Circle

For my friend, without whom this would never have been written. He had always thought it would be a day to remember. All these years of waiting and yearning in the dark, this was the result. He must have been dreaming. This was unreal. He saw the once dark and beaten church he dreaded coming as a child lit up and came alive with white ribbons and flowers. Candles flickered, hinting at the new life that was to come. He saw himself and the man he loved in black tux and trousers, standing p

I have to agree. For a while I am undecided whether this should be the end of Part 3 or the previous chapter. But after a while I decided it should be here . You see right through me! . Regarding the irony that is. Especially with the pointy syringe. This approach as we can see doesn't work because retaliation of this sort usually doesn't yield results. Oh, do we ever know what's going to happen in the next chapters . It may surprise you. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed part 3! Oh yay, first cliffhanger of the whole story?? Thanks, I will try, lol!

I think that, in religions such as Christianity where believers are instructed to put God before all else, it is quite plausible that some believers will. One of the Bible stories I remember was that as a kind of a bet between God and Satan, who said this man is only faithful because of all the things God had given him, God proceeded to watch this believer being stripped of everything from wealth, family, friends and even health until he had almost nothing. Still this man is faithful, and in the end God rewards him with more wealth, more wives and more children than before. As you can see, faith triumphs! It also means that some believers will be able to stand massive human losses in natural disasters, while some don't. Several Black communities I hear also contain elements where a child is beaten up by parents if a pastor calls them 'witchcraft' and 'devil' etc. In those communities, churches have a great deal of say. Doesn't Jewish read the Torah...? lol. The incident with Lot actually was rather acceptable at the time. But again, human morals evolve. We no longer offer our virgin daughters for rape. Thanks for giving your thoughts and a nice review, as always, Lisa . Don't worry, it was meant to be quite sad .

Haha, don't worry, I won't be around all that much in the next few months You have?? They form part of my childhood, lol. The special thing about those songs is that it means different things to people in different generations... quite a marvelous construction. Thanks so much for the review, and the read

Imagine your parents are very ill and they need your help. That you alone possess the antidote, a cure in the form of rational thinking that stops them from hating you for whom and what you are. Now you hold the syringe in one hand. It is your chance to make this family right again. Would you do it? Once we got home that evening it took just three words uttered on the dining table: God is just. Too long I had suffered in silence. Too long I had tolerated their prayers, their love for God and t

Hehe, thanks for the review! Yeah, I am sure that many readers can't wait for Dan to return to the UK and continue his adventures with David and Chris and for some reason I felt a trip in Hong Kong is what they wanted to read least. Anyway, end of Part 3 next week! Yeah, I did hope to bring across Tse-Ho as someone the reader hadn't entirely met before. In my view, no one is born cynical and broody. The question is whether Dan will strip back his cynicism to allow himself to become what he was, or move on to become a new person. And how he would go about either of those, of course. I would also say that Dan has indeed grown up a lot since the first chapter. More in touch with his own emotions, perhaps, but that's for the reader to decide I have been to Hong Kong last summer... and made notes . Many of them made their way into this story - mostly the bad stuff, since Dan's experience wasn't entirely a positive one. But I did miss out that there are also pigeons in Hong Kong (perhaps the British brought them there, not sure. The British Empire brought pigeons wherever they land - a symbolism I refrained from using.) and the amount of cheap and yummy food! They were not entirely relevant and so I excluded them . Thank you for the read and a nice review . This chapter gave me considerable trouble but I'm glad it was convincing for you .

‘Hello?’ She was loud and clear on the phone. But I didn’t know what to say. Not after everything. ‘Hello?’ And again, this time with impatience. Yep, definitely her. She was about to hang up when I managed to say, weakly, ‘Hi.’ ‘Who’s this?’ she asked suspiciously. She probably thought me a salesman. ‘Uh…might you by chance remember someone called Ng Tse-Ho from primary school? You wrote a blue farewell card along with the entire class when he left for the UK and he never got in touch sinc

Yay. Glad you don't think it's that bad . Yeah I agree. Facebook is not solely a medium through which people stalk one another!

Well, his Dad hasn't fought anyone since his twenties, but I believe what Dan took away from that incident was that there was still a part in his dad that relishes a degree of violence, and the thrill of a fight. This can be unsettling for someone trying to come out. Yeah, it does look like things are looking up for Dan .

When tears have dried enough and my eyes began to hurt in the bitter cold, I just stared into space. Wanting to make myself useful I travelled to the other side of the street and held the door open for people coming in and out of the shopping centre. They hurried past as though a second longer I’d be asking for donations. No thank-yous, no eye-contacts. After ten minutes I went back and cried some more. ‘Mr Lam said I should check on you,’ spoke a familiar voice. ‘He was worried.’ I looked beh

Hey, I hope it's not too hard to write that review I agree that childhood experiences shape us in many ways, from this chapter, to Chapter 10, to Chapter 6, they all form into the protagonist we see today. I'm pleased that I made your own memories surface. I hope it wasn't too spooky though - it was supposed to be a good thing, lol. Thanks for the review .

