Page 89 of Here for a Good Time
“I don’t know whatitis—” I tease. “But now you absolutely have to say it.”
“If you wanted to live in a Barbie Dreamhouse, then I would live in our Barbie Dreamhouse with you. You’re the only person I ever want to pick out a sofa with, teal or otherwise. And you’re the only person I want to come home to, Barbie or otherwise.”
My heart feels like it’s going to collapse under the weight of all this love.
Another round of sex later, I’m drifting off but not fully asleep, and my eyes flutter open at a gentle tug around my neck. Zwe’s lifted my necklace so he can trace the phrase on the front. “Sorry,” he whispers, running the pendant between his thumb and forefinger. “I just… still love seeing this on you. I know it’s wrong, but whenever you’d go on dates, a possessive part of me would think,She’s wearing the necklace. That means something.That no matter where you went, no matter which new guy tried to woo you, a part of me was always connected to you.”
“Zwe Aung Win doesn’t get jealous,” I murmur, dazed and sounding like I’m addressing a room.
I feel the breath of his low chuckle. “Zwe Aung Win does weird, unfathomable things when he’s around you.”
Sleepily, I reach up to hold the piece of gold between my own fingers, and Zwe laces his in between mine. I smile at the warmth, the familiarity, this sense ofblindfold me in a sea of people and I could still pick out your hands by touch alone.
I trail a fingertip along every line and curve of the small letters.Little by little.
I tell him, “It’s the truest thing I know.”
All four of our parents had been waiting at Zwe’s parents’ place hours before our plane touched down in Yangon.
Zwe goes to put the key in the lock, but the door opens before he can even reach over.
“I am going to kill you!” Mom yells, crushing me to her. “I’m glad you’re not dead because that means now I get to kill you.”
We had had a serious debate over whether to tell them in advance over the phone or in person, but decided on the former before they could read the news.
“I’m okay,” I say into my mother’s chest. As I inhale her fragrance and melt into her hug, I’m a kid again, leaping over to her at the end of the school day and excited to tell her everything that happened.
“No, you’re not, you’re grounded.”
I pull back and loop my arms around her neck. “You can’t ground me, I don’t live under your roof anymore.”
“Like that’ll stop us,” Auntie Eindra says. She’s got one arm around Zwe. “You’re both grounded. And from now on, you have to share your location with us at all times.”
“I—” Zwe starts.
“At. All. Times,” Auntie says with a glare that means business.
“We love you, too,” I say.
Mom and Auntie both give aharrumph.
“Okay, we agreed to give you both first hug but now you’re just hogging them. Give us our children,” Dad says and waves me over. He hugs me, Uncle Arkar hugs Zwe, they tell us they love us and that we’re idiots and we tell them we know, on both counts.
They try to guilt-trip us into staying for dinner. “Mother! We’ve been traveling for over half a day! I don’t feel human. I just want to go home and shower,” I cry.
“Oh, so you nearly die and you can’t even have dinner with your elderly mother?” She gives a dramatic tut.
“We will have dinner every night this week,” I say, and plant a kiss on her cheek. “I promise.”
On the taxi ride home, I slump sideways onto Zwe’s shoulder. Despite the fact that he’s exhausted, too, as evidenced by the bags under his eyes and his straggly voice, he remains upright and alert.
“Hey, do you think they know about us?” Zwe asks.
“Oh, absolutely,” I say.
“Did you tell them?”
“No,” I say. “But when have we ever been able to hide anything from them? I guarantee you they’re gossiping about us right this minute.”
