Page 30 of Billionaire’s Promise

“I’m sorry. I know it’s been hard for you growing up. You should have talked to me about…stuff. And, uh, just let me help you. Whatever you need.”

I stuffed a mouthful of abalone in my mouth and shook my head. “It’s all about you right now.”

I mouthed out the words as best as I could, as I’d do when a waitress came asking about how my food tasted when my mouth was full – which was somehow all the time.

“Thanks, Didi.” Didi meant little brother in Mandarin. Even though Jenny was only a month older than me, she never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was the younger one. “But you have enough on your plate.”

It was figurative as much as literal. Jenny had hardly eaten anything. I was oddly pleased about what she said. I knew things hadn’t been easy for Jenny back home. But it must have taken her a lot of courage to talk about her personal thoughts.

“Isn’t it amazing to be surrounded by your own culture, though?” It was faint but I could hear the bitterness in her smooth tiny voice. Jenny played with the food in front of her but without any intention, it seemed, of putting any of it into her mouth.

“Yes, I guess it is,” I admitted. “I do miss China when I’m here for too long. The food, the people, just the way people do things.”

“What was it like growing up here?” Jenny put down her fork, ready for a story from June.

“I don’t know, I guess I don’t think about it too much most of the time. But sometimes, I feel like I don’t really understand the other half of me. My Chinese side that is.” June flicked her wavy black hair.

“Your mother never brought you to visit China?”

“No, my mother is actually part Chinese and part British. My grandmother is Malaysian Chinese.” She chuckled. “That means I’m only a quarter Chinese.”

“Oh, that sounds so interesting. Is your mother very Asian? I mean, is she a tiger mom?”

June lifted up her hand to cover her chewing mouth.

“Yes, she is.” She swallowed her food and continued, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that it was a thing until that Tiger Mom book came out! I thought I just had a super strict mother.”

“To be honest, we don’t really have tiger moms. Me and Kai.” Jenny sounded sad. “Our parents weren’t always there, I mean they were never there, really. We were brought up by our housekeepers, drivers, and other staff. And when we did see them, it was mostly to report our performance at school, and all these fun activities that they thought would make us great when we got older.”

“Fun, huh? What kind of activities?”

“Fencing. Violin. Piano. Karate. Kung Fu. Tennis. Swimming.”

“My god, that is a lot.”

“And finance, fashion, ballet, traditional dancing, calligraphy, painting…” Jenny kept adding the list.

“I didn’t have to do ballet, or traditional dancing.” I knew it didn’t help but I just wanted to point that out.

“That’s because you were a boy,” Jenny clarified. “But your violin was surprisingly good for a boy.”

I rolled my eyes so hard that I swore I could hear them hit the back of my skull. “You’re not allowed to say that here. Not in America. No sexist BS here.”

“Wow, so you can do all that stuff you just mentioned?” June tried to keep track of what Jenny had told her. “You guys must have been busy growing up.”

“Well, if it was something I liked, then I paid more attention. Otherwise, I just pretended to be useless,” Jenny offered that information. “My little cousin here is good at everything. Even the things that he pretended to hate. Unlike him, I dropped out of most of them apart from fashion, painting, and traditional dancing.”

I noticed that June’s eyes sparkled, like a child who just figured out a new feature of her favorite toy – that made her golden-brown eyes even more irresistible.

“That’s still pretty impressive. I don’t have any hobbies.” June took a sip of her sparkling water. “I used to dance around with Chloe, my best friend, when we were little. I would go to her house and watch her do ballet in her studio, then I would copy her dance moves here and there.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you take lessons if you enjoyed it so much?” Jenny asked the question that I had always wanted to know.

“My mother wanted me to focus on my studies.” She laughed awkwardly. “Become a doctor, follow in my dad’s footsteps and all.”

Typical Asian parent.

“You mean you were never allowed to do anything for fun outside of school?” Jenny sounded as if she enjoyed the after-school activities that she hated so much.