AnYi 安亦

---

One of your characters has been mistaken for somebody else. Write what happens next.

---

‘So, the presentation needs to be ready by Tuesday? Send me the draft design before you submit it. I’ll see what I can do.’ Minru managed to balance her phone between her chin and shoulder, while typing furiously on the laptop on the table.

‘You TRULY are my god and saviour, Minru!’ Minru cringed a little at the amount of excitement in Susu’s voice. ‘How can I thank you? I can buy you dinner! Or bubble tea! I can cover your next month’s supply of bubble tea! How about that?’

‘It really is no big deal.’ said Minru, sparing one hand to take hold of the phone so she could move her ear away from the speaker. ‘And I don’t drink bubble tea anymore. But if you insist, you can cover my Starbucks order.’

‘I thought you hated Starbucks?’

‘Yeah, but my Wi-Fi broke.’ Minru replied, finally turning off her laptop.

‘Oh dear, did you go all the way to Starbucks to look at my proposal? I LOVE you Minru!’ yelled Susu at the other end of the phone. ‘It’s all on me – have you ordered already? I recommend their new passion fruit and peach oolong tea! Bet on my LIFE it’s the nicest thing they EVER made! It’ll bring you good luck.’

Minru was by no means an expert on dazzling Starbucks menus, so she took Susu’s advice without further comment. The café was fairly empty on a weekday afternoon, and her drink was soon ready. She was about to leave with it, before she remembered about an email that she needed to look at. She returned to her seat and opened her inbox.

The email was long and complicated, and she spent several minutes marking the important points. Just as she was about to finish, a shrill voice that could have shattered glass rang in front of her.

‘Child, is that a passion fruit and peach you’re having?’

Minru jumped. The woman before her looked about fifty, with faded dyed hair and a broad grin. Holding a glass flask full of what looked like a disastrous mix of jasmine tea, wolfberry, and rose, she sat down in the seat next to Minru after she nodded. The stranger sized her up with shrewd eyes and an overfamiliar smile, letting out a satisfied sigh.

‘My, my, you’re prettier than I expected! You look so much younger in white!’ she smiled at in such a way that Minru felt she was like a chicken being assessed at the poultry market. Moving slightly away from the woman, Minru politely replied with, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think we know each other.’

The woman laughed and patted Minru on the arm, who instantly moved further away. ‘Don’t be shy, child! I’m your Auntie Zhu – Weiting’s mum. You probably don’t remember, but I knew your grandmother! I was there at your first birthday party – you were such a delicious baby back then! Look how you’ve grown!’

As if a hidden switch had been turned on, Ms Zhu immediately started chattering about The Chronicles of When You Were A Baby, with such quick voracity that Minru barely had a chance to point out that she had no recollection of any name or anecdote that Ms Zhu was referring to. Grandmother had never mentioned this person, but Minru supposed it was possible that this Ms Zhu was some old acquaintance, if an overtly loud and enthusiastic one. Common courtesy required that she stay and listen. She managed a couple of ‘Yes’s and ‘Hmm’s in between the long list of mundane achievements that were attributed to Ms Zhu’s son, Weiting, her mind already drifting off to possible ways of extracting herself from this odd conversation. Ms Zhu was clearly very proud of her Weiting; Minru would not have minded her gloating so much, if Ms Zhu didn’t ask her so many personal questions whenever she finished telling an achievement of Weiting’s. Minru dodged most of these questions with ambiguous answers, but Ms Zhu seemed satisfied anyway.

‘Of course, of course, you’re still shy, as a young lady should be!’ she said, taking a large gulp from her flask. ‘but we’ve heard lots of good things about you already! I really like young girls like you – you’re pretty, but not too pretty; you have a university degree, which is very all very well, but fortunately you’re not doing a PhD…Weiting’s just finished his masters, you know, but then he’s a man…I always say girls don’t need to go to all that trouble of doing postgraduate work. You have better sense than that! Weiting doesn’t like that kind of nerdy girls either. And that’s just good, because you’re not, and we all like you very much.’

Minru frowned and tried to speak. ‘Actually, I don’t think –’

‘What do you think about children? We want two, is that OK with you?’ said Ms Zhu, smiling affectionately and taking Minru’s hand.

Minru went dumbstruck. Her spare storage of politeness was forgotten under the shock.

‘Children! Whose children?’

‘Yours and Weiting’s, of course!’ Ms Zhu raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. ‘You’re not one of those young ladies who don’t want children, are you? I tell you, child, you’ll learn to want them when you’re married, I think it’s best to have a spring wedding and –’

‘You must be utterly crazy.’ Minru snatched her hand away and jumped up, her voice raising in anger; the customers nearby started to turn to look at them. ‘I don’t know you, and I don’t give a damn about your son’s promotion. If he still needs his mother to hunt for a partner for him in this way, I sincerely advise him to remain best friends with masturbation for the rest of his life.’

With that, she stormed out, bumping into a young woman on the way, who was wearing a white dress and holding a freshly made passion fruit drink.

‘Auntie Zhu?’ said the woman. ‘What on earth was that about?’