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Ever since Katy started helping out Shaun—sorry, Shang-Chi—she’s been feeling pretty good. Dare she say it? Kind of badass. She walks taller, stomps more, fears less. After everything she’s seen, she can take it. She thinks it gives her a special quality, something behind the eyes that makes people not want to mess with her.
And they don’t!
For example, one night she was out late and took a shortcut. A guy lunged at her with a knife, demanding her wallet. She jumped, a little, just from being startled and not because she was scared. But when she turned around to do it, the guy got a look at her, and her powerful stare, and put up his hands and said he didn’t want any trouble.
That’s her. Person people don’t want to have trouble with.
Lots of things have been smoother for her, too. There’s this one corner store where the owner always used to look at her suspiciously when she was buying her takis, but the last few times she’s gone in, she’s been given Red Bull to go with her takis for free. Katy assumes the owner saw the bus rescue video, but dang, feels good. Free stuff is best stuff.
So Katy has been feeling pretty charmed. Or was feeling charmed up until she was at the bank to get a money order for the rent—regular checks not good enough, apparently, and god forbid venmo—and two robbers decided that that was their moment. She tried to give them her patented mugger-staring-down glare, but they weren’t impressed and told her to lie on the floor.
Which is where she was when the side of the bank exploded and like a hundred Ten Rings operatives burst in.
Isn’t this organisation supposed to be shut down? She thinks, slightly detached. She’s pretty sure a sniper took out the robbers before the bank blew up.
“Are you hurt?” one of the Ten Rings goons says to her. She’s managed to sit up because if death is coming then she’d like to look at it head on and the question surprises her so much she starts to giggle. “Oh shit,” the guy says and then starts snapping orders to the rest of them.
Five minutes later Katy is in a helicopter, in huge earphones, wrapped in a silver reflective blanket, while that goon looks at her with big eyes.
Katy revises her previous thoughts: having a lot of luck is bad because when it turns it goes all the way the other way.
“Where are you taking me?” she shouts.
The goon winces and rubs his ears. He speaks back into his own headphones at a normal volume. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” What a non-sequitur.
***
They bring Katy to Shang-Chi’s dad’s place, which she guesses she was expecting. But it’s still one thing to know she’s been kidnapped by the Ten Rings and another to be landing on a rooftop helipad and then escorted through a gorgeous courtyard into a room that is way bigger than the one she shared with Xu Xialing.
She goes inside—fighting doesn’t seem to be a smart idea at this point. She sits on the bed, blanket crackling as she does. The goon closes the door. She reaches into her fanny pack, looking for her phone to panic call Shang-Chi, but of course it’s smashed all to bits.
Five minutes later, which is way faster than Katy was expecting (she’s read novels she knows that isolation will soften her up for the torture… she assumes there will be torture, how is this her life?) there is a gentle knock on the door.
Oddly polite for kidnappers.
She crinkles her way over. Opens the door the barest crack. She expects the point of a knife but instead there is a middle-aged woman with her hands folded. “Uh, hi?” Katy says.
The woman raises an eyebrow. Shamed, Katy opens the door. Immediately, the woman steps inside, followed by two younger women. They’re all wearing black and brown loose-fitting clothing with geometric patterns on it.
One of them lays a neatly folded bundle of fabric on the bench thing at the end of the bed. Another puts out a multi-layered tray of small sandwiches. The last one goes into the bathroom and Katy can hear the sound of water running.
“You must be tired after your long journey,” the lady in charge says. Katy can tell she’s in charge because she didn’t carry anything. ‘Long journey’ is also a masterful euphemism. “We are preparing a bath for you and some refreshments. If you require anything else, please ring.” She shows Katy an honest-to-goodness buzzer style button next to the bed.
“No way you’re getting me naked,” Katy says, jaw jutting out.
The woman pauses. “As you wish,” she says. Then she executes a deep bow and her crew head out. Katy tries to rush the door with them, but the goon from before is there—presumably he isn’t tired from his long journey. The door closes gently in her face.
