Selene and Vic turned towards each other with their mouths almost as open as their eyes. "Yeah. We know that name," Selene said quietly. "I just recently found out about them."

"Oh, joy. So I can skip out on their backstory," Hualing replied. "But I guess that means I have to jump into mine."

Selene placed a hand over Hualing's. "You don't have to talk about anything that you don't want to. If it's too uncomfortable and you'd prefer to keep it to yourself, I totally understand."

"Speak for yourself!" Vic blurted out. "You may be like that, but I'm all ears! I wanna hear what you did to piss of that Ingwersen chick so much. You might be lacking in the vocals department, but if you can manage to get on the nerves of the White Swan and live to tell about it, then there might be some cool points in store for ya!"

"Wow. Since you put it that way, I guess I have to tell you everything," Hualing said while staring at Vic with a glazed-over expression. "The real reason why I'm in the rut that I am in now..." The singer took in a deep breath through her nostrils and exhaled through her mouth. "Is because I didn't want to sing at one of their events."

"Really?" a perplexed Selene asked. "That's it? Because you turned down a show?"

"It's more complicated than that, Selene. Apparently a group as rich as the White Swan can't manage to find some last minute replacement for entertainment. Me bailing out of a show at the Ingwersen's club was more than enough to put me on the blacklist for life."

"Is there anything more to it?" Vic asked. "Sounds kinda lame to me if that's the whole story."

"No, there's more. I didn't just cancel out of nervousness." Hualing sat upright and pressed her hand to heart. "I had never canceled a performance before. Ever. But I couldn't perform for the White Swan after seeing what one of their own did."

"Sounds like you saw something that you weren't supposed to see." Vic replied, departing from his sardonic demeanor to a more serious one. "Things could have turned out a lot worse."

"I know. You don't have to tell me about that. I've learned plenty about ruthless gangs back in Hong Kong. But the way they made that poor man just... disappear." Hualing put on a long frown as she stared ahead, past Vic and seemingly at nothingness. "I can still hear his cries sometime. I don't even know why they did it. They just did."

"And they..." Selene ran her thumb along her neck. "Just did that? Right in front of you?"

"Oh yeah." Hualing continued to stare out into space. "They knew none of us would say anything. And even if you did, it's not like anyone would be able to get the police to do something! The White Swan owns them!"

"Exactly," Vic added. 

"My manager was there too. Laughing the whole time. They did it as a way to send a message to the smaller gangs in the city. To serve as a reminder of who is really in charge."

"That's horrible." Selene covered her look of horror by cupping her hands over her mouth. "Someone just watched that happen... and laughed?"

"Yep. That's exactly what went down. Canceled my show at their club on the night I was scheduled. My manager lost it. Said that put him in bad graces with the White Swan and he fired me on the spot."

Selene lowered her head and shook it in shame. "And even after all you've done for him. You probably made him millions from the single version of Passion and Patience alone!"

"And you'd be right. But of course that didn't matter. His reputation with the White Swan was more important. Cussed me out and then kicked me to the curb."

"What a jerk," Selene said. 

"I know." Hualing rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "Can't believe I ever even dated him."

"Wait. Your manager was you boyfriend?"

The singer returned Selene's question with an angled head and a puzzled expression. "Yeah. Does that sound weird to you?"

"It's always a bad idea to mix business and pleasure," Vic said. "If you knew your music history, you'd know how many times that's turned out bad for some of the industry's most talented musicians."

"And the guy who has never had a job in his life is going to tell me how to handle my business?"

"I'm just saying," Vic shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say I'm surprised at what happened."

"Yeah. It had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted me to perform for an organized crime family. The reason my career tanked was because my manager was also my boyfriend."

"Definitely didn't help."

"Vic, please," Selene pleaded. 

"Not like there's anything I can do it about it now. What's past is past. No point in dwelling on it now. No matter how much it makes my blood boil."

"Now you're getting it!" Vic said. "Just let life take its course. If you spend all your time focusing on what could have been, you'll have nothing but regrets."

Hualing stared back at Vic with fabricated awe. "Wow. That was… deep. You get that from a birthday card you found in a dumpster dive?"

"Nope. From a classic song. Live and Let Die. Another Slick and the Groovestand classic."

"Fascinating. I'm so glad you managed to find a way to bring in your favorite band into this conversation about me."

"Just thought it was relevant to the topic at hand. Sheesh."

"Let me handle the conversation for now. All right Vic?" Selene said.

"Whatever."

