Jade leaned against the window railings and spat the half-chewed black pearls at the heads of the pedestrians, mercilessly, a couple at a time. No matter what you call them, the black pearl-like tapioca balls that softened on her tongue were only dough with added artificial pigments, mixed with cassava or potato powder, kneaded together to form little starch balls.

            When boba was first introduced to Hong Kong from Taiwan, it made waves. A street, not particularly long or short, might already have two to three boba shops on it, quite similar to what we have now with Starbucks.  Under the blatant glaring sun, pedestrians naturally walked into any Taiwanese drink store, poked their straws through the plastic cup cover, pok!, and drank hastily, allowing the unknown substance, probably artificial colored additives, to slide down their throats quickly.

            People’s anxious faces while they waited for their drink suggested that this was one among the little luxuries they could afford in the summer. Jade usually observed the customers who have got their drinks, setting her eyes on them attentively, looking at all the different attempts they made to stab the straw straight into the cup. The thin layer of plastic cup cover somehow posed an obstacle. What Jade enjoyed seeing most were the looks of people who kept failing and trying and their devout faces, as if poking through the cup covers meant reaching the sublime state of personal desires.

 

            As the long summer passed, Jade’s curiosity shrank like the last spark of a firework. Now, she would only roll her eyes at those who lacked the skill but were unwilling to ask for help. She eyed them coldly, sitting behind the machine, watching it monotonously fill plastic cup after plastic cup, send them to the concavity, and seal each cup as a final step. The process was precise, faultless. When compared to the piece of cold machinery with its distinct edges and corners, the faces of customers who received their drinks were a haze - carefully they freed the straws from the bounds of their plastic wrappers, but they took forever to defeat the somewhat elastic plastic cup covers. The afternoon sun of the early winter shone and turned everything a pale white like an overexposed film. The contours in the store were like an interrupted dream. As usual, Jade claimed she had a headache, took a cup of freshly made boba, and left her colleague to man the store. She left alone, waited for the traffic light, and walked up the stairs towards home. Her colleague could say nothing, though with some grudges. But it was winter and the store was pretty empty anyway. Moreover, if one has anything to say, Jade is the branch manager after all.  In a small chained store governed under layers of bureaucracy, making complaints against the boss is not an easy task, and might cost one’s job. He nodded at Jade, and kept reading the newest issue of ONE PIECE.

            “Winter is so precious,” he sighed in his heart.

 

            The pug barked close to Jade. Grandma, who was working in the kitchen, poked her head out and looked towards the direction of the door. Her murky sclerae were a soft yellow, and her eyeballs were like pebbles, lacking the brightness that healthy pupils normally possess.

            “You’re back.” The pug kept sniffing hard around Jade’s feet, as if he would reap some food from her if he hung around longer. Jade shook her legs impatiently, as if she were dancing slow aerobics, and frowned at the pug. “Stop bugging me.” She went to the balcony to continue with her “game” --- aiming and spitting tapioca balls at pedestrians.

            “Be patient with your dog.”

            “It’s not my dog,” Jade mumbled, displeased. It was her ex who left her the pug. Not sure if it was a good thing...perhaps it was, for this was the only reason they still kept in contact.

 

            “How is Little Tiger doing?” Her ex’s opening. He rarely called Jade, only cared to press a few buttons on the keyboard.  For his insincerity, relying simply on radio waves to transmit his messages, Jade naturally ignored him. Therefore, her ex could only go directly to the store to find her.

            “What would you like, sir?” Jade kept her poker face. Her ex thought Jade was simply playing around, so he followed suit,

            “A regular boba would be good…Stop playing around. How is Little Tiger doing?”

            Jade pointed at the cylindrical holder on the side. “Sir, there are the straws.”

Irritated, her ex’s ears turned red and his anger shot straight up to his head. Jade went to serve the next customer.

Her ex accepted this one-sided rule of the game. They’d already broken up. Why not play stranger too! Scowling, he poked the straw crisply through the plastic cup cover in one go, leaving a single small hole in the cover; just like how he conquered Jade’s body in the summer, clean and swift.