Well, they’ve got her off-balance, she’ll give them that. She paces a bit, still in her blanket. She’d give it up but it’s surprisingly chilly here. The cold makes her curious enough to approach the bundle. It’s all those black and brown clothes but when Katy touches them she can’t help but gasp in surprise. These are the softest clothes she’s ever touched in her life.
Her resolve not to use anything she was giving flies out the window, she definitely wants to put this one. When she pulls her shirt off though, she catches a whiff of her own B.O. and phew. Katy doesn’t get that bad underarm smell that some of her classmates in high school did but fear sweat is real—not that she is or has been scared.
Maybe a little bath couldn’t hurt.
She goes into the bathroom and barricades the door with the big mahogany dresser thing next to it, before facing the bath. Her mouth drops open. This isn’t a bath. This is a jacuzzi made of marble. There are multiple types of flower petals scattered on the top. If she’s in for a penny she might as well be neck deep in the nicest looking back she’s ever seen. It’s a matter of seconds before her clothes are on the floor and she’s climbing up the small set of steps so she can reach the lip and climb in. When she gets in, it’s still hot, presumably due to the jets.
Crime really does pay.
Katy has never been naked in this much water. She’s swum in pools and in the ocean, but she’s always worn a swimsuit. When she takes baths the water doesn’t even cover her knees, let alone be enough that she could float in. But this is luxury. Water supports her spine and covers her from neck to toe. Her boobs float.
She guesses that makes sense, they are basically flotation devices, but woah is that ever a distinct feeling. It’s an immediate relief on her neck and shoulders but also makes her feel so open. There are bits of her that are never exposed that are being caressed by the softly scented water. She spreads her legs and the jet tickles her inner thighs.
“Mmm,” Katy says and flushes as the sound echoes back to her. She shakes her head, clearing it. No. She is not being seduced by the jacuzzi of evil.
She scrubs off, and sure, maybe she uses all of the twelve products that are lined up on the bamboo tray next to her, but that’s just her getting back at them. She’ll waste all their nice stuff. It’s like taking extra creamer at the chain restaurant, some sort of restorative justice.
Katy does feel better, though, now that she’s clean. She puts on the clothes left out for her and they’re just as soft as she remembers. At the bottom of the pile there is an honest-to-goodness robe and Katy puts that on too. Jesus Christ it’s like wearing a chinchilla. She’s not saying she gets Cruella De Ville but she does see why someone might go to extremes to keep wearing something that feels so good. She catches herself rubbing her face on the sleeve.
Her stomach growling brings her back to the present. There’s a solution for that too.
***
That’s how Xu Xialing finds her, some time later. There’s a knock, more perfunctory, and then Xu Xialing is coming in, wearing a fantastic set of black leather pants and a black crop top with some sort of trailing sleeve.
Xu Xialing stops in the doorway, staring.
Katy, lying on the bed, feeding herself perfectly cubed mango by hand, almost chokes.
She sits up, re-arranging her robe and hastily licking mango juice off of her fingers.
“Xialing!” she says. She rushes towards her and then the obvious kicks her in the face. If Xialing is here, and walking around, she probably isn’t a captive. “Uh,” Katy says, stopping abruptly two feet away, arms still slightly outstretched for the hug. She lets them fall. “Hey?”
Xu Xialing’s lips press together. “You have been well-treated?”
Katy thinks about the Bath Experience, the heavenly soft clothes, and the fruit and nut platter. “Oh yeah,” she says. She feels a little bad about using so much conditioner now that she knows it’s her friend’s stuff.
Xu Xialing’s eyes narrow and she stares at Katy. “Good,” she says finally and the crew of dudes behind her let out a sound like wind through a bamboo forest. Katy looks at them, but their faces are blank. Strange. She could have sworn that was a sigh of relief.
“This was a mistake,” Xu Xialing says, and Katy’s heart plummets. “You should not have been brought here. I apologise.” Another sound this time, this one more like hot rocks touching water. “One easily rectified. We will return you immediately.” She holds up two fingers and the first goon steps up.
