Seawater surged into Boston.
Niagara Falls froze into a wall of ice.
Even the ocean waves were flash-frozen into works of art.
These were the news reports they saw after arriving at the hotel. Fortunately, the blizzard had ended, and the weather was finally warming up.
"Those experts keep talking about global warming—are they kidding me?" Her cousin, Meng Xiaotian, grumbled as he picked out some ham at the breakfast buffet.
"It’s the lake-effect. They taught us that in geography; you clearly weren't paying attention," Yin Guo murmured, still half-asleep. She stood by the toaster, waiting for her bread. "If we had just come a little later, we wouldn't have been this unlucky."
Her original plan was to arrive in March and leave in April. But Meng Xiaotian had insisted on arriving in January, claiming he needed to acclimate to the environment across multiple seasons. In reality, he just wanted to take advantage of Yin Guo’s presence to use her as his personal tour guide for New York.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Meng Xiaotian gave a sheepish grin. "Help me toast a slice too."
Yin Guo gave a noncommittal hum of agreement.
"Sis?"
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you going to thank that handsome guy?"
With a *clack*, the toast popped up and fell onto the silver stainless steel tray.
Yin Guo used the tongs to flip the bread over and started toasting it again. "I want to, I just haven't figured out what to say."
"What’s there to figure out? We’re all Chinese. I’ll push his WeChat contact to you."
Before they had gotten out of the car that night, Meng Xiaotian had been effusive with his thanks and had the thick skin to ask for Lin Yiyang’s WeChat, establishing a line of contact. Apparently, her cousin had already chatted with him a bit over the past two days and found him quite friendly.
As Yin Guo’s thoughts drifted, Meng Xiaotian sent the contact over.
Name: Lin.
*Clack.* The toast popped up again. Both sides were done.
Yin Guo picked up the toast, grabbed a small container of butter and strawberry jam, and returned to their table by the window. Behind her, her cousin realized she had forgotten to toast his bread. He called her name three times to no avail and was forced to gloomily fend for himself.
Yin Guo set her plate on the red checkered tablecloth and stared at Lin Yiyang’s contact card. She wanted to add him but hesitated. Eventually, she put her phone down, picked up her fork, and buried her face in her scrambled eggs.
Thinking back to that night made her feel a bit sheepish. When her cousin and the man in glasses had returned from the restroom, they had caught Lin Yiyang putting away his ID card. The man in glasses had burst out laughing, asking Yin Guo if she wanted to see his household registration page too. He joked that since it was daytime back in China, they could just have Lin Yiyang’s family take a photo and send it over.
It had been incredibly awkward.
After gathering his food, Meng Xiaotian returned to Yin Guo’s side. Seeing her staring hesitantly at her phone, he snatched it away and added Lin Yiyang himself. "What are you afraid of? That guy is great."
The friend request was accepted almost instantly.
"He’s in." Meng Xiaotian showed her the screen and sent a smiley face for good measure.
Yin Guo snatched her phone back.
Looking at the emoji Meng Xiaotian had sent, she knew she had no choice but to say something.
She held the phone, carefully choosing her words: *Hello, I’m Yin Guo. I’m the girl from the RED FISH bar the other night—the siblings you helped. I’m the older sister.*
After hitting send, she felt the introduction was too wordy and wanted to unsend it.
Before she could, he replied.
Lin: *I know.*
Short and sweet.
Xiao Guo: *Thank you so much for your help that night; we wouldn't have made it to the hotel otherwise. If you’re free, my brother and I would like to treat you to a meal to show our gratitude. Would that be okay?*
Lin: *Not afraid of being scammed anymore?*
Xiao Guo: *...I had just arrived in New York and the blizzard had me completely overwhelmed. I’m sorry my misunderstanding got in the way of your kindness.*
Lin: *It’s fine.*
Xiao Guo: *Are you still in Manhattan? We can head over there.*
Lin: *I’m at the train station. Heading back to DC.*
He was going back to Washington?
"What’d he say?" Meng Xiaotian asked.
"He said he’s going back to school."
Meng Xiaotian chewed his toast. "Then let’s go there too. We can make a trip out of it."
"Huh?" Yin Guo gasped.
"Let’s go visit him. It’s not like I have anything else to do."
"We haven't prepared anything. We need to book train tickets and hotels in advance," Yin Guo pleaded. "Stop making trouble. Let’s just stay in New York for now. We don't have to have this meal today."
Besides, who chases someone down just to buy them dinner? Traveling from New York to Washington just for that sounded borderline stalkerish.
Seeing that Yin Guo wasn't on board, Meng Xiaotian didn't push it further. He polished off his toast in a few bites and went to get another plate of food.
Although this hotel had a restaurant and a bar, the staff seemed to vanish the moment meal times were over. During the blizzard, they hadn't wanted to go out and tried to find lunch in the hotel. After searching the premises, they couldn't find a single waiter, let alone a chef. Eventually, starving, they asked the front desk where they could eat. The young American girl behind the counter cheerfully told them they’d have to wait until 5:30 PM for the restaurant staff to return. Left with no choice, the two of them had wandered pathetically through the hotel floors looking for a vending machine, only to find that every single one sold nothing but drinks. In the end, they had returned to their room empty-handed, spending hours chatting and drinking water, surfing the web and drinking water, until they finally managed to get a steak.
