Page 39 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Of course.” She was completely oblivious to the way he leered at her. He reached out to her, inches from grabbing her hand while she was still busy scrubbing a plate.

“He’s the reason you stopped talking to me so suddenly, isn’t he?” he asked boldly.

Shoua dropped a plate, and her attention immediately turned to him. “No. Anthony and I have always been good friends, even last summer.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” I asked, announcing my presence. My voice seemed to have startled him, causing him to jump in his skin for a second.

Kelvin glanced over his shoulder at me with a schooled, neutral expression. He shrugged. “No,” he said, but the irritation flickering in his eyes said otherwise. “I find it ironic how you two started dating after Shoua and me were in contact with each other.”

“What are you trying to insinuate, Kelvin?” she asked with a small frown.

“And what about it?” I interrupted before he could answer. I walked up to Shoua’s side and stood next to her protectively. “We’ve always been good friends and our friendship naturally evolved into a romantic one after years of knowing each other. What is it to you whether we became romantically involved after Shoua briefly chatted with you last summer or not?”

He turned to me with a sly smile while shaking his head. “It’s just interesting timing, that’s all. Almost like someone was waiting for the right moment to swoop in.”

I laughed out loud, completely amused. Kelvin’s animosity toward me was evident, but I hadn’t expected him to have such a warped perception of the world. Me? Swooping in to make Shoua mine and stealing his thunder? Boy, this man was living in a world of his own if he hadn’t even reflected for a moment about the disgusting picture he sent her.

I was about to give him a piece of reality, but before I could say anything, Jonathan, my mom, and Auntie Yee clamored into the kitchen. They broke the tension with their rowdy laughs and cheerful voices.

“I completely forgot about the nam van!” my mom said. Nam van is my dad’s favorite Southeast Asian coconut milk tapioca dessert for the summer. My mom typically made buckets of it for him, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she made too much again. “Kids, do you guys want some with us? Your Aunt Sue, Evelyn, and I made plenty for dessert.”

“How are you guys with the dishes?” Jonathan asked as he threw some dirtied wet wipes into the trash bin. I had asked him to wipe down the dinner table after I helped collect the rest of the dishes.

“We just finished,” I said, plastering on a grin. I threw my arm over Shoua’s shoulder and pulled her close to me. “Sorry, Mom, I think we’re going to head out. It’s getting late and we both have a long day tomorrow.”

She glanced at the time on the oven, which showed it was already seven. She nodded with a big, happy smile. “That’s all right, sweetie. We’ve already taken too much of both of your time,” she said. “I’ll pack you two some nam van to take home.”

While my mom busied herself with packing dessert, Auntie Yee turned to us with the same smile my mom was wearing. Her eyes darted back and forth between Shoua and me. Tonight was the first time she had seen us together as a couple, and I had never seen her so elated. She looked as happy as she did when Andy and Julie came home for Mother’s Day and revealed that they had been in a relationship for months.

“My two daughters are dating my best friend’s sons,” she said with an excited laugh.

I grinned wider despite my stomach twisting in knots. Auntie Yee was practically a second mom to Shoua, Andy, and me. She had never hesitated to love us like we were one of her own, and now we were lying to her.

For a split second, I thought about reminding her that none of this was real. I was ready to blabber my mouth off and reveal our entire plan, but then I remembered Kelvin was in the room. He was taking in our every move as his expression grew more tense. Shoua noticed, and she subtly leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder.

The gesture looked natural, even though I could feel Shoua’s body was stiff. She let out a breath and her body instantly relaxed into mine. I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. We were going home now. This was enough acting for the night.

After my mom packed an overwhelming amount of nam van for us, we bid everyone goodbye. Shoua went out of her way to go say goodbye to Evelyn, who was still locked up in one of the rooms. We tried to keep our distance from Kelvin by saying goodbye from afar, but he approached us. His eyes never left Shoua, which made me apprehensive.

“I’m glad to know you two were just friends last year,” he said. His eyes flickered over to me with a hint of challenge and determination. “Just friends.”

The only reaction I was going to let him see from me was the smile on my face. “Not anymore. I’m Shoua’s man now,” I said.

I didn’t wait for his reaction and quickly ushered Shoua out of the house. It wasn’t until we were alone in my Jeep that we let out a long sigh. We drove in silence for some time as Shoua watched the streetlights passing us by. I could feel her words hanging in the air before she even uttered them.

“This fake relationship is going to be harder than what I was expecting,” she said.

“I wasn’t expecting Evelyn and Kelvin to be so persistent and meddlesome,” I said.

“Neither did I.” She sighed. “I didn’t expect Aunt Sue to humiliate Evelyn in front of us either. I feel bad for her and for what her mom did to her. I don’t like her much, but she didn’t deserve that.”

“Me too,” I answered, honestly. “I still can’t believe she did that.”

It was a while before she responded. “Her mom reminds me of my mom.”

My throat dried up; I was unable to say anything to comfort her. “Yeah, I could see the similarities in the way they nurture or the lack of it.”

Another silence filled the car before I spoke up again.

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