Instead of
Bastard“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Sir, I told you, I can handle it.” The amount of work that Mr. Wu is expecting of them both is almost unreasonable. He is sure to make it so Mei Lin can’t be both Yi Fan’s secretary and do her job properly.
Yi Fan backs down grudgingly and watches as his secretary types away on her mini-notebook. “You would think that he would let up after three months,” he mumbles.
“Just because the seasons are changing doesn’t mean his feelings towards me will.”
“You would also think that your contributions to the company would outweigh—”
“What? My one stand against him?” Mei Lin chuckles as she finishes the document. “Sadly, I think he hates you more than he enjoys the numbers that I produce.”
“He shouldn’t punish you for—”
“Sir, it’s fine. I’m used to it.” This is nothing compared to what you put me through the first month I was here.
“You shouldn’t have to be,” Yi Fan sighs.
Mei Lin closes her laptop and looks out the window at the non-moving traffic. Even Zi Tao is getting impatient with this jam. “Are you suggesting that I deserve better?” Mei Lin teases. “You know—”
“You know what I mean,” Yi Fan sighs. “You shouldn’t talk about other job opportunities so lightly. He’s looking for any reason he could to fire you.”
“I survived your scrutinizing eyes, didn’t I?” Mei Lin reminds Yi Fan. “Firing me would still leave me with everything that I have yet to hand over to the company, and I would still get a portion of the profit for everything that I’ve made so far.”
“What would’ve happened to you and Lau if you had left?” Yi Fan asks. “Did you even consider—”
Mei Lin shrugs, “I wasn’t thinking about that.” Mei Lin looks at Yi Fan for a moment and he seems upset. “I thought you would be pleased. I’m suppose to choose you over him, remember?” Since when did you care about how well we’re doing?
“And don’t you forget it,” Yi Fan teases with a smile, even though he feels guilty for being such a burden on Mei Lin. “What?” Mei Lin is giving him a smile that kisses her eyes.
“Nothing,” Mei Lin says, looking away, but the smile didn’t fade.
“Tell me,” Yi Fan says in an ordering tone.
“You’re smiling,” Mei Lin says simply. It’s such a lovely sight.
“So?” Yi Fan asks, not realizing what a big deal this is for Mei Lin and even how it could be so.
“Just forget I said anything,” Mei Lin says, still smiling.
“So does that mean you’ll take a day off?” Yi Fan smirks.
“Not even in your dreams,” Mei Lin says in the same tone. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you’re trying to get rid of me, sir.”
“I’m not trying to get rid of you,” Yi Fan says. I actually like being around you. “I just—”
“What?” Mei Lin says with a mimicking smirk. Yi Fan looks away, not wanting to say what’s on his mind now. “Say it.”
“I just don’t like the idea of you sleeping overnight on that couch,” Yi Fan says rather quickly.
Mei Lin sighs, knowing that that’s the closest Yi Fan’s ever going to get to admitting that he cares or is worrying about someone. “Would you prefer that I sleep on the floor then?”
Yi Fan’s eyes pop for a second, “What? No, that’s not what I—”
Mei Lin breaks the moment with a sudden laugh—even Zi Tao is snickering to himself. “Don’t worry about me, sir, it doesn’t suit you.”
Yi Fan keeps the disappointment hidden with a snappy remark, “Why would I worry about you?” He scoffs, “You’re the one person that I shouldn’t have to worry about. What kind of boss has to worry about his own secretary—”
“The kind that should fire said secretary.”
I would never do that. “Good thing I don’t worry about you then.”
“Duì zhǎng, we’re here.” Zi Tao gets out of the car and opens the door to let Mei Lin out first, which still confuses Mei Lin in spite of this happening for months now. Zi Tao goes to open his boss’ door but he’s already closing it behind him. “Will an hour be enough or…?”
“We’ll let you know,” Yi Fan says.
“Is she expecting us?” Mei Lin asks as they get onto the elevator.