 

            Jade shook her head gently, as if trying to locate the tail of her memories and toss all her flashbacks off the balcony. In reality, she could only hope fervently that her ex would become the next “Lucky Man”, the target to be hit. She drew a deep breath, mustered her cheeks, opened her mouth and the little dough balls that were inside shot out, all in one go. A stream of black and grey crystal-like soft substance fell from the second floor down. Unlike what she usually did, which was standing on her tiptoes and squinting her eyes, trying to locate where they had fallen, Jade bent down hurriedly against the railings of the balcony, wrapped her arms tightly around herself and hid her head in between them. But no sounds echoed from down below. Jade stood up slightly, her eyes looking left and right, hands crossing, gently pressing against her chest. The street and the stadium were like a silencer, leaving only the sounds of breathing echoing in her ears. Jade suspected that this was an illusion formed by her dizziness. She closed her eyes and worked to listen for the noise on the street, the sounds of streetcars, footsteps, peddling, even the sounds of basketball shoes rubbing on the ground. The campaign cars of the Wanchai councilman passed by,

            “We will fight hard for citizen’s …”

            “This is impossible.”

            Jade felt her heart a misplaced organ speaking to her, complaining. It wasn’t until two, three seconds later did she realize she was the living being that was making the breathing sounds. “Why make a fuss!” she rebuked herself lightly.

            “Come here, Jade,” said Grandma. “Jade darling, can you bring the rice downstairs?”

            “I don’t want to…” Jade lay comfortably on the bamboo chair.

            Grandma stroked Jade’s long hair gently. “Be a good girl. Can you do it for Grandma, please?”

            Despite her pouting and complaining, Jade still brought the warm lunchbox to the subway exit. Jade had hated this place ever since she was little. Though many people had beautiful imaginations when it came to the subway – with performers at exits, strumming on guitars and blowing into harmonicas; street hawkers selling things out in the open; and pedestrians waiting with their heads up, glowing with halos of hope. But there was no place for hope here where it stank of pee. “Hope” was merely a noun, lost. Jade recognized her father on a wheelchair right away. His head was lopsided. His puffy coat hid his body that was thin as a dried twig. Father looked like a fish lying in a puddle of dog piss. Beside him were men sitting or squatting half-consciously. They were waiting without checking the time. Jade knew her father was the only addict who still received help from his family. They gathered around the exit of the Wanchai subway station daily, paying no mind to the many looks from pedestrians.

            “How come it’s you?” Father’s merry look made Jade very depressed. “Long time no see! What are you busy with lately?”

            “You didn’t care about me before, don’t you pretend to now,” Jade thought to herself. She stood next to her father in silence, watching him push the choy sum to one side, and ate a few mouthfuls of rice. He kept talking,

            “Hey, don’t you give me an attitude. Regardless, you won’t be born without me.” He imitated the sound of a jet taking off. “Right in the bull’s eye!”

The old man next to him couldn’t hold his laughter. His toothless mouth looked like a dark theater with no audience.

            “If not for me, you might have been named Ah Chun, Ah Tai. Isn’t it great to be called Jade now, a name with such oriental flavor? ”

            Jade didn’t have much opinion on names. She nodded without resistance. “Hurry up. I have to bring the lunch box back up.”

            Her father handed the old man his lunch box and asked, “Do you want a choy sum? My body has antibodies for healthy food anyway.”

            This was a tasteless joke. Jade pitied the choy sum being clamped between the chopsticks. She couldn’t bear seeing it being chewed and rotted between the teeth of those people.

            “Little girl, do you have a boyfriend?” The old man walked over to her, touched Jade’s shoulder gently. His mouth reeked and smelt like rotten fish.

            “Stop fooling around. She’s my daughter,” Jade’s father cackled. “You, you! If you want to play, go next door, don’t even think about my daughter!” Father and the old man laughed, almost to tears.

            The old man waved his hand, signaled to Father to stop.

            “You don’t say! Last time you were all bossing about saying to go find Ah Fung for fun, but afterwards…” The muscles on Father’s left cheek ticked involuntarily. A numbness overcame Jade, and she turned her face away, determined not to fathom closely the face of the man in the wheelchair. In a few years, he might be so contaminated by the effects of drugs that he would forget all about her. Jade was overwhelmed by sadness. Standing by the stairwell, she lighted a cigarette. Seeing her father’s shaking hands, Jade helped him light his.

            “Like I said, daughters are always the best, see?” Father closed his eyes and stiffly adjusted his position. “My old mom doesn’t let me smoke. I am over fifty already, and she still tells me to quit. Look at me now, it doesn’t make a difference whether I smoke or not.” He spoke animatedly, full of strength.“But you’re still young. It’s not good to smoke so much.”

            Jade stayed silent; her gaze focused afar. Her colleague had already closed the store for the night, but the light on the second floor was still on. Last week, the apartment was still empty. A thought crossed her mind and she imagined herself witnessing a crime happening. The campaign car drove slow as a snail on the street, interrupting Jade’s wild thoughts.

 

            The next morning, the first customer placed a dozen different orders. “Tapiocas in each cup please.”

