Beauty Rising (15 page)

“Do you like this?”

He held up a white gold necklace with eight diamond pendants hanging off it.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Like you. Here.”

He reached over and put it around my neck. And then he kissed me.

“You shall wear this when you come. It is stunning on you. And you should also get a new wardrobe to match this necklace. Which reminds me. I haven’t given you your monthly salary for teaching me yet.”

He reached back into the safe and pulled out a stack of American bills and handed them to me. I shied away from taking them and tried to give them back, but he insisted. At that moment, I realized the trap I had been lured into from which there was no escape. It all seemed too obvious now. The money was part of it. It was way more than teaching money or even Karaoke bar hostess money. This was a sum of money that came with deep obligation and serious expectations. But it was more than just the money that frightened me. The open safe said it all. He not only showed me the location of the safe, he showed me freely how the safe could be opened. He showed me the contents of the safe. This was an open relationship – one that could not be made null or void. There was no walking away from this point on. I belonged to Mr. Duc, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. At that moment, those eight diamonds hung around my neck like eight millstones. I was drowning.

A Most Dangerous Customer

Playing the part of a prominent politician’s mistress twisted my being every which way. Certain days I liked it. I liked dressing up and spending time with Mr. Duc. He treated me well, and I got more comfortable with him as time went on. I suppose in many ways I was becoming his second wife. Polygamy had a long history in Vietnam. My great uncle had three wives and seventeen children even though the practice is no longer legal. I was the dutiful second – showing up when needed – keeping my mouth quiet when not. The guest house became a second home to me. Cuong, the tall skinny man who always greeted me, went out of his way to make me comfortable. I continued cutting hair as normal, and Co Thu became very lenient with my hours. Everyone was showing me great favors. Hoa even became a little jealous of the kind of money I was bringing in – and it was significant. Mr. Duc gave me over $1000 USD a month for my English lessons. But at the same time, I was never so scared in my life. I saw no way out – no future – no lasting happiness. I would never be anything more than a mistress to Mr. Duc. What if he would tire of me? What if I did something to embarrass him? No one had ever threatened me to stay quiet about our relationship, and perhaps it was precisely this silence that scared me the most.

One Monday morning, Co Thu didn’t show up to work. I stood outside the shop for fifteen minutes waiting for it to be opened. Co Ha, Thu’s sister-in-law, finally showed up, and told me that Thu wouldn’t be in, but that I was to go ahead and run the shop on my own until Hoa was scheduled to show up around ten. Around 9:30, my first customer pulled up in a black Nissan. Out of the car stepped a very stylishly dressed young woman approximately my own age. She was rather tall for a Vietnamese woman with long black hair and serious looking eyes.

“I’d like a head massage, all right?”

“Okay. You can sit over there. I’ll get some warm water.”

“Do you have a more private place?”

“Sure. You can enter the first room on the left.”

She nodded and went down the hall and into the room where I first met Mr. Duc. I realized the rarity of the situation – not many women come to get only a head massage in a private room. As I entered the room, she sat glibly on the salon chair with legs crossed.

“What’s your name?” she asked abruptly.

“My Phuong.”

“My Phuong, how long have you worked here.”

“Almost one year.”

“I can tell by your accent that you aren’t from around here. Where are you from?”

“Central highlands.”

“Where exactly?”

“It’s not important.”

I didn’t want to remember where I came from, and I wouldn’t let her press me into it.

“So, a facial massage.”

“Yes.”

I got a cloth with warm water and started gently massaging her face. At least she couldn’t talk when I was doing this. After I rubbed with the cloth for ten minutes, I used my hands to rub her temples and then started massaging her head with my fingernails.

“Are you the only one here today?”

“So far. My boss couldn’t make it today. Others will be in shortly.”

“Is your boss Co Thu?”

“Yes. Do you know her?”

“I’ve heard about her from time to time. It seems that she is involved in several different business endeavors, is she not?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, I hear things. I’m sure you know what goes on around town.”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“That’s too bad then. I was hoping that you would be able to help me.”

“What do you need help with?”

I stopped massaging her head, and she sat up and looked right at me.

“I heard that there are some interesting parties and get-togethers sometimes. I’m always looking for a good time. I thought maybe you could help.”

“What is your name,” I asked her, keeping myself rather skeptical of her intentions.

“Hue. Nguyen thi Thanh Hue. I’m sorry if you are suspicious of me. Someone told me that I could come to this shop and talk to My Phuong about certain issues.”

“Who told you this?”

“Cuong.”