“No,” Yi Fan says casually. Yi Fan feels a bit insulted by the questioning look on Mei Lin’s face. “What? I can’t surprise my own mother on her own anniversary?”
If it’s her anniversary, then why are you here in place of your father? “You can do whatever you want—well, to an extent. I don’t think you could go around pointing fingers and hiring people on the spot anymore.” Mei Lin gives her boss a playful look before entering the room. “Nín hǎo,” Mei Lin bows.
“Surely we can drop the formalities,” Mrs. Wu says. “What brings you here?”
Mei Lin turns around and notices that Yi Fan is no longer behind her. “Uh—”
“It’s alright,” she says. “There’s no need to lie for him.” Mei Lin looks down in shame for breaking character. “So how is he?”
“Huh?” Mei Lin doesn’t realize how closed off Mrs. Wu is from her family’s life. “Good; he’s really improved the company’s image and—”
“Is he happy?”
Mei Lin blinks at the question. “Uh, I would like to assume so…”
Yi Fan comes in with a large pink bag and an awkward expression. Mei Lin immediately helps him with the bag and sets it on the table for Mrs. Wu. “This that for me?”
“It’s from dad,” Yi Fan lies, unable to look at his mother. “They say you’ll be discharged pretty soon.”
“Indeed I will,” Mrs. Wu says, but something about her voice makes Mei Lin wonder if there’s more to it than that. “Son, you should come back home—”
“I already have a home,” Yi Fan says.
“Son—”
“I’m going to get some water.”
Mrs. Wu sighs and takes a glance at the pink bag before motioning for Mei Lin to have a seat. “I know it is foolish of me to want something like this but what’s wrong with wanting your family together?” The question is rhetorical but Mrs. Wu could tell that Mei Lin isn’t exactly the person she should be going to for sympathy on matters of family. “Ms. Chen.”
“Yes ma’am?”
“They gave me a MRI and even a CT scan,” she says. “I’m going to be discharged, but—”
“What do you need me to do?” Mei Lin asks, her voice breaking at the thought of something else going wrong.
Mr. Wu shakes her head, “You’ve done more than enough.” Even if you couldn’t find a way to regrow the muscle mass that I had lost, I’m still grateful that the ALS isn’t going to take my life.
“Madam,” Mei Lin says, knowing there’s something else behind all of this. “What’s troubling your heart besides your son and family?”
Mrs. Wu looks at Mei Lin blankly and decides that there’s no harm in letting the young girl know. Even she can’t cure this. “I have liver cancer.”
Yi Fan walks in with a bottle of water in his hand and sees a look of horror etched onto her face. She tries to recompose herself but it’s too late; Yi Fan already knows that something is wrong, wrong enough to upset Mei Lin in such a way that she’s speechless and unmoving. “Mei?”
“I—I—” Mei Lin isn’t sure whom she should respond to. “I’m so sorry—” Mei Lin’s voice cracks. “I should go—”
Yi Fan grabs her arm before she can leave. “Mei.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says again.
Mei Lin pulls away and practically runs out of the building as fast as she possibly could with a blurring vision and a need for air. She does the only thing that comes to mind and she calls Henry. When Henry answers, there’s no response and he can only hear Mei Lin sobbing to herself. Henry panics and traces the GPS signal, knowing that Mei Lin is not likely in a state to tell him herself. Henry picks Mei Lin up personally after finding her curled up against the wall of the parking garage. She’s a sobbing mess and only cries harder when she’s in the comfort and safety of Henry’s arms. Yi Fan gets off the elevator just in time to see Henry hugging Mei Lin, but that’s all he sees because Tao pulls up in front of him.
“Where’s Ms. Chan?” Zi Tao asks.
“Where she belongs,” Yi Fan says a bit bitterly. “Take me home.” After no luck from trying to get another word out of his mother and being ditched by his secretary (even if she was off the clock), Yi Fan isn’t in the best of moods; so when he gets home, he buries himself in work.
