Kevin’s eyes bulge and I’m not sure if it’s because his dad is more au fait with cosplay than he suspected, or if it’s just the terror that they may explore this room more fully. ‘No, Dad, cosplay is anything you want it to be and, as you can see, Lily here has a penchant for sequins and feathers.’
‘Lily has?’ Shu-feng queries.
I feel compelled to help him out and walk into the room and reach for his Marie Antoinette dress. ‘I really like French historical costume and, you know, it seems a shame not to celebrate the beauty of some bygone eras.’
Kevin’s fears begin to be realised as Shu-feng moves inside and starts touching the clothes. She pauses after a couple of minutes whilst Chih-hao talks about the importance of costume and its emblematic role during the French Revolution. As he pauses for breath, Shu-feng looks at the clothes I am wearing, which are very like the clothes she has always seen me wearing, tight- fitting and fairly neutral. She raises an eyebrow and looks directly at me. That woman is the boss of the direct stare and I find myself examining the carpet.
‘Right, right, come on, that’s the house tour done.’ Kevin practically grabs his mother and hurls her back out of the room and towards the stairs. ‘We don’t want to miss dinner.’
‘Ah no, good point. What are we doing for dinner, son?’
‘Lily is cooking.’
I nod and wave my hand to the stairs in an attempt to get Chih-hao down them and away from the dressing room.
‘Hmmmm,’ says Shu-feng knowingly. It’s her usual verbal response and why her question earlier was such a surprise.
‘Then why will we miss...?’
‘She’s very fussy. She likes to start at um.... 6.23 on the dot, isn’t that right, Lils?’ Both his mum and dad look at him as if he is a small child trying to bluster his way out of a situation. Kevin shrugs, knowing he’s been caught talking nonsense. ‘We thought it would be nice to have a night in as tomorrow is going to be such a busy day.’
We wander through to the kitchen and I get out a block of tofu and start to cut it up, roll it in flour to give it a crispy edge and fry it as Chih-hao chatters away about the way tofu is made from soy beans, with particular attention given to the way it’s strained and how the curds form. I try and eat it at least once a week but he is putting me off it a little.
‘So your piano, it fits the room nicely. I can picture the piano being played as Lily cooks. I assume you do most of the cooking.’ I look up and smile and nod as I put the tofu into bowls of rice and vegetables. The piano does get played if Dan is here whilst I cook, it’s just that Kevin likes to vogue all over the room as it’s played rather than sitting on a stool and bashing the keys. Although I know that despite his panicked look earlier, Dan has been teaching him to play again recently.
‘That’s about right,’ says Kevin, cheerily grinning at me, safe in the knowledge I’m not going to rat him out as I bring the steaming bowls over to the table.
‘Ah, Lily, thank you. This looks delicious...’
‘Hmmm,’ Shu-feng murmurs. I know that Kevin and his mother share a similar taste in food and suspect she was secretly hoping for something cream- and butter-based, maybe sprinkled with half a bag of sugar and topped with a squirt or two of golden syrup.
‘...and you’re looking well too. Still swimming every day?’
‘I’ve been doing bootcamp.’ Kevin speaks before I get a chance to, so I nod and smile and try to hide the smirk as I picture Kevin’s continued bootcamp participation. He has told the trainer, Joe, that he has a medical condition so needs to sit out certain sections. A medical condition that has him lying on the ground making daisy chains most weeks unless Dan happens to join us. His presence has healing powers.
‘Hmmmm.’ Shu-feng spears a piece of carrot and looks across at me before she puts it in her mouth. Her face suggests I am trying to feed her rocks but I know full well that Shu-feng will eat anything put in front of her.
‘Ah, I read an interesting article the other day about fitness...’ And Chih-hao begins one of his speeches – honestly, they can go on for a good fifteen minutes without him seeming to draw breath. He would have made a great athlete. As ever, it’s Shu-feng’s cue to dive into her meal.
I have always been fascinated by Kevin’s mother. She is a tiny woman and has always reminded me of a sparrow. Her mind is as sharp as a pin, her face inquisitive and cheery, her head frequently cocked to one side. She looks like she has the tiniest appetite and probably does no more than peck at three peas and a rocket leaf but that is so far from the truth it’s laughable. The woman can eat. And all once her husband is speaking. She waits for him, head cocked politely, nodding at the conversation and makinghmmmnoises the meaning of which can be inferred from the pitch of her response. But when he launches into yet another monologue about something she unclasps her hands and fixes her full concentration on the food in front of her. I don’t know how she stays so tiny. I do know when I first witnessed it I sat so agog that Kevin tapped me under the chin to indicate I should probably close my mouth. But by the time Chih-hao is saying he heard a fascinating thing about boats the other day, Shu-feng has eaten three bowls of food and is casting glances at the kitchen to see if there might be extra floating around.
Knowing her as I do I have picked up a large squidgy cake from the deli on the corner. Seeing mother and son’s faces as I take it from the fridge and carefully place the three-tier creation on the side is a picture. Kevin shoots around the table at speed to clear away the dishes, making room for cake. As I am cutting slices for them Kevin knows both his parents may be distracted enough for him to remind them that they couldn’t spend the day together tomorrow.
‘Mum and Dad, before you came over I mentioned I had a full day of work scheduled for this weekend that I simply can’t get out of, and I’m so sorry but I still can’t. Any other date and I would. Instead, Lily will take you out tomorrow and we can catch up on Sunday. I’ll be completely tied up at work.’ I hand him an extra big slice, partly because I know how uncomfortable he is saying this to his parents but also because he has managed to utter that last sentence without accompanying it with a wink and a smirk.
‘And, Uncle and Auntie, I have got the best day lined up,’ I say to try and mitigate the blow. ‘We’re going to be so busy. I remember, Chih-hao, last time you were over you were fascinated by the thought of caves under the city and—’
‘Ooh,’ said Chih-hao, ‘that sounds good. I would like to see the caves. But Shu-feng and I noticed lots of posters all over the city as the taxi brought us in. Your Pride week? We saw lots of activities advertised. Did you know Taipei’s Prides are the biggest in Asia? We thought we may see how Bristol compares?’
‘Um...more fascinating than the caves is the fact that Lily’s friend may be doing all that with you as well,’ Kevin interrupts, so determined to halt the direction of conversation that his voice is positively burbling. Like a brook. One I wish I could dam.
‘Hmmm?’ Shu-feng’s eyes widen. I have known them for over ten years and never have they yet met a ‘friend’ of mine. I could kill him.
‘Um... Sorry, that’s not happening now,’ I say firmly whilst shooting daggers at Kevin.
‘We used to think you might end up marrying Kevin,’ Chih-hao smiles and both Kevin and I cringe. In fact, Kevin lets out a disgusted squeal at the same time and I shoot him a filthy look. ‘But I’d be excited to meet your friend. Tell me, what does his father do?’
Jesus! He’s worse than my own parents would be.
