Betrayal: A whole new punch in the stomach

William and Sisi's relationship was blooming quickly. William now could relate to the old love cliché of life being in colour rather than a black and white photograph. It was brilliant, and he wondered why before, he had never really given girls a second look.

In fact, Sisi had now moved into William's university accomodation. This was because - in a remarkably similar situation to the deeply missed Chichang - her parents refused to fund her higher education, due to its "blatant ludicrousness". They would have much preferred to fly her out to an American university, wherein she could study at a good medicine school and "actually give something back to society at large, as well as using your English skills". (One of Sisi's traits that William particularly adored was their common fluency in English. It was brilliant if they wanted to say private things to one another in a public place.) However, Sisi was something of a stowaway in William's house - if the university landlord found out that he was being ripped off, there would be big trouble.

One day, William wanted to take Sisi to the Museum for the Development of the Modern Pterygoid - a must for all students of ornithology. However, to his massive disappointment, Sisi had come down with a cold that day; and insisted that he go without her, since she wouldn't want to deprive his extra learning, and much less for him to catch the illness too. William agreed, and at ten o' clock in the morning he got the bus into the inner city.

* * * * *

At about six o' clock in the evening, William came home, shivering and feeling ill. It had rained all day, and he had not dressed appropriately for the weather. It seemed he may as well have stayed home and caught Sisi's cold. As he entered through the door, soaked, he put the kettle on and made himself a cup of hot black tea with tapioca. Absentmindedly, he stuck his hands into the steam rising out of the kettle, wondering how good it would be to have a sauna one day. In fact, he could go to Finland with Sisi and they could experience it together... No. Finland was too close to Sweden, a place Chichang would associate with sadness.

After taking his crow-patterned mug of tea to the sofa and sipping it, William eventually fell asleep. It had been a rather exhausting day.

* * * * *

He awoke, forgetting why he had been on the sofa. Then he checked his watch. Quarter to nine! William scolded himself for napping so long - not really a nap, more like a coma. Now he would be up all night. But then he thought he could hear something in the background of the familiar buzz of the fridge. He tuned in his ears more. Yes, definitely something. Someone. He got up, and could now tell it was somebody laughing. Two voices, two people. Still dazed from his snooze, William made his way over to his bedroom.

He opened the door, and there was a man and a woman - in his bed - both naked (granted the duvet covered most of it). It was pretty obvious why they were emitting sounds of pleasure. William himself began to laugh. What a surreal situation! "I'll come back later," he chuckled.

No sooner had he left the room, shut the door and walked back to the kitchen, did he realise something was not quite right about this. He opened the door.

"....the hell?" William gasped.

Now that he had spoken, the couple turned their heads towards him, their faces the picture of horror. William's stomach lurched as he realised it was his girlfriend, Sisi... his girlfriend, and....

"MIKE FUCKING KEVINSON!" William roared. "Get out of my house, now! What are you doing? Who?... What?... Why?..... Just go -" he sank to his knees and pounded the floor, crying and crying.

By the time William had got up - after about five minutes - the only people left in the room were he and Sisi, who was now wearing a dressing gown and sitting on the bed. Mike Kevinson had apparently disappeared silently

"Why, Sisi? Why did you do it? Why did you lie?"

"I'm sorry, William. You're a guy who's been through a lot. I couldn't hurt your feelings like that."

"What, so you get... this guy who I've looked up to, who saved my life, who disappeared on me... and in my own bed? What the hell is wrong with you?" William picked up a stool, and threw it through the window. It smashed, and Sisi cowered.

"Get out. Find your own place to live, you whore."

Tears started rolling down Sisi's face. "You know I've got nowhe-"

"Didn't you hear me? GET OUT!"

Relationships: Love Is All You Need

Unaware of Mike Kevinson's plight and subsequent lack of power, William had fallen into a slough of despondancy. He mourned Chichang for a long time. The Chinese History with Ornithology lectures were very lonely, and without a homework buddy William began to lose interest. It is all very well to never have a friend; but once you have had one you realise what it truly means to be alone. So it was that at the end of the year, his marks were falling terribly.

