Overacting

Darnell pedaled the Roadster Bicycle, its chain clattering in the night wind like someone chasing him and beating out a rhythm behind him.

He rode so fast the zipper on his down jacket slapped against his neck, so fast the cold wind brought tears to his eyes... Of course, he would never admit they were tears.

"It's the wind."

If anyone asked, that was what he'd say.

"March winds, you know? The kind that drills right into your eyes."

The chain clattered again.

He glanced down... It wasn't the bike. It was the road.

Jamaica Avenue's surface was full of potholes. The March frost had only half thawed, leaving cracks and puddles everywhere. He carefully steered around a large pothole, then sped up.

As he neared the subway station, Darnell saw someone up ahead waving at him from the exit.

Above ground, the subway entrance was a square glass booth. Its fluorescent lights cast a pale, sickly glow over the small patch of concrete outside, turning it into a stage.

People came and went through the light, their shadows stretching and shrinking across the ground like a silent pantomime.

Even here, Darnell spotted Lin An at a glance.

As he pedaled the Roadster Bicycle closer and pulled to a stop, Darnell realized Lin An wasn't just waiting there leisurely—he was also holding a cup of hot coffee.

"Holy shit, why do you get to drink hot coffee?"

Darnell protested loudly.

"Get me one too, or else..."

"Or else what?"

Lin An asked, amused.

"Or else I'll get down on my knees, grab your leg, and beg you!"

Darnell said with complete conviction. Lin An rolled his eyes, then held out his free hand, palm up. A five-dollar bill appeared in it, and he passed it over.

"Here. Go buy one at the convenience store next door."

"Oh, thanks, bro."

Darnell parked his bike and accepted the bill with a grin, but he didn't leave. Instead, he looked around.

"Bro, have you seen my sister? She's really pretty..."

"You mean the girl over there?"

Lin An pointed to the other end of the subway entrance. A mixed-race girl with brown skin and big, wavy hair was impatiently tapping her foot. A young man with yellow skin was hovering around her.

Darnell followed Lin An's finger. His expression visibly crumbled.

"Oh, no."

"What's wrong?"

"That... that little yellow guy!"

"You're yellow too."

Lin An said,

"In your own mind, are you Black or Asian? That's a philosophical question."

"This isn't a philosophical question! It's... wait, what are you talking about?"

Darnell shook his head.

"Forget it. That kid's name is Jack Wang, and he's a goddamn problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"He's after my sister."

"What's wrong with that?"

Lin An glanced at the young man circling Meiling. He wasn't tall, and he wore an obviously oversized gray jacket. His hair was slicked back, and the expression on his face... Lin An couldn't put his finger on it. He just found it disgusting.

"He looks... uh, fine."

"Fine?"

Darnell's voice rose.

"You call that fine? He... he's an illegal immigrant!"

"You're descended from illegal immigrants too."

Lin An said.

"Historically speaking..."

"Oh, that's different!"

Darnell lowered his voice and leaned closer to Lin An, his expression as grave as if he were sharing state secrets.

"He and his father are the kind who sneak in from South America. They tore up their passports, you know?"

Lin An raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Runaways?"

[Did that already exist in 2009?]

[It's been around for ages. Fujianese sailed in, while others took the South American route. Those were the main smuggling routes, and they were very well established. Back in 2000, Chinese immigrants in South America and local gangs were already running those routes. They were reasonably safe even before the pandemic.]

[After the pandemic hit, the economy took a nosedive, and the smugglers and gangs ran short on cash. On top of that, demand back home went up, so traffic along the South American route surged. Safety plummeted too. A lot of people got involved thinking they'd make a quick buck just once.]

"Bro, do me a favor."

Darnell rolled his eyes at Lin An, who was staring blankly as he read the Bullet Screen.

"His dad knows my stepdad. They used to work together in a kitchen in Chinatown, so... so I can't beat him up. You understand?"

"Why not?"

"Because my stepdad's dead. If I beat up his friend's son, my mom will find out. If she finds out, she'll cry, and if she cries, I'll... I'll..."

He mimed strangling himself.

