Rent for Your ’Rents would have booted her on day one too.

“You know his name, Mǎmá,” Jing-Jing said, still quiet. Then, a little louder, she told Hongbo, “My boyfriend’s name is Andrew.”

I smiled, trying to encourage her to be herself a little more.

Hongbo looked me up and down, then laughed until his eyes grew watery. “I’m not intimidated by this pretty boy.”

I kept my face neutral, not reacting.

“Well, if you’re intimidated by just his looks, you should probably leave before he actually says anything,” Jing-Jing said, shocking me. I quickly stifled my laugh.

Hongbo’s eyes darted to my UChicago T-shirt. “Pfft. You think I’m intimidated by that safety school? I didn’t even apply there.”

“Because your parents had already paid your way into Stanford with Kuo Hall,” Jing-Jing muttered, which I already knew.

Hongbo looked to Jing-Jing’s mother, then father. “You know, my parents only blessed this union because of Jing-Jing’s virginal reputation, but maybe that’s not the case anymore. Maybe I should tell them to look elsewhere.”

What the fuck? Had he seriously just said “virginal reputation”? I scooted closer to Jing-Jing, wanting to protect her not because of any role I was playing, but because this was all sorts of disgusting and no one should have to deal with it.

“No!” Mrs. Wang yelled, waving her hands frantically. “Anthony is just a friend; no hanky-panky happened. Jing-Jing is still considering your proposal, okay?”

Holy shit, this guy proposed to her? The fact that Jing-Jing had left that detail off her form threw me for a second. Was I supposed to pretend I already knew? Was I supposed to stay out of it since she, for some reason (or maybe I should say for obvious reasons), hadn’t wanted me to know?

Gently, Mrs. Wang reminded Hongbo, “You so kindly gave us until New Year’s, remember?”

“Only because she’s so clearly lost her mind and needs time to find it!” Hongbo spat.

Really, an ultimatum? Come on, man.

“Girls beg for a chance to be considered by me!” Hongbo thundered.

“Aiyah, you know our innocent Jing-Jing,” Mrs. Wang said as if her daughter weren’t sitting right next to her. “She’s so young and pure, and she doesn’t know how to handle interest from the most eligible bachelor, the heir of the mighty Number One Systems! She just needs a little time to wrap her head around marriage, that’s all.”

“For the second and final time, the answer is no,” Jing-Jing declared, grabbing my hand. “I’m with Andrew.”

My training kicked in and I stood, the quickness of my movement pushing my chair back.

“I think it’s time you headed out, Hongbo,” I said as I continued to squeeze Jing-Jing’s hand, presenting a united front (which I probably would’ve done even without the mission because, just, ew).