Meanwhile, Henry is still in the parking garage and regrets driving himself because he now has to leave Mei Lin alone in the passenger seat as he drives them back home. Her tears have slowly dried but by no means has Mei Lin stopped blaming herself for the recent events. The serum triggered the cancer…there’s no other explanation. What have I done?
When they arrive at Henry’s manor, Mei Lin makes no attempt to move or even unstrap herself from the seatbelt. She’s in her own world of self-blame and guilt and she hardly notices when Henry does this for her and carries her inside. She buries her face into his neck and shoulder, clutching onto him and all that he sees her for, because right now, Mei Lin hates herself. Henry tries to set Mei Lin down on the bed but her grip only tightens so Henry sits down with Mei Lin clinging onto him.
“Mei—”
“I killed her,” Mei Lin chokes. “I tried to save her life and instead I killed her.” Mei Lin feels a new round of tears coming but Henry holds her closer. “He’s going to hate me. Even worse, he’s going to hate himself and her and everything—he’s going to be miserable and he’ll never be happy and—”
“Mei…”
“I’m a murderer,” she cries, though muffled by her short breaths and Henry’s soothing touch. “I—”
“Shh…” Henry starts humming the melody that he wrote to Mei Lin and combs the knots out of her hair until she’s somewhat calmer. “It’s not your fault.”
“Yes it is, Hin Wah,” Mei Lin says firmly, sitting up now. Her eyes are still red and her cheeks are still stained, but Mei Lin refuses to believe otherwise. “None of what I’ve done is going to matter when the last thing I’ll do for him is plan his mother’s funeral.”
“Mei—”
Mei Lin gets off of Henry’s lap. “Don’t ‘Mei’ me. Even if it wasn’t the serum’s fault, I should have noticed that there was something wrong with her liver to begin with and the serum only agitated—”
“You’re not a doctor, Mei! How could you have known that—”
“Because that’s my job! It’s my job to know these things and—”
“Well you’re not working right now, are you? You’re not on the job half the time and yet you take it on yourself to be, and for what?! Some ungrateful little brat who—”
“He’s not ungrateful—”
“Then what is he?” Henry demands, standing up now. “Because honestly, Mei, sometimes I wonder if he’s more than just a boss to you.”
Feeling insulted, Mei Lin wipes her face and stands up as well before saying, “If you must know, then yes, he is more than ‘just a boss’ to me.” This stings Henry in a way that he did not expect. “He’s a human being,” Mei Lin nearly hisses. “You were friends with him at one point—”
“And you think he sees you as a friend?” You’re nothing more than someone he can utilize and lean on.
He probably wouldn’t use that exact word. “And what reason would I have to think that? It doesn’t matter how he sees me; I see him as a person and what’s wrong treating him like one?” Why are we still talking about him?
“Because he doesn’t deserve it! He doesn’t deserve you or anything that you’re doing for him!” Henry lets out a forced breath through his nose. “He doesn’t deserve to make you cry and then act as if—”
“He didn’t make me cry,” Mei Lin mumbles. “You would be trying to land another punch on him if he did.”
Henry sighs again and takes a step forward so that he can put his arms around Mei Lin. “Just please stop blaming yourself for something that—”
“You know me better than that,” Mei Lin sighs, leaning into the embrace. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” Mei Lin says to herself. “I didn’t know who else to call or—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Henry says, hugging Mei Lin. I’m just glad you trust enough to do that. And he’s also glad that he was the first person to come to mind in a time of despair. “I don’t like fighting with you.” I don’t like fighting about him.
“I don’t enjoy either,” Mei Lin sighs. I’d rather be doing other things with you. Henry shifts and kisses Mei Lin apologetically. This is very much welcomed. You read my mind.
Mei Lin is late the next morning but it’s not for the reasons that Yi Fan had thought. “You’re late.”
“Yeah. I know. Sorry.” Mei Lin rushes into her office even though nothing needs to be taken care of at the moment. She keeps her answers short in order to avoid any unnecessary interaction between herself and Yi Fan.