She guesses Xu Xialing didn’t want to see her but damn if it doesn’t still sting to hear her call it a mistake. She’d thought they were friends, or like, whatever the word is for sharing a life-changing experience. Yeah, they hadn’t seen each other since her dad’s funeral, but they’d been together up until then. Katy was the first person to give her condolences, and she’d lit incense for him right next to hers. Xu Xialing didn’t make her feel like a mistake then.
She prepares to go, but then the practicality hits her. “Like right now?” she asks. Xu Xialing nods, corners of her lips turned down. “Can I get my clothes back then?” She doesn’t want to show up in what she’s wearing and her clothes had mysteriously disappeared when she got out of the bath.
Xu Xialing looks to her side and the middle-aged woman from before steps up, bowing slightly. “Forgive us, they were damaged in the incident and were taken for destruction.” Katy absorbs that. That sucks, she liked those chucks, they had the right split in the plastic. The kind that didn’t poke her when she walked.
“Damn,” she mutters. “Have anything else then? I am not explaining this to my parents.” She looks at Xu Xialing’s outfit. Maybe she can borrow one of her less leathery ensembles?
“Of course,”Xu Xialing says. “Anything you want.”
Jon Jon—finally someone Katy recognises—comes up and whispers something in Xu Xialing’s ear.
“Right now?” she demands. If Xu Xialing talked like that to her she’d absolutely turtle up into a tiny ball but Jon Jon doesn’t seem phased. He just stands there and Xu Xialing makes a noise and then turns. “Handle this,” she says to the main goon. “I have to go,” she says to Katy, and Katy chooses to hear a hint of regret. And then she’s gone.
The crowd is left standing. Katy smiles. “Well then!”
***
They’re in another helicopter. “What’s your name, dude?” Katy asks, not shouting this time.
The goon, who has been looking out the window, points at himself.
“I’m Yusuf Mousa,” he says.
“Cool, I’m Katy.”
His lips quirk. “I am aware.”
That sounds weird. “What do you mean?” Katy asks, but he doesn’t say anything else.
Katy wasn’t entirely sure why she was back in the helicopter, but she got it when she was dropped down in an immense shopping complex. Everything was so shiny and the ceilings were crazy high. The signs were in Chinese and Katy couldn’t read them, except for the bits about restrooms but logos speak for themselves.
“Why are we here?” she asks Yusuf, and one of the younger helper people called Mala.
“You wanted clothes,” Yusuf says, and then he shrugs, encompassing the entirety of the mall.
Mala steps forward and gestures at the Thom Browne store close to them. Katy takes one look at the mannequins in the window, who look like a crew team at a military academy threw up on them, and shakes her head. There has to be like, an H&M in here, or at least a Uniqlo. Mala nods and they walk on. Katy doesn’t mean to stop in front of the Gucci right next to them but there’s this really shiny gold bag in the display. Before she knows it, they’re inside. Mala has a quick quiet chat with the woman who greets them and Katy is shown to a private section—she didn’t even know stores had private sections—and has a cup of tea in her hand. The next thirty minutes are a whirlwind of fabrics and styles. It’s fun, like playing with her friend’s barbies, except she’s the barbie. At the end there’s a few things she likes, but of course she isn’t going to get anything, and she smiles apologetically at the attendant. The attendant smiles back, seemingly genuine, which is also confusing. Katy is used to hostility and being followed around in stores—mostly because she’s loud and it annoys the real customers.
They repeat this process at Balenciaga, Dior, and Louis Vuitton.
Katy yawns a little on the way out. Dior had little snacks but it’s been a long day.
“Do you need any jewellery to go with your clothes?” Mala asks.
“I’m not really a necklaces person,” Katy says and then stops. The fluorescent light reflects off of the shiny floor. “With my clothes?”
Mala misunderstands. “Did you wish to change into anything now? We can get the bags from the helicopter.”
Katy feels faint. Did she explicitly say she wanted anything? She remembers saying which ones she liked. But that was like, a lot of things. That couldn’t… she couldn’t… no way all of those things were coming home with them.
“No, I can wait til we’re back. Change for dinner and all that,” she tries to make a joke of it. She looks around. “What time is it anyway?” she asks. Which is how she ends up wearing a Patek Philippe watch out of the store.
