiver. By the time she had heard what Kai Min had to say to her, she was shaking. Just when she thought it was all settled and An Mei would be coming home, everything was up in the air again. She did not know what to say. She wanted An Mei to be happy but she was not sure if Hussein was the right person for her, especially in the present climate of mistrust and division in Malaysia. Her voice was barely a whisper, "Can I call you back? I need to discuss this. Can I speak to An Mei now?"

"Mum," An Mei's voice sounded faint.

"An Mei, are you sure about Hussein? You know all the consequences. We talked about it for days when you were with us and I thought you had come to your senses when we last spoke."

"Mum, I love him." An Mei's voice broke. "Please can you and Aunty Nelly think of a way out for me. We'll wait for your answer. I won't do anything silly; I promise I won't do anything without consulting you and Aunt Nelly."

"I don't know. Your father will not forgive you. Do you want to risk that?" She heard sobbing at the other end, a big gulp, and then, "Yes, mother, but I hope it will not come to that. Please, please help me."

Mei Yin felt a surge of tenderness. She remembered herself at such a crossroad just a few years ago. She felt the familiar p.r.i.c.kle in her nose and the wet warmth that welled up in her eyes. "Let me first talk to Nelly. I'll call you back. Thank Kai Min for me. It has been hard on her. We have put her in an awkward position."

She placed the phone back on the receiver intending to go to Nelly's room, but she was already on the landing waiting. She gestured to Mei Yin to go into her room.

"Not good news?" she asked, once she was sat on the edge of her bed.

Mei Yin sat down on the other twin bed, the one that An Mei used to occupy. "No! Hussein has found An Mei and has convinced her of his love. He has explained how his attempts to reach her had been thwarted. She believes in him. She does not want to come back."

"She is sure she loves this boy?"

"She believes she does."

"We cannot tell Ming Kong. Have you noticed how terrible he looks? One minute his face is pallid, the next bright red. According to the doctor, his blood pressure is dangerously high. Last night, he complained of a dull ache in his heart and shortness of breath. Did he hear the phone ring?"

"I don't think so. He took a sleeping tablet last night. He has not been sleeping well for days."

"Neither have you?"

"Never mind about me," replied Mei Yin. "More important at this point is what should we do?"

"Let me think this over. You go back to bed. No! Better stay here with me. Then you won't wake Ming Kong up with your tossing and turning."

Mei Yin laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. Tired as she was, she could not sleep. She pressed her fingers on her temples in an effort to reduce the tightness in her head. Her eyes grew heavy but when she drifted off to sleep, she would wake up with a start. Nelly stroked her hair tenderly.

Mei Yin sighed. "Thank you Nelly. Remember those days when I was young and petulant and you came to my rescue. I... all of us, do not know how we could have managed without you." Responding to Nelly's ministrations, Mei Yin finally fell into a deep sleep.

Nelly continued stroking Mei Yin's hair. She was full of her own thoughts. Time went by. Finally, she left Mei Yin sleeping and went back to her bed. She laid down, pulled the duvet up to her chin and wriggled under the cover until she was comfortable. That's what I'll do, she decided before she too drifted off to sleep.

At the first streak of dawn, Mei Yin woke up. She reached over to Nelly's bed and tapped her gently on her arm. Nelly grunted and opened her eyes. They were bleary with fatigue.

"I'm sorry. Can we talk about An Mei again? We didn't quite finish. What shall we do?"

Nelly sat up, swung her legs over her bed and gathered the duvet around her shoulders with a shudder. "Dong seh yan! Yow lang, yow sup! Such cold; it kills people! Cold and damp! I don't like the climate here. I miss the sun. I will return to Kuala Lumpur. And that, among other things, is what I'll do. I'll tell Ming Kong this evening."

Mei Yin sat up and looked at Nelly with dismay. "What!" she exclaimed, "you can't do that. Ming Kong will be really upset. You have always helped him with his businesses. You are his right hand. How would that help him? And how will that help us with An Mei?"

"You do not need me here. You can be his right hand. You have mastered English and you are much younger. He will need you now. I am not much use here. I can be a greater help in Kuala Lumpur. Remember we still have two stores left in KL because we could not sell them before we left. Maan sook, uncle Maan, is helping out in the stores until we find a buyer but, really, we should have our own people at the helm. Tek San promised to keep an eye on them, but he has his own business to run. I was always responsible for managing the stores in the past and I feel I can play a better role back home than here. I do not speak English nor do I know the English system and people."

She b.u.t.toned up her pyjama top and smoothed her hair down. "You, however, would or should get on fine here. You have your friend, Siew Lin. She is already charting out business contacts for you. Her family is well established in Soho. Then, you have Jenny. Both are more your friends than they are mine. Here in England, you would be a bigger help to Ming Kong than me."

Mei Yin looked disbelievingly at Nelly. But she was flattered. "You think so? My experience is much less than yours. I've managed only a small part of his business, producing and selling cakes. That is not enough surely."

"Yes, I think it is and it was not such a small operation," Nelly replied emphatically, pushing her spectacles up her nose and staring at Mei Yin intently through her bifocals. "In any case, Ming Kong will be taking the lead and making most of the decisions. Unlike in KL where he had a finger in every pie and needed to delegate, he is starting from scratch here. He will definitely have to focus his energies and won't leave you to manage on your own."

