Page 47 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

“No,” Vera says, but already he’s turned his head to look over his shoulder, calling out, “Did someone order Chinese takeout?”

Another face pops out from behind the door. This time, it’s a young blond woman. Her eyes widen when she spots Vera. “Oh my god. I can’t believe you actually showed up! OMG!” She shoves the young man away unceremoniously and opens the door wide, stepping outside with a delighted squeal. “Vera Wong, I can’t believe you’re here. Okay, selfies now.”

Before Vera can even react, the girl’s phone appears in her hand and she puts an arm around Vera’s shoulders. “Say, Veraaa!”

Vera conjures up an awkward smile and the phone flashes, once, twice, three times.

“Let me take that for you,” the girl says, taking hold of the Tiffin tower. “Oof, it’s heavy. What do you have in here?”

Food. Food, Vera can talk about. The answer flows right out, and for the first time since arriving, Vera does not feel tongue-tied. “Chinese barbecue pork. Salt and pepper squid. Black pepper—”

“Shut up!” the girl cries.

Vera blinks. “What?”

“I don’t think she meant it in a bad way,” Aimes mutters.

“That sounds crazy good,” the girl says. “OMG, you are just so cute in real life, Vera. Can you adopt me please?”

“Oh,” Vera says, slightly taken aback. “Yes.”

The girl squeals and claps. “Yay! Okay, come on in. Rob,” she barks at the guy, “don’t just stand there. Help them with their containers. Sorry, Rob’s my younger brother and he’s totally a second child.”

“Wait, what is your name?” Vera says, hurrying after the girl. The music is almost unbearably loud, and the house is full of young people.

“Natalie,” the girl says. “Did I not tell you over DM? My bad.”

Vera glances behind her to make sure Aimes and Millie are following her, and sure enough, they are. Millie is looking around with big, scared eyes, and Aimes is also looking around with big, scared eyes, although she is at least trying to not look too scared. Vera squashes the urge to look around with big, scared eyes as well.Remember, Vera reminds herself,your ass is bad. Very bad. And that is a good thing.

As they walk through the crowded living room, Natalie greets other guests smoothly, saying, “Look who I have here! Vera Wong, in the flesh! Isn’t she the cutest?”

And the other guests turn, their eyes widening, their mouths opening into awed smiles, and Vera finds herself enveloped in a swarm of young people all clamoring for her to adopt them. It is somewhat nice, she supposes, in a bizarre way. “Okay, okay,” she calls out, “I will adopt you. Yes, and you also. You, no, I don’t like blue hair, you color back to normal, then I adopt you.”

Next to her, Aimes and Millie share a look with each other. Do they think she didn’t notice that? She’ll have to have a chat with them about it. They shouldn’t be jealous about her adopting these needy youngsters. Natalie shoos everyone away and leads Vera to the dining room, which has a massive hardwood table that canseat about twenty people comfortably. The table is laden with dishes, but Natalie waves at a server and asks him to remove all of it.

“All of it, miss?” the server asks.

“Yes, thank you.” Natalie heaves the Tiffin tower onto the table and says, “Phew! That was heavy, Vera. Okay, how do I undo this?” She fiddles with the top latch until Vera flaps at her.

“Aiya, you don’t anyhow play with it, later you break. Come, let me do.” Vera unlocks the tower and starts taking the containers out. She directs Aimes and Millie to put down their towers as well, then goes around laying out the containers on the table. Altogether, there are five containers, all of them stuffed to the brim with food. She’s only vaguely aware of movement around her, but somehow, when she glances up, a crowd has gathered around her, all of them staring with rapt attention.

“Tell us what each dish is,” Natalie says, aiming her phone camera at Vera.

“Oh. Um. Okay.”

Vera has always secretly thought that she would make a fine TV star. After all, she has it all—the looks, the grace, and the voice. But now, with all these phone cameras aimed at her, she feels strangely shy. When she speaks, her voice comes out meek and soft, very much unlike herself.

“Hang on,” Natalie says, “let me just turn that down…” She taps on her phone, and the song that had been blaring through the house is muted to a low volume. “Okay.”

“Um,” Vera says. She swallows, then points a finger at the nearest Tiffin container. To her surprise, the finger is slightly shaky. “T-this is claypot rice. I cook the rice in a clay pot over charcoal fire and put Chinese sausage and chicken in it.”

The audience oohs. “It smells so good,” someone says.

This gives Vera a little bit of oomph, and she speaks louder, pointing to the next dish. “This one is San Bei Ji. Three cup chicken. The name of the dish is because you just use the same cup to measure everything, very simple but very delicious.” She goes on to the next dish and the next, and before long, Vera realizes she is enjoying herself. She smiles at the cameras, flapping at them one minute and pointing sternly the next. She really was made for this. When she’s done with the final dish, everyone cheers, and Vera blushes all the way from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. Applause from a roomful of people. My goodness. It feels so natural. She really is born for this kind of thing. She preens a little.

Natalie links her arm through Vera’s and waves at everyone. “Okay, everyone, dig in!” As the crowd descends upon Vera’s lovingly cooked feast, Vera leads Natalie away.

“I need to ask you question,” Vera says.

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