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Julia
A coupleof days after we returned home I awoke to a wonderful surprise. It wasn’t the surprise I had usually come to expect, which was my lover’s morning wood poking me in the back, although that was always appreciated. It was something totally different and unexpected; it was a text from my brother Michael: Julia I miss you!
It seemed like somewhat of a coincidence since I had already planned to contact him regarding my real engagement to Edward, as soon as my internal clock adjusted and I was no longer suffering from jet lag. I had to admit to being slightly nervous about it but his message broke the ice and put me at ease. I sent him a return text: Me 2! Meet me at New Song Moon at 1? And Michael responded back with a simple: ok c u soon!
New Song Moon was our favorite Asian restaurant in the city. It was a small unassuming place that was popular with the locals and located in the heart of Chinatown. Michael and I had eaten there dozens of times over the years. Its ambience was nil and its décor consisted solely of paper lanterns but the food was outstanding. I got there before Michael and took a seat by the window, which looked out onto bustling Stockton Street.
I spied Michael approaching the restaurant and noted that he looked very upbeat, which made me feel optimistic about our lunch date. His text sounded positive and I was reasonably sure that he would not be antagonistic toward me or provoke a fight about Edward. He entered the café and I was relieved to see his face light up when he spotted me. He kissed me on the top of my head and plopped down across from me in the red vinyl booth.
“Julia you look fantastic Sis! Is there something different about you? Your hair? I’ve never seen you look quite this beautiful before!”
“I have sooooo much to tell you! I don’t even know where to start! But my hair is a little different actually. I got a new cut and style while I was in Paris!”
“Paris? As in Paris, France? Are you shittin’ me? When did you go there?”
Just then, Suzy Quan the owner came over with some tea and menus.
“Great to see you two again! Shall I bring you both your usual or do you need to see these menus first?”
“It’s great to see you too Suzy. I’d like my usual lunch special please. How ‘bout you Michael?”
“Yeah my usual is fine too. Thanks Suzy!”
“Okay two usual lunch specials coming up!”
“So when were you in France Julia?”
“Edward and I just got back a couple days ago. He had some business to do in Europe for the last two weeks so he took me along. We went to France, Italy and Austria! Oh Michael it was so incredibly amazing!”
“Wow I can’t believe it! I didn’t even know you were away! I did see video footage of you guys getting engaged at the San Francisco Bay benefit party though. That looks like quite a ring he gave you there. So when is the….um…..wedding?”
I took a sip of my tea and stretched my left arm across the table so Michael could get a closer look at my diamond ring.
“That’s my other giant news Michael! Edward and I are engaged to be married for real. The gala proposal was a pretense but then he asked me, seriously and honestly, to marry him. And of course I said yes. We don’t have an exact date yet. It will be before Halloween obviously.”
“Well that’s wonderful Julia! Maybe Edward Armani is an honorable man after all. You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.”
“We’ve also been working on……you know…..making a baby.” I felt my cheeks blush a bit, saying that to my little brother.
“I did not need to hear that sis… And… Awesome! I can’t wait to be an uncle!”
“See? Now you have no reason to hate him anymore Michael! I told you he was a great guy underneath.”
“Truthfully, I have to confess that I stopped completely hating him that evening he came down to talk to me at the club…..”
“What evening that he came down to the club? He never told me he visited you at the club. When was this?”
Suzy Quan brought out two bowls of steaming hot egg drop soup that came with our specials and we both started slurping them up while we talked.
“Oh I don’t know……..three or four weeks ago maybe?”
“That’s weird. Edward never said anything about that at all. I wonder why he would keep it a secret from me?”
“Maybe he thought you would feel like he was meddling. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to you. Forget I ever told you.”
“I can’t forget something like that! What did you talk about? What did he say to make you start liking him all of a sudden?”
“I gotta really think about that for a minute…… that was a while ago.”
