“You know, we probably didn’t need to leave our house an entire hour early. The GPS said it’d take fifteen minutes with heavy traffic,” I tell my mom as she shuts the car door behind her and struts her way down the empty lane in her brand-new Michael Kors pumps. Most of her outfit is new, from the pearl-studded earrings to the sharp blazer vest, selected just for this occasion. Yesterday, I’d caught her unveiling one of the fancy face masks she’d been saving ever since her colleague brought them back from her business trip to Seoul. She hadn’t even put in that much effort for my cousin’s wedding. She probably hadn’t put in that much effort for her own wedding.

“Well, we couldn’t risk being late, could we? Not when you’re the star of the show,” my mom says, beaming wide at me. From the way she’s been gushing about it, you’d think I’d won the Nobel Peace Prize, not a competition hosted by a Chinese school.

I exchange an amused glance with my dad before we both follow along. A single poster—small enough that you’d miss it if you weren’t paying careful attention—has been pasted onto the school’s brick walls. Welcome, Parents! This Way to the Journey to the East Afternoon Tea is printed out in Chinese block text, with arrows pointing the way forward.

The venue is basically a gym that’s been repurposed for this afternoon’s event. Plastic chairs have been set up in tidy rows along the basketball court, and there are a few scattered tables offering cold chicken-and-avocado sandwiches and plastic cups of orange juice, but my mom’s beaming at the place like it’s a grand concert hall.

“Do you have your speech memorized?” my mom asks me, nodding toward the microphone stand up front.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” I assure her. I have the speech so well memorized that although it’d be exaggerating to say I could recite it in my sleep, I’m pretty confident I could recite it first thing upon waking. But then the gym doors swing open again, and I momentarily lose the ability to remember anything when I see Cyrus walk in.

His eyes go right to me, like I’m the only reason he’s here, and I have to contain myself from running straight over and throwing my arms around him.