Neel and I went up to the counter person. Neel turned to me. ‘What would you like?’
‘Whole-wheat toast. With peanut butter and honey,’ I said.
‘Toast? And what?’ the counter person said.
‘Peanut butter and honey,’ I said.
‘Huh?’ she said.
‘Faa sang zoeng mat mgoi,’ Neel said. The woman smiled and nodded.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
‘No issues. I don’t really speak Cantonese. But learning a few words is never a bad idea,’
Neel said. He ordered a black coffee and bagel for himself.
We took our food and sat at a window-facing table. He briefed me about the group.
‘We are ten professionals here. It isn’t as large as New York. However, we are growing faster
than any other Goldman office.’
I nodded and listened with full attention.
‘You will work with Josh Ang and Peter Wu. They look after China and Korea respectively.
There may be special deals from time to time you might get pulled into.’
‘Looking forward to it,’ I said.
‘Good. We have a morning team meeting every day at 8. That is when everyone talks about
their deals.’
‘Okay.’
‘I want you to speak up. I encourage people to raise questions so we challenge each other,’
Neel said.
‘Of course.’
‘Feel free to come into my office. Josh is your immediate boss, but we don’t really believe in
formal roles here. There’s some peanut butter on your lip.’
‘Oh, really?’ I said and wiped my lip with a tissue. ‘I am sorry.’
‘The other side.’
I shifted the tissue and felt my face turn red. Neel smiled. He looked even more gorgeous when
he smiled.
‘Welcome to Hong Kong,’ he said.
‘We have a Bank of East Asia distressed debt auction coming up. There are fifty loans, sold as a
portfolio. Bids due in two weeks,’ Josh said at the morning meeting.
‘Two weeks? That’s tight,’ Peter said.
All banks accumulate bad loans over time. Sometimes the bank feels it is easier to sell off
those loans at a discount rather than chase the borrowers. To speed up things, they sell those loans as
a portfolio, or in a bunch. In a sense, it clears their entire dirty plate in one shot. However, for
bidders like us it means a crazy amount of work, evaluating what is on the plate.
‘We can pass. People are busy with other deals, right?’ Neel said.
‘Actually, I could look at it,’ I said. All eyes turned to me.
‘I can. I don’t have too much going on,’ I said.
‘It is fifty companies. You’ll have to go through them all. You sure?’ Josh said, in his mixed