She’s true to her word, changing as soon as she gets back. Mala promises her that there will be dinner before she’s sent away, which is great because the vegetarian meal she had on her last cross-Pacific flight really did not hit the spot.
She walks where she’s directed, ending up back in the dining room that she shared a meal in last time. It had seemed reasonably cozy, so it makes sense to tuck her in it for food. It’s slightly surprising that she’s allowed to wander around at all, given that the Ten Rings are not supposed to exist, according to like, all the authorities, but whatever, what is Katy going to do about it? Nothing. And that was before she knew the boss was Xu Xialing.
Who, speaking of, is in the room. She’s swapped her leather pants for wider legged ones, and Katy can’t tell if that’s dressing up or down.
Xu Xialing bites her lip. “I see you got new clothes.”
Katy looks down at herself, pleased. She’s wearing a gold Gucci skirt with a grey embroidered Dior sweatshirt with some Balenciaga sneakers.
“I like your skirt,” Xu Xialing says.
“Thank you, it’s so shiny,” Katy says, shifting her hips from left to right. She sits down.
The meal is delicious, not too spicy, which Katy figures is in consideration for her baby mouth.
“You’re not going to ask why I am leader of the Ten Rings?” Xu Xialing ventures as Katy is pulling some noodles into her mouth. She loses her rhythm and the noodles slap her in the face.
She swallows, then takes a sip of her tea to push the noodles all the way down. “I figured that you saw a power vacuum after your dad died and used your hears of clandestine training to step into fill it.”
Xu Xialing has her fingers steepled in front of her face. As Katy speaks, her fingers interlace. “Yes… that is exactly what happened.”
She doesn’t need to sound so impressed about it. Katy rolls her eyes. “I have a degree from Berkeley, ok, I just like…” being a loser. But that isn’t true either. She liked having purpose when they were defending the world. Liked it a hell of a lot more than valeting.
“Of course,” Xu Xialing says. She smooths her hands along the table. If she kept it up, Katy wonders which would survive: the table or Xu Xialing? The table is tough, probably antique endangered tree, but Katy has felt Xu Xialing’s calluses. She’s tough, she won’t get worn down easily. “I suppose I thought you would, I am not sure…”
Katy gives her a second to fill in the blank. She doesn’t. “Oh! You mean, like, judge you? Nah, I get it.” She’s seen like four John Woo movies and played Dynasty Warriors, she gets the pull of the violent world and the pull of family history. And for Xu Xialing who was raised in this world but denied it? How could she resist taking it on. Besides, her fighting empire got pretty smashed up and no one likes to go back to ground zero. Not that Katy is talking about herself. “This was always your world. I only visited and I have to say that if I had this I wouldn’t give it up either.” She can’t tell what her face is doing, but she feels it twisting and pulling. She reaches out and grips Xu Xialing’s hand, squeezes it. There are those calluses.
“You wouldn’t,” Xu Xialing says. There is a light in her eyes that Katy can’t identify.
“I wouldn’t,” Katy says, not entirely remembering what she’s agreeing to.
“But I’m sure you’re antsy to return home,” Xu Xialing says, still staring at Katy.
Katy grimaces. “Well, I mean, I guess I have to go back sometime. I know I sort of snuck my way into dinner so I’ll get out of your hair soon.”
She tries to pull her hand back but Xu Xialing grips it. “If your family could spare you, you are welcome to stay for a while.”
Katy thinks about it. She’s been gigging so it’s not like she has a job that’ll miss her, her parents are doing well, and her brother doesn’t have any special events coming up. She tries not to look too eager. “I mean, if it’s not too much.”
Katy half expects them to do the ‘if you insist,’ ‘no, if you insist,’ dance but Xu Xialing simply smiles the most satisfied smile Katy has ever seen and says, “It is not too much.”
***
After dinner, they go for a walk in the gardens. There are several gardens, Xu Xialing explains, depending on the season, but this one is best at sunset. Right now the sun is clipping the tops of the tiled roof, casting orange glow in the sky and turning the green shrubbery a roasted nut colour.
