Chapter 40: Kung Hei Fat Choi

It was day one hundred thirty-five of Operation Girlfriend, and Cora still couldn't get over how amazing Farron was. She was captivated by watching them work, carefully adding each ingredient to the large pot of jai on the stove, then standing on their tiptoes to see over the tall edges. Intense focus emanated from their narrowed eyes, and with every stir of the wooden spoon, their arms would flex from the exertion.

But that wasn't what amazed Cora the most. What really warmed her heart was when Farron would scoop up a spoonful of jai, making sure to include chunks of foo jook bean curds and mook yee black fungus that Cora enjoyed, then shaking off the dried chestnuts that she didn't care for, before holding it up to her.

"Try it," they said, their small smile eager for Cora's reaction. Eager for her happiness.

And Cora would, holding Farron's gaze the entire time, wanting to witness the way their eyes lit up from Cora's joy.

"It's amazing," Cora said—and she meant it.

Farron's grin widened as they turned back to the pot, and Cora couldn't resist stepping behind them and resting her chin on their shoulder. Still, she made sure to keep at least an inch of space between the majority of their bodies. They might've had Farron's parents' kitchen to themselves just then, but there was no telling when their family would walk in.

As if on cue, there was a groan behind them a few seconds later.

"Seriously, don't you two see enough of each other at work?" Farron's brother Brandon grumbled as he rummaged through the prepared food and supplies on the kitchen counter.

"Definitely not," Farron said as they continued stirring the jai. As if to emphasize their point, they use their free hand to find one of Cora's, then set it on their own hips. "Our shifts only overlap for an hour, and Cora has to spend half that time in the backroom taking logs. There's no point in having two assistant managers on the floor."

"That's probably for the best," Brandon said. "Who knows what you two might get up to in the Fruitastic backrooms."

Cora sighed, grinning when her exhale sent a shudder through Farron, then turning towards Brandon. "Is there something in here I can help you find? Or are you just here to bother us?"

Brandon pouted, briefly glaring at Farron snickering. "I'm just...admiring the assortment. And...checking if there's anything I can help with."

"You're trying to hide from your grandparents, aren't you?"

"I don't get it!" Brandon said, throwing his hands in the air. "They want my help with their puzzle, then they say I'm making it worse. Which is it?"

"They want your help to actually be helpful," Farron said, not turning away from the stove.

Brandon scoffed. "They're actually looking for 'Farron's tall girlfriend.' I was just the backup."

As small of a comment as it was, it still made Cora smile wide as warmth bloomed in her chest. She still felt sad when she thought about her own family, and the memories that the Lunar New Year brought didn't help her nostalgia. Maybe she would never forget the happier moments of her childhood, but maybe that was fine. She would just have to make new memories instead—memories with her new family.

The doorbell interrupted Cora's thoughts just before her tears came, and Brandon glanced towards the entrance. "Who's that?"

"Must be our friend from work," Farron said. "Can you get that?"

"Why can't Cora? It's not like they're my guest."

"Because Cora is helping me. And it's not my fault your friend couldn't make it."

Brandon's grumbling was indiscernible as he trudged towards the front door, then fell silent as soon as it opened. "Kev?"

"B-Brandon?" Kevin's voice said from around the corner.

"I thought you said you were meeting up with friends?"

"I am! I thought you said you had a family dinner?"

"This is the family dinner!"

As frantic whispers accompanied the sound of the closing door, Farron grinned towards the stove, pressing their body closer to Cora's. "This should be an interesting story."

Cora chuckled just as Brandon and Kevin entered the kitchen with forced smiles and a pastry box.

"Hello, friends," Kevin said through gritted teeth. "I brought custard pie."

"Good choice," Farron said, glancing back to nod in greeting. "Our popo loves that stuff."

"Just you?" Cora asked, helping Brandon clear the table for the newest addition.

"Y-yeah," Kevin said, his eyes darting towards Brandon before he set the pie down with shaking hands. "Charlie ended up getting called into the office, and...none of my other partners were free."

Cora glanced between the two men. "Are you sure?"

"Uh..." Kevin said.