            After finishing all the orders, she told her colleague about the second floor while killing time at the store. He looked at her, stunned, and answered slowly,

            “I heard they opened a boxing studio. The first customer this morning might be one of those people. He probably came down to buy drinks for the movers who moved the equipments up.”

            “Ah. Which gang invested in the studio this time?” Jade asked suggestively.

            “Huh? Thai boxing, I guess.”

            An irrelevant answer. Jade gave up chatting and sat idly by the machine.

 

            “Excuse me? Are you the manager of the store?” A woman’s voice invaded Jade’s daydream.

            “We are not hiring.”

            “Hi! Our boxing studio just opened, and here is some food for you. We are neighbors. Let’s take care of each other in the future!” She offered two greasy egg tarts.

            Jade nodded, embarrassed, speechless all of a sudden. She looked at the woman, who is about 25-28 years of age, with long straight hair, wearing a tight short-sleeve. She was short. Jade stood up, and was taller than her by half a head. The woman didn’t have the intention to hand over her name card. She kept smiling at Jade, seemed unwilling to leave. Jade promptly handed her a cup of boba in response. Taiwanese drink and Hong Kong snack were not that good of a pairing.

            “Could you help me with it?” The woman didn’t even attempt to poke through the plastic cup cover, but asked for help directly. “I’m sorry, but I always make a mess out of it. The straw is so tough, and the milk tea gets everywhere.”

            “No worries!” This should be the first time Jade helped a customer poke a straw through the cup cover this winter.

            “Bye, thank you for your boba! Come visit our studio sometime!”

            Jade’s eyes followed her until she disappeared indoors.

            “Pretty, yea?” Her colleague smiled like a fox.

            “I guess she is the receptionist at the boxing studio,” Jade lowered her head and washed the containers.

 

            From that day onwards, Jade went to work, closed the store, and brought meals to her father punctually. She calculated the odds. This should increase 50% chance of seeing the woman. Indeed, the woman showed up and ordered a regular cup of boba every day.

            “Why don’t you try something else? We have winter melon tea, taro boba, red bean and green tea pudding, and etc.” Jade worked to find things to talk about every time.

            “Why?” The woman waited for Jade to help her with the ‘difficulty’ she found with the cup cover. “Why do you keep suggesting? Haven’t I already made a choice?” She said with a smile, without a hint of provocation.

            “If we want customers to come back again and again, it’s important to recommend them new flavors. Honestly, most of the options were here from the start, but customers don’t usually spend much time to read it. After all, it is only a few bucks, so they won’t think that much. They count on intuition on the spot. Having too many choices is in a way similar to having none. Suggesting one or two drinks they don’t usually order will increase the chance of customers’ return.”

            The woman listened agreeably to the random argument. “This is the so called business strategy? But have you ever realized that some customers are loyal to just one flavour and are willing to buy the same drink every day like an addict? ”

            Jade shrugged. “That’s possible, but those kinds of customers might only visit once every couple of days. Also, people who are addicted to boba should be rather scary.”

            “Am I scary then?” The woman, looking ever so cheeky, stood closer to the cashier, looked straight into Jade’s eyes, but didn’t say anything. Then, she turned around and went upstairs, leaving Jade alone, pondering the implications behind the conversation.

            Her colleague snatched the phone that was ringing piercingly.

            “It’s for you.”

            “Huh?”

            “She said she wants to talk to the manager.” The colleague waited suspiciously, worried that some sudden change might come to the store.

            “If I buy twenty cups, will someone deliver?” A familiar voice came through the handset. It sounded especially affectionate. “Come up and see me, will you?”

            Jade signaled at her colleague suggesting that everything was okay. Then she spoke into the phone seriously, “What is your address, miss?”

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            When the woman saw Jade holding twenty cups of boba, she couldn’t help but laugh. She was wearing a sports tank and shorts, standing at the reception.

            “Didn’t you order these?” Jade carefully lined up each and every cup of boba on the table. Suddenly, the echoes of breathing were sounding in her ears again, as if a giant snake was right next to her. Her legs felt weak all of a sudden, and the world went dark before her eyes. This time, the breathing sounds were closer than ever, and had a tinge of religious undertone to them - collective and consistent breaths.

            “Are you okay?” the woman stroked Jade’s cheeks gently. “Let’s go somewhere quiet to rest.” She put Jade’s arm across her shoulders. Jade leaned her weight on the woman, and detected her clean, astringent body odor.