“Way to upgrade the place, by the way,” Katy says. Her feet crunch on the gravel path while Xu Xialing walks next to her, completely silent. If it wasn’t for their arms interlinked at the elbows, she could almost convince herself that Xu Xialing isn’t here.
Xu Xialing cocks her head. “What do you mean?”
“My room! It’s so big. Last time we had to double up, so I figured you turned some of the rooms into guest suites?”
Xu Xialing’s stride slows and Katy scuffs the ground, adjusting, a small rockslide. “The room was there last time, I simply thought it would be safer to keep you close.”
Katy thinks about it. “Yeah, that was a good call. Still a tiny room, though.”
“I have a new room now,” Xu Xialing says, dimple in her right cheek.
“Really? Can I see it?”
“You want to see my bedroom?” Xu Xialing says this with absolutely no inflection, simply confirming what Katy asked but Katy still feels herself blush. She hopes it’s hidden by the setting sun.
“Uh huh,” Katy says, stuttering a nod.
***
Xu Xialing’s room is gorgeous. Huge bay doors opening onto a patio, sweeping canopies across the ceiling and over the massive bed. It’s a suite, really.
“Wow,” Katy says. She walks around, poking in the corners. There’s a wooden training dummy on one side, and a bookcase and honest to goodness reading nook in the other. Everything seems comfortable and smells vaguely of varnish and sandalwood. Old-timey comfort smells.
Xu Xialing stands in the doorway, watching Katy. Katy throws a smile over her shoulder. “Nice,” she says. She heads close to the bed, looking at the bedside table. There’s a set of pictures. Katy feels a lump in her throat. That has to be Xu Xialing and her mom. And that serious boy has to be Shang-Chi. A family picture of the four of them, all buttoned up in mandarin collars and frosted lipstick—the 2000s were a time. And there, Katy squints, a small picture in a silver frame, is that… no, it can’t be her. She leans in to see it better, but Xu Xialing interrupts.
“Would you like tea?” Xu Xialing asks.
Katy whips her head around so fast it rings a little. She reminds herself she isn't’ caught out because she wasn’t doing anything she wasn’t expected to do. “Tea sounds great,” she says.
Xu Xialing walks past her. Their arms brush. Katy shivers. Xu Xialing leans down, her hair falling against her cheekbones, close enough that Katy can almost feel the breeze of it. Her hand comes between them and—pushes the button.
Three seconds later, Katy swears to God, yet another uniformed attendant comes by. Xu Xialing switches into Cantonese. Katy picks up the word for tea.
They go over to the book nook to wait for it. Katy takes the chaise, toeing off her slippers so she can kick her feet up. The fabric is lush on her toes and curls them to feel it better. Xu Xialing drags a chair over from another part of the room.
“You don’t hang out in this room much?” Katy asks, gesturing at the chair.
“Not with others,” Xu Xialing says. But she smiles so Katy knows that isn’t a hint to get out.
Katy swallows. It doesn’t mean anything, she’s sure.
The tea comes and they drink it. Katy doesn’t really taste it.
Xu Xialing shifts in her chair. Once, and again. “Is it uncomfortable?” Katy asks.
Xu Xialing looks at her, eyebrows raised.
“If it is, you could—” Katy gestures to the bed.
“You want me in the bed?” There’s the hint of a laugh in Xu Xialing’s voice and Katy knows she’s being baited but she still blushes. Her stupid face just loves to send blood to her cheeks. It usually doesn’t show unless someone is looking closely or if it goes down to her neck. She’s used that trick to pretend she hasn’t had as many drinks as she has. Still, her eyes are drawn to the bed, massive and so close. She knows the sheets are soft, and light. She can imagine Xu Xialing sliding her way in between them. And Katy—
“I’m just saying you can be comfortable if you want,” Katy shoots back.
Xu Xialing’s face softens. “I am comfortable.”
***
They have breakfast together in the morning. Xu Xialing offers to show her around but Katy knows she has to have lots of crime things to do so she takes a wild stab and asks for some archery practice space.
