44. Chapter 44
forty-four
New York City—A gorgeous spring morning two months later
C urtis watched other patrons checking out pastries while waiting for his coffee order to be called. It was still early enough on a Sunday morning that the café wasn’t that busy.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. His face lit up when he saw who was calling. He moved away for some privacy.
“What’s up, bro?” Curtis greeted Brandon.
The sound of Brandon’s laughter filled the earpiece as he spoke off the phone to Callie. “You owe me ten euros. He’s up.”
“Tell Callie that hurts. My own sister betting against me. Tell her I’m already up on Madison and 72 nd Street waiting for my coffee—”
“What are you doing all the way up there at eight on a Sunday morning?” Brandon interrupted.
“I’m a morning person, Brandon.”
“Since when?” his friend retorted. “Since Lina kicks you awake every morning for a workout?”
“Sometimes it’s for a workout.” Curtis chuckled. “Anyway, when are you guys coming back here? James is almost two months old and looking cuter by the day.”
James, named after Uncle Brandon’s middle name, was Rae and Dean’s second child, who was born late and robust in February. The proud parents and big sister were over the moon with the arrival.
“I know! We’ve been video-calling,” Brandon said. “We’re coming at the end of May. In time for Maya’s birthday and Chris’ wedding.”
“It’ll be a great summer,” Curtis stated. “Can’t wait to see you guys.”
“Same. We need to set an entire week just you, Justin, Ram, and I jamming.”
“I’ll start the conversation on that,” Curtis took on the task.
“We also need to discuss this Grow With Rhythm Foundation idea further, man,” Brandon said. “I dug the proposal you put together. I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Dude, I have a business degree.”
Brandon laughed. “I forget about that sometimes. But you can’t really blame me.”
Curtis rolled his eyes as if Brandon could see him.
“I really think we can make a difference even if we start on a small scale,” Curtis said in full seriousness.
“I agree. I’m glad you came up with it. You seem really passionate about it.”
“I am. I was drifting a while when things were changing with you moving to Paris, and Justin and Ram were having fun with their podcast. But these past few months have really helped me figure out the next phase of my life.”
“Sounds like it.” Brandon smiled—well, Curtis couldn’t see him, but he could almost feel his best friend smiling through his voice. “It just took a mad woman wanting you dead to get that brilliant brain going.”
“Haha,” mocked Curtis. “However crazy that episode was, it led me to this moment and I can’t be more grateful. I think it was meant to be. We got an invitation to Connor Murphy and Sofia Stiletto’s wedding.”
“Really? The audacity. After putting you through that shit, they invited you to a wedding?” Brandon laughed.
“I’m glad they’re happy. And it looks like the rest of the Stiletto family changed their last name. And Mamma Serafina is in exile on some island somewhere.”
“That’s cushy. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“Well, that’s what Marcus told me,” Curtis said. “But I got a feeling there was more to it, and he was protecting me from some fucked-up stuff. As long as she stays the fuck away from me, I’m good not thinking about her ever again.”
“You’re a better man than me, brother,” Brandon commended. “How about the other thing? Did you do it yet?”
“No, but today is the day.” Curtis smiled at the woman coming to him. She handed him his cup of coffee. “It’s Brandon.”
“Hi, Brandon,” Lina said to the phone briefly, and gestured to the door. “I’ll wait outside.”
Curtis watched her slip out with an unconscious smile on his face. “Gotta go. Wish me luck?”
“You don’t need it. She’s good for you, man,” Brandon said.
“That may be, but it guarantees nothing.”
“Nope. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but you’ll never know until you go for it.”
“True. Hug my family for me.”
“Absolutely,” Brandon said. “Go for it, bro.”
Curtis ended the call, sipped his coffee, and got that extra caffeine circulating in his system, along with the low dose of adrenaline and endorphins. He walked out of the café and didn’t find Lina.
He looked around the street, where a handful of people were making their way somewhere. He noted there wasn’t a peep of worry in his chest as he scanned his surroundings for Lina. He found her talking to a tourist-looking couple. She was pointing at something on the couple’s phone, then gestured to the cross street ahead of them. As he walked toward them, he could hear her talking in Korean. She blew his mind every day.
As she sent the couple on their way, Curtis put an arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t know you spoke Korean.”
“Rudimentary Korean. I can ask for and understand directions. I figured I can give them as well. They’re heading to where we’re going.”
They started walking leisurely, drinking their coffee, without a care in the world. Not today.
“This is exactly what I pictured we do when I said I wanted to be normal with you,” Curtis said. “Strolling the streets without any of us checking if there’s anyone following or trying to stab us.”
Lina laughed. “We are in the city, and you have some obsessive fans. I’d say some vigilance is still required.”
“Nah. This is perfect,” Curtis said as they crossed Fifth Avenue and continued into Central Park.
“You’re right.” Lina smiled up at him. “It’s the simple thing that makes a moment perfect.”
“Yup. All I need is my woman on my arm, a cup of java, and no one trying to kill me.” Curtis looked at the burst of white blossoms ahead of them. “That view isn’t bad, either.”