Brandon splayed his arms out to his sides. "Does it look like I'm free?" Then, to Kevin's shocked expression, "What? They clearly know already and are just fishing for info. Might as well keep it from being entertaining, at least."

"I swear, I didn't realize you were related," Kevin said, looking between Farron and Brandon. "Farron, I didn't even know your last name was Kam."

"Our interrogation would've been harmless," Farron said, adding more ingredients to the simmering jai. "Now, listening to our grandparents asking about Kevin's ear gauges? That I want to see."

Kevin's eyes widened as he turned to Brandon. "They wouldn't...would they?"

"Brandon!" Farron's mom called from the living room. "Who's at the door?"

After staring at Kevin's fearful expression, Brandon sighed and dragged him by the hand into the living room. "My guest made it after all!"

The next time Cora and Farron saw Kevin, it was when dinner was being served. As the Kam family filtered into the kitchen, laughing and chatting, Kevin stumbled in after them in a daze. His unfocused eyes passed over the food before stopping at Cora, only shifting down when Farron's mom shoved a plate into his limp hands.

"So this is what an actual holiday feels like!" Farron's mom, Auntie June, exclaimed as she filled her plate with food. "It was so relaxing to just sit back for a change. Thank you, Cora."

Cora smiled, her face slightly warm from the praise. "It wasn't much. You and Uncle still made so much food, and you're letting us use your house."

"But not having to do any cleaning or shopping or planning who made what?" Auntie June sighed with relief. "I'm so glad you're here."

Tears welled in her eyes for a few seconds before Cora blinked them away, gratefully leaning into Farron as they wrapped an arm around her waist. "Thank you for having me."

Once everyone had full plates, they gathered in the living room and combined dining room, sitting wherever was open. Since Farron's popo and gunggung immediately waved Kevin over to the couch for more questions and puzzle help, Brandon joined him, leaving Cora and Farron at the dining table with their parents and sister.

"You did early applications, yeah?" Waverly asked Cora, only after her mom nagged her to put her textbook away. "Did you hear back yet?"

Cora couldn't help but smile immediately, despite her mouth being full of steamed fish, and she did her best to finish it as quickly and neatly as possible. "I did, just the other day actually. And," she glanced at Farron, who smiled with encouragement, "I got in! Starting in the fall!"

The process had been so chaotic that Cora still couldn't believe it had actually happened. After she received a job offer from Fruitastic several months ago, Cora decided on a whim to try her hand at something she hadn't done in over a decade: standardized testing. She even considered the registration fee as a treat to herself for a job well done, and when she received her surprisingly decent results, she applied to a handful of nearby colleges, some of them minutes before their early admission deadlines. It turned out that her hard work—and extensive advice from Waverly—had paid off, and Cora had received her first acceptance letter a few days prior. While she was still waiting to hear back from scholarships and financial aid, she had never imagined herself making it as far as she had—not recently, at least.

"That's so exciting!" Auntie June cheered as Waverly high-fived Cora across the table. "Oh, you've worked so hard."

Uncle David nodded beside her, beaming. "We're proud of you, Cora."

Cora's tears came back in full force, and she couldn't blink them away in time. Instead, she let them fall, only sniffing and clearing her throat to say, "Thank you."

"You deserve it," Auntie June said, examining the pieces of roast duck on her plate and placing the most tender ones on Cora's. "After hearing about what your parents and that awful manager did to you? I just wish I could give them a piece of my mind!"

"Mom," Farron said, wrapping an arm around Cora as they gave Auntie June a pointed look.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Auntie June said, adding a peeled garlic shrimp to Cora's plate. "It just makes me so mad thinking about it."

"If it's any consolation," Cora began, hoping to redirect the conversation, "Kevin's in the middle of filing a complaint against my old manager. I heard it's going well."

That did the trick, and the conversation shifted to Auntie June loudly questioning Kevin across the room, forcing Kevin to frantically bounce between her interrogation and Farron's grandparents' puzzle.

"Do you know what you want to study yet?" Waverly asked, her voice carrying surprisingly well under Auntie June's hollers.

Cora shrugged as she picked up the shrimp Auntie June gave her. "Not yet, but...I'm excited to find out. Even though I'll probably be the oldest undecided major there."

