The Lucky Break [ONC2024]

月下老人 || The Matchmaking God

THE FIRST TIME I met Cupid, I punched him in the face.

Of course, I didn't punch him very hard, given that I stood at just about four feet five inches and weighed the equivalent of a sack of rice at the time. And the Cupid in question was none other than Jones Halverson, Ms. Riley's fourth-grade class helper, notorious schoolyard bully, and overall little prick.

"What's this?" He approached me and my friend Annabella at recess, the taunting smile that always spelled out danger spreading on his face. In his hand, he held a flap of pink paper that I recognized as one of the Valentine's Day cards I had made with my Nai Nai and sisters over the weekend—cards that I had reluctantly surrendered to him once Ms. Riley named him the class "Cupid" and tasked him with passing out the Valentine's Day cards and candy to every student's desk.

Sensing danger at once, Annabella slid her arm around me and drew me away. "Let's go, Jules," she whispered. Arm-in-arm, we turned toward the merry-go-round, but he only followed us, walking swiftly to block our path.

"You only gave me a stupid heart for Valentine's Day?" he yelled. His sneering face resembled a squashy tomato—angry, blotchy, and red. "It's ugly."

"My Nai Nai made it. You're just being mean!" I shouted back.

"It's ugly. And so are you!" In the next instant, he shoved my shoulders and sent me crashing back into Annabella. Like dominoes, we both tumbled in a heap on the ground.

That aroused the snapping temper I know—for better or worse—rests just below the surface of my skin. I don't remember what I thought or what I felt other than the sear of rage in my heart as I sprang to my feet. To this day, I can only recall the satisfying smack of flesh and sudden startle in his eyes as my arm flew out in the practiced right hook Baba taught me.

And just like that, I wiped the smug smile right off Cupid's stupid face.