Bed Partners

Discovery

Tape 19, Side B

Apparently, Papa knew Qing's door passcode. Like how Mama knew the passcode on her old condo that I now own.

And now, here we are...

"Mama," I pushed Qing aside to get inside his room. "I can explain..." I tried reaching out to my mother but she took a step backward to hide partially behind Papa.

I felt hurt at her reaction.

"What are you two doing here?" Qing asked them more calmly.

Papa kept his eyes on Qing, "I heard you are meeting Kim's grandfather that is why I want to talk to you before you go to that meeting. Your Maman also wanted to deliver some groceries for you." He look down and we all followed his stare. At the foot of the bed, we saw reusable grocery bags filled with items like toiletries and fresh produce.

"And you decided to hide in my room?" Qing kept asking questions.

"Your Maman saw something in the kitchen." Papa finally look at me. "Dayu's mug." I winced and look at my mother pleading. "I can explain that..."

"So we decided to look into your room, to see if Dayu had other things here." Papa ignored my words and continued on. "We were just suprised that we will find Dayu's things here when you two never mentioned that you do sleepover in each other's places. Your Maman and I are actually happy to see Dayu's things here, thinking you two are doing this stepbrother thing well. But then you both walked in and..." Papa winced at me. "There is no way not to overhear your conversation,"

I moaned and put my palms on my face and turn away while Qing cleared his throat. "I can explain what you heard..."

"Are you sleeping with Dayu, Wang Qing? Are you having sex with him?" Papa asked bluntly.

Silence reigned in the room. Then Qing's one word answer rang all around it.

"Yes,"

I heard my mother's wounded whimper and Papa's harsh intake of breath.

"Since when...?" Papa asked again.

"Love..." I opened my eyes to see my mother putting her hand on Papa's arm like she is stopping him. But there is no stopping Wang Shun from grilling his son. "Since when, Wang Qing?" Papa's face hardened when Qing didn't reply fast enough.

"The night before I met Maman and her son," Qing said, still calmly.

My mouth and Mama's mouth fell open. She looked at me, "You, Dayu, you had sex with Qing the night before our first dinner meeting?"

I sighed defeatedly and nodded, "Yes."

"Oh my..." Mama swayed on her feet. "Mama!" I exclaimed loudly and we all reach out to help steady her. We made her sit on the bed, I ran back outside to get water from the fridge and raced back to the room. I gave the bottle of water to Papa who uncapped it and asked Mama to drink.

Mama drank deeply. "Love, breathe. Remember the lessons you have in that pregnancy class you are taking. You have to breathe and calm down," Papa reminded her.

"Yes, calm down Mama." I seconded that. I kneeled in front of her and grabbed anything I can grab to wave at her face to induce air around her. I find myself holding a box of sugar sachets for diabetics or people who are dieting. I opened it and spill all the sugar sachets to flatten the box and wave it to my mother's face. I look back at Qing, "Don't you have an electric fan here?"