"You'll what?"

"I'll have to spend three hours at Church. Three hours! Listening to the pastor talk about loving your neighbors and stuff. Do you have any idea what that's like?"

Lin An thought about it.

"I've never been to Church."

"You... you..."

Darnell took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Okay, okay, genius, listen. Here's the situation. That Jack Wang has been chasing my sister and bothering her for three months. It's not because he likes her..."

"Then why?"

"Because he wants a green card!"

Darnell lowered his voice, but each word sounded like it had been forced through clenched teeth.

"He needs to marry an American citizen to stay here, you get it? He's got his eye on Meiling. She's an American citizen. She's sixteen now, and that bastard... that bastard..."

His fists tightened, his knuckles cracking faintly.

Lin An tilted his head toward the Bullet Screen beside him.

[Holy shit, she's sixteen? What a piece of shit.]

[Wait, the girl's sixteen and the guy's sixteen too. They're both minors. Can they get married?]

[Bro, don't assume the laws in China apply to the United States. New York State law says that a sixteen-year-old can sign marriage papers with their parents' consent.]

[In some states in the United States, you can get married at any age as long as your parents sign.]

Oh, I see.

"So your brilliant plan was to bring me here?"

"Yeah!"

"Because I'm better-looking than you?"

Darnell opened his mouth, looking like someone had just fed him a lemon.

"You... you..."

"That's a fact."

Lin An said calmly.

"Your plan is to bring over a better-looking guy, and Jack Wang will just give up. He can't compete."

"I..."

"So you're not denying that I'm better-looking than you."

"Motherfucker... Are you going to help me or not?"

"Of course I am."

Lin An's lips curved slightly. He casually tossed the still-steaming coffee into a trash can, cleared his throat, and straightened his clothes, smoothing down his already neat collar.

"Bro, what are you doing?"

Seeing Lin An like this, Darnell had a bad feeling. Things seemed to be heading somewhere he hadn't anticipated.

Lin An didn't answer. He unhurriedly rolled his sleeve up half an inch, revealing a fair wrist. His movements were calm and measured, like a pianist getting ready before taking the stage.

Then he strode toward the other side with the measured steps of a slow-motion suit commercial. People coming out of the subway entrance instinctively moved aside as he passed.

[Holy shit, what's he doing?]

[I know that walk. It looks familiar.]

[Does he think he's hot stuff?]

[I need to screenshot Darnell's face.]

Over by Meiling, Jack Wang was still saying something.

"...Meiling, I just wanted to buy you a cup of bubble tea. Just one, no sugar. You said you didn't like it too sweet..."

Meiling had her arms folded across her chest, one foot tapping on the ground. She was looking over Jack Wang's shoulder, searching for Darnell.

Then she saw Lin An, and one eyebrow lifted... Chen Meiling knew him. That morning, she'd seen him asleep on her family's sofa, his ragged clothes leaving it dirty, while her brother called him his good bro.

Jack Wang noticed Meiling's gaze and turned around.

Then he saw Lin An.

Lin An had stopped three steps away. He stood there, looking down at Jack Wang.

Lin An wasn't actually tall. At five foot seven, he was small for a Black neighborhood. But with that CEO-like aura, he made Jack Wang, who was just as tall, feel as if he were being looked down on. Jack instinctively took half a step back.

Jack's gaze slid from Lin An's face to his shoulders, then down his clothes to his shoes, before returning to his face.

His smile grew stiff.

"Hey!"

Jack Wang grinned, showing eight teeth, and spoke in accented American English.

"Are you a friend of Meiling's?"

Lin An didn't answer or even look at Jack Wang.

He walked over to Chen Meiling and slightly tilted his head, his gaze settling on her big, wavy hair, tousled by the wind. Then he naturally reached up and tucked a lock behind her ear.

"How long have you been waiting?"

he asked. His voice wasn't loud, but both of them heard him clearly.

Chen Meiling froze.

She clearly hadn't expected an opening like that. She parted her lips, then instinctively glanced at Darnell, who had just wheeled his bike over. His mouth hung slightly open, like a black frog.

