‘You’re hiding something, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘Even if you’re here for business, there must be a reason you looked me up. How did you even know I was in Singapore? Who gave you my parents’ address? You must have gone to significant trouble to get it.’

He avoided her gaze. Women are sharp. That thing called women’s intuition — he’d started to believe in it. It was probably best to get straight to the point. He glanced at the blonde-haired schoolgirl figurine on top of the desk. But he wasn’t sure what to say.

Liyun leaned in. ‘You did it.’

‘Did what?’ Shoji asked.

‘Your “I’m thinking deeply about something” sigh. Do you know that each time you do that, half of your happiness evaporates?’ Liyun grabbed a pillow and hugged it. ‘Shoji Arai, what’s on your mind?’

32 An Empty Tin of Mints

CHAPTER 32

AN EMPTY TIN OF MINTS

Shoji swallowed hard. It was now or never. ‘Your name has a water element in it.’

‘Ah, so you know,’ Liyun said, not looking surprised. ‘How did you find out?’

‘I saw it in the swimming club commemorative album.’

She put her pillow down. ‘What are you going to do? Are you relieved that you’ve found your second water woman, so the third one should be coming along anytime now?’

His heart skipped a beat. ‘Wait, how did you know?’

‘I can read your mind.’

‘Liyun, I’m asking seriously.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Because you told me. Otherwise, how would I know?’

‘I don’t remember telling you.’

‘You don’t remember a lot of things.’ She looked into his eyes. ‘What are you going to do now? Search for your destined third woman?’

Shoji paused. ‘You’re the third one.’ Mizuki’s image flashed into his mind. ‘An old acquaintance has a name which also contains a water element.’

Liyun raised her brow. ‘In that case, the reading wasn’t accurate.’

‘Probably,’ he said. ‘I don’t recall ever telling you this. Why would I do that?’

She shrugged. ‘You were drunk.’

He paused. ‘Was it …?’

‘Yup, it was that night,’ she said.

Liyun looked away. Outside the window, the sky was clear. An extremely pale shade of blue.

If he’d told her about the reading that night when he’d been drunk, then she would have heard the incomplete version. But he couldn’t tell her the truth now, that their relationship could result in death.

Shoji turned to Liyun’s desk. She’d hung a pinboard on the wall and filled it with Polaroid prints of what looked like still-life photos taken in Japan. She’d also pinned up some handwritten quotes, mainly about love or life. He read them one by one.

‘We accept the love we think we deserve.’ – Stephen Chbosky

‘We fall in love by chance, we stay in love by choice.’ – Anon.