Romeo + Juliet: Hong Kong

Two young lovers must escape the intrigue of 21st Century Hong Kong to find the spiritual magic of destined love...and dignity!

I've been dying to do a modernized Romeo+Juliet story, and this last fable of mine is set in 21st Century Hong Kong, so I hope you'll read it...and enjoy it!

Signing off (Happy Valentine's Day!),

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"Romeo, the dashing modern-day prince, lived in Hong Kong as a computer wizard and tech-software company consultant in the 21st Century! He had unusual green-colored hair, wore nerdy thick-rimmed dark eyeglasses, and sometimes wore earrings. Romeo was half Asian and half Caucasian and his delicate features made him look somewhat like a woman or an androgynous person, which is why his friends joked he might be mistaken for a gender-robot or cartoon character! However, Romeo had a deep and sensitive heart and mind and cared as much about Hong Kong and computing as he did about the concept of human consciousness. He was nevertheless somewhat lonely, being a man of only 25 years-old. What would be his destiny?"

"Juliet was the opposite of Romeo. She was a punk-rock loving pink-haired neo-liberal and the daughter of Austrian owner of the Hong Kong tech-software company that was the rival to Romeo's large and successful company. Juliet daydreamed about finding 'alternative love' and stood in front of her bedroom window, wearing her swimsuit and caressing her avant-garde body tattoos and thinking about a future involving finding a dashing classic prince who'd sweep her off her princess feet! Juliet however wanted to find an unusual prince and not a normal man, so her daydream about unusual love would match her quirky imaginations about the offbeat charm of 21st Century young and designed love."

"Juliet was with her friend, Bianca, at a digital photo-computer lab one day in Hong Kong, helping Bianca find the right anime-avatars for a new urban album project about young people in the city being recruited as lifestyle models! Juliet was impressed with the sophistication of the digital machinery required to construct the urban lifestyle avatars/models and helped Bianca choose the figurines that would be appropriate for the ambitious ornamental quality of the entire project! As Juliet and Bianca worked on their project together on that day in Hong Kong, bright and gorgeous Saturday afternoon, the princely Romeo walked into the photo-computer lab and found the two charming young women working on the nifty urban fanzine-friendly project."

ROMEO: Your little urban avatar project seems quite colorful.

JULIET: You're a very inquisitive and unusual-looking young man!
ROMEO: Why, did you want to recruit me for your model collection?
JULIET: Well, you are handsome, but what's your name?
ROMEO: I'm Romeo; yours is Juliet!
JULIET: How'd you know?
ROMEO: Your friend Bianca told me while you were in the bathroom.

JULIET: Bianca is so gossip-ready, Romeo.
ROMEO: I find you quite charming, Juliet...and attractive.
JULIET: You're very forward in your advances, aren't you, young man?
ROMEO: Well, I'm in a hurry as an urbanite, almost always, so I seem anxious.

JULIET: What makes you patient?
ROMEO: I think I find some solace in networking with great young people!
JULIET: Where do you work?
ROMEO: I work for the Lambda Tech-Software company (in Hong Kong).
JULIET: Wow, my dad is the executive of the Rand Tech-Company (in Hong Kong).
ROMEO: Well, Rand is the rival of my company and has been for many years!

JULIET: What do you do at Lambda, Romeo?
ROMEO: I design anti-virus algorithms and develop user-friendly graphic interfaces.

JULIET: So you're an Internet-junkie!
ROMEO: I'm a real mod, Juliet.

JULIET: Perhaps we could share some coffee and pie together sometime.
ROMEO: How about tonight, Juliet?

JULIET: Well, I need you to meet my dad, Charles Rand.
ROMEO: Do you think 'old Charlie' will approve of a courtier from Lambda?

JULIET: Daddy doesn't reign over men, but I do respect his view.
ROMEO: So you'd like me to show up at your house (mansion?) and wow Charlie!

JULIET: Don't call my dad Charlie to his face; he's incredibly stubborn.
ROMEO: Where are you from (originally)?

JULIET: I'm from Austria originally, and you're half-Asian, right?
ROMEO: My dad's Chinese and my mom's French.
JULIET: I find you very interesting, Romeo.
ROMEO: You should look at my Hong Kong landscape web-designs at my apartment!

JULIET: Alright; this is going well for us, young Romeo; you must meet my dad ('Charlie').
ROMEO: I'll come over your house tonight, and if dad approves, we'll go out for coffee.
JULIET: Alright; I find you...interesting.
ROMEO: I was eager to find 'cool love' in Hong Kong and soon; I feel old.

