9 Adam
9 Adam
? à L ? t, Vi ? t Nam
“Here we are,” Ruby says brightly, standing up in the tour bus. “We’ll spend a couple of hours at B ? o ?? i’s summer palace, then we’ll sample some of the famous ? à L ? t pizza. I hope you’ve come hungry. If you choose to stay at the palace longer, let us know, and we’ll send a taxi back for
you. Then ?? c, Cherie, and I will be conducting the first round of satisfaction surveys to gauge initial compatibilities and interests.”
Adam fixes a crick in his neck and cranes his head to see where everyone’s ended up on the bus. Of course, Evie’s plunked
down next to Riley, nodding as he asks her something. Adam doesn’t know why this annoys him so much, but there’s a small—tiny—part
of him that’d love to dunk Professor Riley into the nearest waterfall. Too bad that outing’s come and gone.
As Cherie and ?? c lead the group down the steps, Riley speaks up. “B ? o ?? i was the last king of Vi ? t Nam. His palace was used as a retreat from the affairs of state. But in the French-Viêt War of the 1950s—”
Fen interrupts. “Can it, Professor. There are tour guides inside.”
Adam sees Evie hiding a smile. Since the previous day at the falls, Riley has hooked himself tightly to her at group meals and on the bus rides. He pours her wine solicitously, places his hand on the small of her back—something that inexplicably makes Adam clench his jaw—and has more or less staked his claim with fierce dedication. None of the other men ap proach her, except for Connor the architect, who is oblivious to all social cues.
Once or twice, Adam has seen Evie looking away from Riley with a glazed expression, tapping her fingers absently against her
wrist. What is she thinking? On paper, she and Riley seem perfect together. Same industry, same country. Adam has no idea
what she’s looking for, but if she wants some successful American guy from her world, she’s not going to get any closer than
Riley—at least, not on this tour.
He glances at his own seatmate, Talia. They’ve been having a perfectly lovely conversation about the climate of Vi ? t Nam and the best coffee to order (she enjoys cà phê tr ? ng; he prefers a simple Americano), and her numerous charity causes. Right now, she’s devoted to stray animal rescue efforts
in H ? Chí Minh City, in addition to the solar panels.
She laughs self-consciously. “I can really go on about these things. Tell me about where you grew up.”
She fixes her attention completely on him, and he can’t deny that it’s pleasant to be around a person who is determined to
see the best in everyone. He didn’t grow up believing that others had pure intentions, and it’s refreshing to witness someone
whose goodness hasn’t been dampened by the world. Sort of like looking into the eyes of one of those newborn kittens on posters
that teenage girls love to plaster on their walls.
But a newborn kitten doesn’t exactly inspire feelings of attraction.
She reminds him, in some ways, of his mother. Effortlessly mannered, patient, conventionally stylish. An asset to every social
situation. He’s about to deflect Talia’s curiosity by asking her about her travels as MissSài Gòn when he catches Ruby grinning
at them. She gives him a small thumbs-up.
Okay, that was odd.
It’s only been a few days, but most of the tour guests are more or less clear on whom they want to pursue. Some are keeping their options open, talking to multiple candidates, while others are firmly devoted to one person, going so far as to hold hands like high schoolers testing their first attempts at PDA. It’s surprising and endearing to see how quickly these pairings happen.
Some of the older folks gather in the evenings, partnering for hands of ti ? n lên, while they discuss how disappointing their grandchildren are. A couple in their sixties was even seen entering the
same hotel room together, unabashedly fueling the stereotype about older adults with voracious sexual appetites.
Now the older adults are the first to stream onto the palace drive. The landmark is a two-story, marigold-colored monstrosity,
its exterior painted in a white grid pattern. Vivid flowers and foliage surround the palace in neat rows.
Behind Adam, Evie muses, “They really loved that nineteen-seventies bathroom tile look, huh?”
Adam turns and grins at her, earning a bright smile in return. “My parents haven’t quite moved away from that look themselves.
I think they call it Bidet Chic.”
But then Riley puts in, “Actually, it’s the Art Deco style, which was very popular at the time in Vi ? t Nam. Did you know that this is the most visited of the emperor’s three summer palaces—”
“ Three summer palaces?” Evie says. “I have one apartment, and it’s not even properly air-conditioned. Well, I suppose it was initially. But a bird made a nest inside the
unit a few months ago.”
“And you... didn’t think to get rid of the nest?” Adam asks, puzzled.
“I mean, no.” She blushes. “They seemed pretty happy there. What’s a few months of extra heat?”
Talia observes, gently sympathetic, “That sounds uncomfortable.”
“Just another excuse to wander around my apartment naked,” Evie says blithely.