Hey Lisa, Thanks for the read . I would say it is in Dan's perception that his grandparents believed the pastor - a pastor would be Protestant while a priest Catholic, I think. The fundamental difference between Protestants in China and Protestants in the western world is that the Chinese Protestants focuses a great deal on what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' - things are much more black and white. I would say that western thinking (gay marriage, empowerment of women, individualism etc) has yet to reach all parts of the world. I have to admit that it is not Protestants' belief that church-goers should nod along everything a pastor would say - far from it. They are encouraged to question and think to themselves and testify it with their own experience. But for those less able to do so critically, such as Dan's grandparents, these beliefs are dangerous indeed. A similar analogy would be a person reading my story and I say to them, 'don't believe in everything I say in the story'. I think Dan was thinking about the fact he called her grandmother did not do anything to put food on the table. It would really be an insult to everything she has done to made everything around Dan possible. That boy who chewed on a towel was brought up when his grandmother tried to summon a positive memory of Dan, but instead recalling someone else. Again, thanks for the review .

On the very tip of the island Lantau where the natural beauty of green mountains standing strong above the South China sea was irrelevant, where the sound of waves echoing across golden beaches was long forgotten by the rest of Hong Kong and the economic boom, stood a lonely estate where my grandparents lived. Impossible to reach via public transport, we had to travel by taxi and it wasn’t cheap. As soon as we arrived I felt a familiar breeze coming from the sea, stroking my skin as though talk

Hi, I'm glad you liked this turn! I was hoping giving this backstory some screen-time would not drive people away ^^. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for looking out for this You're right, I also don't think it's special to Chinese culture. But you don't find this in American/British culture. It seems Dan's recovery has hit a slight... snag

Yeah, haha, he is not happy. I hope it was somewhat convincing. And nope, not every cute object we can see can be hooked up

Mum told me once that Dan Ng wasn’t real. That he was fiction, a new identity created solely for Britons to understand and get to know because it was easier for them. That I was still the same person, with the same history and past which a mere changing of name would not take away. I wanted to believe in Dan, of course, and I protected my real identity with zeal which wasn’t easy when Parents were determined to use my real name at any and every opportunity. Pesky classmates investigated, pursued

You're right, I don't know where the name come from either O_o. Thanks for reading .

Once again, thank you for your support. Yeah, only ourselves really know what our thoughts were like, unless we're reading a novel about someone else's thoughts .

Hehe, thanks

Hi! Thanks for the review! I was glad that this was convincing enough for you and I hoped it justified Dan's freakish behaviour towards other guys in Chapter 7, and indeed, why nothing sexually arousing has been described since the story's beginning. Some people found this comical, but I'm glad you didn't! I'm just glad it was convincing enough for you about Dan's non-sexuality .

Hehe, thanks for the review! I'm glad the flashback disturbed you. It was meant to be disturbing . I personally only learned of the term 'glory hole' in the last couple of years, but had seen them a long time ago. Yeah, grown men stick things in it regardless of who is next to them and maybe some of them don't even care. Dan never knew, of course, if this man would have done the same had he known how young he was. Before this chapter, only Dan (and the man, I suppose) knew about this. But Dan is now more open to talk to others and he did. You're right, of course, that if he can't deal with it he can't have a lasting relationship unless that person too shares his disinterest in sex - extremely unlikely. Hence Dan told everyone in the first scene that he's taking himself off the market. Wow, I had not imagined that the last line would garner that much attention . But yeah, true that Dan wears a different mask in front of his friends, than the rest of his family, for example. Part 3 will be dealing with that other person Dan believes he is. Thanks for the review .

Yay, first review! Haha, yeah, well, I never actually intended to go into that direction since the drafting stage. All I aimed for was a flashback that is convincing enough for people to believe that Dan's lack of interest in sex is justified. I hope it has worked for you. I think time heals most things. But Dan to an extent blame himself is probably due to the guilty conscience of peeping through the glory hole in the first place, and something undesirable happened as a result . Hehe, yeah, everyone has a mask. But I think that line is a great springboard for Part 3. Since Dan isn't really his real name, perhaps we will get to find out what exactly the person he was before he came to this country - in other words, his other self that his friends never met.

Didn’t think I would but, I even enjoyed my first term at this college not because learning was fun, but because I had friends looking out for me. Life was better this way. Since when had I realised this fundamental truth? Not now, I hope. I felt I knew this from long ago, yet I put it in the back of my mind since nothing I learned seemed applicable or relevant in a new country. I had thought I was better off alone and safe than being tormented. But life was not all torture, was it? There were g

Summarise my thoughts: Interesting take on Nemesis and how it relates to both characters overall. Had it not for this explanation, the original story title (the modern misunderstanding of the word) would have become irrelevant altogether. Why are all protagonists good at sex the first time they do it? It's not just in your story, in the case for Dave. In all stories I have read on here, bar one, this has always been the case. Only one managed to have the slightest mishap for the first time. Well, this is food for thoughts! Your descriptions, so far, are specific and pointed, except one in the opening paragraph of this chapter. I know Risk, but another obscure board game that even I don't know about and Nick can't remember the name of, or its content, is a vague description at best. It's fine if Nick hasn't heard of it, but it is far more satisfying for readers if we know what it is. I know this story does not contain easy subjects and certainly poses certain difficulties to pull off convincingly. But the efforts are quite commendable. Finally the police are involved, and as they should be. Finally they had sex. Finally they got walked in on. So I see things are coming together. I do hope that George Thompson's coming back, and that there are no prior warnings from him or Jason, is somehow accounted for in the next chapter though. Good work .