The previously welcome break of the summer holidays was tedious for him. He worked on his Japanese, for lack of any other option, even though it was mostly perfect already. He supposed, when in the mood to analyse himself, that studying Japanese reminded him of that shining light, Mike Kevinson. He wondered what Mike Kevinson had meant when he had mentioned his own bereavement. Who had Mike lost? A friend? A colleague? A parent? William could only guess. He had, of course, lost almost everyone he had ever known. And now there seemed to be another Kevinson-shaped vacancy in his life; where was he on holiday now? Bermuda?

William tried to put these futile thoughts from his mind, but only succeeded in making himself more miserable. "If Chichang were here," He said to himself, "He would know what to do."

However, time, as we have seen before, waits for nothing; not even grief. William had to return to that dreaded academy, where Chichang had spent his idle days painting instead of studying.

This year, he expected once again to be the only person on the course; but as fate would have it, there was one other university in the whole of China that held this particular course. And, as fate would have it, there was a girl at that other university who had decided to transfer to William's place. Imagine his surprise when he saw, not an empty lecture hall, but the face of someone who was not Chichang...!

It was most distressing for him; but once he got over his shock he realised that the girl in question was really quite pretty, and became flustered.

It took him a while; but every time his courage failed him he thought of Chichang, and how disappointed he would have been. That made things easier. And then, one day, he decided on a way to ask Sisi (for that was her name) out. He printed off a list of chat-up lines he found online, and learned them by heart.

"Hey, baby." He said to her at last, the words sounding very strange on the tongue of William Xiu, "If you were words on a page... you'd be what they call fine print."

Sisi, of course, burst out laughing; but rather than reject William, she found him quirky, and made up her mind at once to date him. This made William so very happy that for a moment he even forgot that Chichang was dead.

Vexation: Suspicious minds

When William next awoke, he could smell soap and plastic dinners. The smell of the ill.

He was in hospital, and this gave him considerably less freedom.

"Good morning, William," whispered a familiar voice. With pain, William mustered up strength to turn his neck, then he saw it was none other than Mike Kevinson.

"W-what? Why are you here? Where have you been?"

"On vacation in Thailand."

"Okay."

"What happened, then? How did you get here?"

"I don't know," said William, sounding somewhat irritated.

"The truth, please?"

"Look, Mike" - William dared to use the first name of his interrogator - "can't you see that I'm in a fragile state here? My best friend - my only friend at that - has just tragically died. Right next to me! I was there! It could have been me! It... it... it should have been me!" With that, William burst into tears, and vigorously pulled shut the curtain that went around his bed.

Mike Kevinson felt rather remorseful that he had approached this delicate matter so bluntly; for he himself knew bereavement well. From behind the curtain, he said, "I'm really sorry, William. Just tell me everything you know when you're ready, please." Then he walked off to the hospital canteen, to pursue a pretty nurse he had a-spied that morning.

* * *

A couple of days later, back at the police headquarters, Mike Kevinson was sitting in his office smoking a cigar just imported from Cuba by his high school classmate Esteban Fernandez, whilst playing tetris. Suddenly, he got a phonecall.

"Hello, Inspector Mike Kevinson speaking," he tried to sound as professional as possible whilst he lowered the volume on his computer, in order to mask the bleeps from the tetris game, and thus his procrastination.

"Kevinson, have you found out about William Xiu's involvement in that car accident?"

"Yes, I have. The boy says that he was talking about their plans to go into the city later that night, and that Chichang simply got distracted. He also mentioned some.... dark birds, that had congregated in the middle of the road."

"That's all? Sounds pretty legit to me."

"I'm not so sure. I can't fight the feeling that he is trying to hide something."

"Get over here, Kevinson." The chief constable put the phone down.

No sooner had Mike Kevinson reached the chief's office, than he realised he was going to have to do a lot of justification of himself.

