"How was school, Xiran?" Māmā asked in Chinese, chopping off the head of a chicken on the cutting board. I walked Ushi and Abahai home, it was a silent walk home. Before I entered the house, I slipped back on my backpack and scruffed it up.

"Fine, I did a bit of reading today," I commented loosely, taking off my backpack. Māmā was stooped on a stool, the cutting board on the floor, and the garage can next to the stool. She raised the cleaver high and brought it down hard, roughly chopping off the chicken's wing.

I remember as a kid, I was terrified of the loud, echoing noises that the chopping board and cleaver brought. "Does Xiong go to your school?" Māmā asked and I was caught off-guard with the mention of Xiong Lee.

"I don't know, I did not see him at school."

"Well, Nǜshì Lian spoke great things of Xiong. He seems like a good boy, not a bad boy," she said in very broken English. She wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. "What did you talk to your bàba about last night?"

"Huh?"

"When I was with Nǜshì Lian, you wanted to speak to your bàba."

I froze with fear. Don't tell her the truth, Bàba isn't ready to tell her yet. "I wanted to tell him to feel better, I know he's ill."

She sighed, continuing in Cantonese. "I'm just thankful your bàba got to see you with Xiong before anything bad happened. We are very happy, you might be young, quite young, but this is for the best."

Because Auntie Ponyo had a vision that I was going to end up loveless. I forced a smile. "Yes, this is for the best."