"Anyway. Back to your ex. You're better off without him. I can guarantee you that."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Selene. I really do. But my bank account says otherwise."

"You can always get more money. Maybe not as much or as easily as you did back when you were in the prime of your career, but it's still possible! At least you've got morals. And that's priceless."

Hualing snickered. "You know what Selene? You're probably the most genuine person I've met since getting kicked to the curb."

"Aww. Thank you!"

"But if I'm being honest, you're coming off as more naïve than anything else. How long have you been here in Isla Lucrecia?"

"A couple of months."

"Yeah. About that. I've been here for about two years. It's clear that I know a bit more about this city than you do. Being the good guy only gets you so far. If I had kept my mouth zipped and performed like how I agreed, I'd still be living the high life right now."

"I hate to agree with her, Selene, but she's got a point," Vic interjected. "As a native of this city for my entire life, I can say for certain that being nice gets you nowhere but in a grave."

"Exactly. Just look at how Quang treats Vic. It's a one-way street between those two."

Selene put her hand over her mouth to conceal her giggle. "I mean... you're not wrong there. But at the end of the day, if you're not being the best person you can be, then what's the point?"

"How about living to see tomorrow? That sounds like some pretty good motivation to me."

"Or just doing what you love," Vic said. "There's no point in spending so much time in trying to please everyone if you can't even make yourself happy. That's one of the lessons I had to learn the hard way growing up."

Hualing pointed to Vic with her thumb while looking at Selene with a slow nod. "There are very few things that this guy is right about, and what he just said is one of them."

"I guess if you two are in agreement about something then it must be true." Selene placed a hand on the back of her neck as she struggled to maintain her smile. "Maybe I am bit too soft for this city. Heading back home to my family in South Africa might not be such a bad idea after all."

"Which country?" Vic asked.

"Huh?" Selene turned towards Vic, confused.

"Heading back to South Africa. Just wanted to know which country."

Dumbfounded, Selene and Hualing both stared at each other, with only their blinking breaking their eye contact. In the midst of their confused staring contest, a metal tray plopped onto the center of the table, rattling the bowls and spoons of the food it carried. "You'll have to excuse my friend, here," Quang said as he wiped away his hands with his rag. "He can count the number of days he's been school on one hand, so he's not the most knowledgeable when it comes to stuff outside of the city's lines."

"What? What did I say?" Vic's eyes looked at each person at the table, all of which looked back at him with sheer disappointment. 

"Nothing, Vic. Don't worry about it," Selene, a genuine smile returning to her face, even if brief. She reached forward and grabbed her pho from the tray, letting the steam fill her nostrils. "Smells great, Quang. Thank you so much for this."

"Hopefully you'll get to enjoy it while it's still hot this time."

Vic had already taken his bowl and placed a steaming spoonful between his lips. "A little bit... hot..." he mumbled with a mouthful of soup. 

"That's the temperature I have to serve it at. By law. You know, you could always try being patient. That's half of your favorite song, right? Passion and Patience?" Quang made sure to put an emphasis on the last word. 

"Yeah, yeah."

Quang turned to Hualing who had taken her spoon and began poking around the bits of meat that floated to the surface. Her face looked to be pretending to be bored, as if the only thing preventing her from looking disgusted was the presence of other people. "Everything okay, Hualing?"

"Huh?" She lifted her head up from her food to look at the server. "Yeah, everything's fine. Looks good. Just not used to eating in a place like this."

Vic made an audible gulp as he swallowed his scolding bite of food. He patted his chest with his hand and let out a cough. "You better get used to it. Tasty food. Low price. And I think it's nutritious. If you're going to be broke like the rest of us, Pho 68 is going to be your main place to eat from now on."

The singer took her spoon and wrapped a noodle around it. She slowly lifted it up and blew away a bit of steam. Slowly and with a trembling hand, she took a bite. Hualing looked inquisitive as she tilted her eyes up, slowly chewing on the morsel of food. "Better than I expected," she said after swallowing.

Quang gave a thumbs up. "That works for me."

"That C student mentality, huh?" Vic chided.

"Yeah. It gets you far." Quang shook out his rag before stashing it into his apron. "I'm going to go finish up this prank order before my mom comes downstairs and gets on my case. You three enjoy your food. And Selene?" 

"Yeah?" she lifted her head up from her meal to look at Quang.

"Seeing as how this place is still intact, whatever you've been doing is working. Make sure these two don't go after each other's throats while I'm gone."

"You got it!" Selene replied with a wink.