“Are you—”
“I’m fine,” Mei Lin says, pretending to look busy.
“Mei—”
“Is this your way of telling me that I’m fired?” Mei Lin snaps, sounding a bit more annoyed than she had aimed to be.
“What?” Yi Fan is deeply confused.
“You’re worrying about me,” Mei Lin points out. “I’m—”
Yi Fan’s phone goes off, cutting her off. His already confused eyes are even more confused now, wondering why such a number would be calling him. “Hello?” Mei Lin bites her lip and turns away as Yi Fan’s expression goes from confused to shock or dread. He says nothing and simply drops his arm. “You knew…” Mei Lin stares at the ground and just nods. “She told you.” Mei Lin nods again, even slower this time. “You—”
“I’m sorry,” Mei Lin says, forcing her voice to be even.
Yi Fan is upset at first, taking her apology as one because she did not tell him. But the agony behind her eyes tell him that she’s apologizing for something much deeper than simply not telling him. “Mei,” Yi Fan says, after realizing why Mei Lin looks so ashamed. “It’s not your fault.” The doctor explained it to me. She had signs of it long before you came along but the ALS masked it. Mei, please stop beating yourself up for this. Please, if anything, you prevented the onset from being sooner.
“I’m so sorry, sir,” Mei Lin finds herself saying again. I’m sorry that this is happening. I’m sorry that there’s nothing that I can do to fix this. I’m sorry that the one good thing in your life is dying again. I’m just so sorry.
Yi Fan can see the glaze that’s forming in Mei Lin’s eyes in spite of her head being turned. This is ridiculous. She shouldn’t be doing this. After the initial issue of the winner of the blame game, it hits Yi Fan once again that his mother is dying. He can feel himself getting thirsty, but one look at Mei Lin’s saddened complexion and all he can manage is to let out a sigh. “Would you like the day off?” I know I would.
Mei Lin shakes her head. The last thing I need right now is to be left alone with my thoughts.
“So what are you going to do?” Yi Fan asks, wondering how either of them could be productive in this state.
“My job,” Mei Lin says, grabbing her lab coat.
Gale glances up at the sound of someone entering her lab and does a double take when she sees her friend put on safety goggles. “Mei?”
“Just tell me what you need to get done and let’s do this,” Mei Lin nearly spits out.
“Did he—”
“Give me an hour, Gale,” Mei Lin says, trying very hard not to snap at her friend.
Gale nods and keeps shut for at least sixty minutes as they worked before asking, “So…?”
“Something happened. It’s not my fault but I still can’t help but blame myself for it. I need a distraction because I’m caught between guilt, anger and a bunch of other things that I don’t have time for. Sorry for being cold but I’d rather be snippy right now than sad.”
“How’s your boss holding up?” Gale asks, figuring it has to be related to him somehow. No one else—well, maybe other than her parents—gets her this worked up, not even Henry.
“I don’t know,” Mei Lin admits. “I should check on him.”
She sighs and leaves the lab. “You still care too much, Mei,” Gale sighs, even though the one she’s addressing is no longer present.
Mei Lin half-expected there to be an open bottle of whisky or scotch, and an empty one at that, but there’s no sign of alcohol anywhere in the office. “Yes?” Yi Fan asks, looking up from his laptop and stack of papers. Mei Lin looks around the coffee table and inspects the whole office. “What the hell are you looking for, Mei?”
“Nothing…” Mei Lin says. She finds an unopened bottle of scotch in Yi Fan’s desk but then quickly closes the drawer. Yi Fan gives her a questioning look that demands that she explain herself. “That’s been there for months, untouched.”
“Yeah?” Yi Fan says, trying to sound confused. “Your point?” Yi Fan secretly smiles on the inside because Mei Lin had noticed that Yi Fan hasn’t touched a single drop of liquor since the day he was almost fired. “I don’t drink anymore, Mei.”
Mei Lin’s jaw almost unhinges itself. “Uh, that’s, um, great.” Mei Lin blinks. “Why the, uh, sudden change?” Not that I’m complaining, of course.
