The Leftover Woman

Rebecca goes to Columbia and sneaks into the back of Brandon’s lecture. He sees her and smiles, and she feels a pang, wondering if their marriage is already over. The lesson that day is about China’s one-child policy, and Rebecca listens as his students argue for and against state-level family planning.

After class, she confronts him about the condom. He is upset by her lack of trust and points out that Lucy’s bag fell open in the hallway a few hours before Rebecca found the condom. Rebecca feels terrible and suggests that they go out together later. Brandon explains that he has to take a group of potential university donors out on the town and does not plan to be home until late that night. Rebecca asks if she can accompany him, and he tells her that the donors, all Chinese men, are pretty “macho” and that her presence would not be welcome.

Jasmine is on her way to her first shift at Opium. On her way in, she meets Dawn, the woman who initially suggested she apply for a waitressing job at the club. Dawn takes Jasmine under her wing and shows her where to get her uniform and change. Jasmine is chagrined to find out that the club is a known hangout for the Triads, a Chinese organized crime syndicate. Dawn introduces her to a bouncer who immediately makes Jasmine nervous. Dawn instructs Jasmine to be nice to “Lone Wolf Jack,” who is also a Triad. Dawn offers Jasmine cocaine and ecstasy, but Jasmine refuses.

Jasmine’s first night at the club is eye-opening. She learns that “real money” is made in the champagne room, and that both dancers and cocktail waitresses are expected to not only allow the customers to grope them but also to engage in clandestine sex work. Dawn tries to show her the ropes, but even she is surprised by Jasmine’s “virgin” attitude—Jasmine refuses drugs and alcohol and is shocked when Dawn explains the champagne room. After a few difficult hours, Jasmine realizes that she has to play “the game” to make money, and she knows she must repay the smugglers who trafficked her lest she end up in an even worse situation.

Brandon comes home long after Rebecca is asleep. The next morning, Rebecca contemplates her sleeping husband and pushes the matter of the condom out of her mind. She will meet him and Fifi later, and everything will return to normal.

After work, she heads to Fifi’s ballet school. Brandon is already there, and curiously, he seems to be having a heated conversation with Lucy. Rebecca interrupts and asks what is the matter, but Brandon tells her that they can talk about it later. Rebecca approaches Fifi’s dance teacher to discuss moving Fifi into the pre-professional class, and she runs into Gina. The two make plans to go for a run that Friday, and then Rebecca meets back up with Brandon. He accuses her of having had a one-night stand with someone else at some point, and because of his phrasing, she wonders if he knows about Frankfurt. She angrily denies the accusation and asks him where he got that idea. He prevaricates, and she wonders if he knows the truth. Later, she calls Mason to ask if he ever revealed anything about her indiscretion to anyone, but he vehemently denies it.

Jasmine hates working at Opium but feels that it is her sole option. One night as she is lying in bed, she receives a text from Anthony. It is a picture of his wrist: He is indeed still wearing the red string bracelet that she made him so many years ago. They make plans to meet.

When Jasmine arrives at the appointment location, Anthony is playing classical guitar. A small crowd has gathered. Jasmine recalls how much he loves the guitar, and she enjoys watching him play. After he notices her, he stops playing, and the crowd disperses. The two catch up. Anthony has been in the United States for three years and is studying accounting. He loves animals and volunteers at a shelter. They realize that their families prevented their marriage when they were young, and they finally stop blaming each other for the fact that they did not end up together. Jasmine is wary and does not want him to find out about Opium, but she decides that she needs a friend. It is obvious that their connection remains strong.

When Anthony asks if Jasmine is free of Wen, she sighs and tells him that she will “never” be free. Anthony reveals that he still talks to his family, and because they are also connected to Wen and Jasmine’s home village, she worries that she has made a mistake in opening up to Anthony. No one, Wen included, knows where Jasmine is, and she wants to keep it that way. Anthony reassures her that he will not tell anyone that he has seen her, and he shares that Wen believes she is dead.

The two rehash much of their history, and Jasmine explains how terribly Wen treated her. She also reveals that she is not a twin; her parents abandoned her so they could try again for a son, and she was raised alongside her cousin Hong by his parents. Just then, her phone rings. It is the smugglers, and they tell her that her wedding ring, which she used as part of her payment to them, was registered as stolen. When their operative tried to sell it, he was apprehended. They are now demanding more money from her. What’s worse, she realizes, is that it is now possible that Wen knows she is alive.

On the surface, Rebecca and Brandon seem to have returned to normal. However, Rebecca senses a hidden animosity between them and worries that they have not truly moved beyond their arguments. Their sex life, which has resumed, feels rougher and less loving to Rebecca, but she tries to push her worries aside.

On the morning that she is to take Fifi to school, she wakes Lucy up from a deep sleep to tell her that she does not need to get Fifi ready. She is struck by how resentful she is of her nanny. She doesn’t want to dislike Lucy, but she does. Rebecca takes Fifi to school, where the other children ask Fifi to show them kung fu moves. Rebecca is mortified and does not manage to say anything in Fifi’s defense. Gina, who just arrived, sets the boys straight and confesses that her own daughter, who is Korean like her, is often mistaken for Chinese. After a short conversation, Gina reveals that she plans to send Isabel’s manuscript to Rebecca that morning. Rebecca is relieved.

Jasmine is unsettled by the new information she received from her smugglers and knows that she must continue working at Opium to free herself from her predicament. She plans to take a self-defense class from Anthony that morning and quickly makes her way to his studio. There, she suspects that Yan, one of the other students, is Anthony’s girlfriend. She overhears them making plans to get together later, and she flashes back to memories of Wen cheating on her. She feels betrayed and does not understand why Anthony would have kept this information from her.

Each day, Jasmine swears that she will not return to Opium, but each night, she shows up for her shift. The club is an ugly place, and Jasmine reflects on the lack of camaraderie among the staff. Everyone is looking to cheat everyone else, and she is mistreated by customers and coworkers alike. She and Dawn work their tables together because the men seem to respond better to them as a pair, and Jasmine observes how much Dawn relies on drugs and alcohol to make it through the night. Aunt Glory puts increasing pressure on Jasmine to meet men in the champagne room. Jasmine resists for weeks but eventually feels as though she needs the income that sex work would bring.

Rebecca reads Isabel’s novel in one weekend and loves it. She meets with Isabel and Gina after preparing her offer. When Isabel asks for Rebecca’s honest opinion about the book, Rebecca knows that she cannot come on too strong in this initial conversation. She provides a window into how she would help the novel be as successful as possible and tells Isabel that she thinks the book is an insightful commentary on the intersection of race and identity in immigrant communities. It paints a vivid portrait of the way that immigrants and women need to divide themselves between different roles and hide the portions of their identity that would be deemed transgressive in mainstream culture. Isabel and Gina both seem pleased with this feedback, and Rebecca thinks that she has a chance to secure the book contract.

When she goes to pay, her card is declined. She finds that Brandon made large charges on the card recently, and she once again wonders what he is hiding from her.

At the club, Jasmine is unsteady on her feet. She wants to go home, but Dawn rushes her to the table of a white patron. Jasmine is surprised because white men are not typically allowed inside Opium. She is even more surprised that she recognizes this man. He looks at her, mouth agape, and says, “What the hell are you doing here, Lucy?” (185).