AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She hasn’t ever?”
I shake my head. “This is going to sound dramatic, but she’s married to her work. And I don’t think she knows how to stop working. Sure, there have been people interested, and some flirting, but she doesn’t pursue anything. Not that her working all the time affects our relationship. As a mother, she gives me her everything.”
No one talks for a while until I do.
“But Idon’twant her to give me everything. I want her to have a life with hobbies and friends and romance—otherwise—my life and career and decisions get stuck to her identity, too. She’s invested and fantasized about all the ways I’m going to make it and be happy, and now I feel I can’t go off-path without ruining her plans for me. Without ruining her connection to a happiness tied to my life. It’s… it’s”—I take a deep breath—“challenging.”
I hook a leg over his hip. “But I’m not ready to dig more into that. I just needed to say that part. Now, please distract me.” I kiss him. “Unless you are not in the mood for hot sex, because then we can do something else?”
He cups my breasts. “And rob you of taking advantage of my body?”
“How much you suffer.”
“All the time, Ms. Chahal.”
“I’m sure there's a support group you could attend, Mr. Li.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
Before I can retort back, he does a trick with his fingers that has me moaning.
Oh—
This—
This is good.
We getSunday roast on a Saturday because time is a social construct for people with schedules, and we are reckless tourists on vacation. A large sign outside a pub near Borough Market advertises they serve the best roast all week long. I wish I could argue just to be contrary, but that meal is the culinary highlight of the trip. Meat, potatoes, vegetables, and a Yorkshire pudding to mop gravy up.
Not to say I would advertise if it was bad.
If Huan and I spoke out against roast, London would cast us out, yelling, “Burn the witches!”
Cradling my satisfied stomach on the street afterward, I almost miss a call from Nim. Too late, my brain registers it as a video call. The first thing I see are her dark eyebrows puckered in concentration.
“Good,” she says. “I was afraid you would avoid this interrogation.”
Blame the carbs, I’m confused. “Interrogation?”
“I spoke to Reena. You and Huan are a thing, and I bet he is there right now.”
Her eyebrow peaks when I hesitate.
I think about not telling her that he’s behind me. But with Nim, I know I won't get away with lying. She has shrewd layers that house a fibrous heart. Discovered early as a model, she’s seen, and some might say, absorbed the underbelly of herindustry. She frequently exhibitsI’ll Burn the World Down for My Peoplerage.
I’m collected as one of her people. Reena, too.
We love her deeply. She keeps life caffeinated. Sometimes being with her is chugging an energy drink. Other times it’s a low, cheerful buzz. This moment is the energy drink. That’s why I’m not giving the phone to Huan. Not that it matters, because Huan heard his name and pops his face into view for Nim.
“Are you protecting her?” Nim asks him.
“Yes.”
“What about her happiness?”
“That's all I want,” he says, so matter-of-factly it surprises me.
Not so long ago, Huan was a thesaurus for words like duty, responsibility, safety.
