53 The trouble with Sam (1/2)
When An Ning and the twins went back to Capo cave the following morning, they discovered that the spring was actually an underground river that flowed straight into the sea. It was a shallow river that was good for swimming and bathing and with the light from the hole in the ceiling, it resembled a natural spa.
The twins were delirious with their discovery. They took pictures and videos using a video cam An Ning thoughtfully bought with her before they left the house. The twins then decided to let their mother take over the plan to make it more people-friendly while they lazed around the pool flipping thru the pictures and videos they took.
An Ning, who learned from Han, was very thorough.She hired the same contractor who renovated her grandmother's cave with the word 'safety' as her only design edict. The kids were forbidden to visit the Capo until work on it was done so the twins had to content themselves with playing in the maze and going to the village to visit Doctor Peng.
An Ning went back to work via video con with her design staff. The competition had come and gone without her active involvement in it. But she was pleased when Matt told her that the Pacman-inspired game they submitted for the competition had won first prize. In fact, the team had been approached by a gaming company about it.
An Ning told him to ask the team to start working on further developing the concept. He could then present the result to the gaming company and come to an agreement about it later. Matt nodded then became silent. He seemed to hesitate.
”Is there anything else? We're doing good with the marketing, right?”
Matt again nodded.
”You look like you have something on your mind,” An Ning said, frowning. ”What is it?”
”I've been seeing Sam,” Matt said, quietly gauging An Ning's reaction. ”She's really in a bad place.”
”When you say seeing, are you dating her?”
”No..no.God, no,” Matt was red-faced from embarrassment. ”It's just that I called her after that Yu Yan thing was over and she didn't sound right.”
”And?”
”I asked if we could meet. She was distraught and crying and seemed out of it when I finally saw her....”
”Wait a minute,” An Ning interrupted. ”We're now calling her with a different pronoun. Did she tell you she's a girl?”
”Well, I didn't want to lie anymore, so I told her I knew about her sex. She didn't seem bothered by it though. She just said, ah. I mean, is that even a proper reaction?” Matt was obviously baffled.
”What reaction were you expecting then, that she'll cry on your shoulders and tell you you're a good guy for seeing thru her disguise?” An Ning said wryly.
Matt flushed.
”I don't mean that,” he said. ”If you were in her place, would you react like that?”
”Yes.”
”No...what?” Matt was confused.
”It's none of your business if I disguise myself as a boy or not. Why would I cater to your expectations of me?”
”I can actually imagine you having a reaction like that but not Sam.”
”Oh? Why?”
”Because she was crying when she said it.”
”Oh.”
”An Ning, would you do me a big favor?”
”What?” An Ning was suddenly cautious.