She loses herself in it. The draw, the hold, the release. She’s wearing Stella McCartney on the top and Ernest Leloy on the bottom and her clothes move with her, stretching and helping hold her shapes. She doesn’t realise she’s sweating until the bowstring twangs against her forearm—sloppy mistake and sweat flings off of it.
“Ahh, shit!” She swears, rubbing it.
“You aren’t wrapped properly,” Xu Xialing says. Katy isn’t sure how long she’s been watching. She doesn’t feel self-conscious about it though. Xu Xialing steps towards her. Her long black coat is unbuttoned.
That means that when Xu Xialing steps up behind Katy, Katy can feel the warmth of Xu Xialing all the way down her back. “Let me,” Xu Xialing says. She unwraps the leather around Katy’s forearm, which Katy can see now, has slumped. Xu Xialing carefully uncoils it, wrapping it around her knuckles. The leather goes easily, warmed by Katy’s skin. So she knows that’s what she must be feeling when Xu Xialing flips it and reverses it, drawing a spiral up Katy’s arm with the strap. The warmth is her own skin, it isn’t from Xu Xialing’s hand. But if that’s true, then why does it feel like an ember pressed against her pulse point, exactly where Xu Xialing’s thumb is?
“There?” Xu Xialing says.
Katy blinks.
“Is that easier?” Xu Xialing asks.
Katy presses her lips together. “It’s something.”
Xu Xialing takes her arm back. “When you’re done here, let me know. I’m taking the afternoon off. We can go sightseeing.”
Katy should ask, are you sure? But instead she brightens all over. “Hell yeah!”
She rushes through a few more shots, definitely not her most accurate work, and then beats back to her room. There’s a separate shower from the jacuzzi and Katy hops in and damn, that’s some water pressure. But she’s on a mission so she doesn’t linger… ok she doesn’t linger long.
Barely twenty minutes later she’s out in the hallway and ready to go. Wearing her Balenciaga sneakers again, for comfort, with a Chanel jacket over her new dungarees. These were apparently pre-worn by a real human, which Katy is trying not to think about because it weirds her out but whatever that does feels great, the thing is like a second skin.
Then they’re back in the helicopter.
Katy keeps a lookout on the window, so she sees when they approach Macau. Bright lights, small city.
When Xu Xialing said sightseeing, she really meant it. They get egg tarts and walk around looking at some old Portugese stuff. Xu Xialing points out various architectural features and Katy nods and crunches her way through pastry. These things are fantastic. They pause their tour at one point because a bunch of teenagers are recording themselves doing an Itzy routine. The music from their bluetooth speakers is tinny and lost in the ambient noise of people, but they move with confidence. She gets why they’d want to film here. It’s gorgeous. The sun is shining, and with that angle the camera would clearly catch the silhouette of the Grand Lisboa in the background, it’s distinctive fan shape will definitely give them drama.
Xu Xialing is standing next to her. Well, sort of behind her. Katy can feel her boob squished against her shoulderblade. So she cranes her neck back to speak. “I’ve always wanted to learn to dance,” she admits.
“Is that so?” Xu Xialing says. Katy can feel the vibration of her voice. “You do not know already?”
Katy shakes her head. “For karaoke I’m your girl but dancing? That involves like, limb coordination.”
“Hmm,” Xu Xialing says.
They watch for a bit and then move on. Katy isn’t very observant, but she feels like she’s seen some of the tourists around them a few times. Hmm.
“Do you want to ride the Skycab?” Xu Xialing asks.
Katy loves attractions so she’s in. They get in line and okay, she has definitely seen that powder blue backpack before. In fact, she thinks everyone around them she has seen at least twice. She thinks about saying something. But she doesn’t want these guys to get a failing grade in stealth class.
The ride in the cable car is slow but scenic. “Man, wish I had my phone, I want to take pictures.”
Xu Xialing startles. “I hadn’t considered…” she says.
“It’s fine, I can get a new one later,” Katy reassures her. “My carrier does some good deals on refurbished last gen phones.” Xu Xialing closes her eyes for a moment.
