A mid-summer night hare (2)

Hareta is fuming in jealousy. But she does not show it. At least she tries not to.

Hareta wants to gain Emmy’s trust. Hareta says, “Your son is so smart. A lot of people want to get into a prestigious school like ESF. Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Hareta Shu. I have a feeling that we have known each other before, even though we just met.”

Emmy hears this and grins. She says, “Right. I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Emmy Ran. You can call me Mrs Chin. My son is Edison.”

Hareta is surprised to see her imaginary enemy being so friendly and passionate in greeting her. But she refrains to show any clues about her secretive plan. Not sure if she has inferiority complex, she starts to purposely leaks out some private information to her “target”, Emmy Ran, in an attempt to trick the enemy with disguise.

Hareta says, “ I am Shanghainese. Our Shu family is the descendants of General Shu San from the Song dynasty. Well, it has been almost a thousand years. But you should have heard about him, haven’t you?”

In fact, Hareta tries very hard to get rid of her identity as a new immigrant from China. A small rural village town in Suzhou all the way to Hong Kong. She is inconfident but that does not stop her from wanting to win. She always claims that she is a Shanghai native. About her descendantship passed down from General Shu, it is all fabricated. Who has the time to verify her ancestor from the Song dynasty anyways? As a matter of fact, she lived in those caged houses of only 30 feet with a family of 7 when she first landed Hong Kong. It is not even those shared apartments. It is a caged house. Imagine how she walks through life to get to where she is now.

If you only look on the surface, you would probably fail to imagine the hardship she endured in her childhood. There is a big patch of scar on her lower leg and it does not look like a scar from surgery. Hareta is wearing a floral dress today so everybody can see that bulging red scar like a burning mark.

Emmy seems quite delighted after she hears this. She goes, “You are Shanghainese? I am a Harbinger. Even though we are not from the same area, we are indeed kind of a mainlander, aren’t we? What is your son’s name? He is so cute! Edison is such a spoiled little kid.”

Hareta says, “My son is Po Tent”.

Po Tent says, “Hi, Auntie, I’m Po Tent.”

Hareta continues, “His dad passed away a few years ago. I am a single mum.”

Maybe Hareta wants to get some sympathy. Maybe she wants to get Emmy to trust her more, so she deliberately reveals that she is a widow.

Emmy says, “Oh, I am sorry to hear that. You are so young and pretty. You will surely find a better life partner soon. How old are you? What is your Chinese horoscope?”

Hareta says, “I am a Rat. I am 34 already. How old are you?”

Emmy says, “Me too! What a coincidence!”

At this very moment, Emmy suddenly puts her arm forward to pad on Hareta’s little palm. Anyone who sees this would have thought that they must have been some good friends for life.

Hareta says, “If only my son can be a student of ESF school…”

Emmy says, “Well, ESF school is overrated. Only rich families send their kids to our school. Even though the ranking is very high but these spoiled children are raised in an overly protective glasshouse. I wish my son can grow up in a more competitive environment so he can get used to the competition in real world later.”

Hareta says, “Actually, a lot of people are dying to get into ESF. Your son can learn those survival skills when he becomes an adult anyways. My son is so disappointing. He could only get into the Chinese kindergarten in our neighborhood.”

Emmy says, “Where do you live? My husband is coming home soon. I will ask him to give you a ride home.”

Hareta says, “That’s too much to ask for. I live far away.”

Hareta thinks that she is so close to her “frenemy”. What she did not expect is that this Emmy Ran from the upper circle is like a fish on the bait. So easily beguiled. Emmy really does not deserve what she has. She is just a lucky girl born in a middle class family. She takes everything she has for granted. Hareta is envisioning the day when she takes away Emmy’s fame, power, reputation, social status, wealth and family.

Emmy says, “You are just too nice. I think you kind of look like a celebrity. What’s her name again? Oh right, Song Hye Kyo from Korea. My husband loves her to death. It would be funny when he sees you.”

Hareta says, “You are flattering me. But I did hear the same compliments when I studied at LSE.”

Hareta intentionally tells Emmy of her alma mater to hopefully get Emmy to like her more.

Emmy says, “My husband really looks like Hins Cheung but he is delusional. He keeps calling himself Song Jung Ki. I should get him to check his eyesight and see a psychiatrist too. You are from LSE too? I don’t think I have seen you around. I was Class of 2005. You?”

Hareta says, “I went to Fu Dan for undergraduate studies. I only went to LSE for my master degree. We can sort of say that we went to the same school. Don’t you think that there are not enough events for LSE alumni? I heard that Oxbridge holds get-togethers for their alumni every month!.”

Emmy says, “You are right. Let’s go to those alumni meetings together next time. Give me your phone number. We can text each other.”

Hareta says, “Sure.”

So they exchange their phone numbers. Within seconds, they have already arrived ESF school.