Mei Yin was doubtful. She looked at her hands, examining her fingers and the palms of her hands as though she was trying to read her future in them. Nelly took the hands in hers and placed them on her lap. "Think!" she said, "we are not sure how the business will develop here in England; it is such an uncharted territory for us. If we liquidate the two stores, give up everything in Kuala Lumpur and then fail here, the consequences could be dire."

Mei Yin pulled her hands away abruptly. "I thought we were talking about An Mei," she said. "How would your return to KL help?" Suddenly she grew cross at how Nelly seemed to have side-tracked her proposed discussion on how to help An Mei with business talk. "I am surprised at you! Why are you thinking about business now, putting such considerations before solving the problems of An Mei?"

"I am not," exclaimed Nelly, "how could you accuse me of that when you know how much An Mei means to me?" Her voice rose and her face grew red with exasperation. She felt hurt and misunderstood.

"You asked me how I could justify returning to KL and abandoning Ming Kong. So, I am explaining to you the reasons I would give him for returning, reasons that he should find acceptable. I would propose that An Mei stays in KL to help me out and keep me company. I need an English-speaking help in KL to take the place of Ming Kong and who better than his daughter?" Her voice rose in excitement. "This way, we'll buy time and An Mei will be able to remain in KL. We will have to take it from there, one step at a time. If she really loves Hussein, then there is nothing we can do to stop her. Who knows, with time Ming Kong might come to accept the situation. If she falls out with Hussein, then she will not have burnt her boat with her father. He would think that she is staying in KL because of me. We are buying time for her so that she does not have to make rushed decisions and, just as important, so that Ming Kong does not make any hasty resolutions such as disowning her."

Exhausted by her outburst, Nelly laid down on the bed again pulling the duvet over her. "Ming Kong will probably hate me if he finds out. This will be the first time I would not be telling him the whole truth and nothing but the truth," she whispered, shocked at her own proposal.

"Oh Nelly," said Mei Yin ashamed of her earlier outburst, "thank you. I have never been as good a mother as you have been to An Mei all these years. And now, it is still no different. You are truly her wonderful mother; I am nothing more than her biological mother," said Mei Yin softly. She realised how much it had cost Nelly to make her decision. She knew her loyalty to Ming Kong. She lay down next to Nelly and cuddled her close, feeling the warmth of Nelly's face. Two women, both wives to the same man, who over the years had become like siblings sharing a profound and lasting love for their family.

Chapter 11.

Hussein hurried along the path through the village and retraced his steps back to his parents' house. He was late. When Fawziah's cousin arrived to pick him up from Kai Min's house, he had not finished explaining his plans to An Mei because of the continuous interruptions. Despite Kai Min's promise to give them time alone to sort out their problems, she had been in and out of the sitting room monitoring their movements. She made all kinds of excuses: she had forgotten her spectacles; she had mislaid a book she was reading. Then she needed something from the cupboard and rummaged through its shelves, all the while throwing anxious glances at her niece. When they returned her stare with an exasperated plea for privacy, she had retorted with a firm shake of her head. "Mei Yin will never forgive me if you misbehave in my house. Sorry! I cannot give you so much time that you could behave badly." Her maid, Ah Foong had been indignant when Kai Min had first left the two young people on her own, warning her of her mistake.

"Aiyah, nei you cheong sut hui. You have to guard them closely. These young people, you cannot trust them. They have different morals after studying in the west. They forget themselves," she had grumbled at Kai Min until she felt obliged to abandon the lat.i.tude she had earlier given the couple. So when the car arrived to pick up Hussein and blared its horn, Kai Min sighed with relief and hurried him out of the house. "Go! Go before my husband comes back!"

She had been taken aback by Tek San's vehemence when An Mei first told them of Hussein. Her normally docile husband showed a side of him she had not seen. It must have been the result of all the stress he had been subjected to following the riots, the curfew and the reintroduction of Emergency rules, she had surmised. "Don't even mention May Thirteenth," he had warned his wife. "It could be construed as being anti-government, anti-state. You can be imprisoned." Throwing his hands in the air, he cried, "How can I continue to run a business in this climate? Who would want to shop? Perhaps Ming Kong was right to leave!"

Hussein, fresh from Kai Min's vigilant household and the distinctly unfriendly att.i.tude of its occupants, was even more determined that such insane racial prejudice be wiped out of his own household. He hurried through the marble hallway, saw Fawziah and was about to call out to her when she pointedly pretended not to see him. She scurried like a mouse, looking at the floor, until she came within a metre from him. Without looking up, she bowed low and went her way, announcing softly that his parents were within.

He went into the large sitting room and greeted them. He pretended surprise at their presence.

"Where have you been?" they asked. "Shalimar said that you were taking a rest and we sent someone to your room. But you were not there. So where were you?"

"I have been to see An Mei."

There was complete quiet following his announcement. He could see that they were taken aback.

"So she was not kidnapped by us!" Faridah said sarcastically, breaking the silence. She was surprised that her son had found An Mei and displeased at the turn of events. Her voice grew even more strident. "Don't you think you should have more trust in your parents? Apologise even. Where is she? And how did you find her?"

"She is safe with her uncle and aunt."

"How did you find her?" Faridah persisted observing his discomfort. "Who led you to her and how did she leave here?"