It’s actually fine. It gives her more attention to spare for her surroundings and ok, that one lady in the cable car Katy recognises as her next door neighbour. Katy has the avoidance of a city dweller but she still knows who she lives with.
Katy is still thinking about it when they get out. She’s missing something.
Yusuf meets them at the bottom. Katy puts up her fist for the bump. He stares at her for a second before he raises his fist and returns the bump. Katy hopes that wasn’t his first fist bump; like what if he was raised in a Ten Rings facility where they only did martial arts salutes. But he doesn’t seem confused about it, so Katy shrugs.
“Here,” Yusuf says, and hands Katy a DSLR, neck strap helpfully held out so all she has to do is stick her head in it. “And here.” It’s a phone. One of those really fancy Samsung ones that does the folding thing.
“You don’t have to get me things,” Katy says, turning to Xu Xialing while setting up the fingerprint scanner simultaneously.
“I know,” Xu Xialing says, and the smile on her face shows both dimples.
“Show me your places,” Katy says, impulsively. They’ve been doing the touristy stuff that Katy loves but this was Xu Xialing’s city. She ruled a bit of it for a while. She wants to see it.
Xu Xialing searches her face but Katy wants this. She wants those bits of Xu Xialing for her own.
So they go to Xu Xialing’s favourite bar, where the drinks are weaker than Katy is used to. And they go to Xu Xialing’s old building. She points at her apartment. Not a big one, this was her first place, shared with two other girls and air conditioning so loud it made the room shake. “But we were lucky to have it,” Xu Xialing says. Her favourite noodle joint, her favourite spot to look at the sunrise—all of the pieces that make a life.
They head back in the helicopter when the sun starts to go down. Katy thumbs through the pictures she took, slouching slightly in her harness. She can’t go far though, Xu Xialing is next to her, looking over her shoulder.
“Those are good,” she says, touching at the display.
“Mm,” Katy agrees. This is good.
***
In the morning, Mala comes and picks her up after breakfast and takes her to a room with nothing in it, just a totally blank room. Katy tries not to find it eerie.
And then a man comes out. They greet each other, Katy trying not to worry too much about who this guy is. He introduces himself as Koosung Jung and that he’ll be her dance instructor.
Katy blinks at him.
He blinks at her.
“Like, Kpop?” she asks.
He chuckles. “If you like.”
And then Katy spends the most exhausting morning of her life—and she fought off a spirit world invasion, so she knows of what she speaks.
She can say a lot about Xu Xialing, but it’s sweet how she’s trying to make this vacation the best of Katy’s life.
***
It’s not that Katy means to eavesdrop. She was just going to swing by Xu Xialing’s office to see if she wanted to have lunch together and hear about how Katy maybe only has one and half left feet and can therefore be taught.
But when she hears voices she absolutely does press her ear against the door and breathes very quietly.
“---not talking about this,” Xu Xialing says.
“Come on, boss, at least take a look at these numbers,” Jon Jon says. “The savings on having her stay are significant. San Francisco rent alone—”
“My orders are final,” Xu Xialing says, and Katy can tell when a conversation is over so she scuttles away as fast as she can and then approaches the door, all casual like.
When she knocks, one of the attendants opens the door a crack, sees that it’s her, and opens it the rest of the way.
Xu Xialing is standing, facing the window, hands clasped behind her back and Jon Jon is a few feet away, hands in his hair. Xu Xialing looks so commanding, so in charge of everything. Xu Xialing turns to her. The severe lines of her face, lips turned down, eyebrows pulled in, immediately smooth.
Katy’s heart lurches left and right. “Lunch?” she asks, weak.
***
“Is the food not to your liking?” Xu Xialing asks.
Katy realises she’s been poking at her bowl. They’re having smashed cucumber salad and cold noodles out on the patio attached to Xu Xialing’s room. Cold food in deference to the heat of the day.
She shoves a cucumber in her mouth. “No, it’s good,” she says. It’s her mind that’s troubling her. Katy isn’t an idiot, she’s been piecing together clues. It never made sense that a full Ten Rings contingent burst into the bank ten minutes after Katy got taken hostage. Unless, of course, they were watching her. Of course that would be expensive. Renting out an apartment to plant a fake neighbour? That could only be the tip of it.