Yi Fan shrugs it off and goes back to work. Mei Lin stands there for another thirty seconds, wondering if she should believe him or take it with a grain of salt. “Hey, Mei,” Yi Fan says, once he realizes that his secretary has yet to move. “You want to see what I do now instead of ?”
“What?”
Yi Fan smirks at the priceless reaction that he’s getting. “After work, meet me in the parking garage.”
She's curious, so she does. Mei Lin gets in the car and can’t help but note that Zi Tao is a bit antsy. They arrive at Yi Fan’s home and Mei Lin is told to wait in the living room while Zi Tao walks into the guest bathroom and Yi Fan goes into his own room. The men come out clad in basketball shorts and jerseys. Mei Lin suddenly feels very over dressed in comparison and even more so when they arrive at a public basketball court. They play for what seems like hours, but somehow, this brings a smile to Mei Lin’s face. He’s probably not happy right now, but he’s definitely not miserable.
At one point, Mei Lin finds herself cheering whenever either one of them makes a basket. The ball rolls over to Mei Lin’s feet and she picks it up and passes it back to Zi Tao but he gives it back to Mei Lin. “Give it a try.”
Mei Lin laughs out of discomfort. “No thank you.” That’s not my thing.
“Just try it,” Yi Fan says, taking a long drag from his water bottle. “We won’t judge.”
“Liar,” Mei Lin says with accusing eyes. She dribbles the ball awkwardly a few times before attempting to throw it into the basket. She misses horribly and Team Athletic can’t help but snicker at Mei Lin’s terrible form. “I blame the shoes.”
“Maybe you’re just hungry,” Zi Tao says, hinting at his boss. “Let’s go shower and get something to eat, Kris.”
Yi Fan glares at Zi Tao for his slip of the tongue but he’s already halfway to the showers. “'Kris?'” Mei Lin asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t ask,” Yi Fan mumbles. “It’s a long story.”
The men come out in more casual clothing with dripping hair and Zi Tao finds it amazing that Mei Lin isn’t even fazed by the sight. If you only knew how many girls fainted at the same image.
Zi Tao takes them all to a small noodle bar. “So,” Mei Lin says between slurps of noodles. “How do you two know each other?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yi Fan says, ignoring the topic.
“He didn’t go to your boarding school, or any of the schools that you went to for that matter, so how do you two know each other?” Zi Tao watches Yi Fan, careful not to say anything he’s not suppose to. The silence makes Mei Lin speak again, “Can I guess?”
“Knock yourself out, kid,” Yi Fan sighs, sipping his water.
“Were you ever on a basketball team, sir?” Mei Lin asks. She takes Yi Fan choking as a yes. “You two were on the same local basketball team back in the day. And you, sir, were team captain.”
Smart girl. Yi Fan keeps his mouth shut though.
“Will you tell me?” Mei Lin asks Zi Tao in the same voice she does when she’s trying to persuade Henry.
Zi Tao visibly swallows and looks away before the heat on his face surfaces. Yi Fan chuckles at Zi Tao when he clears his throat. “He was playing in the park one day by himself and I thought he was pretty good.”
“Only pretty good?” Yi Fan challenges.
“I asked if wanted to play with me and my friends—”
“Where was this?” Mei Lin asks. When was this?
“Fall of twenty-ten I believe, he was studying abroad in Seoul for a semester,” Zi Tao recalls. “He ended up staying for another semester and that’s when we played on a team.”
“So how did you go from South Korea to here?” Mei Lin asks.
“Things happened,” Zi Tao says with a shrug. “Duì zhǎng here helped me out and…the rest is history.”
“Why were you even in Seoul to begin with?” Mei Lin asks, still very confused.
“The same reasons why I returned to China,” Zi Tao says, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “He can be very reserved and frustrating at times, but he’s a good person.”
“I’m right here,” Yi Fan reminds the two sitting on either side of him.
