Page 12 of Just Another Meet Cute

Looking confused, he glanced around the room before smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m so used to all of this being normal that I completely forgot to explain.

My grandma usually cooks ph? every Sunday, and all my uncles and aunts come over to eat it at our house because we have the biggest kitchen.

” He leaned down until his lips were inches from my ear.

“You can still run off if you want,” he muttered the last sentence under his breath. “I’ll cover you.”

Fat chance. Not with everyone’s eyes glued on my every move.

Letting out a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. “No, I’m fine.”

Ryan grinned down at me and squeezed my arm. “That’s my girl.”

Even though I was still fighting the urge to escape, my stomach fluttered at his words and they gave me the courage to take a couple of steps forward.

The kitchen was huge, but it felt smaller with all the people and tables squished in it.

There were a total of three tables and a whole bunch of folding chairs.

And they looked like they were sorted out according to age group.

A nearly full table of adults was right by the stove.

Behind it was a table of older teens and maybe a couple of women in their twenties.

And the last table by the door was full of preteens and kids.

Kathy immediately grabbed two bowls by the stove and started scooping noodles into them with a pair of chopsticks. Behind her, I could see an assembly line of bowls and plates of veggies and meat all laid out on the counter.

“I would introduce you to everyone, but I’m sure you won’t remember their names anyway.

I’ll take you to the most important person first.” His hand slid down from my shoulders to lace his fingers through mine.

Ryan nudged me toward the farthest table, where an old woman in a purple sweater and long skirt was sitting.

“Nina, this beautiful lady right here is my grandma. B á , this is Nina; she’s my friend. ”

I shyly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and kind of bobbed my head. “Ch à o B á .”

Her head jerked up to look at Ryan in surprise. “You teach her that?”

“Nope, she did that herself.”

Before I could explain, she waved me forward with a smile, and I could see that she had the exact same dimple in her left cheek that Ryan had. “Come. You can sit here and eat with me.”

My eyes flickered from the table full of prying adult eyes to the other tables full of teens and kids by the door. I inched a step toward the safer table. “Oh, it’s okay. I can sit over there.”

“No, you’re a guest. You have to sit here,” she said, patting the wooden seat right next to her. Her words were soft, but I could hear the steel command beneath it.

Trapped, I shot a pleading look at Ryan, but he laughed and picked up his bowl of ph? from the other table. “It’s true. Guests get to sit at the fancy table. But don’t worry, I’ll come over and keep you company. Since I’m such a gentleman.”

Still at the stove, Kathy crossed her arms and scowled. “Don’t be fooled. He’s just using you as an excuse to sit at this table.”

His grin stretched from ear to ear. “It’s true. This is the only time I’ll ever get promoted to sit at the adult table. It’s mostly for my grandma, uncles, and aunts. I’m usually tossed in the back to fight for a bowl and chopsticks. And even then, I still have to stand in the corner to eat.”

One of his younger cousins from the other table snorted. “Next time bring your own utensils if you want to eat. Or better yet, go somewhere else. There are plenty of seats at a restaurant. More food for the rest of us.”

“Ha, I’m sure you would love that, Thi. Kicking me out of my own house.” Ryan nudged my arm. “Stay away from her. She makes Kathy seem nice in comparison.”

“I am nice!” Kathy complained as she put a steaming bowl right in front of me.

“Nice like a mountain lion,” a boy cousin said with a booming laugh.

“Don’t you start—”

Ignoring their fighting, Ryan’s B á waved me over. “Sit next to me, Liv.”

Liv? I glanced behind me, but there was no one there.

Ryan coughed and gently touched her arm. “B á , she’s Nina, remember? Not Liv.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Wondering who Liv was, I sat in the chair next to his grandma.

Ryan pointed at various people around the room to introduce them.

It was a blur of names. A few of them stuck out to me though.

An uncle named Tuan who was married to a Julie sat across from us.

Ryan’s two other sisters besides Kathy. Anh and someone else.

A cousin named Kevin. Or was that his uncle?

And to make things even more confusing, there were a couple of people who looked exactly the same. Evidently twins ran in his family. There were at least three pairs, including twin aunts. One of them was named Riley, but I wasn’t sure which one.

After Ryan went through everyone in the room, he immediately dug into his bowl. Everyone did, like there was some kind of silent signal to start. There was still some talking here and there, but it was mainly slurping noises all around the room.

Everyone except for an aunt (either Aunt Lily or Lila) who handed me a napkin with a gentle smile. “Have you eaten ph? before?”

I picked up the hoisin and sriracha bottles on the side and squirted a bit into my bowl. “I love it, but I only get to eat it at the restaurants. Never at home like this. My family doesn’t really know how to cook Vietnamese food.”

She laughed. “Not many people do. I barely cook it at home, and we ARE Vietnamese.”

“So is Nina,” Ryan commented when he took a break from his food to breathe.

His aunt immediately looked confused, and I hurried to explain. “Well, my mom is. My dad isn’t. And I look like him, so it can be confusing.”

This was a conversation I had a lot growing up.

How I was Asian but didn’t actually look it.

I don’t know why it was so hard for some people to understand.

It seemed simple enough to me. Once I even had a little grandma at a restaurant insist on speaking to me in broken English even though I ordered the food in Vietnamese.

Ryan’s B á looked interested. “Chaú bi ? t ti ? ng vi e t?”

“D ? v a ng.” I wish I could have continued the conversation, but I knew that my limited vocabulary wouldn’t be able to keep up. Sheepishly, I held up two fingers an inch apart. “A little. I understand it pretty well, but not enough to talk a lot.”

“You’re still better than most of those kids over there,” one of his uncles said with a pointed glance.

