Baku Chapter 10: Lesser Evils

Now

Auntie Mei dipped a slice of beef into her soup broth and the sound of the cold bubbling meat meeting the spicy secret recipe sauce was audible over the silence. 

“I usually can’t hear that,” she said. “Usually there is conversation at dinner.”

“What would you like to talk about?” Yue Fei asked, taking a sip of the sake.

“Age gaps,” Auntie Mei said. 

“Subtle,” Claire said. “He’s not that much older than me. Like, maybe eight years.”

“He seems pretty ancient to me,” Auntie Mei said from behind her glass.

Auntie Mei noticed Yue Fei twitched his lip and smothered her smile behind her glass again. 

“I’m not that much older than her, I promise,” Yue Fei said, his eyes starting to narrow. “I’ve been honest with my age, thank you.”

“I’m sure you have been nothing but forthcoming with everything.”

“Auntie Mei, you said you were going to be nice to him,” Claire chastised. 

“I said I wouldn’t bring it back up to you,” Auntie Mei said, picking up her chopsticks. She drowned a piece of bok choy in her broth. “I brought it up to him.”

“What is it you have against him so much?”

Auntie Mei locked eyes with Yue Fei. 

“Do you want my answer to come from me or from you?”

“Claire,” Yue Fei said without moving his eyes, “can you give Auntie Mei and I a moment to talk?”

“That’s… what?” Claire asked. “You want me to leave you alone with this?”

“I promise I can hold my own,” Yue Fei said.

Claire stood up. 

“Fine. I want to get some air anyways.”

“It’s pouring sideways outside,” Yue Fei said.

“Better than in here,” Claire said through the doorway.