Second Chance

Chapter 11 - A Love Deeper than the Ocean

It was another sleepless night for Jake.

For some unexplained reasons, he kept thinking about his ex-sifu Lau Beng, and the statement he’d made:

In the end, all of us die. And all of us are crushed with sorrow and grief. It is for this reason that you must learn to not feel compassion for anyone. Only then can you become a successful hit-man.

Jake used to idolise him; his words were like the words of God. Now in his early sixties, Lau Beng was, once upon a time, an expert marksman and a member of the Red Lotus, a secret society formed in Beijing to fight foreign oppression. After the failure of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the society was disbanded and he came to Shanghai to become a well-known gun-for-hire, the original Mr Clean. With his rugged looks and man-of-action attitude – clearly his strong points – he was both admired and feared by his opponents. On the other hand, he had an equal dose of flaws too. Arrogant, and a psychotic narcissist, many of his friends stayed clear of him and he became some sort of a lone wolf.

Then one hot August night in 1908, Lau Beng’s whole world came crashing down on him when he was set upon by unknown assassins as he came out dead drunk from a bar; he managed to escape but lost the use of his right shooting arm as a result. Unable to hold a gun any longer he called it quits until he crossed paths with Jake two years later. The young man reminded him so much of himself: brave and intelligent with quick reflexes. He decided to take Jake under his wing and trained him to take over his place as a hit-man.

For the naïve seventeen-year-old Jake then, meeting Lau Beng was heaven-sent. At that time, he had run away from the orphanage and joined a street gang, supporting himself by pickpocketing and extortion. His future seemed bleak. But Lau Beng saved him. Jake could never forget the first words his ex-sifu said to him – Kid, you can do anything you set your mind to because you have what it takes, but pickpocketing is not one of them. Come, let me groom you for higher things. As time marched on, not only did Lau Beng become his teacher and mentor, he became his surrogate father as well.

With Lau Beng serving as a broker and Jake the executioner, the infamous name of Mr Clean hit the limelight once more. Their contract-killing business had a great run for many years, but all good things had to come to an end. In their case, Jake’s first encounter with Mei-suet was the catalyst. Through her, Jake eventually realized that he was living his life not of his own design, but of Lau Beng’s – the elderly man had moulded him into some kind of killing machine to serve his own self-interest. For many months after that, things hadn’t been good between the two of them but it all came to a head when Jake announced he wanted to get married and retired. There was nothing Lau Beng could say that would change his mind. Terribly agitated by Jake’s obstinate attitude, his last words to him were: This is one decision you will live to regret. Trust me, Jake, you will.

Jake sat up. A second later he found himself barking to the air. “Lau Beng was speaking garbage on all counts. If a man feels no pain, no joy, no guilt, absolutely no emotions at all, then there’s something wrong with his brain. And regrets? Yes, I’ve but one regret: I should have retired earlier.”

Suddenly a horrible thought struck him – could Lau Beng be the mastermind behind Mei-suet’s murder? His ex-sifu had never liked his wife, blaming her solely for instigating Jake to defy him that led to their acrimonious breakup. Furthermore, upon reflection, his parting words sounded more like a veiled threat than a harsh statement made in the heat of the moment. It might seem crazy, but he couldn’t think of anyone else having such an awful motive to kill Mei-suet except Lau Beng.

Jake’s musing went on for a while until he’d had quite enough.

It’s an absurdly implausible assumption, he insisted, refusing to believe Lau Beng would go to the extent of committing a murder just because he despised her. Yet something was bugging him beyond his fogged thoughts like a pesky fly, imploring him not to disregard the obvious.

In the end, as difficult as it was to do so, he slipped under the blanket and resolved to get some shuteye. The first thing tomorrow he would confront Master Muk Long, for he alone held the key to the identity of the mastermind – his disclosure would settle this nagging issue once and for all. And this time he promised himself he would not be so courteous to the old monk.

Easier said than done, he seemed doomed to stay awake the whole night – the insidious sleep thieves were still inside his bedroom. In near-desperation he tried to redirect his troubled thoughts to something more pleasant. Recalling the romp that Wing-mun had with a woman earlier, his mind inevitably raced back to that unforgettable night when he and Mei-suet, already three months into their relationship, were in Hangzhou, a quaint sleepy town located about a hundred miles west of Shanghai, for a holiday. With its many forests, historical sites and the picturesque West Lake that looked like a shining pearl, this land of intoxicating beauty had inspired poets and painters, Mei-suet included.

The memory of their first kiss was still very clear in his mind: it was a snowy night like tonight and he had given her a peck on her forehead while gazing out the window at the snow from their inn’s room.

“Hey, I don’t like it,” he remembered her saying.

“You don’t like what?” he’d inquired.

“I don’t like you kissing my forehead.”

“Oh, I am sorry.”

“Kiss my lips, you dolt.”

It was a beautiful long smooch – her soft, warm lips tasted like the sweetness of an apple. They eventually ended up naked on the carpeted floor. Mei-suet might not have had pleasing curves or a large bosom, but to him, she still possessed a stunning figure. They made magic that night; he did everything so right that Mei-suet, writhing in pleasure, had no other option but to surrender her whole self to him. When the love-making was over – it was also their first – the girl in her was chased away and she had become a woman.

“Jake, how deep is your love for me?” she’d asked, cuddling close to him.

“Ocean deep,” he’d replied.

She cooed. “Oh, I like that.”

He looked at her and she smiled.

“And how deep is your love for me?” he’d asked her back.

“Much deeper than your ocean.”

Jake happily nestled his head on the soft pillow. His mind and body were in a relaxed mode. A few moments later, a faint snore buzzed in the air. He had finally knocked himself out.