After Yun storms out of the restaurant, I hastily pay for the food, but by the time I get out to the street, she’s nowhere in sight. I rush back to the factory. I try her old room, thinking her roommates might’ve sneaked her in and let her stay overnight. Her things are gone, and the other girls haven’t seen her. We try calling her from their mobiles, but she doesn’t answer. Yun’s always chiding me because I still don’t have a phone. “Who would want to call me?” I say. She always answers that she would, that it would be easier for us to keep in touch, but I still haven’t gotten one. I finally go to bed, wishing I’d listened to her.
At breakfast, I tell Ming about my fight with Yun—leaving out the part about the baby, of course. Nobody talks about that kind of thing. “I need to find her,” I say to him. “Can you think of anywhere she might be?”
Ming doesn’t meet my eyes. “She’s probably just angry that my dad fired her. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll hear from her once she’s calmed down.”
I shake my head. I can’t just leave it at that. I have to make sure she’s all right. And I have to apologize for what I said to her. I shouldn’t have repeated a rumor, stuck my nose in something I know nothing about. She had a good point, after all—if Yong is really dangerous, wouldn’t he have shown it by now? Anyway, I hate that she’s mad at me. “Please, Ming,” I say. “I just have to know that she’s safe.”
He sighs. “You could try looking for her at Cradle Club tonight.” The name’s familiar. I went there once before with Yun and her roommates. I hadn’t liked the pulsing lights and the loud music thumping in my ears, and when the girls dragged me out to the crowded dance floor, I had felt stiff and mechanical. I flinch, thinking about going back there. “I’m not sure I remember the way,” I say hesitantly, and Ming sighs again.
“I’ll go with you.”
***
After dinner, Ming and I head out to look for Yun. Though it’s full dark, the factory entrance is bright as day, lit by the plaza’s floodlights. The gatekeeper with the thin moustache pulls it open for us as we approach. When he gets a good look at me, recognition comes over his face.
“Hey!” he barks at us. “Tell your friend she needs to get her stuff!” He steps over to the guardbox, flings the door open, and points at three large plastic bags shoved into a corner. Yun’s bright pink comforter overflows from one of the bags. “She should have gotten it last night.” He glares at me like this was my fault. “I told the other guard that I’ll throw it out at the end of my shift if she doesn’t pick it up by then. That’s in a few hours! I don’t mind doing her a favor, but I won’t get in trouble for it.”
I look at Ming, who only raises his brows. I nod to the guard, and as we hurry through, what he told me begins to sink in. I wonder if Ming feels the same worry—that Yun has been without her things since last night—but his face shows nothing. I speed up to keep pace with him as he leads me through the streets.
At the club, we have no trouble getting past the bouncer, even though I’m sure I don’t look eighteen. I’ve quickly learned that most places like this don’t enforce the drinking age. Although it’s pretty early in the night, several people are already standing at the high tables with their drinks, the women swaying on their heels, the guys smoking and leaning on their elbows. I scan the faces, searching for Yun. Colored dots of light swirl around the dark room. Bright strobes flash like lightning and make everyone on the dance floor look like they’re seizing. I feel dizzy myself. The wup-wupping music and flashing lights make me feel strange, disoriented. Though I’ve been here before, I feel deeply that I don’t know this place.
Ming grabs my elbow and quickly leads me on a circuit through the club. The music thunders in my ears. When Ming says something to me, I can’t hear him.
“What?” I shout.
He leans in and cups his mouth near my ear. “She’s not here! Let’s go.”
“Where?”
Ming shrugs.
I sigh. We just got here and rushed through the club. I do want to leave, but I’m not ready to give up. “Maybe we missed her. Let’s go around again!” I shout. I don’t know what else to do.
Impatience creeps into his face. “It’s no use. She isn’t here.”
“Well, we came all this way. It won’t hurt to go around one more time.”
Ming rolls his eyes, but we thread our way through, more slowly this time, glancing between the dancers and the people clumped up at the tables. I don’t see her. We end up back at the black-painted entry alcove, where the noise isn’t so deafening, though cold air blasts in each time the door opens.
“Okay?” Ming thumbs toward the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
I have to agree. “Where should we try next?”
“Don’t know.” He casts his eyes around the room distractedly. “I think we should go back. I’m tired. I want to go home.”
I’m tired too, thanks to sleeping badly, then working a full shift, all the time worrying about Yun. But if I go back to the dorm, I know I’ll sit up worrying again. I don’t like that she got so angry with me, but she’s like that. I know she’ll get over it if only I can talk to her. I only want to help her. She’s pregnant, fired, with only a possible bride trafficker to rely on. I don’t know what to believe about that. I just know I have to find Yun. “Why not have something to drink and stay awhile?” I say to Ming. “Maybe she’ll come in.”
“Luli, let’s go.” Ming pushes back his hair and scratches his head, clearly frustrated with me. “Yun can take care of herself. She’s probably with Yong right now.”
“With Yong. I know! You told me he was a kidnapper!” Mostly I say it to get a reaction from Ming. It’s simpler than explaining that Yun is pregnant and scared and angry at me, and that I have to make things right.
“What are you going to do when you find her? She won’t listen to you. You can’t tear her away from him. You can’t help her find a new position.” He’s still yelling. “How can you help her?”
I don’t know what I’m going to do when we find her. What she’s going to do. “I just want to make sure she’s okay! You’re the one who told me to warn her. Will you try her mobile again?”
He huffs impatiently but pulls out his phone, taps her number, and covers his other ear so he can hear. After a moment he shakes his head and shoves the phone into his pocket. “No answer.”
“Do you have Yong’s number? Do know where he lives?” I’m clutching at any hope. “She’s probably there if she doesn’t have her things. Let’s go to his place.” I’ll tell her I’m sorry and ask her to forget what I said. Beg her to be my friend again.
