It was only a short subway ride to the train station. I fought with myself the whole time. I should tell her how I feel, but the very thought of it sent my heart hammering. Or I could at least show her how I feel. It wouldn’t be so weird to take her hand, or place a hand on her knee—no, something that intimate should involve explicit consent, I scolded myself, partly in relief. Perhaps I could ask her first—ah, then what kind of moment would that be? And what if she said no, or worse, asked why? She was silent throughout my internal crisis, staring out the window as our train crossed the river.

When we arrived at the station, the terminal was already announced and passengers boarding. Louise fished out her phone and pulled up her ticket.

At the same time, my phone buzzed. Once I saw the message, I quickly pocketed it again.

“Your grandparents okay?” Louise asked.

I nodded, touched that she had figured out what I was doing.

“Please tell them I’m sorry.” Louise pulled at her sleeve. “I just—I really wanted to know—”

“It’s fine. She’s already forgiven you.”

“I don’t believe you. Asian mothers hold grudges like none other.”

“That’s true. But I can prove that she’s forgiven you. If you really want.” I reddened even thinking about it. I could not bear to see her torture herself. My heart beat painfully fast.

Louise glanced at the clock on the wall. Her train was set to depart in a few minutes. She locked eyes with me.

“Alright, what’s the proof?”

I unlocked my phone and opened it to the latest message from grandmother. I held my phone out in front of me, screen facing her, heart bursting. If I could not muster the courage to say something, this would be the next best thing.

It took Louise forever to read the message. If grandmother had written it in Chinese characters, there would have been a chance she wouldn’t be able to read it, a chance we could revert to normal. But grandmother had written in her usual combination of not quite pinyin, scattered English, and emojis.

zui hou yi ge chance 👩🏻💋👩🏻!!

Louise stared at it for a long time.

Then she smiled, a smile that widened so slowly until it became impossibly large.

“Does she ship us?” she laughed, a hand covering her mouth.

“I—yeah, I guess she does,” I murmured. I locked the phone and stashed it away.

“That is the cutest thing I have ever seen.”

I cleared my throat.

“Well. Anyway. She would never have said something like that if she didn’t like you.”

A last call for boarding. Louise glanced at the train tracks and began to move toward them backward, still facing me.