I thought B á would be disappointed, but she laughed. “It’s okay. Some is better than nothing.”

This was the first time that anyone accepted it so easily. Accepted me.

My smile grew as I looked around. Sure, I was still super overwhelmed by everyone, but it felt …

nice. Like, really nice. Almost like our old dinners back when we still lived with B á , Aunt Sarah, and Linh.

Not that we ever ate with this many people, but the arguments and the teasing.

Everyone said and did whatever they wanted.

The closeness. It was comfortable. Free.

Dinner with Mom and Dad was totally different. We talked. Or rather they did. Most of the time I didn’t really have anything to say. Mom tried to include me, but it felt awkward and forced. Sometimes I stuffed myself as soon as I came home just to escape from dinner.

Ryan’s B á shook her head and tapped my bowl with the tip of her chopsticks. “How is it?”

“It’s delicious! This isn’t like the ph? at the restaurants though,” I said, pointing at the giant plate of bones and meat at the center of the table. “What do I do with that?”

“It’s like The Hunger Games . Just grab whatever piece you can before someone else does,” Kathy said as she bent over Aunt Lily/Lila and piled pieces of meat into her own bowl.

Ryan smacked his chopsticks against hers. “Hey, stick to the plate on your table.”

“But you know there’s nothing left over there once Ollie and Nathan get through with it.”

“Too bad for you.”

Narrowing her eyes, she stuck her tongue out at him and slumped back to her table. “Wait until you get demoted back to this table next week. I’m not leaving you anything.”

“That’s why I’m soaking it all in now,” Ryan said with a laugh.

Ignoring her grandkids, B á nodded at me. “Why is it different?”

“Well, the broth is definitely different,” I added with a slurp.

Another aunt cocked her head in my direction. “How?”

“It’s not as clear. But the taste is also richer and thicker …” I sipped another spoonful and racked my brain to figure out what was different. “And it tastes kind of smoky for some reason? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.”

“Smoky?” Uncle Tuan let out a booming laugh. “I think you’ve been eating too much Texas barbecue.”

I gave him a sheepish smile. “Maybe.”

To my surprise, B á shook her head and laughed. “She’s better than all of you. How did you guess my secret?”

“Secret?”

She leaned toward me and placed her small hand on my arm. “I roast all the vegetables and herbs over an open flame until they’re charred, to bring out the flavor before I simmer the broth overnight and all morning.”

In awe, I blinked at her. “Oh, wow. And you do this every week?”

“It’s a lot of work. But my family’s worth it.” Her eyes sparkled as she gave me a wink. “Sometimes.”

A wave of nostalgia washed over me as she patted my arm and, for a split second, it was like I was sitting with my own B á again.

Not that they looked anything alike. My B á was into bright colors and flashy jewelry, while Ryan’s B á was dressed in simple muted colors.

But she had the same soothing grandma aura.

Maybe it’s a requirement to be a B á . It was like biting into a warm donut: soft and pillowy with the right amount of sugar glaze to make you happy.

And I hadn’t felt this way since my grandma died.

Resisting the urge to give her a huge hug, I flashed her a bright smile instead.

“I guess you are pretty good. Just for that, you deserve a prize.” One of his other uncles stole a chunk of meat from the center plate—right out from under Ryan’s chopsticks—and put it in my bowl. “Here.”

Giggling at Ryan’s indignant “Hey!” I broke off a piece of the tender meat and popped it into my mouth. “Thanks.”

“At this rate, I might as well go sit in the corner again,” Ryan complained with a mock scowl.

I shrugged innocently. “If you want. You’ll definitely be missed though.”

“Ouch. That’s harsh.” Uncle Tuan laughed and gave me a high five. “I like you. You get a permanent seat at this table from now on.”

“I better leave before I get kicked out. I’m done anyway.” With a deep sigh, Ryan stood up and walked behind my chair. “By the way, where did you get that jacket from?” he asked, pointing his chopsticks at the jacket draped on the back of my seat.

I almost choked on the mouthful of noodles I had just put in my mouth. It took a few minutes and a full glass of water to clear my throat enough to speak. My fingers played with the soft fabric for a second or two before picking it up. “Actually, I wanted to tell you—”

“It’s funny. It looks exactly like the jacket that Ian lost last week,” his sister, Anh, interrupted from the other table. “Remember when my car broke down on the highway and he had to come get me? Afterward, he rushed back to the hiking path to find the jacket.”

Ryan laughed. “I don’t know why. It’s a plain navy jacket. I bet …”

I couldn’t hear the rest of their conversation because there was a loud ringing in my ears when his sister said the name Ian . Surely, I heard her wrong. There was no way—it couldn’t be, because there was no Ian. There was just Ryan.

I cleared my throat. “Who’s Ian?”

“Ian, my twin brother.”

…

Twin brother. Twin brother. TWIN brOTHER.

The words echoed over and over in my head but it took a while for them to sink in. Like I had downed a mango slushie way too fast and my brain was still fighting the cold to work properly.

But if Ian wasn’t Ryan and Ryan was just Ryan, then that meant Ian actually existed. And if Ian existed then he was … he was …

Here.

As if I had conjured him by thinking his name too many times, a guy suddenly appeared at the doorway.

Again, with the light behind him, like he was glowing.

Still tall and lean like Ryan was, although now I could see that he was skinnier than his brother.

He wasn’t wearing a cap this time. His hair was obviously shorter than Ryan’s and a bit darker.

But the same eyes. The same perfectly straight nose.

And even though he wasn’t smiling, I had a feeling that his dimple would be on the right side of his cheek. Not on the left like Ryan’s was.

Judging by the shocked look on Ian’s face, there was no doubt that this was my Ian.

And that he definitely remembered me, too.