"Now, I want to know exactly what it is that you've got against William. He has a flawless personal record, he's a quiet guy... look at this picture, he wouldn't hit a fly. Why is a man of your calibre being so asinine?" The chief referred to a internet news article photo of a grinning William, after having won a district chess championship.

"You seem to be forgetting, sir, that it is often the quiet ones," argued Mike Kevinson, looking at the photo doubtfully. "Even if William did not have malicious intentions, he could still be affected by concussion, or even a mild case of amnesia. I'm just not entirely convinced he's telling the whole truth."

A knock on the door. "Coffee!" said the jovial fat policeman - the same that had examined the case of Albert the bully's death with Mike Kevinson.

"Thanks!" said Mike with a nod.

"So... what's going on here?" the stout policeman asked.

"William Xiu. You know, the one who - "

"Oh yeah. The chief here was telling me about the new William case right now. He said he reckons you -" The chief's facial expression shot darts at him. "I mean.... man, can't you leave the poor boy alone?"

"Not everyone in this world is a fluffy cherub, you know," retorted Mike Kevinson, getting frustrated.

"That's enough," announced the chief, standing up. "I've simply had enough of your suspicions, Inspector Kevinson. You are mad. That is what I said. And do you know what else I'm going to say? You're suspended for six months. That's right. Now leave my office, leave this building, and take your cigars with you."

Crash: A Terrible Accident

William was certainly delighted with the way his life was going. Not only were his studies going extremely well (and it was already halfway through the year!) , but he had a great friend in Chichang, a good place to live, and lots to occupy his time. This, he thought, was really the way to live. Now he finally knew what he had been missing for all those years, as the other children enjoyed time together instead of studying.

Chichang really was a brilliant artist. One day he promised to paint William's portrait, and William agreed immediately. He had to sit for it for hours, because Chichang liked to paint from life instead of photographs, but in the end it was worth it. The portrait, when it was finished, was magnificent. Chichang portrayed William as a scholar from ancient China (he used their course textbook for inspiration), in traditional robes, with a bird perching on his shoulder and reading what he was writing on a scroll. The likeness was alarming.

William was so pleased that he hung it on his dorm room wall. Things were going great; until one day, Chichang appeared a little more pre-occupied than usual. He asked William if he would like to go for a ride in his car, since it was quite new, and William agreed, thinking it would be nice to see a bit of what was going on outside the university.

They set off very shortly, not needing to take much with them. As they went along, they started to chat about random things, and Chichang seemed to ease up a bit more.

"Do you think I'll ever be a famous artist, William?" He asked whimsically.

William glanced over at him. "Yeah, of course. All you have to do is sell a painting and that's it, everyone will want to buy your stuff when they see it."

"Hmm, I wish I was as optimistic as you." Chichang replied doubtfully. "I'd just really like to achieve my dreams, and I don't know if I can."

"Of course you can!" William mock-punched him on the shoulder (a habit he had picked up from Chichang himself). "You just have to believe in yourself. Isn't that what you're always saying to me?"

Chichang chuckled a bit. "Yes, I suppose you're right. As always."

"I'm glad you know it." William grinned. "So, what are we going to do this weekend?"

"I was thinking we should maybe go to a bar in town? We hardly ever do, and I've heard there's a really great new electro band playing there. They're called Future Artists, I'm sure you'll love them."

"Really?" Now it was William's turn to be doubtful, unfamiliar as he was with the modern music scene. "Well... I'll take your word for it. You know more about these things than I - Chichang - look out!!"

The reason for this outburst was that, as Chichang was looking at William, he had not noticed the flock of birds that had settled onto the road. It was near to the edge of the town, next to a grassy park, and they were searching for grain. Chichang slammed on the breaks, but it was too late; they hit at least three birds on the way through the flock, which had been disguising a large puddle of water just beyond. The puddle in turn was hiding a pothole in the road, and it was these three combined elements that resulted in the car spinning around and over. It landed heavily, upside-down, one wheel still spinning long after it had come to a rest.

