Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 347

A Perfect Balance
Carmel School - Elsa High School, Banerjee, Aarussh - 12
My name is Robert, but everyone calls me Bob. I am twenty two years old and i’m a student studying at the
University of Hong Kong. I am a law student, which makes my story even more complex. My life was pretty
simple, i’d like to think of myself as a well organised and diverse person. I had a few friends, a good reputation
with my professors and people around me in general. I was a successful student with only one year left of
education. My life was taking off, and everything was falling into place and then I met her. I was blinded by her
beauty. Her long strands of hair, her pure yet rebellious personality, her eyes as blue as the sky on a bright
summer day. Her name was Asia, and we met at a lecture. She had come from a mixed race family and most of
her childhood was ruined since she had an abusive father. Her mother was never around so she had no one to
defend her. Listening to her stories made me sympathise and feel a connection growing between us. Like me she
was a law student. With time we got to know each other, she taught me several things about Hong kong.
We were dating for about two months when the protests started. I noticed that she was never in her dormitory,
and when I used to call her she declined and sent me a text saying that she was busy. I got curious and started to
dig around, asking her friends if they knew where she was. After a few days her activities started to get suspicious,
we only saw each other in the halls and during lectures. She would have an excited grin every time I looked
upon her. Then it struck me that she might have cheated on me with another person. I decided to confront her
about it one day. She started laughing in my face, I was enraged and exclaimed,“ What is going on Asia?” She
explained to me that I was being silly, slowly she whispered into my ear, “I am a protester.” I was in shock, I
immediately tried to talk her out of protesting. I explained to her that it was extremely dangerous, and she was a
law student which meant that it was completely beyond her moral. She kept quiet, and after a few seconds she
suggested a proposal. She said that if I went to one protest with her, she would completely stop doing it and it
would be the last protest she ever went to. I agreed without a second thought.
I was nervous, this was the first time I was doing something against the law. When we reached we got out the
cab and put on masks to hide our identities. While we were marching I felt this adrenaline rush throughout my
body, I had not felt this way in a long time. I was energised, although it was against the law I saw what those
people were fighting for. Freedom from China and the Greater bay Area. What the Chinese government were
planning to do was horrible. The protest was finished and we were going. Back to the university. She said that
was fun, and I said, “Yes, it was.”I continued to protest with her, and became well known throughout the
protest community for my commitment to change Hong kong. I also started researching about the greater bay
area, and it how affected Hong Kong in the long run. Hong Kong was the economic hub out of the 11 cities that
china was planning to combine. Many people in Hong Kong were against this idea as it affected them since they
owned businesses and stores. They Would be under pressure with all the new business coming to town, most of
them being bigger than local businesses.
After a few days my friends found out that I was protesting, they were all planning to leave me so they would not
be caught up in any trouble. I convinced them they same way Asia convinced me. Unfortunately they did not
take any risks and immediately boycotted me. I was now alone, but I had Asia and told myself that she was all I
needed. We protested each weekend. The police were getting frustrated, and they started to use weapons which
were the only weapons we could not fight against. Rubber bullets and tear gas. With these weapons we protesters
were held vulnerable and needed a way to defend ourselves. So we made a plan, we would throw rocks and start
fires. This worked but it also wreaked chaos on the city. With luck some protesters started wearing gas masks to
stay immune to the tear gas and started to get into fistfights with the police. They did not win, the police shot
them every time. There were mass killings, with some protesters even killing each other, People overpowered
one another and it did not end up good for them. Some shot dead and some brutally beaten to death. After the
protest the roads would be covered with a shower of blood, multiple buildings and infrastructures vandalized and
walls upon walls covered in spray paint. I did not like were the protests were going, it was all just to brutal for
megttp. One day word got out that I was protesting. People started to keep their distance from me and I started
to feel depressed. They were under the wrong impression and no one gave me time to explain.
With time I started to get worried about my safety with the protests, as it started out with marching and had
turned into and all out war against hong kong’s people and the police. It was completely destroying my image
and i was not okay with that. I decided to drop out of the protest and so did Asia. Few days after leaving the
protest, things calmed down. The protest started to get inconsistent and the city was becoming quiet. No one
was roaming the streets in fear and many schools were shut down. It was a few days later when Asia and I found
out that Carrie Lam, the chief executive of hong kong had asked the Chinese government to hold the greater bay
area project on hold. Surprisingly the Government agreed.