Originally published in Fleurs des lettres ‧ Other Words issue 39; reprinted in Ways to Love in a Crowded City by Eva Wong Yi, Taipei: Unitas, 2021.
after Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
When Yee Yee first noticed the strange phenomenon, she and Ah Hei were riding the escalator up, Yee Yee in front, Ah Hei behind. Yee Yee had her back to Ah Hei, looking toward the top of the escalator, finding herself face-to-face with a young woman standing not that far ahead of her, the young woman positioned backwards on the escalator, both arms wrapped around her boyfriend’s neck. The man standing one step below his girlfriend lowered his head, burying his face into her chest and mumbling something that made her giggle.
Wouldn’t being so lovey-dovey in front of everyone in broad daylight raise people’s eyebrows? Yee Yee gazed at the escalators on either side, wanting to see if anyone else was staring at the lovebirds falling all over each other, oblivious to anyone else, only to discover more men and women standing just like them—whether the escalator was going up or down, the woman was always in front, the man behind, the woman facing backwards, both arms wrapped around the man’s neck, while the man’s hands casually landed on the back of the woman’s head, cheeks, shoulders and neck, waist, or butt, not letting go until the escalator reached the end.
Yee Yee wanted to turn around and ask Ah Hei whether he spied the lovebirds standing in front, but she was well aware she wasn’t Ah Hei’s girlfriend, and she didn’t have the qualifications or nerve to just turn around like that and adopt a pose that was only fit for a girlfriend. Moreover, even if she did ask, then what? If Ah Hei felt it was merely a natural phenomenon that was bound to occur in high-rise malls in bustling shopping districts, wouldn’t Yee Yee give him the impression she was a fuddy-duddy busybody, or a vindictive, vicious leftover woman jealous of the passion of young sweethearts? If Ah Hei, like her, felt that engaging in PDA would endanger the safety and tranquility of other escalator riders, and from then on decided to stand even farther apart from her on the escalator, wouldn’t she have wasted an opportunity to get closer to him while riding it?
Yee Yee had been happy to go shopping with Ah Hei, even intentionally wearing a dress with a hole in the lower back that showed a little skin above the belt, hoping that Ah Hei would notice and be pleasantly surprised, but unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have any reaction. As they passed through mall after mall in the neighbourhood, Yee Yee and Ah Hei rode numerous escalators together from B2 to the twelfth floor and then back down to the ground. Each time, Ah Hei let her step onto the escalator first—maybe he was adopting a gentlemanly demeanour of “ladies first,” or might he have been hoping to catch a few more glimpses of her exposed waist in the back? Whenever she got on the escalator, Yee Yee subconsciously inhaled, sticking out her chest and sucking in her stomach, hoping to make her exposed lower back look a bit slimmer to Ah Hei, though obviously her chest and stomach protruded from the front of her body, not behind. However, Ah Hei hadn’t mentioned a single word about the backless dress Yee Yee had on that day, leaving her quite disappointed.
Was she really not at all attractive to Ah Hei? If this were an idol drama, what would happen next would be that the lovebirds in front of them would become too hot and heavy, causing the woman to inadvertently let go, and due to the slope of the escalator and the physics-defying logic of the idol drama, the smartphone she’d been holding would fly straight into Yee Yee’s face, which was only a few steps away from her—losing her balance, Yee Yee would fall backwards while screaming gracefully, and then, like all leading men in idol dramas, in order to protect the leading lady Yee Yee, Ah Hei would stretch out his hands and catch her back as she fell, safely supporting both of their weight mid-air with steadier steps than a martial arts star, frozen in an embrace with his hands on her waist, a hero rescuing a damsel in distress, lost in each other’s eyes, the two of them discovering they had feelings for each other. Alas, this wasn’t an idol drama after all, but a busy shopping mall. The escalator had transported Yee Yee and Ah Hei to the end. She and he were still two people instead of a couple. Meanwhile, the lovebirds in front resumed their side-by-side position like conjoined twins, blocking the way as they walked shoulder-to-shoulder, disappearing into the mall among flocks of lovebirds who were out on weekend dates.
Part II of this story will be published next week.
Eva Wong Yi is known for her Chinese-language short stories, including the collections Ways to Love in a Crowded City (擠迫之城的戀愛方法) and The Four Seasons of Lam Yip (林葉的四季).
Translated by Jennifer Feeley