The Mystery of Revenge (8 page)

“That’s so great!” she gasped. “How many finalists are
there?”

“Eight,” he said. “Tomorrow, the judges will pick three winners out of
eight.”

“You have to call me immediately if you win,” Yi-yun demanded. “Call me at
work!”

It was very painful to wait when there might be some possibility he could fail. If he had, Yi-yun wouldn’t know how to respond because she had such high hope of his winning. By the end of the day, too distraught to work, she hid in the storage room and cried hysterically. “Yi-yun, a call from Prague,” someone called her from the
hallway.

She jumped to her feet and ran like a mad
woman.

“I won! Yi-yun, I won!” Tom Meyers screamed over the
phone.

Tears poured out, and her nose was so sore she could hardly
breathe.

“I came in second!” Tom shouted
excitedly.

Weeping uncontrollably, she was too overwhelmed to find the voice to answer
him.

“Yi-yun, are you there?” Tom asked impatiently. The quietness at the other end bothered him because he had expected her to be as excited as he
was.

“Oh, Tom,” she choked, crying uncontrollably. “I can’t believe it! I’m so proud of
you!”

“You should be,” Tom said. “Without you, I wouldn’t be here today. You’re the best, Yi-yun.”

A smile arise on her face as the satisfaction and fulfillment filled her
heart.

Two days later, they embraced tightly at the Logan Airport. “Can you believe it?” she said while kissing him warmly. “We
won!”

He was taken aback for just a second. “Yes,” he said, smiling. “Congratulations, my biggest
supporter.”

“Thanks,” she said proudly as a mother watching her son take his first step. “I’m so proud of
you.”

The competition resulted in a one-year contract, which could be renewed with the famed Boston Symphony Orchestra. With a sizable promised income from his new job, he promptly switched his tiny studio for a decent one-bedroom apartment, which had a spacious living room for his grand piano in Allston. The T across the street would take him to the Symphony Hall so he didn’t need to buy a
car.

“You know,” he said while showing Yi-yun around his new apartment. “You’re welcome to move in at any time.” He started kissing her as soon as they were in the empty bedroom. These days, Yi-yun realized proudly, Tom could hardly control himself when they were together; he wanted her as soon as he stopped playing the
piano.

“Of course I want to,” she said, looking up at him affectionately, but he didn’t hear her. His face flushed and his breath grew heavier as he buried his face between her face and long hair. His kisses became more and more passionate as they moved down from her neck to her bare shoulders. “But I have to talk to Fang Chen
first.”

“Hmm,” he murmured, while busily fondling and unbuttoning
her.

“Oh, Tom, we don’t have condoms,” she tried to remind him. She didn’t like using pills because she could never remember when to take them. It was much easier for Tom to use condoms. Plus, condoms were cheaper than the
pill.

“I thought you had your period before I went to Prague,” he said while pushing her against the wall and starting unzipping his
pants.

“Yes, but—” Her sentence was cut short by forceful
thrust.

For the first time, his unyielding passion didn’t result in an orgasm for her because her mind was far away, hovering over the talk that she would soon have to have with her
husband.

It would be a very difficult talk
indeed.

“Are you kidding me?” Fang Chen shrieked while jumping up from the couch. “You can’t move
out!”

“Why? We’re not really living like a married couple anymore,” she said, walking into the middle of the living room to face her
husband.

“I know what you mean,” he hissed. His face turned a ghastly white, and his eyes filled with rage. “But you promised me that we would visit my parents next month.” December was his winter
break.

This was a poor excuse as far as Yi-yun was concerned. “I promised a year ago. Now everything is different, and we don’t love each other anymore,” she said, looking straightly into his eyes. “I want a
divorce.”

“A divorce!” Fang Chen shouted, almost choking with anger. “In your dreams! You can’t just come and go as you wish. You are my wife!” he yelled while charging toward
her.

Scared, Yi-yun withdrew to the corner of the living room, but Fang Chen’s rage abandoned him when he almost reached her. “Why do you want to do this?” he asked while breaking down in sobs. “You know how much I love you. You can’t just pack up as if we were never in love. God knows how much I love
you.”

Her heart constricted in pain. In that particular moment, Yi-yun wished that she had never been born. Why was this happening to her? She didn’t want to hurt Fang Chen, but she couldn’t stay with him either. “It’s my fault,” she cried, covering her face with both hands. “Please forgive
me.”

