AAE Queen of My Heart
Written by: MARGIE L


Feeling like a trespasser, Xiang Zhe turned the doorknob to his sister's room. He had knocked but there was no response. The bed was neatly made up so obviously, she had not returned to the apartment since last night. Where could she be? It was already 11.00 p.m. He pulled out Yung Mei's note from his cardigan pocket and perused it a second time --

"I need to be on my own for a while. Don't worry about me. I will be home when I'm ready."

Xiang Zhe folded the note and put it into his pocket. He felt anxiety building up in his chest. How was he going to face his father and stepmother if she came to harm? He sat down on the bed, considering if he should call the police. That wasn't advisable because publicity was the last thing his father would want. Further, Yung Mei did leave a note.

He thought of calling her friends but he hardly knows any of them. Did she store their addresses in her computer? He switched on the computer -- a birthday gift from him -- and was confronted by the request for password access. He turned it off.

What about the drawers? Everything was arranged neatly. Xiang Zhe carefully went through the contents and noticed some paper cuttings. He pulled them out. They were all newspaper cuttings of a weekly column -- 'Queen of Hearts'. He skimmed through the cuttings and found that 'Queen of Hearts' was a counselor of some sort. A note in Yung Mei's handwriting fell out of the cuttings.

He didn't like the idea of going through his sister's personal things; so, his first thought was to put the letter back into the drawer. But he changed his mind when his eyes caught the first few lines.

Dear Queen of Hearts --

I'm in love with an older man. Please don't say that I'm too young to know what love is, or that I'm too young to get involved. Although I'm not yet a woman, I'm not a little girl either. I'm all of 16 and I'm very sure of my feelings. He is such a kind, good and handsome man, I love him so much! I could even die for him! I'm suffering because I see him every day, but can't tell him how I feel. What should I do? Oh, please, please help me, Queen of Hearts!

Xiang Zhe was stunned. How could she be in love? She's still a kid -- what did she know about love and who was this older man? Is he someone he knows or a teacher in Yung Mei's high school?

He has to find out. But where should he start? Right! He decided it would be timely to pay a visit to the Queen of Hearts!

****

Humming to herself, Sun-mi greeted everyone cheerfully. It was a beautiful morning. Although she had slept late the night before, she has had a restful night and was feeling on top of the world that particular morning. She won't let anything spoil her day -- not even her grumpy and grouchy superior, Uncle Park.

She walked past the reception and nodded at the receptionist who was attending to a visitor. She stopped when she heard the visitor asking for 'Queen of Hearts.' The visitor turned when the receptionist nodded in her direction. Delight lit her face when she recognized the visitor.

"Yin Xiang Zhe!"

"Zhen Sun Mei!" Xiang Zhe was just as delighted to see Sun Mei. "You're Queen of Hearts?"

"Yup! Surprised?"

"Now, why should I be?" he mocked. "As far as I could recall, you've always liked to poke your little nose in people's affairs -- especially mine."

Sun Mei playfully punched his arm. "That's right, but the only difference is now I get paid for doing it!"

They both laughed. Actually, they were really happy to meet up again after having lost contact for so many years.

"Why did you and your family move out of the neighbourhood without a word?" Xiang Zhe asked. He remembered how he had gone around asking if anyone knew where the Sun Mei's family had moved to? He also remembered how disappointed and dejected he was when he couldn't find them.

She never hid anything from Xiang Zhe, so she answered truthfully. "My father's business failed. We were evicted from our house by my father's creditors."

"I'm sorry I did not know that. Why didn't Uncle Zhen approach my father for help?"

"My father was too proud to do that. He'd rather lose the house than his dignity." Sun Mei replied solemnly. "Anyway, forget the past. My father's doing ok now and enjoying his daily rounds of golf with his friends. How's is your father and your aunt and your baby sister?"

"They're all fine and Young Mei's not a baby any more. She's 16 now and she's the reason I'm here -- to see you."

"I don't understand."

Xiang Zhe handed the note to Sun Mei. "I found this note among the cuttings of your column. Do you remember having received this?"

Sun Mei read the note and replied, "No, I did not. I would have remembered because I open my own mail and read through every one of them. Has something happened to your sister?"

"She left me a brief note to say that she would come home when she's ready. But when I found this letter, I got anxious."

"You mean to tell me that when you stepped in here, you were actually on the warpath?" She did not give him time to answer. "You thought I had fed your sister with some silly notion about following her heart, etcetera, etcetera -- right?"

"Hey!" Xiang Zhe was immediately contrite. "That's not what I thought." Seeing the doubtful look on Sun Mei's face, he admitted. "Well, maybe at the beginning --" He excused himself when his cell phone rang.

He listened quietly for several minutes before asking, "Is she okay?"

"That was my housekeeper. Yung Mei's back home safe and sound and snoring in bed." He let out a sigh of relief. "She told my housekeeper that she had been staying with a schoolmate. The older man she thought she was in love with is her Science professor. He's 40 and married. She decided he was too old for her when she found out that his son is only a year older than her. Now, she thinks she's in love with his son! Can you believe the fickle-mindedness of a teenager?"

Sun Mei asked, "You mean you'd rather she stays in love with the professor?"

He accused. "Of course that's not what I'm implying! You're twisting my words."

She laughed. "I was just pulling your leg." She sobered and asked, "So, why aren't you married?"

"How did you know I'm not married?"

"You're not wearing a wedding band -- that's how I know."

He looked at her and answered earnestly, "Yes, I'm still single. Ten years ago, when a good friend left the neighbourhood, she took my heart along with her." His eyes on her left hand, he asked, "And you - why are you still single?"

She smiled and replied softly, "Would you believe my reason is the same as yours?"

He returned her smile - no further words were necessary.

~ THE END ~