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“You mean Aimes pretending to be his girlfriend and TJ pretending to have close working relationship with him?”
“Yeah, and then that old dude—”
“Qiang Wen? He is Xander’s grandfather.”
Selena shakes her head. “Nope.”
Now it is Vera’s turn to stare. “What?”
“He’s not his grandfather. I know it’s what Xander posted online, but he isn’t. They’re not related. We’ve talked to Mr.Li Qiang Wen and confirmed it.”
“WHAT?” Now Vera is angry. Apoplectic, actually. How many times has she spoken to Qiang Wen? How many chances has she given him to come out with the truth, and all this time, he’schosen to remain quiet? This is a betrayal of their deep, long-term friendship! Okay, maybe their friendship is neither deep nor long-term, but still!
“I think you might’ve just landed Mr.Li in deep shit,” Tilly whispers to Selena.
Selena grimaces. “Sorry.” Then she gives herself a little shake and goes, “Anyway, please just stop whatever you’re doing, okay? The TikToks, the going to strangers’ house parties…I was fine with you snooping until you pissed off the wrong people and endangered yourself.”
“But is proof that I am on right path,” Vera says. “Speaking of path, I am going to go for a walk now. You two leave and go have sexy time.” She pushes them bodily out of the teahouse.
“Ma, don’t do anything brash,” Tilly says.
“And for the love of god, stop telling us to have ‘sexy time,’ ” Selena adds. “And stop snooping.”
“Yes, yes, my goodness you two are too young to turn into such nags.” She locks up her shop. “Now stop worrying. Oliver will be here for dinner, he is big strong man.”
They both raise their eyebrows. “We are talking about the same Oliver, yeah?” Selena says.
“Yes, Oliver Chen. Asian Thor.”
“Oookay. Call us if anything happens. I mean it, Vera.”
“When she is going to start calling me Ma?” Vera grumbles.
Tilly grabs Selena’s shoulders and steers her away. “Okay, see you later, Ma!”
With an annoyed huff at their retreating backs, Vera starts marching down the street in the opposite direction with a strong sense of purpose. Elbows out, hands balled into fists, nostrils flaring. Fellow pedestrians who spot her in time scatter out of herpath; the unfortunate ones who don’t are barked at. As Vera marches, she thinks about all of the things she will say to Qiang Wen.
How could you betray our friendship?
Maybe that’s a touch too dramatic, even for Vera.
You liar!
Hmm, has potential. But maybe the aggression is a bit high on that one.
Who are you, really? I don’t even know you anymore.
She wishes she had more time to work on this, but already she finds herself just one block away from Qiang Wen’s dumpling shop. Well, she’ll just have to play it by ear.
She barges into the shop, startling two women who are lining up for their dumplings. “Qiang Wen! We need to—oh, sorry.”
The two women gape at her. Behind the counter, Qiang Wen gapes at her. Vera gives the women a polite smile. “Sorry, I don’t mean to cut queue. Which dumpling you getting? I recommend pork and chive one. Very juicy and flavorful.”
“Um. That sounds good,” one of the women says. “We’ll get six of those, please. Thank you.”
Vera watches, still wearing a polite smile, as Qiang Wen fills a plastic container with the dumplings. She notices with satisfaction how he darts little scared glances at her as he works. Good, he should be scared. The women pay for their order and leave, still throwing worried glances her way as they scuttle out the door. The moment the door swings shut, the smile falls from Vera’s face, giving way to a truly impressive scowl.
“Qiang Wen!” she snaps, and Qiang Wen jumps. “You lie to me! You say Xander is your grandson, but he is not!”