As he half turned his face away from the girls, I saw his eyes were shadowed, the raw pain flashing across his features before he composed himself in a heartbeat. To Victor, being put together meant never letting others know how you truly felt. He wanted us to believe that nothing mattered to him except his next deal, and the profit he’d make. He didn’t realize how much he gave himself away to those he was close to. Vic always had our backs and cared deeply, for his friends and for a better Taiwan. If I ever told Victor that I knew it was all a front, he’d be pissed.

We clustered there, with Arun clasping my shoulder, and my hand resting on Lingyi’s knee. Victor cupped her face a moment longer as she and Iris laced their fingers together. Connected. Unified. And of one mind on the task that lay before us.

It should have made us strong, but instead I was suddenly struck by our fragility. How we were playing with danger and poised on the brink with a deadly plunge downward.

Victor was right. I loved each of them like family, and I had led them to this precipice.

•  •  •

Later that evening, Lingyi and Iris were well enough to eat the rice porridge, smoked chicken, and pickled cucumbers Victor had prepared for them. Arun had also stir-fried some long beans for us slathered in garlic and scallions, filling the dining room with their mouthwatering aroma. The girls were weak, but their temperatures were almost normal. Even their coughs had subsided. I ate with them while Victor and Arun left to get something from a cafe. The girls could be contagious for up to a week, Arun had said.

Daiyu messaged me after dinner. I hated how my chest tightened just from seeing her name on my Vox. Are you avoiding me? she asked. I stared at the message, irritated by the conflicting emotions she stirred in me. I turned off my Vox, ignoring it, while Iris and Lingyi chatted with each other about a new film they wanted to see once they recovered. Their heads leaned in, forming a space that included only each other, openly intimate. Almost dying from this flu had changed them.

Drumming the glass table with my fingers, I tapped my Vox back on after a few moments. Sorry, I replied. Friends have been sick. Ten seconds later, she responded: Sorry to hear. See you soon?

I rubbed my eyes, knee bouncing beneath the glass dining table.

Lingyi touched my arm. “You okay?”

I nodded without looking at her.

Then I unstrapped the Vox from my wrist, put it on silent, and shoved it into my jacket pocket.