Dazed and confused by the impact, William stirred slowly, feeling a few shallow cuts on his face from the shattered windscreen. He tugged at his seat belt, and it came off easily, landing him on what had been the roof of the car. He looked back at Chichang, and tried to pull on his sleeve, but Chichang made no reply. William noticed that there was blood on Chichang's temple, and a little trickle that had come from his mouth. Horrified, William checked for a pulse, but could not find one. He was too shocked even to cry. His whole body ached from his own injuries, and he was dizzy from flipping over, and everything seemed very strange and distressing. With a slight whimper, William fainted, and that was all he knew for a long time.

Chichang: Friendship is golden

"...make yourself comfortable," said Chichang. "Ever since I was young, I knew that painting was the only thing I wanted to do. It was a compulsion, in a way. If you don't believe me, check this out."

Chichang got up, and went over to his dorm's cupboard. From it, he pulled out a large, black folder. He unzipped it, and revealed a stack of what were obviously exquisite art pieces. He put one sheet out onto the table in front of them. William reached out his hand to pick of the shard of glass. To his disdain, he could not do it - for it was nothing but a painting.

"Wow," he gasped, "you weren't lying."

It was clear that Chichang was trying his utmost to remain modest, yet he could not help but let a slightly proud smirk escape.

"Why didn't you go to art school? Are you actually interested in Chinese History and Ornithology, more than following your talent?"

"I don't know, William. I really don't. How much more of my past are you willing to take in?"

"I've got all the time in the world, it's okay. I'll just get us some tea."

When William came back from the kitchen carrying two steaming cups - his balance perfect from his waitering days - Chichang was sitting at his desk, and quickly closed his laptop when he saw William. He indicated at the other chair, for him to sit on.

"So... I was applying for art school, at the end of last August. I wanted to have first priority for a place, and I'd begun to create a portfolio two years prior. And, well, at the same time, I met this amazing girl. Soraja." He flinched at the mention of her name. Then he opened up his laptop to reveal a picture of two people - a girl with the blondest hair and the whitest skin that William had ever seen, and a boy who looked exactly like Chichang, but with slightly shorter hair - with dazzling smiles of genuine happiness.

"She was from Sweden," Chichang added. "Her father was a famous architect, and moved the family to Taiwan, whilst he renovated our city."

"She has nice bone structure," commented William, then looked down quickly.

"Yeah? Well. Bone structure isn't much good when you're boyfriend's trying to get into a prestigious university, is it?" Chichang sounded bitter.

"How so?" asked William, who still hadn't latched onto the fact that they were about to go into sensitive territory, having never had any contact with the world of relationships himself.

"I was creating my portfolio and... I was spending far too much time with her. I know that now, in retrospect. As I did so, the quality of my work declined. My father told me that I wasn't good enough for art school. This made me so angry, because I knew I was capable, it was all I lived for, apart from Soraja. And at the time, I really thought I was putting my all into it. But that... man told me that I was hopeless, that I was wasting my time. I hated it, I felt lost, art was like my guiding light." Chichang gulped.

Luckily, William had realised by this time that his friend was struggling to tell him everything, so he did not attempt to force him to continue. But clearly, Chichang trusted him enough.

"I started to take it out on Soraja."

William was utterly taken aback. This seemingly pleasant boy, a violent woman-beater? He was lost for words.

"You know... I stole her father's money. Whenever I spent the night there, and the house was dark. He just left it laying around. And then Soraja would get blamed. I know it's terrible, but I've put it behind me now. All I ask is that you don't judge me."

"Okay, Chichang," he replied, with a deep breath. His main thought was one of relief, that he was glad Chichang had not been hitting his girlfriend. "But what happened? Did you get found out?"

"I had to confess eventually She was so hysterical that... that she freaking took an overdose, William. And now she's living back in Linköping. Far away from here, which is the best thing for everyone. I am so thankful that she recovered, but I don't dare contact her again. For one thing, her father would absolutely massacre me."

William bit his lip, and was unsure whether to put his arm around Chichang or not, in order to comfort him. He decided against it. Instead, he swore in Chinese, Japanese, and English. Then he proceeded to say one thing:

"If you don't mind me asking, what has all that got to do with the fact you're here?"

