"Choose a partner that you can go to war with." Ancient proverb Part 3/5

I swallow the salvia and ask the third time, "How…how did you find out?" I stumble.

Side-eye. Bombastic side-eye. Ah Ling's bloodshot bombastic side-eye.

"There was blood." "Everywhere."

You know your brain has gone into overdrive when you have a thousand scenarios and images flash before your eyes. Binge-watching CSI, Law and Order, Bones, Monks, Columbo, and Murder She Wrote (Okay, I am not choosy) is nothing when compared to meeting a killer face to face. I hold my breath in anticipation.

"I go to the restaurant as usual around 10 in the morning. Kam goes there much earlier to chop up the vegetables and finish the food preparation. But that morning, the door was wide open. I thought to myself, shit, have we been burgled?"

"I rushed in. The tables and chairs were all upside down. Plates and bowls were shattered on the floor. Blood on the metal rod. Bloodied handprint on the wall. A bloodied knife on the floor. And it was quiet. So quiet I could hear my heartbeat. I walked through to the kitchen and found no one. Where is Kam? But the onions are on the chopping board, he WAS here and now where the hell is he?"

"I clenched my handbag to my chest and went to talk to Ahmet next door…"

Mona interrupts, "Who is Ahmet?" Ah Ling has got all our attention now.

Staring into the space, without looking at Mona, Ah Ling continues, "Ahmet is a good guy, not a bad chef, his Turkish restaurant went busted not long after…bad at money…you see cooking and running a business are two completely different things. Kam cooks well but gambles all the money away. I, on the other hand, is good with money. I keep an eye on every penny. This is how you do it, counting pennies. We make a good, no, great team, haha…" She chuckles. "If it was not for me, Kam would have been living on the street by now. And how did he thank me? And that's why I would never divorce him! What for? Give away my restaurant and my money for free and let that bitch enjoy the fruits of my hard work? No way. I will not let go."

Ahmet said, "Some kind of accident happened this morning Mrs. Kam! The Ambulance came and took both Kam and Bobo away. The police came too….no no…it wasn't me who dialed 999…"

"Like a zombie, I went to the nearest police station."

"Of course, I denied everything to the police constable. Kam is not having an affair. Bobo is a waitress at the restaurant, been working with me for more than three years. Oh, good worker that Bobo. Hardworking girl, Officer. Stay for overtime most nights helping us out. Of course, I know now staying overtime was to spend time with Kam when I went home. Bitch. There must be some kind of accident. Accident. Ma'am? She was hit with a metal bar on the side of her head. And Mr. Kam tried to kill himself by cutting his wrist, Mrs. Kam. You need to tell me what you know. I have told you everything, Officer. My husband would not do such a thing. There must be some kind of misunderstanding. No one talked. Not me, not Kam and not that bitch. And no one pressed any charges."

"I made congee for Kam in the hospital. He hates hospital food. Can't stand it. No taste he said. We said nothing. I sat and waited till Kam to finish the congee then I would pack up and go home. We never talked about it. He never explains. Never apologises. Never says sorry."

"It turned out everyone on the street knew about the affairs except me. Still, no one told me. I was angry not because he had an affair, I was furious because he caused me to lose face. In the old days, not uncommon to have mistresses. The mistresses know the pecking order. The wife sits on top of the hierarchy. Ahmet told me days after that the Vietnamese restaurant owner opposite the road wanted to get Bobo to work for him. They went to Greece together to look at a site for his next restaurant and asked Bobo to be the manager there. Kam found out Bobo lied about where she was last week and completely freaked out. He hit her with the metal rod. She bled, he panicked and tried to kill himself to lessen his sense of guilt. What an idiot! But no no I did not grass him up to the cops. Why? Of course not. Now he knows he owes everything to me. He owes me his LIFE. I have complete control over him now. On top of that, I can't afford to lose the restaurant. We have four kids by then. He can't go to jail! I can't cook and we will lose the restaurant. What am I gonna do with the kids with no money? How am I repaying the money I borrowed from my ma? No, no confrontation is not an option."

"I endure it. I tolerate it. I put up with it."

"It was my only option. My only way."

"I hold it all inside of me."

We are all transfixed now. She has been harbouring this inside her for the past forty years.

"I didn't tell no one. Not our children. Not my ma. Not a soul. Until now. I give him face. To them, he is the perfect father, perfect grandfather, perfect husband and perfect son-in-law."

It is only 4.30 in the afternoon and already dark outside. Auntie Sin breaks the deadly silence, "Chicken rice is ready!"

"What happened to Bobo?" I ask and everyone stops what they are doing and look at me with wide eyes. If eyes can shoot, I would have been dead by a thousand arrows by now.

"She never returns after checking out of the hospital. I have not seen her ever since. I don't care. She might as well be dead for all I care."

William Congreve, you are right, heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned, even back in 1697.

Ah Ling is not a killer after all. How disappointing.

#affairs #loverat #cheating #mistress #putupwithit