Zi Tao and Mei Lin giggle at how child-like Yi Fan seems when attempting to sound annoyed and insulted. They finish their food and Zi Tao pulls out his wallet around the same time that Mei Lin does but Yi Fan stops them both. There’s a small disagreement between Mei Lin and her boss as to who is paying for Mei Lin and she curses under her breath when the owner takes Yi Fan’s money.
“You have no right to complain about owing someone money,” Yi Fan says. One meal is nothing compared to a whole home of furnishings.
Mei Lin mumbles a few more not-so-kind words before getting into the back seat with Yi Fan. “Would you like to be dropped off at Mr. Liu’s estate or would you like to be taken home?” Zi Tao asks.
“Home,” Mei Lin says, checking her phone. “How do you feel?”
It takes a moment before Yi Fan realizes that she’s talking to him. “Better,” Yi Fan says. “I always feel good after playing a few rounds. How about you?”
“I’m fine,” Mei Lin says.
Though the two aren’t lying, the truth behind their words is almost nonexistent. “I’ve come to terms with this a long time ago, Mei. The only things that have changed are the when and the how. I’ll be fine.”
Mei Lin hums in response but it’s flat and nothing like the sweet melody that Yi Fan had caught her humming that seems like forever ago. She rests her head against the cold glass but it does nothing to sooth the nagging feeling that’s pitted in her stomach.
“It’s not your fault,” Yi Fan reminds her. “Please don’t blame yourself.” Not when you’ve done so much.
Mei Lin looks over at Yi Fan with her brow pulled together by confusion. “Did you just say ‘please’?”
Yi Fan slaps himself mentally for letting that slip and looks away. “Don’t make me say it again,” Yi Fan threatens.
“And what if I do?” Mei Lin challenges, curious as to what he would do.
“Then I just might punish you,” Yi Fan says playfully, leaning in a bit too close of Mei Lin’s comfort.
Zi Tao raises an eyebrow at how close the couple is to touching, but decides that it’s best to keep his eyes on the road rather than the possible happenings in the back seat. Mei Lin squints her eyes, refusing to back away, and instead jumps up a bit to bump foreheads with her boss. They both jolt backwards at the stinging pain. Mei Lin rubs her head but Yi Fan refuses to do anything but wince at the unexpected sharp pain.
“You’ve got a hard head,” Mei Lin complains.
“And whose fault is that?”
“Your genetics,” Mei Lin mumbles. “And your personality.”
As soon as Mei Lin is done rubbing the pain away, Yi Fan flicks the same spot with his long fingers, making her wince and shield her forehead again. “Serves you right.”
Mei Lin rubs the red mark that’s sure to be on her forehead and glares at her boss before relaxing and letting her shoulders and arms drop. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Yi Fan rolls his eyes. Guess that wasn’t as distracting as I hoped it would be. Mei Lin leans against the door and glass again but Zi Tao purposefully drives quickly over a speed bump, causing the two to jerk in their seats towards each other. Mei Lin almost spills over the seat when Zi Tao takes a sharp turn in spite of the seatbelt had it not been for Yi Fan’s quick reflexes in catching Mei Lin’s shoulders. “You still in one piece?” he asks when Zi Tao finally decides to drive like a human being. If you get a ticket…
“Y-yeah.”
Mei Lin doesn’t realize that Yi Fan is still holding her shoulders. She sits back against the seat of the car and unintentionally rests against Yi Fan’s left arm. Yi Fan doesn’t move and Mei Lin doesn’t even notice until her left shoulder is slowly getting warmer while her entire right arm is quickly getting warmer. She throws her eyes to the source and it’s Yi Fan’s arm and hand, and Yi Fan’s side, respectively. Zi Tao goes over another speed bump unreasonably quickly and Yi Fan’s right arm closes Mei Lin in instinctively before retracting when it’s safe again.