“Which Cuong?”

“Cuong, one of the aids to councilman Duc. Do you know him? He is rather thin and tall and has a little wiry mustache.”

“Yes, I know him,” I nodded.

“Well, are you going to help me get some action around here or not?”

“Ah,” I hesitated. This was nothing that I should be talking about, and I couldn’t decide if the big black Nissan out front should be assurance that everything was all right or that there was something wrong. A girl trying to get into certain societies usually doesn’t come from money. But at the same time, a person like that does bring some credibility to their story. Why else would they be snooping around?

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Nothing. Let me ask my friend when she comes in. She might be able to help. How can I get in touch with you?”

“I can come back tomorrow.”

“No, you shouldn’t come here. You can stop by my place tomorrow evening. I rent a room at the large red house directly behind the district communal house. Do you know where that is?”

“Do you mean the house of Teacher Minh?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I know exactly where that is at. He was my former teacher when I was a student at Hanoi University.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“You know when I lived in Hanoi, there were all kinds of interesting parties and events going on. I did some crazy stuff and met some people that, well, they’d probably kill me if I told anyone,” she laughed and picked up her purse off the counter. “Actually, do you know what someone told me? I heard that our local councilman Mr. Duc keeps a beautiful young mistress, and he pays her a handsome sum each month just to, well, you know.”

I faked a smile and went to the counter to clean up the water basin and towel.

“Do you know who it is?” she asked as she gently put her hand on my arm.

I shook my head and kept busy.

“Really, I’m sure you hear lots of juicy news in here.”

I couldn’t look her in the eye, and I tried to ignore the question.

“Come on,” she kept pushing. “Do you know?”

I shook my head again.

“You do know, don’t you?”

“I have to get out front and see if I have other customers,” I said as I headed to the door.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t know if I should acknowledge it or not.

“It’s you.”

I turned around and looked at her.

“Why is this so important to you?” I asked. I felt like I was glaring.

She looked me over up and down as if to see if I had the appropriate body and face for a councilman’s mistress.

“It’s not so important. I could see why any man would choose you. You are very beautiful.”

We stood in silence for a few moments as she kept looking at me in a very disturbing manner.

“My Phuong and Mr. Duc,” she said somewhat under hear breath.

“It’s not good to spread rumors around. They can be dangerous,” I said still not admitting the truth but certainly not denying it.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said and exited out the door before me. As she got in the black Nissan to drive off, Hoa entered in a hurry.

“What was she doing here?” Hoa said.

“Who?”

“That woman. That’s Mr. Duc’s daughter.”

I suddenly felt dizzy and weak-kneed. I nearly fainted, and Hoa caught me and sat me down in one of the salon chairs.

“What was she doing here?”

“I’ve been tricked. She knows that I’m Duc’s mistress.”

“Oh my God. What are we going to do?”

“We have to talk to Co Thu. Why didn’t she come in today?” I said with a sick feeling in my stomach, and I ran back to the bathroom and threw up. My head was spinning, and my heart pounding. What was I going to do? Hoa entered the bathroom, handed me a damp wash cloth and rubbed my back.

“We have to talk to Co Thu. When is she coming in,” I said.

“She’s not. She was arrested this morning.”

“Arrested? For what?” I asked in shock.

“Societal corruption. My guess is that someone is getting squeezed from above, and someone else is going to take the fall for it. This is bad. Really bad.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We need to be patient and wait this out. Maybe nothing will come of it.”

We heard the door buzz as someone entered the shop.

“Come on. Now we have customers. We can sort this out later. Don’t worry,” said Hoa.

It was too late. I was already well beyond worry.

Visitors

Nothing out of the ordinary happened the rest of the day, but I felt nervous and sick to my stomach the whole time. I never received a text message from Mr. Duc to meet him that night, but that fact was not anything terribly out of the ordinary. I never saw him every night anyways, but for some reason I attached great importance to not receiving a message that day. I tried to think rationally about everything, but the more I thought about it, the more anxious I became. At around 8:30 PM, Thu’s sister showed up again.

“I’m going to close the shop now,” she said as she dangled a large ring of keys.

“How is Co Thu? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, no problem. She is feeling a little sick today. She’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

I glanced slyly over to Hoa, who shook her head very slowly telling me not to let on that I knew anything.

“Okay, so I’ll see you at nine in the morning.”

Co Thu’s sister grunted a ‘yes’ and Hoa and I were off to try and get through the night and see what would happen tomorrow. We would most definitely be using the bottle opener on my keychain very liberally tonight.