Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Date, Lunch, and Conversation

Match Eleven: Date, Lunch, and Conversation:

-Ju-

Yao and I went out on our date on Sunday. I decided to keep everything simple. I waited for the front door. Usually, it's the woman that takes time to get ready. I'm surprised that I got done before Yao did this morning. I looked at my phone.

"Babe, are you done yet?" I asked.

"Just a second," Yao said. He said that five minutes ago. I sighed and rolled my eyes. And I thought I was bad to get ready to go somewhere. If he keeps this up, most of the date will have to be tomorrow morning. I looked up when I heard footsteps. Yao walked down the stairs dressed in his finest. I smiled and shook my head.

"You didn't have to dress up," I said. "It's just a causal date."

"I still wanted to look nice," he said. I smiled and walked over to kiss him. He pulled me into his arms.

"Ready to go?" Yao whispered.

"Oh yes," I said. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. My husband chuckled and pulled me along with him.

Today was going to be a nice day out. I held onto Yao's arm, smiling.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," I said. I giggled. "I love you."

"I love you too, dear," he said. We walked up to a crosswalk and waited for the light.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. I cuddled up, smiling.

"I don't really want to go anyway," I said. "We can just walk around the city." Yao looked down at me.

"That all?" he asked.

"Well, I figured we could stop somewhere to eat too," I added. "You can come up with certain stops that you want to check out on our walk."

"Sure," Yao said. I giggled. We began our walk when the crosswalk light changed. Yao's suit made him look so much older. He probably looked like my grandfather next to me.

"You didn't have to wear the tie at least," I said.

"What's wrong with my tie?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing, dear," I said. I didn't forget the full objective of this date, though. I had to be delicate about how I wanted to go about it. It would be best to start off light and then go into it throughout the day.

"I don't want to raise Little Bean like a boxed-up statistic," I said aloud.

"Huh?" Yao asked.

"You know," I said. "Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. It's so dumb and old-fashioned."

"What's wrong with old-fashioned?"

"It's not good all of the time. I want Little Bean to be treated like an equal and to respect others no matter the gender. That goes for naming the child. I want to go unisex names."

"Where is all of this coming from? Did Tina suggest all of this?"

"No."

"What's with all of the modern stuff?"

"It's not that modern." I looked over at the shops to my right. "Actually, I'm kind of hoping for a boy."

Yao gave me a strange look. "Why is that?" I shrugged my shoulders and moved my head around.

"It's kind of a long story," I muttered. "It's a family curse thing."

"Family curse?" he asked. I pressed my lips together. I've told this story before and telling it now just makes me worried.