Xu Xialing lays her chopsticks across her bowl. They make a quiet clicking sound. “What is troubling you?” Her eyes are open and clear, she seems genuinely interested in what Katy is thinking.
“Why do you want me to leave?” Katy asks. She didn’t mean to. That question is a one way ticket to pain town. Yes, please list out all of my faults and why you don’t want me here. Great question, Katy. Not.
Xu Xialing presses her lips together. “Who said that?” Her voice is harsh.
Katy shrugs. You did. “No one.”
“You are welcome to stay as long as you want,” Xu Xialing says. Katy guesses she believes her.
“As a guest,” Katy presses, like a fool. She’s circling closer to the bruise, just can’t help herself from pressing on it.
Something flickers in Xu Xialing’s eyes. “If you want.”
“If I want,” Katy says, snorting. “Like the camera? Cause you pity me, cause I can’t take care of myself? Oh, there’s Katy with no real job who can’t afford a real phone and if someone threatens her with a knife all she can do is shout ‘Hotel California’ and hope for the best. Right?”
“Someone threatened you with a knife?” Xu Xialing’s voice has a soft edge.
Katy waves it away. “Of course not. He saw it was me and fucking pissed himself because you put the fear of, well, you into him.” Xu Xialing looks pleased about it. That’s fucked up. “What are you doing this for? Is it for Shau—Shang-Chi? Because he’s off doing cosmic stuff, he’s not going to give you a pat on the head for it.”
Katy is pushing, she knows she’s pushing. She wants to see how far she can get, wants to crack Xu Xialing the way Xu Xialing has been prying her apart. Snap back, Katy wills, tell me I’m stupid and you won’t bother anymore. And then Xu Xialing tips her head back, and laughs.
She laughs for a long time. Katy can only stare. “Are you telling me you don’t know?” Xu Xialing asks. “All of my generals are elbowing each other when you walk by and you don’t know? My chief advisor is questioning my judgment, for the first time, because he knows I am not rational about you, and you don’t know. If that’s true, then you are the only one who doesn’t.”
Katy stares. She thinks about it. Thinks about everything Xu Xialing has done, from the small—having lunch with her—to the sweet—new phone—to the batshit—airlifting in a kpop choreographer because of an offhand comment. She thinks of the way Yusuf wrapped her in a shock blanket with infinite care even though Katy was fine, but like he knew he had to treat her as precious, that someone cared what state she ended up in. The shock and demand when Xu Xialing asked if she was treated well. It could say something. It could… except:
“Then why don’t you want me to stay?”
Xu Xialing looks at her, really looks at her. And then she looks away. “I won’t take you from you home and your family. You deserve more than to be locked away here, with me.”
Katy’s heart aches. She drops her chopsticks and pushes away from the table, rounding it until she can drop down at her knees next to Xu Xialing. “San Francisco is not a mystical hidden village.” Xu Xialing won’t look at her. “Look at me,” she’s pleading and she knows it, but hey it’s worked for her in the past. She has soulful eyes. “You gave me a phone, remember? Being here doesn’t keep me from anything. But if you send me away…” she chokes a little on the words. She’s missed Xu Xialing. If she leaves now, she’ll keep missing her.
Xu Xialing is looking at her now, head on. She reaches out a hand and brushes the hair back from Katy’s forehead, hooks it around her ear. Katy lets her pretend it isn’t shaking. “It’s dangerous,” she says and Katy knows she’s won.
“Gee, I guess you’ll have to hire some guards to protect me.” She injects maximum sarcasm into her voice. And she’s American, she knows how.
Xu Xialing’s eyes flash. It’s Katy’s turn to quiver a little, for a different reason.
“Let’s go,” Katy says, rising and tugging on Xu Xialing’s wrist. “I’ve been dying to try out that big bed of yours.”
Xu Xialing lets herself be dragged. “What about lunch?” she asks, a smile in her voice.
“Food’s already cold,” Katy says, starting to work on the buckles on Xu Xialing’s vest thing, “it can wait. I can’t.”