Fiction: Group 3
Cornston Street
True Light Middle School of Hong Kong, Afina, Jasmine - 14, Fiction: Group 3
trolling down Cornston Street in Wan Chai in Hong Kong, Xavier Montgomery, CEO of the
Turquoise Hotel Franchise, which specialized in boutique hotels, came across an old-looking Cha
Chaan Teng. He looked through the welcoming open doors. The Cha Chaan Teng was small with a
cozy atmosphere. It had cream walls and tiles with round tables. In Hong Kong to visit an old friend and to
find a location candidate for possibly a new boutique hotel to expand his business, he was hoping to find a
Tong Lau and possibly refurbish it. He entered the Cha Chaan Teng expecting to learn a bit about the
culture and the district.
Inside the Cha Chaan Teng were two customers. Both were old men. One was thin, wearing a
baggy t-shirt and blue striped shorts, with thin eyebrows, small eyes and a sharp thin nose. The other was
wearing a singlet and pajama pants. This one looked slightly larger than the other despite his small eyes; his
nose was large and his cheeks were slightly sagging. They were sharing the same table. The skinnier old man
was drinking tea. Xavier ordered a coffee and sat in the corner of the room, farthest from the noise, and
turned to the page in Mitch Albom’s
The Time Keeper
which he was reading.
A while later, a Caucasian couple entered the Cha Chaan Teng. The woman and man both had
short blonde hair, though the woman's hair was a bit longer. The man was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt
and the woman was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. They both had large backpacks. They seemed to be
tourists. They ordered a milk tea for both.
The couple sat close to the two old men and greeted them politely. They had a French accent. The
old men greeted back politely.
"Hello, you two must be locals, right? Do you mind if we ask some questions about this street?"
The woman said to initiate a conversation.
"Oh, yes! We don't mind. We're locals, both born and raised here. He's Li and I'm Fuk, so you can
call us that. You can go on and ask questions," Fuk, the skinnier old man replied. Li, the old man sitting
next to him nodded.
Xavier, although at the corner of the room, was relatively close to the couple and couldn't help but
overhear their conversation.
*
"My name is Elise and he is Alain. We're from France," the woman said.
"My friend, said a few years back, told me to visit the stores in this street, Cornston Street, I
believe. He said there were a lot of stores and that there were many interesting and traditional things but I
do not see much out there." The man looked out the window for a while and pointed. "We were tired after
searching so we took a break, came in, and we also wanted to know if we are in the right street. You are
locals so I thought you'd know if there are any stores," Alain finished saying.
"In the past we had so many traditional stores in Cornston Street. Now there are not as many.
When did you say your friend told you about this?" Fuk asked.
"About 3 years ago, I suppose, but we had just remembered about it," Alain said and sipped a bit of
his milk tea.
"Ah, you see, there was a project last two years in which the government decided to rebuild and
turn the supposedly old residential buildings to high-rise buildings. Many people had to move and relocate
to Kowloon and the New Territories and most also owned these traditional stores selling traditional clothes
and foods. There were even more projects on the other streets. More and more people and residents had to
leave," Li said. Fuk then drank a bit of his tea.
"What happened to the buildings?" asked Elise.
"The buildings are now being renovated. They hope to turn them to new firms and malls. Things
like the Times Square. They plan to eventually knock down the old ones and replace them with new ones.
To make the problem worse, people want pretty things as well, like jewelry and handbags by brands such as
Louis Vuitton. Don't you think that's crazy? So they intimidated some of the store owners and they decided
to just give up," Fuk said.
S
