Sex and Taipei City by Yu-Han Chao

Author:Yu-Han Chao
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Published: 2019-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

A few days ago, however, Mike casually mentioned that he was taking the GRE so he could apply to graduate programs back in the United States. Jolie didn’t know how to respond, because he had never mentioned graduate school or going back to America before. She cheered herself up by telling herself that, wherever he went, he would take her with him—after a romantic proposal, of course.

After thinking obsessively about their future marriage day and night for weeks, an email from an old classmate finally broke her. Mia, the most unlikely of her old friends to become a bride, was engaged. Mia, the most cynical misan drist on Earth, in love. Jolie hated that she was not happy for her old friend, but she was reminded of a line both Angel and Yoyi were fond of delivering, with all the dramatic flair of a Korean drama heroine: “Every time one of my friends gets engaged, I die a little bit inside.”

Mia’s engagement was the last straw.

Mike was watching a bag of butter popcorn pop in the microwave when Jolie said, quite abruptly and intensely, “You never mentioned you were planning to go to graduate school.”

Mike appeared to be listening for the right interval between pops as a cue to turn off the microwave. He acted like he hadn't heard what she said.

“You know, Mike, I don’t mean this as an ultimatum or anything like that, but if you really leave for America, there’s no way for me to go there with you unless we’re engaged or married.”

Mike looked at Jolie as if a bat had just flown out of her mouth, but still, he said nothing.

“It’s just that. Getting a long-term visa is very hard, I know from my friend’s experience, and I’m not going to be a student at an American university or anything because I can’t pass the TOEFL for English proficiency. I can’t afford to come and go every three months on tourist visas because of the cost of airplane tickets, and—”

Jolie kept explaining until she sensed that Mike was no longer listening. His facial expression betrayed little, if any, emotion.

After a long silence, he said, “Okay. I get it. You don’t have to keep harping about it.”

Jolie felt hurt. She never considered herself someone who harped, and Mike’s words made her feel like a shrew or a nagging woman. She realized she wasn’t going to get a proposal out of Mike this way, at least not now. She didn’t regret talking to him about it, however, because that was how she felt. And that wasn’t even all of it.

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