Page 34 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

Ashanti nodded sympathetically.

“Hey, don’t let her fool you into thinking she was some dedicated student,” Luke said. “Ash was always making out with some guy in the parking lot behind the gym. I have no idea how she passed all her classes when she was barely in them.”

Ashanti swatted his arm. “Luke Zhang, how dare you besmirch my good name?”

“So you were that kind of student, huh, Ashanti?” Harold wiggled his eyebrows.

“It never went further than kissing.” Ashanti defended herself. “And we’re not talking about me. Weng, you need to answer the question about your classes. Right now.”

Weng laughed. “School is school.”

“What are you taking?” Michelle asked.

“Bio-chemistry.”

Michelle sucked in a breath. “I did that for one semester and then dropped out. Kudos to anyone who survives that course.”

“Bio-chem is a beast,” Weng agreed. “I stumble out of classes not knowing my own name most of the time. But at least dad’s happy.”

“Weng’s father is a neurosurgeon. One of the few in Belize,” James said.

“Ah.” Michelle nodded.

Luke snickered. “I never thought Weng would be a doctor. Remember when he used to record himself dancing and singing? Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted to be, he would say ‘a star’.”

“I still take dance lessons,” Weng said. “It helps me relax after chemistry burns all my brain cells.”

“If chemistry’s such a drain, why don’t you take something else then?” Ashanti blurted.

The table went silent.

She read the shift in the air and tried to laugh it off, but Michelle picked up the topic and held on like a dog with her favorite chew toy. “I agree. Everyone has different talents and gifts. There’s no shame in acknowledging that science isn’t your thing.”

“It doesn’t work that way in our family,” Harold said.

“Dad wants me to be a doctor so that’s what I’ll be.” Weng shrugged as if he’d already resigned himself to it.

“But you don’t have to,” Michelle insisted.

“Yes, I do,” Weng replied.

“Why?”

“Because he’d be disappointed if I wasn’t.”

James jumped in when it became clear that such parental devotion escaped her. “Michelle, it’s like this. Our grandparents came to this country and fought for everything they have now. We were born on the backs of their hard work and in response, we make them proud by doing our best.”

“Can’t you just… do your best at what you want to do?”

“That’s not how it works,” the cousins said as one.

Michelle and Ashanti shared a look. She shook her head. “I don’t get it either, girl.”

“We don’t always follow our parents rules though.” James stared pointedly at Michelle and Luke. “Sometimes we buck tradition. When it’s worth it.”

Michelle slanted her date a quick look and then ducked. “I don’t understand.”

Harold and Weng laughed and elbowed Luke. “Yeah, you do!”

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