Story #4 – Meet the Parents

When Yi Xuan arrived outside the door to Xiang Kong’s room, he found his friend fidgeting with the cuffs of his sleeves in front of the mirror and trying to smooth down the sides of his hair.  “I’ve never seen you look this nervous before,” he observed.  “Even when we played against the Titans you didn’t look this nervous.”

Xiang Kong adjusted the collar on his shirt and used the mirror to glance behind him to ask, “Why are you in my room again?”

Blatantly ignoring the irritation in his best friend’s voice, Yi Xuan walked over to drape himself across the foot of Pei Xi’s bed and replied rather cheekily, “I’m not in your room.  I’m in Pei Xi’s room.” 

“I thought I distinctly recalled someone once saying they would never step one foot onto the second floor.”

Yi Xuan shrugged.  With one hand propping up his head, he flicked his nails on the other and said, “I broke that promise long ago and it’s a good thing I did.  Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to come upstairs and tell you that Qiu Ying’s downstairs waiting for you.”

Xiang Kong swirled around immediately.  “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”  Quickly grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair, he swatted it at his friend in annoyance and hurried out of the room. 

=//=

After Xiang Kong pulled into a parking space outside the apartment building where Qiu Ying lived with her parents and the roar from his motorcycle died down, Qiu Ying climbed down from the back of his bike and with his help, removed her helmet.  Xiang Kong then removed his own and straightened his mussed hair in the side mirror before turning to ask, “How do I look?”

“Handsome!” was Qiu Ying’s completely biased answer.

“Really?”

“Why are you so nervous?” she asked, grabbing onto his arm with a laugh.  “It’s not like you haven’t met my parents before.”

Xiang Kong wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not.  Tucking his hands in the pockets of his jacket, he told her, “This is the first time I’m meeting them as your official boyfriend.  It’s different.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” she promised and dragged him towards the building’s outer door.  “My parents are big fans of yours.”

“Really?” 

Xiang Kong couldn’t help but recall the first two times he’d met Qiu Ying’s stepmother.  The first time had been at the hospital after Xia Ling’s accident, and he hadn’t appreciated one bit the way she’d lashed out, literally and physically, at Qiu Ying the minute they arrived.  The second time was when he’d tried to intervene on Xia Ling’s behalf after she’d learned about him switching his major and joining the team, and hadn’t been pleased about that.  According to his memory, she hadn’t been too impressed with him in that moment.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Qiu Ying interrupted, “and I promise you, Xia Ling’s mother has really come around to things.  In fact, I think she now knows more about what’s going on in our world than my dad, and he’s always approved of you.”

“I hope you’re right,” was all Xiang Kong could say before allowing himself to be dragged along.

=//=

It wasn’t long before they were standing outside the front door of Qiu Ying’s family home.  As she dug around the bottom of her purse for her keys, the door suddenly swung open.  Xia Ling stood on the other side munching an apple that was almost down to its core.  “Captain!” he greeted.  “Oh no, wait, that’s not right.  Maybe I should be calling you Jie Fu* in this moment?” 

Qiu Ying swatted at her little brother and pushed past him to usher Xiang Kong through the front door.  She knew Xia Ling was behaving as he was on purpose, enjoying the sight of seeing his normally confident mentor and leader so anxious and rattled.  “Why are you eating an apple right now anyway?  Aren’t we going to be eating dinner soon?”

“I’m a growing boy, I’m hungry and I need food.  But mom slapped my hand when I tried to sneak a bite earlier.  She wouldn’t let me touch the food that she had laid out on the table even though there are piles of it.  She’s saving it for her new favorite child and her new son-in-law.  Have you heard of anything more unfair than that?” 

“What crazy things are you saying?” his mom asked as she joined them in the foyer.  “Go, go find your captain a pair of slippers,” she ordered and after sending Xia Ling away so he would stop being a nuisance to the others, turned to greet Xiang Kong with all smiles on her face.  “Come in, come in, don’t just stand there.  Come, be comfortable.”  Leading Qiu Ying and Xiang Kong to the living room, she asked if he wanted anything to drink.

“I’m fine.   Please, don’t go to any trouble.” 

Despite him saying so, Qiu Ying’s father walked out of the kitchen carrying a glass of juice and handed it to him.  The parents then sat together across from Qiu Ying and Xiang Kong, and then there was a moment of, “So . . .”

Xiang Kong belatedly recalled his manners and put his glass of juice down directly.  He then wiped his hands down the front of his pants before holding out his hand politely to each of Qiu Ying’s parents for a hand shake.  “Auntie, Uncle, hello.  I am Ji Xiang Kong.”

Xia Ling’s mother patted his hand warmly and comfortingly.  “We know.  You’re the captain of the Phoenix team, the winner of the world championships, our son’s fearless leader, and our daughter’s boyfriend.” 

Xiang Kong looked to Qiu Ying with a blush on his face, and she squeezed his arm in support while mouthing, “I told you so.”

To further cut the awkwardness, Qiu Ying’s father suggested that they head over to the dinner table to eat before all the food turned cold and called out for Xia Ling to join them.  What he hadn’t expected was that Xia Ling would yell back that he was in the middle of a game so they should start without him.  Turning to Xiang Kong, his father said, “As you can see we have no powers over that one.  Maybe you would far