Taiwan girls: Josh and Maggie V

“Why you put my phone down?” shouted Maggie. A week had passed since she first came round.

“Because you didn’t say anything,” he replied. This was the fifth time today, and about the 100th this week and it was only Thurday.

“You too quick. You should wait for me to speak.”

He had waited for her to speak before; he had tried shouting, putting the phone down, turning it off – but if he turned it off she rang the phone in his office and he didn’t want his colleagues to know; so he gave up, turned his mobile back on and sure enough it would ring. His nightmare wasn’t limited to the phone calls: every night when he came home from work she was stood outside his door, wanting to see him. If he came back late she buzzed his neighbors, rang their doorbells, making such a nuisance of herself that he had no choice but to go home. He had intended to play a waiting game, but it was now eight days and no let up.

That evening.

“You think you can just fuck Taiwanese girls and leave? Why are you so irresponsible?” She came in and sat on a chair and started the same argument as if she intended to persuade him that he was wrong so that he would go back with her. She didn’t really know what she was doing so she applied more pressure, received more rejection, and got more frustrated and angry.

“I told you what I wanted. I gave you a choice.”

“I cook for you, cleaned, and helped you with your problems.”

“We had a relationship, that is what people do for each other. I also did things for you.” She knew he had and therefore with no riposte she just sat there staring angrily.

She hadn’t said anything for 10 minutes so he was hoping he could just leave her there and get on with some things.“Don’t turn on the TV set when I am talking to you,”she screamed grabbing the remote.

“Why can’t I break up with you? What if you want to break up with someone, can’t you do it?”

“I am not so cruel. If someone loves me I will stay with them.”

This was probably true, but still too much; he sat on the floor, tucked his knees up to his chest, clasped his hands behind his head, elbows on knees and tried to roll around the floor. He knew it looked stupid, but at the same time it was the only thing he could think of that would require all the built-up energy looking to expel itself through his right open hand. Lying head to the floor gave him a new angle on a familiar sight of her sat breathing heavily on his sofa - and he got more angry reminded of the ridiculousness of her presence in his apartment.

“Don’t you feel a modicum of shame, of embarrassment that you are sat, unwanted, but refusing to leave someone else’s apartment? That what you are doing is futile. That you don’t have enough pride to say fuck that asshole he isn’t good enough for me anyway? That you are actually an intruder? I bet you used to gate crash the birthday parties of classmates when you were five - Had to have a new bicycle even if you stole it from your sister...for you getting the object was always worth the trouble. But ultimately, you an intruder, you are harassing someone, violating their life and home.”

She shrugged her shoulders, pleased with herself; her expression said perhaps that is the case but it is the way I do things.

“I am thinking about how to punish you,” she replied.

He slumped in his chair with only one thought in mind: can I move my flights out to earlier? He was defeated unable to do anything: harassment laws are weak back home, but in Taiwan suggesting he, a foreigner, was being harassed by a local girl…There was just no point.