Gently, Fang Chen took her hands off her face. “Look at me, Yi-yun, do you remember when you came to me with all those bills that you couldn’t pay? Do you remember how happy you were when you got your green card? Have I ever said no to you, to anything that you’ve wanted? I love you, Yi-yun, I really
do!”

“But I don’t love you,” she
cried.

“Can you give me another chance? We can get help. We can go to counseling, whatever it takes to make our marriage work again,” he said
wistfully.

“Please understand,” she said, heartbroken. “I can’t be with you because I’m in love with
Tom.”

“That bastard!” he said, bursting into rage again. “Don’t you ever mention his name in front of me! How could you be in love with him, Yi-yun? How could you leave me for him?” These were the two questions he had kept asking himself since he found out about the
affair.

“He’s not a bastard. He’s a wonderfully talented musician,” she fired back. “He just won a concerto competition in Prague and signed a big contract with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. If you really want to compare yourself with him, I can’t say you are any better!” His insult made Yi-yun so furious that she went on defending her lover without noticing the change in his
expression.

“But you would’ve never left me if he hadn’t chased after you,” Fang Chen growled feverishly as his face turned white. The chilly anger in his eyes made her tremble when he looked at
her.

“Well,” she
gasped.

“Yes or no,” he
demanded.

“Probably not,” she said nervously. She was terrified because his eyes reminded her of a wild animal ready to pounce on his prey —the same eyes she had looked into when he forced her to have sex the other night. “But I still wouldn’t love you. I never will. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I was very grateful for your generous help and I still am, but I don’t love you.” She broke down and cried. She just couldn’t help it–she didn’t even know where the tears came from. “I know how much it hurts you, but I have to tell you the truth,” she murmured in a weak voice. “Please forgive
me.”

“But you wouldn’t be leaving me if he hadn’t run after you,” Fang Chen repeated, holding both of her arms and shaking her
violently.

“I don’t know,” she cried. “I really don’t
know.”

“But I know,” he said, grinding his
teeth.

Suddenly releasing her, he stormed out of the house. When the door slammed loudly behind him, Yi-yun collapsed on the floor and
sobbed.

Chapter 9

Paul Winderman saw a totally different young woman sitting in front of him this time around. Ann Lee was quiet but alert; the distress had been wiped clean from her face, and her almond-shaped eyes looked at him
attentively.

“Did Tom admit the murder?” she asked as soon as he sat down on a chair across her. Her apartment was a one-bedroom unit in a five-story brick building near the BU campus. Since she had a roommate living in the living room, they were talking in her small bedroom where she sat on the bed, which was in the corner next to a huge desk. The furniture was old and beaten, but the room was kept spotlessly clean. Even on her desk where she kept piles of books and papers, there was nothing out of place, and everything was organized
neatly.

“We don’t know.” He shook his head regretfully. “We’ve tried to make him talk, but his lawyer has stonewalled us. You know how our system works. It doesn’t matter if he confesses, we have to prove that he is
guilty.”

She nodded with
understanding.

“When you saw Ms. Lin last, did you find anything unusual in her behavior?” He knew a neat and organized person like Ann would notice anything that was out of the
ordinary.

“I saw her about a week before she was killed, so I might have been the last person to see her alive other than Tom,” she said matter-of-factly. “She was really excited actually,” she said. “She always had this radiant smile,” she added. “But that day, it was different somehow. She was excited over something, but at the same time, she was a bit
nervous.”

Paul Winderman looked at her approvingly. He wished that the other witnesses, like Ms. White, were as observant as this young woman; then they could pinpoint the time of the
murder.

“She said she might have some news to tell me very
soon.”

“Can’t you tell me now?” Ann begged her friend. They met in the storage room before dinner was served. Since Yi-yun was back working at China Dragon, they had become close again, chatting whenever they had free time at
work.

“I can’t,” Yi-yun said, shaking her head with a rather nervous smile. At the same time, her face glared with joy and her eyes shone. “You’ll be the first one to know when I’m
ready.”

“Are you getting married?” Ann asked, thinking this had be the news that her friend so desperately want to
share.

Yi-yun let out a thrilling laugh. “Oh, Ann, you’ll have to
wait!”

“I thought she wanted to tell me they were getting married,” Ann said to the detective. “But now I think it had to do with her
pregnancy.”

“Could be,” Paul Winderman said
unconvincingly.

“Either way, I never thought he could kill her,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I just never expected Tom would be capable of doing such a thing!” She shook her head several times as if shaking away her
doubts.

He had thought the same thing when he first met him. But evidence was
evidence.

“She was so devoted to him…” she broke
off.