Chapter 9: Into the Night

Yuan walks back to her place after picking up some lamb skewers from a street vendor, the complex hardly lit. She pulls out her cell phone, and uses the screen to light her way up to the top floor. After closing her double lock door behind her, she flips on the light, and plops down on her futon. It’s like 8pm, she goes online, onto QQ. As more and more of her friends come online, she isn’t particularly interested in talking to any of them. She figures that most of them, the guys anyway, despite being shown online, are actually busy playing their World of Warcraft. Best not interrupt them, as they’ll probably get annoyed at me anyway. The night life for everyone is different.

Many of her guy friends usually just play those silly online games until really late. As for some of her other guy friends and girls, they usually go out for cheap movie showings, or go karaoke at a bar. Yuan knows what goes on in the “other rooms” in the karaoke bars; it’s usually not an issue when she goes with her group of friends because there are both boys and girls. It’s difficult to imagine the hostesses, or xiaojie, “performing” in those hidden rooms, but Yuan would rather not think about it. This is why she will usually never look at those girls, afraid that she’ll see the pain and suffering in their eyes. She gets an online instant message from one of her girl friends, asking her to go out with them tonight to catch some dinner, and then see a movie at around 11pm. “No, I’m not feeling up to it tonight,” Yuan responds. “It’s been a long day.” Her friends tell her to rest up, and soon sign off to start their night.

Yuan switches to her pajamas, puts on some pop music from her laptop, and picks up a skewer of meat. As she looks outside of her window from the top floor of her complex, she breathes a heavy sigh, and stares into the night. Will I ever leave the country? When will I leave the nursing field? One thing is for sure, however. Yuan looks at her calendar, and crosses off today. She cleans up after eating, and flips the light switch off. As she climbs into bed, a single thought flies in circles in her mind, another day, another shift.

Fin.