Lina took in her first view of the cherry blossoms in full bloom and sighed heavily. “Gorgeous. Reminds me of Lunar New Year.”
And the first time I said I love you.
She didn’t have to say it. Curtis remembered the moment in details. They’d walked around a peach blossom tree—a different yet similar tree—and Lina’s mother had told them when one walked around the tree, they’d find love. But love had already found him.
“Good. They found their way,” Lina pointed out to the couple she had talked to earlier. They looked like they were in their early twenties and were eager to set up video equipment in the middle of the hill.
“They should just enjoy the view,” Curtis commented as he disposed of their empty cups in a trash can.
“You’re showing your age,” Lina teased.
Curtis took her hand and led her to the cluster of flowering trees. “I just think we don’t have to document everything and miss out on being in the moment.
“I mean, just look at this.” He stopped them right under a tree and looked up at the cloud of flowers above them. “Never in my life did I ever think I’d ever wake up early to walk in a park to look at a bunch of trees.”
“It was your idea,” Lina said.
“I know.”
“So, why did you want to come here?”
Curtis faced her and smiled. “I thought it’d be a pretty backdrop.”
“For what?”
“To ask you to marry me.” Curtis took a box out of his pocket. With a push of a small button, the square black box opened up like a Chinese puzzle.
Lina laughed at the way the box opened and sobered up at the sight of the ring it revealed. “Curtis…”
“I’m not good with long romantic speeches. But I want you to know that you are perfect to me. These past few months showed me how much better life is with you. If you believed the vendor woman on the streets of Hong Kong, we are destined,” he pointed out.
Though smiling, Lina narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t think that’s what she said.”
“Fine. Work with me here,” Curtis said. “She said we balance each other and have a strong bond. And as long as we continue to respect our differences, we can bring the best out of each other.”
“You remember that?”
“I do. We already see how we do that to each other. Since you walked back into my life, you’ve helped me figure out so many things. And I’d like to believe I’ve helped you overcome some stuff, too.”
“You have,” she agreed.
“We may not always have perfect days like today, but I want to take up the challenge of making you laugh every day and making you happy for the rest of your life. I think I’m pretty good at it.”
Lina smiled. “You are fucking great at it.”
Curtis presented the ring to her. It was a simple ring with the diamond embedded low into the design, instead of standing inside a prong. It was clean, sleek, and practical, just like Lina.
“So, Lina Cheung, I love you so fucking much. Would you go on another crazy adventure with me and marry me?” he asked again.
“Can I say something?” she asked.
“Uh-oh.”
“No uh-oh.” She cupped his face in her hands. “I love you, Curtis. I don’t think I say that enough.”
“You have a different love language. I get that.”
“You get me.” Lina nodded. “Few people do. And I never thought in a million years that you’d be the one who gets me. But there’s something about you I couldn’t figure out. I mean, you and I shouldn’t work.”
“Why not?”
“We’re so different.”
Curtis shrugged. “Opposites attract, babe. Haven’t you heard?”
She dropped her hands to his shoulders and laughed. “I’m not good at this, either.”
“There. Something in common,” he teased.
“Stop.” Lina couldn’t stop laughing from happiness. “Let me see the ring.”
Curtis proudly took it out of the box and put it on her finger. “I thought you wouldn’t want anything obnoxiously big that would catch on something while you’re working.”
“It’s perfect.” Lina beamed at the ring. “See, you really get me.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Curtis got something else out of the box. “I also got you this. It’s a chain you can clasp the ring into. See the mechanism here.”
He worked with the designer to get this done.
“So if you ever need to take the ring off your finger, you can wear it around your neck and it’ll be a cool pendant,” he explained.
“For real?” Lina tried it as he showed it to her. “Now, that’s double perfect.”
It was surreal to see Lina wearing his ring. But he realized she hadn’t actually answered his question.
“Is this one of those times you don’t answer the question but it means yes anyway?” he asked.
“No. My answer is yes,” Lina said. “Abso-fucking-lutely yes.”
“Best answer ever.” Curtis hugged her. “God, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She pulled back so she could kiss him.
A few whistles, claps, and shouts interrupted their kiss. They looked around and saw a crowd of people had gathered around the hill watching them.
“Oh, crap.”
The Korean couple they saw earlier waved at them and gave them a thumbs up. Their camera was pointing their way.
“I guess our moment is captured,” Lina said.
“Now, I’m regretting not getting down on my knee or organizing a flash mob dance or something.”
“There’s nothing you should regret about this moment, except one.”
Curtis frowned at his fiancée. “What?”
“That we’re in public,” she whispered. “And I desperately need to jump your bones right now.”
“Let’s go.” Curtis pulled her by the hand.
They ran through the crowd of people throwing congratulations at them with a smile. Curtis couldn’t flag a cab fast enough. But what he really couldn’t do fast enough was to start their lives together.
“You know my family would want to do the whole traditional Chinese wedding, right?” Lina said in the cab.
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
“I like the idea, but it’s a lot to plan.” She sounded unsure.
“Here’s an idea,” Curtis proposed. “Let’s elope.”
Lina smiled as she considered it. “Let’s.”