In 1973 Barbara started dating a two year older boy who was also a student at Rosaryhill school. The following year they enjoyed teenage romantic period. This boy remembers this period as follows:
“My life in Hong Kong with Barbara were the happiest times in my life in Hong Kong. When we were both students in secondary school, we didn't have to worry about the lots of things that adults had to. We just played, talked and go to places where we liked to be together. The place I liked most to go with her was the Peak tower. From there I could see the whole of Hong Kong beneath me and with Barbara next to me, I felt as the whole world belonged to me!” (14)
“My family are in the upper middle class, we had a servant to do all the house work, I never did any cooking or house work at home. Me and my friends we used to organize dancing parties at my home. We organized them in the afternoon and finish before six in the evening so that Barbara also could come. We closed all the curtains making the room very dark. I remember songs we always played like Without you, Leaving on a jet plane, songs from Bread, Helen Reddy, Carpenters, Lobo. At the end of the party we played slow songs so we could dance closely. Barbara never told her uncle she was going to our parties” (14)
Picture below shows Barbara at this period (14)
“We talked about all sort of things. Chinese say “teenage love is like a poem”, we always tried to find or make poems to describe our love” (14)
Example of a love poem Barbara wrote (14)
“My examination results in Hong Kong were very bad as I was always thinking of Barbara and not about my study.” (14) There is no information on if Barbara’s school results also got worse during this relation.
This boy had to adapt to Barbara’s secret life. He could only meet Barbara during the daytime.
“My love life with Barbara was quite secretive, because she said that her uncle didn't allow her to have any boyfriends during her studying. Every time I went to see her, I had to meet her near her apartment. I never knew the exact address. I waited in front of a few shops near the apartment building. It was King's road in North Point not far from a cinema. I have never seen her uncle”. (14)
Barbara didn’t share her problems with this boy. Actually she hardly shared anything of her personal life with him.
“She very rarely talked about her family she only mentioned that her uncle was very strict to her. Her family was a secret to me. She never mentioned anything about her dad or mother. One time she told me that she sometimes stayed in her mum 's friend apartment (Century tower) which is very expensive apartment building near the Peak area” (14)
During this period Barbara didn’t seem to have any other friends of her own except this boy.
“She was quite easy with my male friends but she seemed not to have any female friends, I never saw her together with any female friends!” (14)
Then the moment came that Barbara got her naturalized British citizenship and received her British passport. This meant that this love story had to end.
“She told me she had to move to England with her mum. She said she had no choice because her mum had remarried a fish and chip shop owner in England. She asked me if could look after her dog, but in my apartment there were no dogs allowed” (14)
Barbara left Hong Kong in July 1974 for England. There was no goodbye party.