A dim light fixture overhead throws shadows on Ming’s face. I can see him itching to go home. “No. And if I did, I wouldn’t take you there. Maybe he’s a trafficker, or maybe he just works for one, but something’s shady there. I don’t want any part of it. And you should stay away. Yun made her choice.”
Anger shoots up in me and I feel my face grow hot. “Made her choice? You mean she didn’t want you!”
His eyes flash, and the muscles around his mouth and on his forehead twitch, not settling into any expression. I don’t know whether he’s shocked, furious, or sad, but he turns away. I watch him head back to the black-painted entry alcove, elbow past the people coming through the door, and leave the club.
Right away I wish I could take back what I said. I stand watching as the clubbers stream through the door, the girls throwing off their coats to show their dressy, tight outfits. Under my shapeless black coat, the long loose sweater I wear is completely out of place. My hair gathered in a band at the back of my neck isn’t pulled up high on my head or cut with sharp bangs. My cheeks and lips aren’t stained red, my eyelids aren’t colored glimmering blues and purples. I don’t belong here without Yun or Ming.
For some reason, I don’t think Ming is jealous over Yun anymore. It’s me who’s jealous over him. I should go after him. I don’t know how to talk to him about my jealous feelings, but I can tell him I’m sorry.
I’m standing beside the door, waiting for a break in the line of people coming in so I can leave, when Yong enters the club. A small duffel is slung across his shoulder over his blue leatherette jacket with metal buckles. He nods at the bouncer and heads to the bar. There, he hands the bag to the bartender, who takes it and stashes it under the counter before getting him a beer and leaning in to speak to him. Yong props forward on his elbows. His head turns to the side as the bartender talks into his ear, the spinning dots of light crossing over his back and profile.
I’ve never spoken to Yong, never really met him, only seen him a few times meeting up with Yun. She’s never introduced any of us girls or invited us to hang out with the two of them. He’s good-looking with his square face, though now his forehead is furrowed at whatever the bartender is saying. I wait until the bartender moves away before I edge around clubbers to approach Yong.
He is facing the bar, hovering over his beer. I stand behind him for several moments biting my lip, before I work up the nerve to speak. “Have you seen Yun?” He doesn’t hear me over the music, so I tap him on the shoulder.
He twists around on his stool, his eyebrows up in a startled expression.
“Have you seen Yun?” My throat is sore from trying to talk to Ming over the music, and my raised voice sounds strained and unnatural to me. I’m not used to yelling so much.
“Yun? No. I just got back in town.” His eyes move over me as he swigs his beer.
“I’ve been looking for her. Since yesterday. She left the factory. I don’t know where she went.”
“Why don’t you call her?”
“No phone.”
He reaches into his back pocket for his phone. “She called me a few times yesterday, but I was traveling.” He dials now and holds the mobile to his ear. After a moment, he shrugs and puts his phone away. “She’s not answering.” He stays half turned on his stool and drinks his beer, watching the dancers.
I try to think what to say. I guess he still doesn’t know about the baby, but of course, I’m not going to say anything about that. “Do you know where she could be?” I finally ask.
His eyes move left and right like he’s thinking. He shifts to the edge of his stool, putting his mouth close to my ear. “She’s not in her room? Out with her friends?” I can smell the beer and cigarette on his breath.
I shake my head. “She got fired yesterday. No one’s seen her.”
His head rolls back, and he chuffs out a noise of irritation.
“Could she be at your place?” I ask.
“I told you I’ve been away. And she doesn’t have a key.” Yong catches the bartender’s eye and ticks his head toward the door. The bartender gets his bag and hands it over. Yong drains his beer, peering at me over the edge of the glass, before setting it on the bar. “What’s your name?”
“Luli.”
“You’re from the orphanage too?”
I nod. He nods back and gets up to leave.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“What about Yun?”
“I’ll tell her to call you if I see her.” He holds up a hand in a wave and leaves.
For a moment I just stand there, again not knowing what to do. But finally I push through the crowd to follow Yong. I see him outside, strapping his bag onto his motorbike, which is parked under a streetlight just outside the nightclub. He’s my best chance of finding Yun. In the back of my mind, I want to ask if I can go with him to check his place, but I hold back, not sure.
“You need a ride?”
I don’t answer. I want to find Yun, but I’m a bit afraid of him.
“Come on. I’ll drop you off at the factory.”
I look up and down the street. It’s a small side street, not many cars, but several small groups of clubbers are making their way to the restaurants and bars. I tried to pay careful attention when I walked here with Ming, and I think I know the way back to the factory, but I’m not certain.
Finally I say, “What about bride collecting?”
He stops working on his bag. Any hint of friendliness falls away. “What?”
I bite my lip and draw back. I can feel my heart beating in my chest, but I can’t just leave it. “Yun told me you’re a bride collector.”
He narrows his eyes at me, his mouth a short line. “Yes.”
“Some people say you”—I swallow, not wanting to say kidnap—“take girls to men in the countryside who pay for them.”
“Husbands.” He hooks the last strap onto his bag, then throws his leg over the bike. His casualness is back, as if he has nothing to hide.
“What about the girls?” I press on, even though I really just want to drop it. But I want to make sure, for Yun’s sake. “Do they want to go?”
Yong sneers. “I don’t make the deals. There are lots of girls from poor families. Maybe their family gets some money from the husband, or they want to unburden their family of having to feed them. It’s no fun living in a starving household. Look at you and Yun—given to the orphanage. Plenty of girls need homes. Men need wives. And if they can afford to pay something, then you know they can afford to feed a family.” He hops up and pushes his motorbike off its stand. “Want the ride?”
I step back, shaking my head.