Breathe In (Just Breathe, #1)(11)
The next day, both Jared and I are in Chinatown helping Maggie and the Li family prepare for the New Year. Shops and buildings are being decorated and certain streets are already marked as no-parking zones since some of them will be shut down for the parade. There’s a feeling of excited chaos in the air.
M?qīn, Maggie’s mom, is in the kitchen with Nǎinai, Maggie’s grandmother and Amy, Maggie’s cousin, organizing for the feast that will last from New Year’s Eve night until late New Year’s Day. Amy is two years older than Maggie and married to Eric Li. They have a happy and adorable baby boy named Jet, who is eight months old and on the kitchen floor playing with pots, pans and wooden utensils. Eric is helping F?qīn, Maggie’s dad, at the Peking Wok.
We all pitch in to help. There is a ton of food to be prepped as well as decorations to be hung. The food for the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is very important and symbolic beyond the gathering of family. Every item is made from scratch. Dumplings made of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables are wrapped in a thin dough, spring rolls are stuffed with vegetables, a variety of fresh fish are cleaned and readied to be boiled, steamed or braised, followed by vegetables readied to be steamed while rice and noodles are set aside for soups and side dishes.
Nǎinai is singing as she rolls out the dough for the dumplings and cuts them. Maggie and Amy chime in from time to time as they wash dishes. M?qīn is placing the dumpling stuffing in the middle of each dumpling dough circle as Jared and I pinch the dumplings closed and shape them in our hands. Sadie is on the floor next to Jet acting as babysitter.
Everyone is only speaking Mandarin since Nǎinai doesn’t speak English. I think she knows and speaks more than she lets on, but I’m not one to divulge her secret. Jared’s Mandarin has improved immensely over the years. He still understands more than he can say, but he gets his point across. Every so often, Jared uses a slightly different inflection for a word which will cause us girls to giggle. That slight change in tone can change the whole meaning of a word.
At one point, Nǎinai stops singing and asks us all if we have met Maggie’s new love? We all stop and stare at Maggie.
“Nǎinai!” Maggie shouts, thoroughly embarrassed.
“Who is he?” M?qīn exclaims with angered panic.
M?qīn wants her daughter married — happy too — but married, and still clings to her meeting a nice, Asian man.
“Don’t worry, Mi. He’s Chinese!” Nǎinai says with a proud grin on her face as she looks at M?qīn and Maggie.
Maggie’s mom’s name is Mi, but we all call her M?qīn which is the Mandarin word for mother, except for Nǎinai, who calls her daughter by her first name.
“What?!” M?qīn is clearly in shock.
“We aren’t dating,” Maggie argues. “He’s been into the restaurant a few times the past couple weeks. We haven’t even spoken to each other yet.”
Maggie’s habit is to tell Jared and me about a guy she’s interested in once she feels that he’s interested in her, which usually occurs after the second date, so I’m not surprised that she hasn’t mentioned it prior.
“Liar,” claims Amy. “I saw you talking to him yesterday and the day before that, and the time before that . . . .”
Jared and I just sit back enjoying the action that’s unfolding before us. We’ve seen this scenario too many times before, but we’re curious to see how this plays out with M?qīn because Maggie has never been interested in a guy who is Asian. Maggie wasn’t allowed to date all through high school and when she started dating in college, she had a number of non-Asian suitors, whom M?qīn was not happy about.
Everyone’s eyes are on Maggie waiting for her to explain.
“We didn’t talk. Ok, I didn’t talk much. I was in shock.”
“Well, then what did he say?” Nǎinai chimes in before anyone else can say anything.
“He said hello,” Maggie starts to share, but then pauses.
“And . . .” Amy presses her to continue.
“And, nothing really,” Maggie says, trying to blow it off. Getting a look from M?qīn, Maggie sighs and proceeds, “He introduced himself. His name is Henry.”
“Henry what?” M?qīn questions.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say,” Maggie replies.
“Then what?” Nǎinai questions.
“He asked if I was going to be at the parade. I told him yes.” Maggie’s excitement about sharing the story is starting to stir despite her audience.
“So, is he going? I want to meet him,” M?qīn says sternly.
“I’m not introducing anyone until I find out if he’s interested,” Maggie timidly asserts.
“He’s totally interested. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have asked if you were going to the parade, Mags,” Jared interjects.
“You think?” Maggie’s giddy now.
Everyone looks at her in surprise. By this point, I think Maggie has done a mental head slap.
“So, where and when are you going to meet him?” Nǎinai queries.
“I’m not telling. It’s a secret. Besides, I don’t want to jinks it,” Maggie announces with some tentativeness in her voice. “And, that’s that. I’m not discussing it anymore.” She looks to me and Jared reassuring us that we’ll get the juicy details later when the rest of the family isn’t around.