“Of course I do.” Probably better than you… though I guess I cheated.

The all-too-familiar glint in his eye alerted me it was quiz time. Not my first.

“So you know her favorite food?” he asked.

Kimchi nachos from that Korean fusion place near campus, tied with hot pot. “Her mother’s dumplings.”

“Movie?”

“The Butterfly Lovers,” I answered, when it was actually Monsters, Inc.

It went on for a bit (and yes, most of the questions had two answers).

“None of these things are important,” I finally said after enough time had passed to show that I knew the answers and was saying this because I meant it, not as a way out. “Even a stranger who saw these facts on paper could parrot them back.”

Treading in dangerous waters here, but I knew it would pay off.

“So how do I know you’re more than a stranger who has memorized these facts?” he asked.

“Because I see her. How she’s nervous being home, having me here, and how much she wants to please you. I can’t prove it, but I think it’s obvious even to you that I know her better than Hongbo does—both superficially and in the deeper ways that matter.”

The door opened (perfect timing), so I nodded at Mr. Wang, then hurried to greet Jing-Jing and her mother.

“Hey,” I said, helping Jing-Jing with the delicious-smelling bags in her hands. She smiled her thanks.

I hurried to deposit the bags so I could help Mrs. Wang with hers. And as soon as her hands were free, they were on her hips.

“Eh! Did you see that, Lǎo Gōng?” she yelled to her old man. “That’s a proper gentleman!”

Mr. Wang stayed where he was. “When Andrew’s my age, he’ll stay seated too.” He clutched his back dramatically, then chuckled.

When her mother left the kitchen to ask Mr. Wang about the appointments, Jing-Jing raised her eyebrows in my direction, and with a tilt of her head she asked me how things had gone today with her father.

I didn’t want her to know how close I’d gotten to blowing it (I was normally a much better operative than this, I swear), so I focused on the conversation after Fangli’s part–root canal.

“I didn’t know your dad was older than your mom.”

She unknotted the plastic bags carefully (so they could be reused). “Why did he tell you that?”

“He was trying to explain why Hongbo. He said that at this point in his life he wanted to make sure you would be okay.”

She stopped unpacking the food. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

I shrugged, then reached over to take over food duty. “He seemed really concerned about my earning potential—it seems consistent with your theories about why they love Hongbo.”