[...] Wong had his own rationale for the emotional relationships in the film:

It’s very difficult to describe why a man likes a woman, and the deep feelings
between two brothers, and so on. They are all very subtle. But I wanted to put
forward the proposition that time is the biggest factor. The relationship between
people is like opening a calendar. You leave your trace on each day. Emotions
come without your being aware of them. I don’t know why I want to help you,
but I’ve done it. (my emphasis)

The romance plot is really the lynchpin of the picture, and it determines the diachronic structure of the narrative.

Wah decides to chase after Ngor by making the trip to Lantau, where he discovers that she is being courted by a young doctor. Disheartened, he waits to depart on the ferry. But Ngor then leaves a message on his pager (a marker of the times before mobile phones became the norm) asking him to wait at the pier. She returns; there is a brief moment of suspense as the pier seems to be deserted; then suddenly, Wah grabs her hand from behind and runs towards a phone booth, where they kiss passionately, to the strains of the Canto-pop version of ‘Take My Breath Away’ that overlays the whole sequence. Their affair comes rather late in the picture, and the dialogue illustrates this awareness of the time dimension: ‘Why did you leave it so late?’ Ngor asks Wah. ‘Because I know myself,’ Wah replies, ‘and I don’t want to make any promises. If I didn’t miss you, I won’t look for you.’