CHAPTER 15

ZARIA

I could only gawk at the woman waving her hands dramatically and the man who slammed his palm on the table.

“You always shout!” the woman yelled. “Always face like bittermelon!”

“You talk too much!” he fired back. “You scare people with your mouth, not me!”

I looked up through my tears, stunned.

The man I had thought was quiet and gentle was now yelling so loudly the bowls rattled. The woman pointed at him, her voice rising higher with each sentence. They went back and forth, insults spilling out freely.

“Old fool!” the woman cried.

“Loud chicken!” the man replied.

She gasped. “You dare!”

“You started!”

I let out a strange sound that surprised even me. It was halfway between a sob and a laugh. My chest hurt, my eyes burned, but something about the way they argued felt unreal. Too dramatic and exaggerated. It could never be like this in Renzo's house which was quieter than this.

They paused at the same time like chickens.

I laughed out then with tears still running down my face. It came out suddenly, uncontrollably, and I had to press my hand to my mouth again.

Both of them turned to look at me.

The woman softened instantly. “See?” she said, poking her husband. “You make her laugh now.”

“I did nothing,” he muttered, crossing his arms.

“You did,” I said, my voice shaking. “Both of you.”

The woman smiled gently and pulled a chair closer, sitting beside me. She patted my back awkwardly. “Good. Cry. Laugh. Same same.”

The man sighed heavily and pushed a bowl of rice toward me. “Eat,” he said gruffly. “Crying with an empty stomach bad.”

I nodded, wiping my face. My hands trembled as I picked up the spoon. The rice was warm enough. As I ate, the woman kept talking, telling stories I could only half understand, pointing at her husband and shaking her head. He interrupted her often, loudly correcting details. She swatted his arm and he complained.

 

It was loud, chaotic, ridiculous… and safe.

 

I realized then that they were not really angry at each other or at me. They were just performing an act, putting on noise to fill the space where silence might have swallowed me whole. Tears slipped down my face again. For the first time since I left Renzo, I was not pregnant and alone.

 

Somehow, in this small house with simple furniture and two old people arguing like children, I felt something close to home.

 

____________________

 

By the time our dish bowls were empty, the night had settled fully outside. Almost immediately, the soft chorus of insects and the occasional creak of the house increased…

 

The woman stood and clapped her hands once. “Late,” she announced. “Sleep now. Tomorrow talk.”

 

I nodded, suddenly feeling the weight of the day press down on me all at once. The throbbing of my entire body had reduced… and all I wanted to do was sleep.

 

She gestured for me to follow her down a narrow hallway. The lights were dim, warm, and yellow and the floorboards creaked softly under our feet. At the end of the hallway, she stopped in front of a door and opened it.

 

The room smelled like clean bedsheets and soap.

 

My lips quivered at the small but neat arrangement. It was a single bed with white covers, a wooden wardrobe, and a small table by the window. Everything was carefully arranged, as if no one had touched it in a long time but it had been cleaned again and again anyway.

 

The woman smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I prepareyour room,” she said proudly. “Waiting. Because I know you will be back someday.”

 

My chest twisted so suddenly I had to grip the doorframe.

 

I stepped inside, then turned back to her. Words failed me and all I could do was lean forward and kiss her cheeks the way I used to when I was younger and didn’t know how to say things properly.

 

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you, Mama Li.”

 

She froze.

 

Her hands shot out and grabbed mine, her grip surprisingly strong. Her eyes widened, “You still remember?” she asked, trembling a little. “You still call me that?”

 

I sighed, long and slow. “How could I not?” I said quietly. “You are still my mother.”

 

Her mouth opened, then closed again. Instantly, she pulled me into a tight hug that smelled of soap and rice and home. I hugged her back just as tightly.

 

“We will talk tomorrow,” I promised softly. “I swear. About everything.”

 

She nodded against my shoulder, then pulled back, wiping her eyes with the corner of her sleeve like it was nothing. “Sleep,” she said firmly. “Tomorrow long day.”

 

I hugged her once more, then stepped into the room and gently closed the door.

 

The latch clicked softly.

 

I stood there for a moment, listening. At first, there was only silence. Then faint voices drifted through the thin walls.

 

“Li,” the man whispered loudly, which did not feel like whispering at all.

 

“Why are you still here?” Mama Li hissed. “Zaria already saw you, shouldn’t you go back home now?”

 

What the hell? I frowned, tiptoeing toward the door.

 

The man whispered back, “She already knows about us, right?”

 

Mama Li paused. “Kmows what?”

 

“That we are dating!” he said proudly.

 

“Don't be silly, Thomas.”

 

I clapped a hand over my mouth. Laughter shook me so hard I had to lean against the wall.

 

Outside, Mama Li gasped. “Dating? Who says dating?”

 

“You!” Thomas argued. “You say we drink tea together every day!”

 

“That is not dating, you idiot!” she snapped.

 

“It’s romance!” he insisted.

 

I slid down onto the bed, laughing so hard. My stomach hurt from holding it in and tears streamed down my face again, but these ones were different. The argument continued, muffled but intense as insults flew back and forth.

 

I didn’t need to understand every word. The tone said enough.