Page 108 of Something Like Fate

“Anyway, what were you going to tell us?” Mei asks, snapping me back to the issue at hand.

I pause for dramatic effect before coming out with it. “Dad wasn’t Mom’s soulmate.”

I’m met with two sets of blank stares.

“Dad wasn’t Mom’s soulmate,” I repeat, as though the world just glitched and they didn’t catch what I said.

Mei is the first to utter a word, which is a cross between “What the eff?” and “Are you kidding?” She crunches her face, hands steepled in front of her.

Ellen just stands there, blinking and still rocking Rosie. There’s a stretch of silence so long that Mei actually clears her throat, stumbling on words to try to fill the space until Ellen cuts her off. “What do you mean they weren’t soulmates? That’s impossible. Kim had a vision of your dad.”

I explain everything Dad told me, about how they met, fell in love, and lied about the vision.

Ellen shakes her head. “I just can’t believe Kim would lie to us like that. And for that many years.”

“Dad said she didn’t want to, but she didn’t think she had a choice,” I tell them.

“We would have supported whatever she wanted,” Ellen says, clearly offended.

Mei shoots her a look. “Would we have supported her? Mom certainly wouldn’t have approved.”

Ellen considers that. “True. Mom would have freaked out. She was always warning us about what would happen if we didn’t abide by our destiny when we were kids, remember?”

“You end up like Cousin Lin if you not careful,” Mei says in my grandmother’s accent.

“Honestly, I don’t blame her for lying,” Ellen decides.

They go back and forth rehashing everything, from Mom’s vision, to when she first told them about Dad, to their first interaction withDad at a family mahjong night. I get the sense they’re treating it delicately, because what’s done is done. If Mom hadn’t deviated, I wouldn’t be here, which Ellen points out before rushing into the kitchen to deal with an icing-bag explosion.

I drape myself over the tiny mattress, nearly smoking my head on the wood slated footboard. “I feel like an illegitimate child or something.”

Mei chuckles. “Well, you are the first non-soulmate child in the family.”

I blink, taking that in.Non-soulmate child.Suddenly, it occurs to me. “Do you think that’s why I’m cursed and talentless? Maybe this is Mom’s punishment for being with Dad. Me.”

She gives me a swift swat on the knee. “First, you are not cursed. There’s no such thing.”

“Fine. Doomed to eternal loneliness. Whatever.”

“No one is doomed. In my opinion, it’s all been blown out of proportion, all this whole folklore.”

“Really?”

“That’s why I never told you about it. Why I didn’t want Ellen freaking you out for no reason. I mean, let’s think statistically here. This has only happened twice. First Great-Aunt Shu was a recluse and lived across the country. No one was close enough to her to know what was really going on in her life. Your grandmother used to tell her story, but it would change every time. Her cause of death, her occupation. She’d be a farmer one time, and next a fisherman.”

“But what about Cousin Lin?”

Mei crosses her legs and leans forward. “Let me tell you about Cousin Lin. Everyone likes to talk about how miserable she was, but I disagree. Did she have a hard couple of years? Of course. Who wouldn’t be a little depressed after getting hit by a bus and losing their house and money? But she wasn’t miserable. In fact, she made the best of things. She enjoyed gardening and was even part of a bird-watching group. Onetime, your mom and I asked her if she wanted to get married. And you know what she said?”

“What?”

“She said she wanted to be alone. That she chose her life. That she didn’t need one person to make her happy. She said her family and friends fulfilled her. And I don’t think she was just trying to save face. I truly think that’s what made her happiest. She knew no one else understood, but she didn’t care. She wanted to live life on her own terms.”

“Wow. So Lin was actually a super progressive badass?”

She nods. “A total badass. But the point is, there is no consequence. Or curse. Or whatever. You’re free to live your life exactly as you see fit.”

I lower my gaze. “That’s exactly it, though. Even if I’m not alone, I’m a massive disappointment.”

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