"Uh... not long?"

Chen Meiling said uncertainly, her tone rising at the end... Lin An's looks helped a lot. They stopped the Black-and-Chinese girl from raising a hand to slap him.

Lin An gave a slight nod, lifted his wrist, and looked at his watch.

Darnell rose onto his toes to take a look... He didn't remember Lin An having a watch.

"I had my driver take a detour. He'll be late—the Manhattan Bridge gets as jammed as a parking lot in March."

Driver.

Darnell's eyebrows nearly shot up to his hairline.

He frantically scanned the area, trying to find a car that might belong to "Lin An's driver."

A few battered Toyotas and Chevrolets were parked along the street. Farther away, a taxi was dropping someone off, and farther still... the police car that had brought Lin An here hadn't gone far.

But Jack Wang didn't know that.

His gaze followed the direction Lin An had glanced when checking his watch, then returned to Lin An. His expression grew even more complicated.

Lin An finally turned to face Jack Wang.

His gaze rested on Jack Wang for about two seconds, making him even more uncomfortable.

"And you are?"

he asked politely, with unmistakable distance.

"I... I'm Jack Wang."

Jack Wang said, his English suddenly stumbling.

"I'm Meiling's... friend."

"Friend."

Lin An repeated the word, the corner of his mouth lifting at just the right moment. Then he naturally took Meiling's hand.

"Meiling has plenty of friends, but I've never heard her mention you."

Jack Wang's ears immediately turned red. He glanced at Chen Meiling, looking for support, but she had her head lowered, staring at the tips of her shoes. Even with her brown skin, it was clear she was blushing.

"I... I know her brother."

Jack Wang said, his voice dropping.

"Our families go way back."

"Our families go way back."

Lin An repeated the phrase. Even Darnell could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"So you met her through her brother."

It wasn't a question.

Jack Wang didn't answer.

Lin An turned his head slightly, deliberately positioning himself so the light from the subway exit fell right across his brow. It made his already refined features look even fairer, as if a filter had been applied.

"Meiling, are you cold?"

Chen Meiling looked up and blinked at Lin An's face. The tips of her ears had turned red.

"...I'm okay."

"Your lips are turning purple."

As Lin An spoke, he had already begun unbuttoning his overcoat. His movements were unhurried, as if he'd done this a thousand times before.

He draped the overcoat over Chen Meiling's shoulders.

Chen Meiling froze.

The coat was huge on her, like a cloak. It wrapped around her from her shoulders down to her knees, and she caught the scent of it...

"I..."

"Put it on."

Lin An's voice was gentle, but left no room for argument.

He turned and looked at Jack Wang again.

"What was your name, again?"

"...Jack Wang."

"Jack."

Lin An said it in Chinese this time, pronouncing it so accurately it was surprising.

"Where are you from?"

Jack Wang's expression changed.

The shift was subtle... His eyes narrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth dipped a millimeter, and his shoulders unconsciously drew back a little.

Darnell couldn't make out those details, but he could see Jack Wang's confidence crumbling at a visible pace.

"Fujian, Lianjiang."

"Lianjiang. I've been there. The seafood's good."

He paused, then glanced to the side at the Bullet Screen.

"The accommodations at Fali Hotel are nice... What are you doing around here?"

"I... I work at a restaurant."

"Which one?"

"Fujian Restaurant on East Broadway."

"Fujian Restaurant..."

Lin An nodded again.

"Would you like me to recommend you for a job? I don't know how much the waiters there make, but..."

"No, thanks. I don't need anything..."

Jack Wang answered almost before Lin An had finished. His eyes reddened, and then he turned and hurried toward the subway entrance, almost as if he were fleeing.

[That was a little cruel.]

[Not cruel. It's for the best. If that kid really got his way, he'd get a green card, but what about Ni Ge's little sister?]

[He's only 16 and already that calculating. His selfishness is practically spilling out of him. Whoever marries him will suffer.]

Lin An watched Jack Wang disappear, then turned to face Chen Meiling. She still had her head lowered, both hands clutching the hem of his coat. He paused.

This is bad. I overdid it.