Page 32 of Four Weddings to Fall in Love
“Hmm.”
I hope she’s not worried about me, and I hope that nobody said anything to her about me and Kim.
Fortunately, she doesn’t say anything more.
Jon comes in and grabs a piece of barbecued duck off the plate.Mom glares at him.
“Is this what you want for your sixty-fifth birthday next year, Mom?”he asks.
“Aiyah!”she says.“You know I don’t have this many people in my house if I can help it.You four can come over, but that’s all.I’m doing this just for your father.”
We set up the food on a table outside, and everyone loads up their own plates.Afterward, there’s a birthday cake, no candles, as blowing out candles is something we stopped doing during the pandemic.
As my father opens his gifts, I’m even quieter than I usually am at such things, thinking about how Kim would fit into my family.My mother isn’t an amiable, make-everyone-feel-at-home kind of person, but I don’t think Kim would mind, and Mom wouldn’t insult Kim.If she did, I certainly wouldn’t stand for it.
No, I’m convinced my family wouldn’t give her the problems she’s had in the past, but how can I get Kim to give me a chance?
I’m not sure.
I like that she knows what she wants and what she’s worth.She isn’t willing to settle, and I find her confidence appealing.
But to be with a woman like that, you can’t keep fucking up.Our first night together wasn’t the best, but hopefully she believes I could satisfy her in bed if I had another chance.However, given some of the problems I had in my twenties, I’m not as confident as I wish I could be, though even if I can’t perform in certain ways, I can still pleasure her.
Jon elbows me in the side.“The morning after the wedding, I saw you walking with Kim Sung to Tim Hortons.What’s happening there?Did you make up for last time?”He waggles his eyebrows in a disturbing way.
I don’t deign to reply.I don’t even give him the satisfaction of looking annoyed.
I hope everything will go well when I see Kim at the next wedding, but I have the oddest feeling that something will go horribly wrong.
Chapter 14
Kim
FreddieisvisitingfromB.C., which means that for dim sum, we’re going to Freddie’s favorite restaurant, and my parents are fussing over him.They order all his favorites, and when I reach for the char siu bao, Mom whisks it away and puts it in front of him.
“It’s so nice to have you back,” she says, “but you should have brought your girlfriend.”
Freddie picks up a har gow with his chopsticks.“She’s busy.”
“Aiyah!Surely she could have made time to meet your family.”
Perhaps because I haven’t seen my baby brother in a while, I feel the need to defend him.It’s silly of me, though.Freddie is the favorite; he doesn’t need my defense.
“It’s a long flight,” I say.“They’re on the other side of the country.”
“We’ll have to fly out to visit,” Mom says, and Dad nods in agreement.
Freddie is here for ten days and will be attending Isobel’s wedding next Saturday.He and Isobel are the same age, and I guess he decided that if he was going to attend only one of the weddings this summer, it would be hers.Not that he and Isobel are super close, but I did catch them smoking up together once in high school.
“You need a haircut.”Mom reaches over to touch his shaggy hair.“Before the wedding.”
“’Kay,” he says, not looking up from his food.
My brother is thirty, but sometimes, he still seems like a teenager to me.
“Are you going to marry her?”Mom asks.“I’ll give you advice on rings.”
Freddie’s facial expression finally changes, a tiny notch appearing between his brows.“She doesn’t believe in marriage.”
