Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
N I G H T N I N E
+
DECEMBER 22, 2013
Wen and Mei are thirteen
+
"IT'S BITTER."
Wen rolls his lips in distastefully as he peers at Mei's tong sui. He's dipped his spoon into her bowl of sweet potatoes in steaming ginger syrup, now wincing when the sting of ginger catches up to him. Mei laughs at him as he shudders.
"Eugh," he mutters, nudging it towards her and returning to his bowl of red bean soup.
Mei and Wen are tucked into the hole-in-the-wall dessert shop that's squeezed into a rain-soaked alley off King's Road. Some cheap store-bought pine garlands hang across walls of peeling crimson paint. Seated in half-light, half-shadow, the two sit contentedly on scratchy stools, feet perched on the footbar, leaning over small porcelain bowls on tables laid with stained newspaper. The thick aroma of sugar and black sesame fills Mei's senses. Plumes of steam rise from a distant kitchen. Some aunties are murmuring to each other about some jacked-up coat prices in Tai Koo by the cash register.
Mei steals glances at Wen across the table. He's wearing an oversized grey jacket of Wangmin's that softens the sharper angles of his jaw. The parka jacket Wen gave her two years ago warms her own body. Though Mei's family now lives in another apartment in North Point, they've been hanging out again, especially since her mother's recent diagnosis.
