Page 63 of The Friend Zone Experiment

“I won’t pry,” he added, before Ket Siong could protest. “You tell us when you’re ready. But don’t wait too long to introduce the girl to us, OK? Ma will be excited. Even better than a new third-son interview. She used to worry about you, you know. All those girls at church hanging around you after Mass and you didn’t go for any of them… She started reading these books about what if my kid is gay, how to bring him back to the fold, all that.”

Ket Siong raised his head, glancing sidelong at his brother. Ket Hau didn’t seem to notice.

“Isaid don’t worry,” he said. “Siong is just the forever alone kind.”

“I’m not—” sputtered Ket Siong. “What about Yi Wen? You all met Yi Wen.”

Ket Hau crossed his arms. “You dated Yi Wen for three months.”

“It was six months,” muttered Ket Siong.

That had been after he’d returned to Malaysia from London for good, as he’d thought then. It had been a strange time. He didn’t remember much of it.

Yi Wen was a clarinetist. She was the one who had broken things off: “You’re a nice guy, but it’s like dating a robot.” He’d liked her directness, but he’d mostly started going out with her because she’d seemed interested and he had been lonely. It hadn’t really helped with the loneliness.

“I didn’t mean ‘forever alone’ in a bad way,” Ket Hau said. “I told Ma, Siong is picky. Once he finds someone he really likes, it’ll be OK. It’s true, isn’t it?”

Ket Siong stared down at his coffee. “It wasn’t a date, last night.”

Ket Hau snorted. “But just so happens you’re seeing her again on Friday?” He settled back against the counter, making himself comfortable. “If a girl’s making that much time for you, I’d say she’s interested.”

“That’s not—that’s a different thing,” said Ket Siong. “I’m not seeing her.”

Guilt squirmed inside him. How could he be annoyed? Ma wasn’t the only one who’d be excited to hear Ket Siong had found someone. Ket Hau was desperate for him to be happy, too. He knew how much Ket Hau blamed himself for their current circumstances. It would be the best gift Ket Siong could offer his brother—assurance that the fact they’d had to movehadn’truined all their lives.

Instead, Ket Siong was doing the one thing Ket Hau had asked him not to do: risking their peace, on the mere possibility of getting an answer about Stephen.

Ket Hau was not privy to Ket Siong’s inner turmoil, of course. He said, “But thereisa her.”

“She’s just a friend,” said Ket Siong.

Ket Hau said, disbelieving, “Are you telling me a girl has friendzoned you? Yap Ket Siong, the number one friendzoner in the Klang Valley? Stephen used to say if they piled up all the girls you disappointed one on top of the other, they’d reach up to KLCC Skybridge there. ‘Climb up like a ladder and you can save thirty-five ringgit, don’t need to buy a ticket.’”

Ket Siong remembered. It was a good sign that Ket Hau had mentioned Stephen of his own accord. Maybe he was starting to feel a little better about things.

“I was the one who said we should be friends,” said Ket Siong.

Ket Hau hummed at the back of his throat.

“I see,” he said, in that annoying tone elders adopted to indicate that what they saw was precisely what you did not want them to see.

Ket Siong knocked back the remainder of his coffee, washed the mug, and put it away. This was intended to indicate that it was time to wind up the conversation and get on with their day. Ket Hau was meant to start work at nine thirty anyway, and it was twenty past.

Ket Hau did not take the hint.

“You want my advice?” he said, just as Ket Siong’s phone vibrated in his back pocket.

Once. Twice. A delay, then a third buzz.

“No?” said Ket Siong.

Alicia had no reason to text him three times. It must be the parent of one of his students, asking to reschedule a lesson. It would be rude not to respond promptly to a customer.

Ignoring Ket Siong’s subtle attempt to sidle away, Ket Hau said:

“Life’s too short, Siong. You and I know, better than most people.” He looked Ket Siong in the eye, unexpectedly serious. “If you like this girl, don’t go and give her this bullshit about being friends. Ask her out. If she’s not interested, go find somebody else. Don’t waste your time, OK?”

He clapped Ket Siong on the shoulder and went off to their room, leaving Ket Siong staring after him.