By the time that they arrive back at Mei Lin’s apartment, Mei Lin is practically leaning against Yi Fan and sitting under his arm. Her eyes are closed, feigning unconsciousness, when honestly, she’s simply exhausted from the past twenty-four hour’s events. Zi Tao gets out of the car to have a smoke, leaving the two in the back seat. Yi Fan undoes their seatbelts and scoots closer in order to adjust their awkward position. Half-asleep now, Mei Lin unconsciously nudges against Yi Fan’s shoulder as if to get more comfortable thinking she’s elsewhere.
Yi Fan looks down at the young lady in his arm and as peaceful as she appears, Yi Fan can still see that she is pained and weary. Is this what she’s like all the time?
For some reason, Yi Fan feels the need to pull her even closer but he stops himself and settles for tilting his head so that it rests on top of Mei Lin’s. The contact pulls Mei Lin back to this world and she is confused when she breathes in a scent that’s not Henry’s. Her first instinct is flinch and get as far away as possible from the stranger, but a voice in her head reminds her that the last thing that she remembers is being in the back seat with her boss, and surely that is still the case. So she opens her eyes with caution, letting the dim light of the car in slowly. The reflection in the glass shows Mei Lin that Yi Fan has his arm around her and is resting on her as much as she is resting on him. She’s not sure how they went from sitting on either side of the backseat to being next to each other in the center, but she decides that pulling away suddenly isn’t the best move at the moment. So instead she stays still for him, as he looks somewhat relaxed sitting like this.
Mei Lin closes her eyes for a moment and starts humming at a lower octave. Yi Fan shifts to indicate that he acknowledges her consciousness. “It’s getting late,” Mei Lin says in a small voice. Yi Fan hums in response but makes no attempt to move. “Sir—”
“Thanks,” Yi Fan says, sounding sleepy. “For being here today.”
Mei Lin is confused because all she did was watch the boys play basketball and joined them for decent noodles. Mei Lin just hums in acknowledgement, unsure of what to say to that other than “you’re welcome,” but Mei Lin didn’t want to sound arrogant.
Yi Fan doesn’t realize what his actions are truly implying until much later. With the car off, he is unsure about how long they have been like this and he doesn’t want to move his left arm to see the face of his watch. “You should get some sleep…”
He can feel Mei Lin nodding and slowly slide upright before getting out of the car. She smiles at Zi Tao before telling them both “goodnight.” Zi Tao gets into the car shortly after he sees Mei Lin make her way into the building. Yi Fan is resting his head against the car door much like how Mei Lin was doing earlier that evening when Zi Tao takes a glance into his rearview mirror. He looks tired but at least he seems to be at peace. They arrive at Yi Fan’s condo about twenty minutes later and Yi Fan takes his time to open his eyes and undo his seatbelt. But before he gets out of the car, Zi Tao asks, “Kris, you sure you’re going to be alright?”
Yi Fan stares into the distance for a moment and this silence worries Zi Tao, but something colors Yi Fan’s face in a way that reassures Zi Tao. “Yeah,” Yi Fan says with a smile. Not a smirk, but a genuinely soft and sincere smile, as if thanking Zi Tao for his concern. “Goodnight, Tao.”
“Night.” What strikes him even more now is the fact that Yi Fan had called it a goodnight. Zi Tao sighs, If only she wasn’t with Liu.
Translations/Author's Notes:
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Even though Yi Fan is almost going to be thirty, he is still a single, unmarried man and thus, should still live at home with his family. Until married, one tends not to leave home, unless for work or university.
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"Fall of twenty-ten" = Yi Fan would have been around nineteen years old and a freshmen in college.
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"...other than 'you're welcome' but Mei Lin didn't want to sound arrogant...." = In Chinese culture, when someone thanks you [for whatever reason] you're suppose to deny it or say that it's not necessary. The words for "you're welcome" exist in Chinese language but it is not commonly used because it implies the acceptance of the thanks. Though it is equally as rude to not accept a thank you, one should never outright accept graditude. Confucianism had influenced Chinese and most Asian cultures to be humble and modest and even subtle.
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