And suddenly, that was what they were doing.
Hugging.
This was a first for him. Hugging and open signs of affection were perfectly acceptable in China. Especially among the Red Diamond who considered themselves family. But he’d never been hugged by a woman before.
At least not one he could remember. He faltered for a few panicked moments, unsure what to do with his arms.
But eventually… they found their way around her. He was stiff at first, but he relaxed the longer she stayed in his embrace.
She sighed as he held her. Maybe he was doing this right. He hoped he was doing this right.
He liked the feel of her soft body inside his hard arms. Liked it so much that another strange instinct came over him. He cupped the back of her head and pressed it into his chest. Pulling her in closer and even deeper into his embrace.
As first hugs went, Victor suspected this was a good one.
10
DAWN
There was a rule about changing back into your school uniform before you left the locker room. But if Victor knew about it, he didn't care.
He led me out of the boys’ locker room, and we walked down the hallway together. Side-by-side, but still awkward as hell.
I guessed some things never changed, even if a guy transferred into your school and beat up your brother's bullies because…
Why exactly had he done that? I still wasn’t sure.
I peeped sideways at Victor after we walked out of ToProg’s front doors. I still couldn’t believe he was actually here. At my school. With me. Questions swirled inside my head as we approached the school’s black iron gates.
But I stopped short before I could ask any of them.
Byron wasn’t waiting for me outside the gates. There was only a shiny black Bentley idling at the curb, most likely waiting for one of the Richie Rich kids from some after-school club that still hadn’t let out.
Maybe Byron went home without me? But why would he do that? He had to have as many questions for me as I had for Victor.
Donny chose that moment to climb out of the driver's side of the Bentley. He rushed around the front of it to open the back door. And there was Byron in his bright yellow basketball uniform, already seated inside the car, waving at me like a maniac.
I looked up at Victor. Who looked down at me, like, What else did you expect? I’m rich, bitch. Then he waved me forward, extending a hand toward the car.
The Bentley’s back cabin was larger than large. I mean, old-school, with two rows of elegant leather seats facing each other.
I tentatively slid into the seat next to Byron. And Victor dropped down into the one directly across from me like he owned the place—which I guess he technically did.
“This is how you roll, V?” Byron asked-signed after Donny closed the door behind us. Then he hit Victor with his totally made-up sign for “Noice!”
Victor merely nodded in a way that conveyed, I'm used to this, and you need to calm down.
It was a quiet ride over to our side of town. I don't think any of us knew what to say after all of that.
The adrenaline drop must have hit Byron hard, though. After a few more thank yous to Victor, he nodded off beside me, his head lolling until it ended up on my shoulder.
“Thank you,” I signed to Victor silently to keep from waking up my brother.
Victor wasn’t nearly as gracious about accepting my extra thank you as he’d been with my brother.
“You already thanked me in ASL,” he signed back with a smug smirk. “You should practice your CSL.”
“Thank you?” I made the CSL version of the THANK YOU sign with a questioning grimace.
He reached across the space and replaced the index finger I was pumping with my thumb. Then he sat back to sign, “You did not practice over the break.”
I confessed the truth with a shy mix of ASL and CSL. “I didn't think you would be coming back. You and Han made it seem like you two were definitely going to be staying in Hong Kong.”
He paused, clamped his lips. Then he signed, “Han remained behind to assist my father in Hong Kong. Not me.”
“Why didn’t you stay too?”
It was a simple question, but he didn't reply right away. “I told my father I wanted to try going to a normal school. I never have before.”
I guess that was a reasonable answer. Made sense. But he was looking off to the side like he couldn't quite meet my eyes.
“You wanted to go to a normal school, even though you never did before? What changed?” I signed.
He raised his hands, collapsed them in his lap. Then raised them again.
His next sign was universal. The kind anyone anywhere could understand. Even if you were a foreigner. Even if you were an alien.
