Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [82]
‘We are all stuck in our own way here, but Mahmud – he has everything. He will be someone. He is innocent. He doesn’t need help from Victoria Chan or anyone.’
‘Has she promised you things?’
‘Yes. She has…she promised us a lot.’
‘What?’
‘My father dreams of a beautiful new restaurant. Ali thinks he will be a billionaire before he is thirty.’
‘And Hafiz?’
She shook her head. ‘I know what you’re thinking about Hafiz. But he doesn’t listen to me. Now he talks about these people as his new family. He has a new phone. He has money in his pocket. I can’t blame him wanting more.’
‘What about you, Nina, what do you want?’
They heard doors banging on another floor, music drifting up from below. They heard muted conversations in other languages. Her eyes glued onto his. In the dark stairwell he wanted to reach for her but he didn’t dare.
‘I want to find happiness. I want to feel happy.’ She had a package of food for him. ‘I brought you something to eat. Here…’ She unfolded a napkin with two samosas inside; the smell of cumin burst out into the rank air. They sat with arms touching on the cramped stairwell. Shrimp ate the samosas.
‘Thanks for the food. You’re a fantastic cook.’
‘Thank you. I love cooking.’
‘Have you been back to cook curries for Rizal?’
Nina looked anxious at the mention of it. ‘No. Lilly will have to do it. Is Michelle coming home soon?’
‘I don’t know. She’s in a lot of trouble. She’s suspected of having murdered someone.’
‘I don’t know what’s happening to the Mansions. They’re falling apart. All the nice people are being put in prison, all the bad ones left out. It’s not right.’
Nina fiddled with her hair; Shrimp rested his elbows on his knees and struggled to think of what to say. He felt more nervous than he had felt for a long time.
They turned at the sound of a door banging on the next landing. Nina smiled at his concerned expression. ‘Don’t worry. No one will see me. I know the Mansions well. I was born here. I know the stairwells and the landings; I can get away if I need to.’
They looked at one another and exchanged an awkward smile.
‘Do you live with your brothers?’
‘No. I live with my grandmother in a flat on the fifth floor. Do you have a girlfriend, Li?’ She looked away as she asked.
‘Call me Shrimp, please, everyone does. No,’ he looked at her and looked away, ‘I don’t, right now; my work kind of takes over most of the time. I like going out though, like a boogie. What about you? Do you get out? Your brother said you were going to be married next month.’
Nina became agitated. ‘Anything could happen between now and then. The arrangements are being made. I have to go along with it but I don’t intend to go through with it.’
‘What are you going to do?’
She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. ‘Run away? I don’t know yet. It’s not fair. I am being given to an old friend of my father’s. He’s an old man.’
‘Don’t you have a say?’
‘No. I should be married by now but when my mother died everything changed. I took over the running of the restaurant. The last few years have been difficult for all of us. I am old to be unmarried.’ She was getting increasingly more uncomfortable. ‘Sorry, I have to go now.’
Shrimp jumped up beside her. Before he had time to think of something to say, Nina reached up, kissed him on his cheek.
‘Meet me here tomorrow, same time?’
‘Nina?’ Shrimp called to her as she disappeared.
She stopped and ran back to him. ‘Yes?’
‘I am sorry if I caused offence or said anything wrong. I like you.’
She giggled. ‘I know.’
Chapter 61
Mahmud sat in his cell. He’d come back from the hospital. He was shaking from the shock of having his left arm broken in two places. Not even the Mansions could prepare him for the remand centre. He was inside with so many young Triads who were used to the streets. The gang warfare continued inside the prison walls. He’d been beaten in a race attack, because he was an Indian who had killed a Chinese.
He