"You'll have time to decide," Farron said, squeezing Cora's shoulders. "Besides, I think it'll be fun! The nontraditional domestic life. You work in the morning while I cook at home, I go to work while you go to school, and at the end of the day, we'll come home together to see our kid."

Waverly scoffed. "You adopted a cat, not a human child."

Cora raised her brows. "Augustus is our son."

"Our old, fuzzy boy," Farron said.

Waverly groaned as she moved to sit next to their maamaa as she crocheted her latest project, this one using pink, orange, and white yarn.

Once everyone's dinner plates were cleared, it was time for dessert. Since there was a smaller selection, Cora and Farron brought out everything to the dining table, arranging the tapioca soup, jin dui sesame balls, and Kevin's custard pie around the glistening brown nian gao rice cake.

As Cora focused on cutting the pie, there was a tap on her shoulder. Behind her—and over a foot beneath her eye level—was Farron's popo, her hand shaking as it gripped her old wooden cane. Nevertheless, she released it to hold Cora's hand instead; with her other hand, she stuffed a bright red envelope between Cora's fingers, and the gold "fortune" character glistened in the warm light.

"Kung hei fat choi," their popo said, smiling as she held Cora tight. Be prosperous.

Cora's eyes widened at the laisee envelope. It had been years since she had received one, and when she squeezed it, she felt the familiar sensation of folded bills inside. When she looked up, the older woman was blurry through the tears in Cora's eyes. She was certainly crying a lot for such an auspicious occasion. "Kung hei fat choi, Auntie."

Farron's popo shook her head, and before Cora could panic, the elder woman patted Cora's hand.

"Not 'Auntie,'" she said, her voice rough with age but still strong. "Popo. I am your popo—your grandma now. Okay?"

There was nothing that could hold Cora's tears back at that point, and she didn't bother trying. Instead, she let them flow, smiling and nodding as she cried. Maybe if the setting was different, if she was ten years younger and surrounded by her parents' relatives, she would've tried to show more restraint. But there, amongst Farron's family—her family—she had no reason to hide. She had no reason to be ashamed. They were proud of her, and she was proud of herself.

As dessert wound down, the conversation picked up, and the younger generations shuffled around. When Kevin and Brandon escaped to the dining table, only to be interrogated by Auntie June, Cora and Farron joined the puzzle solving on the couch. With the four of them combined, all of them eager and two with decent vision, it didn't take much longer to complete the image: two pink lotuses blooming at the surface of a pond.

After the two elders celebrated the job well done, they left to get more food, refusing Cora and Farron's offers to retrieve it for them. How they were still hungry was beyond Cora, but she wasn't going to question it as she and Farron huddled together at the corner of the couch, watching the activity around them.

At the dining table, Auntie June and Brandon spoke the loudest as Uncle David and Kevin sat quietly beside them. On the other side of the living room, Farron's maamaa continued to crochet in her armchair as she nodded along to Waverly's recitations from her textbook. In the kitchen, their other grandparents could be heard as they exclaimed questions at each other in spirited Cantonese.

Cora smiled. "Is this what it feels like?"

Farron turned to her, confused, before their expression mirrored Cora's. "To be happy?"

"That too, but..." Cora paused, her gaze traveling over the lively scene before them. "It's more than that, than just being happy in the moment. It's like...I'm happy now, I'm comfortable with my past, and I'm excited for the future. Even if there are a whole bunch of uncertainties and new, scary things ahead, I'm enjoying life." She turned back to Farron. "Is this what it feels like?"

"Yeah," Farron said, their smile growing. "Yeah, it is."

Cora chuckled, bringing a hand to Farron's cheek and brushing a thumb against their skin. "I like it. And I'm glad I can spend it with you."

For a moment, they were silent, only exchanging gazes as their family exchanged words around them. Then, when Farron leaned closer, Cora followed, and their gentle kiss was the final piece of comfort Cora had been craving.

"Me too," Farron whispered when they parted, the warmth from their breath and words shared only between them. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

And as the chatter continued long into the night, Cora basked in the love of Farron, her new family, the new year, and her new life.

END