JULIET: It's never too late to celebrate love, no?
ROMEO: Maybe the city will be kind to us, young Juliet.

JULIET: Maybe.

"Romeo showed up at Juliet's mansion that night to meet her dad, Mr. Charles Rand, executive of the Rand Company, rival of Romeo's Lambda company. Romeo wore a blue shirt and formal slacks and a tie and brought his bag of water-pistols as toys to present to Juliet's younger brother Tony. Juliet told Romeo about Tony at the photo-computer lab earlier that day and revealed that Tony had a strange penchant for water-guns. As it turned out, Romeo was a water-pistol fanatic and collected hundreds of them for aesthetic and ornamental value. He brought several of his water-pistols to the Rand home to gift to Juliet's younger brother. Tony loved the toy-presents, and Juliet's dad (Charles Rand) complimented Romeo for his acute sense of youthful interaction! Juliet was giddy that her dad liked Romeo after all, despite the fact that he worked for Lambda; she decided earlier that day that she was in love (secretly but madly and deeply) with the eccentric but beautiful Romeo."

"As with all fables of great modern or ancient delight, there comes a dash of danger and reckless trouble. This time, in this love-story involving our two young Hong Kong daydreamers, the genius Romeo and the lovely Juliet, the trouble came in the form of a Hong Kong druglord and crime-king named Ajay Satan. Ajay distributed opium from Beijing to Hong Kong and had an airline stewardess narcotics ring operating all across Europe. It was rumored that Ajay was also involved in a black-market munitions traffic linked to the terrorist group Cobra. Ajay Satan learned of the courtly relationship of Romeo and Juliet through one of his corporate spies and decided to use the fact that Romeo worked for Juliet's dad's rival software company to his advantage, to make some power-plays. Ajay Satan was going to be the real Devil figure in this love-story about youthful intelligence."

"Ajay Satan delivered a metal briefcase filled with stolen files from the Rand Company and claimed the briefcase belonged to the romantic young Lambda employee Romeo. Ajay gave the briefcase to Charles Rand and informed him that his daughter, the lovely Juliet, was head-over-heels in love with Romeo and was photographed by one of his 'street-detectives' and then gave those photos to Charles Rand. Charles was furious and wondered now if Romeo was only dating his vulnerable and fantasy-indulgent daughter Juliet to steal corporate secrets from the Rand Company! Now that the wheels were turning and Ajay Satan successfully planted a demon-seed of doubt in the corporate bridges between Lambda and Rand, he could recruit employees from both companies, young working professionals, to serve as rival narcotics runners on airlines, so Ajay's power-of-persuasion would grow to street-gossip proportions."

"Fortunately, it was the time of the Apocalypse, and Jesus Christ returned to Earth to restore peace and sanity. He wore a thick beard and deep dreamy eyes and told people of the modern influence of the divisive AntiChrist. Jesus always wore white shirts and walked around Hong Kong in particular, searching for signs of modern cynicism that endangered the imagination of human youth! Jesus found Romeo weeping about Juliet's father Charles Rand ordering her to end their romantic relationship because of a corporate-espionage rumor/scandal. Jesus wiped Romeo's tears and inspired him to strap up his boot-heels and prove his undying love for the lovely and vulnerable Juliet. Romeo knew Jesus was the right messenger of this modern time of terrible dreams."

"Romeo kidnapped Juliet from her dad's house and they fled to Belgium where they secretly married! Juliet never again made contact with her obstinate father who turned out to be more corporate than human. Romeo himself managed to escape the conspirator-clutches of the vile urban warlock Ajay Satan, all thanks to the wise encouragement delivered to Romeo by Jesus Christ! While in Belgium, Romeo and Juliet found a beautiful classic-comic book about the Shakespearean love-tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and decided to purchase it. They read it together during sunsets in their shared Belgian apartment and continued to dream about the potential of love even in times of weird disaster."

ROMEO: We've managed to escape the clutches of Satan!

JULIET: Jesus saved us, Romeo.
ROMEO: We are now forever true and loving to each other, Juliet.
JULIET: Our little comic book is our special treasure, no?
ROMEO: It certainly signifies our devotion to ideal love.
JULIET: How'd we escape such modern evils, my love?
ROMEO: We did so with the right dosage of street-smarts.
JULIET: I hope others find fortune as we did, Romeo.
ROMEO: Jesus will save the world!
JULIET: We can indulge in the simple happiness of marriage.
ROMEO: That's what life is really about, darling ---- adaptation!

JULIET: Very cool, Romeo.

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