He knew, a few seconds afterwards, that that sentence must have sounded quite rude and hurtful, and he felt immediately remorseful.

However, Chichang appeared unfazed. "Well... after that debacle, and when I was at my lowest, I looked at my portfolio work and I could see that it really was mediocre since I had been with Soraja. I had failed myself, and my father too. Thus, I decided to erase that part of myself, and to spite him - "

"So, you took Chinese History with Ornithology? The most ridiculous course in the world?" asked William, grinning.

"Yeah. Exactly right!"

They both broke into progressive sniggers, spilling their tea in the process.

Of course William had already told Chichang of his life - at least, all he knew of it - and so they were both at an optimum level of friendship. William's happiness of finding someone with whom he could share both laughter and tears, was immense.

University: A First Time For Everything

Now, at the correct age and time, William began his foray into the world of higher education. Having spent a useful year working in the restaurant and saving up, he was able to afford his very own house as well as paying for university fees from his remaining inheritance money. The university was right there in Taiwan, and what's more, it did exactly the course that had caught his eye.

You see, William was not like other students. He found Maths boring, and Science dull. He didn't see the point in studying music or film, and he was already fluent in his two other languages; he didn't need a degree to tell him that. Instead he applied for a very under-subscribed course, and got in very easily with his excellent grades and spotless record.

He arrived on his first day at the correct lecture theatre, and took a seat in the middle of the room. He didn't want to sit at the back - too far away - or at the front - too nerdy - but the middle was just fine. However, he waited and waited and waited, but no one else showed up. He wondered if arriving fifteen minutes before the lecture was too early. Perhaps he had the wrong room; he checked, but no, it seemed he was in the right place.

He was just about to give up when something at last happened to give him hope: another student walked into the room. He was a good height, with clear eyes and stylish hair, and a long brown-and-grey striped scarf wrapped around his neck. Inexplicably, there was a pencil behind his ear. His shirt was orange. He looked around, quizzically, and since there was no one else, he took the seat next to William.


"Hello." He said.

William was astonished; he looked around for someone else he hadn't noticed or some sort of trick, but on further reflection it seemed the boy really was addressing him. "H... Hello..." He replied, hesitantly.

"You're here for the course, right? Chinese History with Ornithology."

"Yes, that's right." William agreed.

"I'm Chichang. Yilan." The boy said. "So, what's your name?"

"William."

"William? Not very Chinese, is it?"

"Yes, I know." William sighed.

This, believe it or not, was the beginning of a very beautiful and strong friendship. William had never had a friend before, so it was very exciting for him to finally have one. He and Chichang were the only people on the course, and their professor was quite nice, so they spent a lot of time together and had fun every day. They even went shopping together, although William was very careful to check his bag every time he left a shop, just in case he was arrested by Mike Kevinson again. However, these fears seemed to be ungrounded - since he had become friends with Chichang, Mike Kevinson had been nowhere to be seen. William wondered if he was getting in trouble less because Mike Kevinson was not there, or whether Mike Kevinson was not there because he was getting into trouble less. A truly mysterious question.

One day, during a particularly challenging assignment, William buried his head in his hands and let out a long groan, unsure of how he could finish it.


"Hey friend, what's up?" Chichang asked.


"Oh, it's just this work. I'm smart, but this is too hard." William said.


"Just perservere." Chichang said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You know, whenever I come up against something I can't beat, I just keep trying. Maybe I'll need help or maybe I'll have to start again, but I always keep trying until I beat it."


"Really? You've come up against a lot of hard times, then?" William asked.


"Well..." Chichang sighed. "Let me tell you about my life."

Arrest: William's brush with the gavel and block

With his new wages from his waiting job, William decided to treat himself to a lone shopping trip in Taipei.

In the bustling street - for it was nearing New Year - William passed a shop named "Soap 'n' Dope". It looked like quite a new establishment, and so William was naturally intrigued, since his trade had made him now quite the expert in business prospects. Upon entry, he was confronted by a pungence of cinnamon and oranges, and atmospheric panpipes music. William didn't know where to look, for the whole place was just so vivid, a mêlée of scents, flavours and colours.

