on tenterhooks 牽腸掛肚

on tenterhooks
繁：牽腸掛肚
简：牵肠挂肚

被扣者鄧棨然的弟弟則批評特首林鄭月娥曾自喻港人母親，對事件卻一副不值一提的模樣，又指內地方面曾着他找香港警方，但警方又「卸波」予看守所。鄧母禁不住哭訴，說「每日都瞓唔到覺」，只盼兒子早日回港，期望政府協助12人回港，讓家屬不用牽腸掛肚，「現在生死都未知，都不知怎辦」。

入境處引述：扣內地12港人身體狀况良好 家屬哭訴求助無門 斥港府卸責（2020年9月13日）。明報，取自 https://news.mingpao.com/pns/要聞/article/20200913/s00001/1599934349543/

“I hope Hong Kong (government) can bring them back. Then we wouldn’t need to be on tenterhooks, we could see him. But right now, we don’t even know whether he is dead or alive,” she said.

Families fear for Hong Kong ‘speedboat fugitives’ in China custody. (2020, September 12). Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved from https://hongkongfp.com/2020/09/12/families-fear-for-hong-kong-speedboat-fugitives-in-china-custody/