Riley’s frowning at her, lecturing about how important it is to put wildlife in its proper place, but Adam can’t help the flush that creeps up his neck. The image of Evie lounging naked around her house, leaning to retrieve a mug from a high shelf as her hair floats down her back, touching the swell of her ass—well, it’s an image that’ll be lodged in his head for a while. He tears his eyes away from her lips, the sight of a bare shoulder jutting from the one-strapped shirt she’s wearing, and clears his throat.
“You all right?” Talia asks.
“Just fine,” he says tightly.
Inside the mansion are twenty-six rooms. The royals’ personal quarters are on the second floor, while a spacious reception
area and the king’s own office space take up the first floor. The lacquered furniture sits in grand rooms with carved archways
and detailed ceiling work. The palace carries a kind of solemnity that could leave anyone awestruck.
“It’s not exactly Versailles,” Riley says. “But here, you’ll note the European tilework—”
“Can it, Professor,” Adam shoots back, earning a sly grin from Fen.
Adam studies the engraved glass map of Vi ? t Nam. Such a narrow country to have summoned so much avarice and corruption in others. He’s grown up memorizing the history
of the last king of Vi ? t Nam, the handsome playboy and last scion of royalty in a long and complicated legacy, but he’s never truly considered what
it might be like to tour these sites, to breathe in the past himself. He’s never been a person who hungered to visit tourist
spots, though in truth, this is a piece of his own homeland. It belongs to him too. He kicks himself for not taking more time
from his studies and work to try to understand the spirit of his people. In that, perhaps he’s as bad as any Vi ? t Ki ? u.
“B ? o,” Ruby calls. “This is the home of your namesake.”
Talia smiles at him, while Evie gives him a questioning look. “Oh, your name isn’t Adam?”
“It is ,” he says. “But my given name is B ? o. That’s what my parents call me.”
“It means ‘treasure,’” Ruby puts in.
“Oh, I like it,” Evie says. Her eyes soften. “You must mean a lot to your parents, for them to give you such a name.”
There’s a pause as he takes this in. Adam knows that if there’s any treasure in the family, it’d be Ruby, not him. Somehow it bugs him to have everyone know his given name, like he’s letting them in on a secret, even though it really isn’t a secret at all. He’s just grateful that Ruby doesn’t call him Baby B ? o, as she usually does.
He nods to Evie, a little coldly, then turns to Talia and asks if she wants to see the library.
Adam and Talia pass a stand full of dress-up clothing, noticing that ?? c has already pulled out his wallet and begun gesturing toward a costume. The king’s garments, of course; no mere soldier
apparel for ?? c. He struggles to pull on a yellow robe, then the towering headpiece, shoving his baseball cap into Cherie’s hands. A bored-looking
Fen takes pictures of him posing in front of the doorway. He’s trying to pull Evie into the costumery, but she’s laughing
and shaking her head. Her laugh is like bubbling champagne, golden and airy. There’s a part of Adam that wants to coax that
laugh out of her more often. Instead, he looks down at Talia, who’s examining the books.
“So do you like history?” Adam asks Talia.
She nods. “I do, quite a bit. When I was young, I was often sick, so I would read a lot of my father’s books. He was an amateur
historian. I’ve visited all of King B ? o ?? i’s palaces.”
“How does this one compare?” Adam asks.
She grins. “It’s no Bidet Chic.”
Impulsively, trying to go beyond her polished exterior, he asks, “If you could live anywhere, where would you live?”
“Honestly? I love H ? Chí Minh City. It’s energetic and diverse and always keeps me on my toes. Plus, it’s where I can do the most work for the
people who need it.”
What had he expected her to say—Uzbekistan? Her answer is honest and admirable, of course, and should be exactly the one he
wants to hear, but it leaves him feeling a bit wooden. Talia’s greatest charm is her predictability. She’s a warm bowl of
cháo, a wool-knit sweater. She makes so much sense.
And yet—he doesn’t long for the comfort of cháo as much as he should. He longs for the spice of Thai chilis, the startling sweetness of rock sugar. The unexpected.
“Where would you live?” she asks.
Somewhere in the next room, Adam can hear Riley going on about how Charles de Gaulle once stayed at the palace. He turns,
expecting to see Evie pressed to Riley’s side, but Riley is surrounded by a group of the older aunties and uncles, nodding
emphatically at everything he has to say, while a bemused tour guide tries to correct some of Riley’s more colorful elaborations.
“There’s no evidence of that...” the guide adds faintly, only to be interrupted by Riley again.
Talia gets swept up in conversation with Ruby about the ceremonial fashions of the time, and Adam, moving toward the windows,
sees something flit out of the corner of his eye. A flash of a bare shoulder. Long hair rippling behind her as she runs through
the palace gardens.
Unable to help himself, Adam absentmindedly gives an excuse to the group and stalks out the back doors to follow her.