What caught his eye was not the stack of beautiful - albeit terrifying - carved bird-shaped soaps, but the abominable price tags on them. Seven hundred Taiwanese dollars, for just one?!

After bumping into a grumbling old woman, hastily apologising, then hearing a clutter from above, he left the shop - but not before security alarms sounded.

William felt a twinge in his stomach when a guard grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "If you'd like to follow me, young man." William didn't like to at all, and he noticed the same old woman scrutinising him, and calling - presumably - the police.

In the small room at the back of the shop, William sat on a cold, hard chair, that reminded him of his changing-room schooldays.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself. What will your parents say?" snapped the old woman.

William's eyes welled up. This was the first time since his father died that his thoughts had even touched on the theme of parents in the conventional sense; it occurred to him that he had never even met his mother. Suddenly these thoughts became too much to bear. "I don't have any, you bitch," he replied spitefully.

The old woman, unmoved, continued, "Even so - it is not exactly a thing to be proud of, having this in your bag, without paying." With that, she pulled out a transparent plastic bag, half-filled with about five grams of pink glitter.

"What," asked William, dumbfounded, "is that?"

"Soapy Dope - the original. A kind of holy grail, if you will."

"Pardon?"

"You know what I mean. Five centuries old, held in the very hands of Da-Xia and Bohai. Why wouldn't a little pilferer like you want it? Its name cheapened, sold on the black market." She shuddered at this thought.

William was about to make another vain attempt at insisting against these accusations, when the door was flung wide open.

Inspector Mike Kevinson.

"What seems to be the problem here, Anming?"

"I've just apprehended a young thief."

When Mike's eyes fell upon William, he took the cigarette out of his mouth, and his eyes appeared to glow. "Hello William. In a spot of a bother yet again?"

Anming frowned. "You mean, he makes a regular habit of this?"

She was ignored.

"It would appear so," said William, shyly. He didn't care about this supposed crime anymore. He was now just very confused as to why Mike Kevinson happened to be in Taiwan, where he was.

"These accusations, Anming... you're absolutely sure it was William?"

"Yes. The scoundrel."

"May I look at your CCTV tapes?"

"Why?"

Mike deliberately breathed smoke into her direction. The smell of it clashed with the sweet overwhelming fumes of the stock. "Evidence..."

"Very well, then."

Mike Kevinson took the tape - recorded from half an hour ago - from the archives, and slotted it into the machine. After some fast-forwarding through a cartoon about what appeared to be green condom-shaped creatures, he found the approximate time. "Right, here we are."

From where he was sitting, William could not really tell what was going on on the tiny screen, so he just remained patiently. What he could see, however, was that Mike was watching it several times over. On the fourth time, he flinched, and just stared blankly at the wall until the tape was finished.

"Is everything okay, sir?" William still felt humbled in Mike Kevinson's presence, even though he himself was a man too, now.

"Yeah..." Mike didn't sound convincing at all. "Well - the good news is this. You're free to go, William. What is shown here, is that your apparent theft was merely an accident. You see, these Soapy Dopes" - he hushed his voice to a whisper - "which, by the way, are not at all authentic, and there is no evidence to prove the Da-Xia and Bohai story is more than a legend. None at all." He scratched his lip, looked away, then got out a cigarette from his leather jacket pocket. William was surprised to see that he was using a match to light it. After taking the first, liberating inhalation, Mike raised his voice to a regular tone again. "Anyway, these Soapy Dopes were hanging from the rafters of this establishment. The footage here indicates that a... a crow flew in here, knocking one of the bags off, and by pure... coincidence, fell into your bag."

William felt somewhat unnerved, that calm and collected Mike Kevinson seemed as if he was losing his cool. He was losing his status as a figurehead of confidence.

"What? The boy goes free?" Anming chirped up suddenly.

"Yes. No charges against him this time."