           

            Behind the reception hung a Japanese-styled curtain to separate space. Straight behind it were two big boxing rings. Muscular men and women were punching and kicking sandbags. Their breathing sounded like endless hisses of snakes. The two of them sat on a bench on the balcony. If they extended their necks a little, they could see half of the Dayton Stadium. But the distance stretched in between only allowed little black dots to be projected on the retinas. Sounds of people chasing each other were constricted in space. Jade never knew the stadium could be so quiet and peaceful.

            “Those are students of our boxing class. I am their coach. One important thing to learn in this boxing studio is to breathe. Beginners should first learn the right attitude and the right movements. But it is hard to quicken your moves without learning special breathing techniques.”

            “Can you chat with me when you’re at work?”

            The woman beamed, held Jade’s hand, and told Jade all about herself in detail. This boxing studio was her brother’s, and in an average class, there were three coaches per ten students. There weren’t many students at noon, so Jade need not worry. Jade thought they progressed a little too fast. In fact, she never thought she had homosexual tendencies. When she gently responded to the woman’s handhold, there weren’t any sexual implications either. Jade liked listening to the woman endlessly talk about herself. This way, Jade didn’t have to think or talk much. She only needed to listen. Similar to the woman’s habitual boba-purchase, Jade went to hear the woman talk every sunset. When, for a couple of times, the woman asked Jade to tell her about herself, she simply told the woman that she lived close by and had worked in the same store for the past few years, and that she got promoted to the branch manager position she had now after working in the store for two years. And then the conversation fell blank abruptly. But the woman easily found other things to chat about. Jade was like a tree hole, allowing the woman to vent endlessly. Jade knew that this habit would one day be broken, just like her golden marketing strategy. When the two-person exchange became a perfect triangle, Jade somehow fell into an eternal silence. And soon enough, new parties would join in the perfect tripartite conversation. Whenever the other coaches interrupted, the woman would blink at Jade, as if saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t want it this way either.”

 

            But when the woman gave the rest of the crowd her enticing smile, Jade felt that it was she who brought about this situation. When the group laughed, they looked so much like her father and his friends. Perhaps when more than two people engaged in a  conversation, the same would result --- several little black holes opening wide, showing white teeth, yellow teeth, missing teeth, dented or clean teeth. They laughed aloud, shouted noisily and played around. They mostly talked about gender and sex, and they sometimes made silly puns. After much trial and error, they all solved the problem of the plastic cup covers, and all began drinking the boba that Jade brought upstairs.

            “I voted for Chan,” one of them started talking about the District Board election.

            “The one with the campaign cars rolling around all day.” Jade rarely was able to grasp the main point of the subject, but this time she got it right.

            The first woman answered, “Yes. Everyone in our studio with a vote voted for him. Basically, I couldn’t think of a reason why I should vote for anyone but him.  One of his election agendas is a dream for us business people.”

            Jade felt as if being poked by an icy rod, goosebumps forming on her skin.  

            “I wanted to get rid of those people for a long time. They should all be sent into drug rehabs.”

            The speaker twitched his face, stretched out his hands, pretending to beg. Jade intuitively felt that he was imitating her father’s disability. Her face turned red and looked into the eyes of the woman coach, expecting a thoughtful response. But the woman turned and asked Jade,

            “What do you think? You also do business and you must be glad. I’ve discussed this problem with my brother before. Those people are tumors in this neighborhood. After they’re gone, parents would feel safer sending their children here to learn boxing.”

            “Business will definitely be better then,” the coaches all laughed. The four of them were cats exposing their sharp teeth.

 

            Jade got home that day dazed. She refused to bring food to her father. This seemed to be the best way she could think of to punish him. And for the following few days, Jade didn’t go to the boxing studio. She did not go to work either, but sat daily by her grandmother’s or her father’s side, listening to their meaningless talk. It didn’t matter who the tree hole was with, it still worked. People still came and went through the Wanchai subway exit. Men in suits, women neatly dressed, domestic helpers, students, etc., were sent to street level by giant silvery snake-like trunks. They passed through the exit and dispersed to their own destination. Everything was well, even though among the crowd was a group of drug addicts of the past.

            Three months have gone by when Jade saw the woman coach again. She was surrounded by a group of male students. She looked at Jade with flirting eyes, gave her an inviting smile, and her mouth resumed talking again. Jade nodded back slightly. By that time, she had already quit her manager job at the store and applied for culinary lessons. She had decided to save up money to open a Taiwanese restaurant. She hoped to make some sugarless boba flavors for her family. Perhaps the most popular drink in her restaurant would still be the regular boba, but Jade had already decided that all drinks would be served in glass cups, with no to-go options.

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