“It’s from my dau—my favorite Disney movie,” she said quickly, and then she bit her lip. Now that she’d explained that out loud, it didn’t sound like a very classy way to pick a name. She needed to be classy, like Vy, like Kh?i, like all these people. “I am an accountant. Back in Vi?t Nam.”
A genuine smile stretched over Vy’s mouth as she looked at her brother. “I didn’t know that. How perfect.” She squeezed Kh?i’s arm like he’d run into great luck.
Esme’s lying heart twisted and beat faster. The heavens needed to strike her down right now because she was a horrible person. At least she had a rough idea of what accounting was now. She’d been sneak reading his textbooks since she was supposed to be an expert, but more often than not, she ended up lost inside dictionaries instead.
“Here, here, here, here. Precious Girl is here,” a familiar voice said.
As Cô Nga wrapped her in a tight hug, Esme’s stomach tied itself in a big knot. Had Kh?i’s mom heard Esme lying? Was the woman ashamed of her now? Sky, earth, demons, and gods, why was she such a big liar? She wasn’t this person.
“Chào, Cô Nga,” Esme said.
Cô Nga took in Esme’s green dress and smiled in approval, not caring that it was prostitutey. “You’re too beautiful. Did you like the ceremony? Are you having fun, Precious Girl?”
“Yes, it was beautiful as a dream, and—”
“You’re calling her that now?” Vy interrupted. “You know you have a daughter, right?”
Cô Nga pulled away from Esme and rubbed Vy’s arm. She meant it to be comforting, but that was also how she shredded carrots at the restaurant. “You’re my precious girl, too.”
A tight grimace of a smile stretched over Vy’s mouth.
“Eh? What’s this?” Cô Nga waved both hands at the space in between Esme and Kh?i. “Why are you two so far apart? This doesn’t look like an engaged couple.”
Kh?i rolled his eyes and took a step toward Esme. “Better?”
Cô Nga pressed her hands closer together, and he took another step. “Oi, put your arm around her.”
He released a harassed breath and wrapped an arm around Esme’s shoulders, pulling her close. Esme knew it was wrong—he’d been forced to do it—but she liked him holding her this way, here, among all these people. It made them look like a couple and helped her feel less like she was trespassing.
Someone in the middle of the room called for Cô Nga, and she patted Esme on the cheek. “You kids have fun tonight, ha? Let me know if you need anything.”
As soon as his mom left, Kh?i dropped his arm from Esme’s shoulders, and they followed the crowd to a second ballroom even more golden than the first. Huge bouquets with golden ornaments hovered over the tables on top of tall golden vases. Even the champagne glasses were rimmed with gold.
Esme, Kh?i, and his sister sat at a round table for ten next to several of his girl cousins. Introductions were made and hands shaken. Angie, Sophie, Evie, Janie, Maddie. They complained that their brother, Michael, would be absent tonight because his fiancée didn’t like big parties, and he was “whipped.” At first glance, Esme recognized they were mixed just like she was—something about them resonated with her as familiar—but instead of feeling like she belonged, she felt even more out of place. They possessed an American polish Esme lacked. They also had pretty hands. Esme sat on her hands to hide them. Wouldn’t it be nice if Kh?i had ugly hands, too? If that was so, they were an ideal couple. When she snuck a peek at his hands, however, she found them wrapped around a book. He was reading. At a wedding.
And wearing black-rimmed reading glasses.
The glasses made him look smarter and more intense, absolutely irresistible. Had they been in his pocket? And where had that book come from? Was it about something sexy like accounting or math?
She angled her head to see the cover. She couldn’t make out the title, but she was pretty sure she saw a spaceship and a green-skinned creature with horns. There was no way that was work related. He was ignoring everyone, including her, at this expensive wedding. So he could read a novel about alien demon things.
Her confusion must have been written all over her face, because Kh?i’s sister sent Esme an apologetic glance.
“He always does something like this at weddings,” Vy said. “He hates them, but my mom makes him come. He’d prefer to go to a tax seminar.”
Like magic, he looked up from his book. “What about tax seminars?”
Vy laughed and rested her chin in her hands. “You two should talk about taxes. You’re both accountants, after all. It’s a match made in heaven.”
Esme manipulated her lips into a smile. “Tell me about your work.”
He shut his book with his finger inside to keep the page, looking breathtakingly smart-gorgeous with those glasses. “I’m still working on the transfer pricing project. Are you familiar with that kind of work?”
She nodded enthusiastically even though she had no idea what he was talking about. “Of course.” No doubt about it, she was going to be an outhouse catfish in her next life. She’d have to look up transfer pricing tomorrow.
“I’m having trouble automating the process for making sure transactions between subsidiaries are at arm’s length. It’s challenging because no two subsidiaries are the same. There are always individual factors to consider,” he said.
“The length of an arm? That’s a strange saying. And so lonely.”