Unbearable - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: “Not Talking, Not Talking, Not Talking.”

 

Yu Wei invited Cheng Miao to stay for dinner and told her to spend the night there.

 

Cheng Miao hesitated. “Wouldn’t that be inconvenient? Besides, my luggage is still at the hotel. I even have a whole suitcase of dolls.”

 

“I’ll go with you to the hotel to get it,” Yu Wei said, putting on her coat by the coat rack. “After watching the competition, I might even go back with you.”

 

“With me?” Cheng Miao caught onto the key point with a strange look. “You’re not going with your mom?”

 

“She probably has other plans.” Yu Wei mapped out the route in her head. “Tomorrow we’ll watch the competition together, then come back, grab our stuff, and head to the airport.”

 

By the time the two of them returned dragging suitcases, the evening lights had soaked into the falling snow, glowing warmly.

 

Ding Qing was setting the table in the dining room. A clay pot was simmering medicine in the kitchen, filling the air with the bitter fragrance of herbs mingling with the aroma of food.

 

Cheng Miao sniffed the air. “Wow, Auntie, your cooking smells amazing.”

 

“It’s from the hotel,” Ding Qing said, lifting the lid of a white porcelain bowl. Steam rose from crab roe tofu.

 

Cheng Miao instantly changed her tune. “Auntie, you sure know how to order well!”

 

Yu Wei, like an elementary school student bringing a friend home for the first time, pushed Cheng Miao into the guest room and then went to her own room to change.

 

“Sit here,” Yu Wei’s mom, Yu Wei, pulled out a chair beside her. The bead bracelet on her wrist — which had mysteriously been taken off and put back on — clinked softly against the chair back. The wooden beads glowed warmly under the lights.

 

Yu Wei paused, about to detour to the opposite side, but Cheng Miao quickly claimed the spot.

 

If she dodged again, it would be too obvious.

 

Yu Wei sat down and pulled out her chopsticks. The bracelet on her wrist clinked against the tableware with a soft sound.

 

“How lovely,” Ding Qing said as she looked around, her gaze passing over the three similar bracelets. “Friendships formed during student years are the most precious. They last longer than any kind of relationship.”

 

Cheng Miao nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly!”

 

Yu Wei raised her eyes to look at Ding Qing, while Yu Wei lowered hers to focus on her food.

 

Suddenly, Yu Wei picked up a piece of fish and placed it in Yu Wei’s bowl. “Watch out for bones.”

 

The fish was white and tender. Yu Wei stared at it, her heart almost leaping into her throat. Under the table, she gave Yu Wei a little kick.

 

Cheng Miao didn’t notice a thing. “This fish is so good!”

 

Yu Wei’s heart was a mess — part of her worried her mom would accidentally say something and expose her awkward relationship with Yu Wei to Cheng Miao. Another part was worried Yu Wei would suddenly act out of line and get herself exposed — which would be even worse.

 

Thankfully, everyone remained quiet for the rest of dinner.

 

After the meal, the three helped clean up and put the dishes away, only to be shooed out of the kitchen by Ding Qing.

 

“I’m going to watch the competition replay. You guys want to join?” Yu Wei asked.

 

Yu Wei remembered Yu Wei had originally planned to stay and watch the second half live, but for some reason had come home early. She hesitated.

 

“Me? Watch that bl00d-pressure-raising thing?” Cheng Miao huffed and threw an arm around Yu Wei’s shoulder.

 

“You watching?” Yu Wei asked, grabbing Yu Wei’s arm as she spoke.

 

Cheng Miao’s arm grabbed empty air. Scratching her head, she turned to Yu Wei.

 

Yu Wei watched the gesture and suddenly recalled Yu Wei reaching for her at the rink — and how she’d nervously shifted away because someone had been watching.

 

Then she remembered how Yu Wei had asked Ding Qing that question after they came home.

 

Did she find out?

 

Yu Wei’s eyelid twitched as she tried to play it cool. “We…”

 

“What are you all watching?” Ding Qing walked out of the kitchen. “There’s a projector in the living room.”

 

Once the projector was turned on, Ding Qing only stayed for a bit before heading to her study to work. The three of them sat neatly on the sofa, watching a high-definition replay of the women’s short program.

