Page 28 of Four Aunties and a Wedding

He glances at me and goes, “Hmmh.”

Second Aunt and Ma’s mouths drop open and their faces go red. “That is not how you greet bride!” Second Aunt scolds. “Bride is your customer, and customer always right. You are usually first one to see bride on wedding day, so you set tone for wedding. You must greet bride with big smile, like this, see?” Second Aunt waves her hands across her face and stretches her mouth into a Joker-esque grin.

Second Uncle exhales slowly. “Enjelin, I tell you, I sorry—”

“Hanh! You sorry? You sorry why? Nothing to be sorry about, kok!” Second Aunt turns away from him abruptly.

Ah. I see. Second Aunt is being even more in-your-face than usual because she’s hurt. The past few months, she and Second Uncle have been—I don’t know—dating? Well, not dating, because the Chinese-Indo community doesn’t believe in “dating.” They call the stage between friendship and marriage “pendekatan,” which translates to “getting closer.” The past few months, she and Second Uncle have been getting closer to each other, and the realization that he’s mafia with ulterior motives must’ve really stung. My heart aches for her.

“Second Aunt...” I have no idea what to say. I’m sorry your sort-of-kind-of-boyfriend turned out to be mafia?

Second Aunt harrumphs. “I just teaching him, he want to be fake hair and makeup artist, he have to do properly. Everything you do, do it well, otherwise don’t bother doing, that is what I say.”

“It’s a very good philosophy,” I say in my most placating voice. “Very relevant. Um, Second Aunt, I know this is a huge favor for me to ask, but um—no offense to you, Second Uncle—but since, uh, my makeup artist has turned out to be a... a fake makeup artist, could you possibly do my makeup, Second Aunt, pl—”

Second Aunt’s whoop nearly deafens me. Her face brightens up immediately, erasing all traces of heartbreak. “YES! Of course! Aduh, I want asking you, but I scared, I thought maybe, oh no, Meddy won’t want, but aduh, the thought of some gangster doing your makeup, aduh, Meddy, it break my heart, adu-duh—”

“Don’t talk so much,” Big Aunt cuts in. “You better quickly do it.”

Second Aunt’s mouth snaps shut and she shoots Big Aunt a glare. “Yes, yes, okay. Come, Meddy. You sit here.” She takes my arm and pulls me to a chair at the small dining table and pushes me into it before taking a step back and studying me. She tilts her face this way and that, muttering for a while, then claps her hands. “Okay, I know perfect look for you.”

There’s a knock on the door, making all of us jump.

“Hello? Everybody decent?” Selena calls out.

“It’s Selena and Seb!” I hop up. But before I can move toward the door, Second Uncle reaches out and grabs my arm tightly.

“Remember,” he growls, as my family watches, shocked, “no telling truth about my family.”

Cold fear stabs into my belly.

“How dare?!” Ma cries. “You let go my daughter now!” Even Fourth Aunt is getting up from her chaise longue, looking concerned.

There’s another knock, and this time Seb’s voice comes through the door. “Helloooo, we come bearing coffee and scones.”

Second Uncle narrows his eyes at me, ignoring everyone else. “Understand?”

Somehow, I manage to nod. He lets go of me and I sag with relief, my heart thundering against my rib cage. Jesus. That went from weird to really fucking scary in the space of a single second. Ma rushes to my side.

She puts an arm around me. “Meddy, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Ma. Don’t worry.” I take a deep breath. I can do this. I can pretend to be calm and lie to my best friends on my wedding day. This is totally fine. Through the mirror, Big Aunt gives me a grim smile and a small nod. I know it’s her way of telling me to be strong. I’ve got this. We’ve got this.

I open the door to find not just Selena and Seb, but also Staphanie, who brandishes her camera in my face.

She grins wide like a shark as Selena and Seb hug me. “Happy wedding day, Meddy,” she says. “This is going to be FUN.”

10

By now, the room has become unbearably crowded. The college has given us the largest suite room, but even so, put four loud aunties, one surly, potentially dangerous uncle, two exuberant friends, one deranged fake friend, plus myself into an enclosed space, and the noise level reaches a pitch that makes me want to jump out the window. Maybe I’d feel differently if none of the mafia crap was happening. Maybe I’d actually feel happy and carefree and not at all like I’m about to burst into tears at any given moment.

I stand back in a daze as Seb, Selena, and Staphanie breeze past me and loud, happy greetings fill the room. My family greets Selena and Seb like their long-lost children, telling them how grateful they are that they flew all the way here just for me. Everything they say seems so heartfelt and genuine. How are they so good at pretending that everything’s okay? Meanwhile, here I am, frozen at the door.

The click of a shutter startles me. Staph lowers her camera. “The nervous bride to be,” she muses.

I stare at her. She looks so different in the light of day. I try to remember her as she was last night—sharp-edged and raw and as dangerous as a viper. Now she’s wearing natural makeup, her hair is tied back neatly, and her clothes say,Don’t mind me; I’m just part of the background. She looks so sweet and young and totally incapable of killing anyone. I had wondered, as I tossed and turned in bed last night, full of anger and self-hatred, how I could’ve missed it all. Over the past few months, Staph and I had gotten close to each other and I’d stopped seeing her as my photographer and started seeing her as my friend. Surely I should’ve realized it sooner?

But now, seeing her in person after her revelation, I know that I didn’t stand a chance. She is so good at hiding what she truly is. She looks as wholesome as a ray of sunshine, as comforting as a warm loaf of bread. In fact, if Second Uncle hadn’t just accosted me minutes ago, the sight of Staph now would’ve made me question if I’d imagined everything that happened last night. I mean, I was pretty wasted; it’s possible that I’d dreamed it all up.

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