“Tiān āh! I don’t know!” She hooked the corset on the nearest rack. “We have to figure out dinner! Will you help me?”

Even though I had known this was coming, I felt terrible for exploiting a sad, sexist part of her life. She was an equal partner in Wang Dental Palace, yet it had always been her job to have food ready on the table and take care of anything involving me.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s order takeout. We can bring it home.”

She opened her mouth, but I filled in the words for her. “From a Chinese place, for Bǎbá, and on our way home so it doesn’t take too long.”

She nodded, rewarded me with a small smile, then hurried to the register.

“I don’t want anything!” I called after her.

She pulled three extra-large granny panties out of the store’s mesh shopping bag. “I need new underwear; some of us don’t like holes!”

I thought about asking why she wore underwear three times her size—she weighed about a hundred pounds—but I decided I didn’t want to know. Would her beauty standards change for me once I got married, or was there just some weird double standard between her and me I didn’t understand? Like, did she believe I had so many other flaws I had to make up for it in ways she didn’t have to worry about?

I swatted the corset on my way out. Even the smelly mall corridor adjacent to the busiest bathroom was better than this.

Drew CHAPTER 14 QUIZ

The car ride from the dental office back to the house was silent, as expected. Only a few more hours, then a sleep, then this job would come to a close.

Then Jing-Jing would be a memory.

I found myself wondering what her plan was in regard to me (Andrew) after this, but, not your prerogative. Either I’d get rebooked in the future or I’d never have to think about her or the Wangs again. I laughed to myself that, just like Dr. Wang, I took notes on my jobs too, except mine were to keep things straight in case of rebookings.

After Mr. Wang and I arrived home, I was hoping to have a moment to catch my breath, but he took a seat on the couch—the one space in this house that could be considered temporarily mine—and it was no accident.

Now what?

I thought he might pat the cushion beside him, but he folded his hands in his lap instead, as if waiting to see what I’d do.

So, with a half-hearted smile, I settled in next to him, my left ankle on my knee and my right arm resting across the back of the couch—relaxed, poised, in command.

“You think you know my Jing-Jing?” he asked, his words suspicious but his demeanor cool.