 

Cheng Miao was fuming. Yu Wei stared in a daze. Yu Wei watched in total ease, completely relaxed.

 

“I can’t take this anymore,” Cheng Miao was the first to stand up. “At least when you watch it live you don’t get pissed off by real-time scores. What is this crap? My fish goddess didn’t even get to touch the ice before they deducted five points, but this chick did a 3A, both hands slapped the ice, and she only lost two? What kind of joke is this? Because she’s a white girl? So she’s noble?”

 

It was Yu Wei’s first time watching a competition in real-time, and even she found the double standard infuriating.

 

But Yu Wei only raised an eyebrow at the floating score on the screen, still completely focused.

 

After being away from the ice rink for two years — two years entirely out of the skating scene, training in isolation like building a car behind closed doors, running in circles and hitting walls only to end up back where she started — finally returning to the rink, watching other skaters showcase their skills… it made her bl00d boil with excitement.

 

“Even in competitive sports, there’s no such thing as absolute fairness. You don’t get to decide the score,” Yu Wei said calmly, her voice composed. “If you don’t like it, don’t watch. Do something else.”

 

She stood up to turn off the projector, but Yu Wei tugged at her clothes — then quickly let go.

 

“I don’t hate it that much,” Yu Wei said.

 

Cheng Miao inhaled. “Watching these monkeys brawl just makes you appreciate how gracefully we fairies dance.”

 

Yu Wei curled her toes, stiffened up, and scratched her ear. Is this what fans are like? Terrifying.

 

Even Yu Wei was speechless for a long while.

 

The three of them neatly sat back down and finished the rest of the program.

 

As soon as it ended, Cheng Miao shot to her feet. “Shower and sleep! We’ll finish it tomorrow.”

 

Clearly, her bl00d pressure was sky-high — she couldn’t handle any more.

 

Yu Wei went to get toiletries and show her to the bathroom. When she came back out, the video had been rewound to Yu Wei’s performance. Light played across her figure.

 

Yu Wei turned toward the kitchen. Two medicine pots simmered on the stove. When she lifted the lids, steam rose gently. The water bubbled softly under the herbs.

 

There was a note on the wall—“Simmer on low until 200ml.”

 

Next to it was a measuring cup and a timer: 1:20:05.

 

Yu Wei poured the medicine out, going past the line, panicked, and quickly poured some back.

 

When Cheng Miao finished showering, Yu Wei was still watching the replay.

 

The screen froze on Yu Wei’s back after her performance — arms open to the audience as red and yellow fish-shaped plush toys rained down from the crowd like a waterfall of stuffed animals.

 

“Mama, I’m on TV!” Cheng Miao, with a towel wrapped around her head, pointed at herself in the audience, then waved at Yu Wei who had just come out of the kitchen. “Xiao Wei! Come find yourself!”

 

The screen was full of people. Yu Wei glanced away, then back.

 

“Probably…”

 

“Fifth row to the left of the judging panel, from my right side,” Yu Wei said.

 

Following her directions, Cheng Miao searched through the curtain of toys and found Yu Wei’s half-covered face, amazed. “Great eyes! Even if you circled her, I don’t think I’d recognize her!”

 

She asked Yu Wei to confirm. “Xiao Wei, look. Can you tell it’s you?”

 

Yu Wei: “…Nope.”

 

Yu Wei was standing center stage. The camera was zoomed far out — the audience was just dots. Yu Wei was so bundled up that the flying toys left only a blurry half of her face visible.

 

She could see that? Yu Wei glanced at Yu Wei.

 

Yu Wei turned off the video. “Wanna watch a movie?”

 

“Nope. Let’s sleep early.”

 

Yu Wei didn’t want any accidents. She estimated that by the time she finished her shower, the medicine would be ready.

 

After bathing, she wiped down the bathroom, turned on the fan, dried her hair, and double-checked everything before leaving.

 

Hearing the noise, Ding Qing called her in to drink the medicine. The whole living room smelled strongly of herbs after the long simmer.

 

Yu Wei walked in just as Yu Wei was drinking hers. Her head tilted back slightly, and the smooth lines of her neck moved with the swallow, her expression unchanged.

 

Maybe it just smells bad but tastes okay?

 

Yu Wei picked up her own bowl and looked into the dark, murky liquid, taking a cautious sip.

