The Story of Beverley and David

Friday evening, Beverley arrived on time at Logi and remained outside to wait for Mia. She stood casually scrolling on her phone when Mia crept up from behind.

Mia threw her arms around her, and bellowed, "Boo!" This made Beverley yelp. After she realised who it was, she slapped Mia in the arm. "Bitch, let's go inside! It's hot out here!" she demanded, pulling the arm of the laughing hyena with her towards the entrance.

Logi was a small modern restaurant situated in a quiet residential area in Da'an district. Beverley and Mia emerged from the white curved passage into the open kitchen lit like a centre stage. A grey ceramic V-shaped bench enveloped the kitchen where the patrons sat. Mia had arranged for them to sit at one end of the marble bench so they could talk privately.

The staff were already assembled, talking to each other and busily taking out steel saucers and pans of ingredients from under the counters and hidden fridges. They had already begun the construction of the dishes for the evening when Mia and Beverley sat down.

When head chef Ryo walked in, the kitchen staff's focus and energy shifted towards him. Suddenly, his face lit up from a stern expression when he saw Mia's face. "Mia-chan, long time no see!" in Japanese. She leaned over to give Ryo a fly-away kiss on both cheeks before replying in Japanese, "Yes, are you well?"

Ryo grinned and nodded, "I'm good, busy. Oh, I made a new dish this month and I hope you like it. I know you don't like quail so I hope you will like the duck I prepared today." Mia clapped her hands together in delight, "Really? I love duck! Thank you, Ryo."

Gesturing with her hand towards Beverley, Mia asked in English, "You remember my friend, Beverley?" Roy reached out both hands to shake hers. "Ah, nice to meet you. Can you speak Japanese too?"

"Only a little bit." Beverley attempted to say in Japanese. The threesome laughed in unison at her effort. "Very good!" Ryo encouraged. Then he nodded to Beverley and Mia, "I won't keep you. I should start the service."

"Of course. It's good to see you again," Mia smiled as he turned.

When Ryo was out of eavesdrop, Mia suck in a breath and used it to fire at Beverley, "So, tell me about David. What's going on?"

"Ha-ha. Let me look at the drinks menu first," Beverley replied while flipping the menu pages. She tapped on one of them then turned her attention to Mia, who was staring at her waiting for her to say something, anything.

Beverley put the menu down and started, "Well..." At this point, a waitstaff interrupted to discuss their dietary requirements. Beverley and Mia both smiled and told her they had none and ordered their aperitifs. Once on their own again, Beverley gave a long sigh and began, "Well, as I said to you, David and I are just friends. We will never be more than friends. I love him dearly and he has always been there for me. But we will never cross the line because our friendship is too important to us."

Mia frowned at Beverley's answer. She probed, "Well, I think he's lovely...Have you ever thought of him as a potential?"

Ignoring her question completely, Beverley exhaled and continued, "You know that David and I were friends in New York when we studied there together. Literally, he was the first friend I had, being both Taiwanese and we sat in front of the lecture theatre together. We were even in the Chinese chess club together. He was a nerd back then, but then so was I." The champagne and aperitifs came. She paused her story until the waiter left.

Beverley took a big sip from her gin and tonic. Eyebrows knitted, she turned to look at Mia and progressed, "At the time, he had a girlfriend who was his high school sweetheart from Flushing. She was studying at the university as well. I got to know her well because of him. Lovely girl, Cathryn. Great cook. We used to have house parties at their flat all the time, she loved to cook for us..." Beverley's voice faded as her eyes became sad. She looked down at her drink and twirled the straw in the glass tumbler.

Beverley elevated her voice again to an audible level and resumed, "I met Matthew, my ex-boyfriend, at around that time. When he dumped me after almost a year together, both David and Cathryn were there for me and took my side. I was so grateful for them being there. Because I was a total mess."

"I remember you telling me about Matthew..." Mia said as she reached out to touch Beverley's hand. Conscious of the effect her story was having, Beverley's voice brightened, "Anyways, later they introduced me to one of their friends, Robert. I also dated him for several years. All this time, David and Cathryn were still together..."

Beverley forced a smile for Mia before continuing, "After graduate school, David and Cathryn decided to come back to Taipei. I was tempted but I was still with Robert at the time, so I stayed. Until..." Beverley declared, "I broke up with him as well." She let out a faint laugh.

The soft clanging of plates on the bench brought Beverley and Mia back to the present. The waitress began to explain the intricacy of the dishes but Mia politely advised that the explanation was not required. The waitress hesitated then smiled before walking away.

Returning her full attention back to Beverley, Mia eagerly implored, "Go on..."

Beverley blinked as she gazed at Mia and recalled where she had left off, "...That's when I decided that it was time to come back. You and Abi weren't back yet but my ah-ma[1] was not well. So, it was logical for me to return to Taipei around that time."

Beverley clenched her jaw and swallowed before she spoke again. "When I got back to Taipei, of course, I wanted to reconnect with David and Cathryn. That was when I found out that Cathryn had passed away from bowel cancer and that David was suffering deeply from the loss."

Mia gasped. Beverley let out a slow breath and shook her head, "He looked like a completely different person from when I knew him in the States. The confident and cheerful man turned into a grumpy and sad person, who pitied himself and was angry that the world had taken his Cathryn away from him."

Beverley took another gulp from her glass. "At the time, he worked at a top law firm, but he couldn't go on, so he quit. He was there for me, so I was there for him and helped him get back on his feet.”

Beverley sighed, “It took a while, but he got there in the end." Her eyes glazed over, visibly pained by the experience. Mia wanted to hug her so badly but instead gently stroked her forearm in the now bustling restaurant.

"So, I don't like to mention his name to you or anyone because it was hard to see David that way and it pains me to relive it."

Suddenly, Beverley's eyes widen, and said, "Wait, what did he say to you to make you want to ask about him? I was hoping that you thought he and I were just acquaintances."

Mia grinned, "He said that he was glad to finally meet me as you talked a lot about me." She elbowed Beverley playfully, "In fact, I thought he talked a lot about you in front of me."

Beverley rolled her eyes at Mia, "Oh don't start. I hated that he couldn't move forward. But I also know that I care about him because of the history that we have together. We know each other so well to the point that he probably feels more like a brother to me. So no, don't go there." She shook her head.

Mia's heart sank, "Oh really. That was not the happy confession I was hoping for."

Beverley let out a spirited laugh, amused by Mia's sincere disappointment. "Hey, didn't you say, that he was lovely? Why don't you see if sparks fly between the you of two?"

Mia gave her a side glance of disbelief, "Are you really ok with that?"

Beverley exclaimed, "Yes absolutely! I want him to be happy and I want you to be happy! You can grill me about him if you like." She smirked and winked at Mia.

Mia shook her head and asked, "I don't know. But tell me. What type of girls does he go for anyway?"

Beverley did not reply. Her eyes were drawn to something else across the table from them. The chef noticed the couple entering too, "Irai-shai-mase[2]!"

Mia turned her body to follow Beverley's attention. And there he was, Dean Whitfield, standing there frozen, eyes filled with terror looking back at her.

Footnotes

[1] Ah-Ma is the Hokkien way of saying grandma, both maternal and paternal.

[2] “Welcome” in Japanese.