Epilogue
One Year Later
This housewarming party is going to be perfect.
I have the charcuterie board sprawled out on the dining room table.
Okay, so it’s not the dining room table, it’s the countertop between the kitchen and the living room.
I also have the money tree Ma gave me propped up against the bedroom window.
Because it’s the only window that Yua and I have.
And the amber musk candle is lit. I just don’t know where to put it because Yua and I don’t have a coffee table. Yet. It’s a work in progress.
“What time are your friends coming again?” Yua calls from the bathroom. She’s sweeping the last of my hair up from the floor even though I don’t notice any on the dark hardwood. Yua insists I’m the one who sheds the most, but now that she’s dyed her hair back to black, I can’t tell a difference.
“Um, I think they said they’d be here five minutes ago,” I say, walking over to her with the lit candle still in my hands.
Yua glances up at me through the reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Everything’s been wiped down. There are no splash marks around the sink.
All of Yua’s bobby pins have been picked up and stored away.
As long as my friends don’t snoop through the bathroom drawers, they’ll think we keep our apartment nice and tidy.
Plus, it helps that Yua keeps most of her tattoo stuff at Elevation Ink.
We wouldn’t have room for it all in this tiny apartment. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Okay, good,” Yua says, grabbing the candle with her gloved hands and setting it on the back of the toilet. “It smells like bleach in here.”
I pick it up immediately and set it on the counter instead. “Um, think again, madam. If you leave it there, my friends will catch their hair on fire when they use the restroom.”
Yua thunks her forehead. “Right, yeah. Good thinking, love.”
We’ve been living together for only a month, but I swear I’ll never get tired of hearing her call me love in that Japanese-British accent of hers.
“Sorry, I just want this to be perfect,” Yua says, dumping the dustpan into the bathroom trash can.
“Why?” I chuckle, leaning against the bathroom door. Already, the candle has taken over the sterile stench of bleach. “You’ve met my friends before.”
“I’m not anxious about that,” Yua says, peeling off her cleaning gloves and tucking them under the sink. One of the cupboard hinges is loose. We’ll fix it eventually. For now, it gives the bathroom character. “I’m talking about your dad.”
A knot swells in my stomach. Right. That.
Since Ma gave me Peter’s phone number, we’ve been getting to know each other.
A text here. A call there. He lives in New Jersey and coaches high school basketball.
We don’t have much in common other than he’s really into nature photography, and I guess that counts as something artistic.
Peter took me out to dinner to celebrate my acceptance into CIF.
It’s not the relationship I hoped it would be, but he’s trying, and that’s all that matters.
“What’s he going to think about the tattoo I put on his daughter?” Yua chews on the inside of her cheek.
I snort. “I already sent him a picture of it.”
Yua’s eyes bulge so wide, it almost reminds me of Aiko’s animated expressions. “You—what?”
“He said it’s cute,” I chuckle, then my tone drops. “Ma, on the other hand…”
Yua’s fingers comb through her scalp until she’s pulling on it. “You showed your ma already, too? Oh God. What did she say?”
“She said it’s adorable.” I smile.
Yua’s eyelids droop. “Frankly, I don’t like your sense of humor, love.”
“Frankly, I love—” But just before I can say you, a knock sounds from the front door.
Yua hurries out of the bathroom, and we walk down the long hallway to our front door. It feels like a waste of space, but it’s New York City. What affordable apartment doesn’t have a weird layout?
I reach the door, thinking Ma is on the other side.
She’s coming over with her latest boyfriend, whose name I’ve forgotten already.
She’s been cool with me hanging around Peter, and she’s made it clear she’s not going to date him again.
It’s for the best because they’ve been platonically civil the few times we’ve all been together.
But when I pull back the door, I’m greeted by a chorus of voices.
“Happy housewarming!” Archi and Whitney sing in unison.
Archi’s holding a bag with tissue paper sticking from it. Whitney has a cellophane-wrapped basket in hand. I reach right past those gifts and throw my arms around my best friends. “Ah! So glad you finally made it!”
“Of course!” Archi says as she moves toward Yua for a hug. “We didn’t just come here to see your apartment.”
“You better show us that tat, Mrs. Legally an Adult.” Whitney laughs.
I snicker and wait for her to finish greeting Yua before I tug on the collar of my blouse. “Okay, but you’re going to have to help me.”
I spin around and pull the hair off my back. Whitney holds my blouse, revealing the week-old tattoo on my left shoulder blade. I lock eyes with Yua as my friends giggle behind me. This was the reaction I’ve been waiting for.
It’s a cartoonish tattoo of Boba, my stuffed bat, sitting next to Mochi, the red panda plushie that’s situated on my bed right now. The two of them lean into each other as they take a bite out of a giant dumpling. Just under that are the words I love you so mochi.
“Anyone else interested in getting a new tattoo?” Yua asks, grinning.
“You only have so much time before our visit to Japan in the fall.” I laugh.
“That’s so fun you’re going back!” Whitney smiles. “Thierry and I are heading off to London then to see my cousin. She’s doing her semester abroad there.”
I shake my head. “Time is flying.”
“As usual, Whit and Lilyn are going off topic,” Archi says, still focused on my tattoo. “This tattoo is just so you. I can’t get over it.”
I’m still turned around, holding Yua’s gaze. I take her hand in mine and kiss it. “I had the best tattoo artist.”