 

“Ugh—” Yu Wei’s face scrunched up. It was sour and bitter, full of earthy, grassy, and bark-like weirdness.

 

“Drink it all in one go. Don’t breathe,” Yu Wei said, rinsing her bowl and turning back to watch.

 

Yu Wei shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and downed it all. The bitterness made her shiver.

 

“Water.”

 

Yu Wei handed her a water bottle.

 

Yu Wei reached for it. Yu Wei took the empty bowl from her hands.

 

After gulping a few mouthfuls of water, Yu Wei finally recovered. She looked up and saw Yu Wei washing her bowl too.

 

“Thanks,” she said.

 

But the weird taste still lingered in her mouth. Grimacing, Yu Wei muttered, “I’m gonna brush my teeth.”

 

“Wait.”

 

Yu Wei pulled out a candy from somewhere and handed it over. “Eat this first.”

 

Yu Wei didn’t like candy.

 

But she unwrapped it.

 

It was good.

 

Chocolate and milk flavor — rich and sweet, comforting.

 

Yu Wei held it between her front teeth and said, “Thanks.”

 

“No need. Don’t be so polite,” Yu Wei replied. “We’re family. You still call me sister, remember?”

 

Yu Wei paused, rolling the candy from left to right in her mouth. “…Yeah.”

 

“Before, because of some misunderstanding, I thought you liked me. Now that that’s cleared up, I hope you won’t take it to heart,” Yu Wei said while drying her hands. “No need to be nervous around me. Whether we’re friends or sisters, it’s up to you.”

 

Yu Wei responded with a quiet “Oh.”

 

She sucked on the candy. With the lingering taste of the medicine still there, it didn’t taste so good anymore.

 

“So when I gave you that food earlier, it didn’t mean anything special. Don’t overthink it,” Yu Wei added, jaw tightening, trying to stay calm so she could keep pursuing from a different identity. “I’m not sure either — isn’t that normal between sisters?”

 

“N-Normal, I guess?”

 

She wasn’t sure either. Cheng Miao was an only child — no reference point.

 

Yu Wei nodded. “Then next time, don’t kick me.”

 

Yu Wei crunched the candy in her mouth instantly.

 

Yeah… if it were really normal, why had she kicked Yu Wei under the table?

 

Unless… she was guilty of something?

 

Yu Wei swallowed hard, dazed, drifting out of the kitchen like half her soul had floated away.

 

“Sisterly heart-to-heart?” Cheng Miao came out of the bedroom holding her phone, blocking Yu Wei’s path.

 

Yu Wei, still dazed, instinctively corrected her: “It’s called ‘talking in bed.’”

 

“Same thing! Wanna chat, sis?”

 

Cheng Miao’s eyes sparkled. Yu Wei had trended for hours — she’d picked up loads of ISU critiques on forums and even asked for tips on how to guide new figure skating fans.

 

“No talking, no talking, no talking.”

 

Yu Wei snapped out of it, face pale, darted into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut.

 

Cheng Miao stood there, confused.

 

The next bedroom door opened. Yu Wei stood at the doorway. “Come talk with me.”

 

Cheng Miao: “…”

 

She wanted to vent — just not to the person involved. Complaining about ISU and the judges in front of Yu Wei felt like poking her open wound.

 

“Um… no thanks.”

 

Yu Wei stared at her. “Nothing to talk to me about?”

 

“No, no! Of course not!” Cheng Miao pledged loyalty immediately and meekly followed her into the room.

 

…Talk about what?

 

She picked carefully. “Do we need to wake up early tomorrow?”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Good luck on your free skate tomorrow!”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“If it doesn’t go well, just have fun skating. Forget the scores.”

 

Yu Wei thought about it seriously. “It’s a skating competition — it’s hard to have fun. But still, thank you.”

 

Cheng Miao reached out and grabbed Yu Wei’s hand, shaking it. “On behalf of all figure skating fans, I offer you our most sincere blessings. We’ll cheer for you, support you, and celebrate you!”

 

Yu Wei: …

 

Before she could say anything, Cheng Miao let go and backed toward the door.

 

“It’s late already — time to sleep,” Yu Wei called after her down the hall.

 

Cheng Miao mumbled her agreement.

 

Talk in bed? Not happening. Not even a little.