Viv stood just to the side of a pillar, watching him in his suit. She was generally concealed behind it as the hallway behind her curved marvellously around. She loved the Chan centre and it’s oval construction. It was a beautiful building and she’d spent a lot of time exploring it when UBC had been her home school. In fact, her graduation ceremony had been inside the recital hall.

But she was only here for one person today. She let herself really look at him, the lines of his body accentuated by a well-cut suit. His hair combed to one side, a piece jauntily curving over his eyebrow. He was slender in typical Asian fashion, but tall. The royal blue pants were cut just at the ankle in the current fashion and she could see blue argyle socks deliberately and perhaps a bit loudly proclaiming themselves. He looked outwardly calm, but she could tell from the stiffness of his shoulders, the shifting of his feet, that this was difficult for him. His eyes looked strained and his smile was hard. She also noticed that he was clenching his jaw a bit, the skin flexing over his temples, as he tried to maintain his composure. He was standing with his teacher, murmuring short abrupt pleasantries to some admirers who had come up. He looked up suddenly, searching for her, and then relaxed when she smiled at him.

The crowd milled here and there, taking in pre-performance drinks. She stood frozen in place, not wanting to bring attention to herself as she watched him, but he finally came to her, reaching for her hand. He drew her forward and then turned, pulling her gently toward his music teacher. Mrs. Wang was a short, stout woman, with heavy glasses. Her suit jacket was padded slightly at the shoulder, giving her more breadth than was necessary given her girth. 

“Hi, I’m Vivian,” she said, stretching out a hand, saving William the trouble of having to speak any further. She felt a tinge of discomfort as she waited for a response. Unfortunately, William was suddenly drawn off again by someone else.

Mrs. Wang nodded and smiled, but only her lips smiled. The heavily hooded, wrinkled eyes were bright and calculating. Vivian flushed a little as the look could only be interpreted as censorious. It was obvious that Mrs. Wang did not like what she saw. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Vivian,” said Mrs. Wang, with the emphasis on “miss” twisting sarcastically on the lips. “William was very insistent that I invite you to this performance. It is very important today that he does well. There are a number of individuals interested in his talent as a performer,” she said, her mix of Chinese and British accents grating across Vivian’s nerves.

“Yes, I can see that,” Vivian said. She could see that Mrs. Wang was going to say more, but William had come back to say that it was time to go in. He squeezed her hand a little too hard and she smiled at him, gently squeezing back. She could see that he was too excited to talk. 

“Go,’ she said. “I’ll find my seat. Go.”

On the spur of the moment, he seized her wrist and kissed the inside of it, then he was jogging away leaving her staring after him and blinking in shock. Viv had never expected him to do something so intimate in public, and she was reeling. As she tried to recover herself, heading toward the rest room to catch her breath, she saw William’s sister Yen Mei looking troubled. She felt her face heating again and tried not to rush past her for the sanctuary of the restroom. She was fully flustered now, and her vision blurred out in front of her eyes as she looked down into the sink. It only took a minute to calm down, but it seems like an eternity. She blew her breath out through her mouth, wet her hands, and then found that the paper towel dispenser was out. Hands still damp, she trotted down the curving hall, her shoes clacking a little as she hurried into the recital hall and tried to find her seat. William found her and she gave him a reassuring smile, hoping that she looked encouraging rather than the way she actually felt.

Thankfully the lights dimmed, and once enveloped in the darkness Viv was able to recover her composure and her sense of indignation. That old bat of a woman! How dare she smirk at her and judge. She wasn’t a floozy, she wasn’t—but really what was she? Viv asked herself. She certainly could never be William’s girlfriend. 

She was trapped in an unhappy relationship with her partner, but she had two little daughters that she adored and loved dearly. She was having an affair with a younger man. And William, as much as she cared about him, it wouldn’t be fair to go on like this. She had known that eventually things would catch up with her – her guilt, her sense of obligation, and her world threatened to burn down there in the dark as William bowed and took his seat at the piano.

It was a relatively short program; William had chosen to end with two pieces—just for fun he had said – Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake and Butterfly Lovers. He played the last with the university’s symphony orchestra and delivered it with absolute precision, but there was something else about his playing today that caught Viv’s attention. Raw emotion. He was playing in a way that he had never played before.

She looked up, startled, eyes wide.

And though he couldn’t quite see her, there in the dark, he looked in her direction, eyes filled with yearning and adoration.

Mrs. Wang accosted her as she tried to make her way out of the recital hall. 

“I want to talk to you, Miss Vivian,” she said, grabbing Vivian’s arm.

“Get your hands off me!” Vivian said tightly, in an undertone. “You’re going to make a scene and I don’t want any part in it. Get off!”

“You must let him go,” Mrs. Wang hissed. “You’ll only hold him back”. 

“You think I don’t know that?” Viv said quietly. “I’m not trying to hold on to him - I never meant to keep him at all,” she said, striding out of the hall. She didn’t catch William on her way out, but that was for the best as she was fuming.

She stumbled down the stairs into the Rose Garden parkade, wiping tears from her face only to run into Yen Mei.

“I’m sorry that happened,” Yen Mei said quietly. “Mrs. Wang is….possessive of her students and William is very special.”

Vivian turned on heel and started to walk away.

“Vivian, please wait. I- I just wanted to say that William has been very happy. I’m glad you’re his friend,” said Yen Mei.

Vivian stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“Thank you,” she said, after a pause. “William is very special, isn’t he?” she said softly.

“Yes,” said Yen Mei.

Vivian didn’t remember how she got into her car, but she did and she found herself sitting at Spanish Banks, heeled shoes discarded in the sand, her dress getting snagged on the roughness of a log. She stared out at the water for a very long time, watching the waves rolls in and out.

When she walked in the front door of her house, the girls were running to her, hair flying, calling “Mummy” so excitedly. She hugged them tightly to her while Jason took her jacket from her, frowning at a bit of sand that fell onto the carpet. His expression was neutral, but Vivian could see something working behind his eyes. She went into their bedroom to change and tried to carry on with the rest of the evening, making dinner, and putting the girls to bed. Thankfully, he said nothing, and simply watched some golf that he had pvr’d earlier.