After that bout of hunger, Meng Xiaotian had learned his lesson. As long as breakfast was available, he would eat until he was stuffed. When traveling, one must never, ever pass up an opportunity to get full.
Their conversation about Washington ended in the breakfast room.
Meng Xiaotian didn't bring it up again, and Yin Guo didn't take it to heart. She went back to the room to rest for half an hour, looked up the address of a nearby supermarket, and dragged Meng Xiaotian—who had been glued to his phone—out to buy daily necessities. Since they planned to stay in New York for three to four months, Yin Guo hadn't brought bulky toiletries, planning to buy them locally.
The moment they entered the supermarket, she headed straight for the personal care aisle while Meng Xiaotian bolted for the food section.
Following the signs, she reached the shampoo and body wash section. She quickly spotted a large bottle on the top shelf that would last the two of them about three months. She stood on her tiptoes, reaching for a while before finally snagging a bottle.
"What are you buying?" Meng Xiaotian circled back to her.
"Shampoo," Yin Guo said, moving on to look for body wash. "Don't follow me. I have a lot to buy."
There were some things she didn't want Meng Xiaotian watching her buy.
The person behind her reached out, his arm passing over Yin Guo’s head as he snatched the shampoo from her hand. "Let’s go. We’ll buy it when we get back."
He put the shampoo back in its place.
"I just got that down!" And she had struggled to reach that high, too. "Give it back."
Without a word, Meng Xiaotian grabbed Yin Guo and pulled her toward the exit. "I just bought train tickets. We’re on a tight schedule. Hurry back and pack, or we won't make it."
"You bought tickets? How? Where?" Yin Guo was stunned. Hadn't they entered the supermarket together? They hadn't been apart since they walked in—when did he buy tickets?
Meng Xiaotian looked smug, feeling like he was growing up fast now that he could handle booking train tickets.
Yin Guo, shocked by his impulsiveness, snatched his phone and scrolled through his chat history. He hadn't just made her out to be a fool; he had practically given Lin Yiyang their entire life story. Meng Xiaotian had gone into full "good boy" mode on WeChat, explaining to Lin Yiyang that he had applied to universities here and had come early to acclimate and visit prestigious schools—and if he didn't get in this year, he’d try again next year. As for Yin Guo, since she had been here last year, their family had entrusted her with looking after her cousin, making her his exclusive tour guide.
In the chat logs, the man’s replies were sparse.
The last message was from three minutes ago.
Lin: *There’s a Shake Shack in the DC train station. If it’s your first time, give it a try.*
"What’s that?" Meng Xiaotian asked from behind her.
"A burger place."
"See? He’s way more reliable than you. You didn't even tell me about it."
"We just got here!" Yin Guo felt wronged. "They have them in New York too. If you want to eat there, I’ll take you."
Meng Xiaotian ignored her explanation and dragged her back to the hotel immediately.
Lacking experience, he had booked tickets for a train leaving in just two hours. Completely unprepared, they didn't have time to pack properly. They shoved a few clothes and toiletry bags into their backpacks, grabbed their IDs, credit cards, and phones, and bolted for the train station.
In the taxi, Yin Guo kept her head down, picking out a hotel.
When they reached the station, she was focused on booking it. She spent the whole time on the phone with staff, selecting a room and providing her credit card info. Meng Xiaotian held onto her backpack with one hand, weaving through the crowds and leading her through the boarding line.
Tickets scanned. Boarding complete.
The two of them boarded the train as if they were in a race. Most of the passengers were already seated.
"Let’s find seats next to each other."
Yin Guo saw there was no hope in this carriage; every pair of seats already had one person in it. They had to move to the next car. After passing through two more carriages, she finally saw a pair of empty seats. She placed her small backpack at her feet and sat by the window.
Meng Xiaotian tossed his large backpack onto the luggage rack and sat on the aisle side. "Man, these trains are so slow. The distance from New York to DC would take an hour on our high-speed rail. When I bought the tickets, they told me it would take over three hours. It nearly gave me a heart attack. High-speed rail prices for the speed of an old green-skin train—unbelievable."
Meng Xiaotian kept muttering beside her.
Yin Guo refused to speak. She still hadn't figured out how she had been rushed onto a train by Meng Xiaotian. She had just wanted to browse the supermarket for shampoo and daily necessities, and now, for some inexplicable reason, she was going to Washington D.C.
Yin Guo stared at the platform outside the window. A few seconds later, a very important thought popped into her head—
It seemed she hadn't paid him back for the car fare that night either?
***
Just before the train departed, Lin Yiyang boarded.
He didn't feel like walking further back, so he picked a seat and sat down. Next to him was a Black mother holding a one-year-old child. The baby was wailing loudly, and the mother, at a loss, could only pat the child soothingly while repeatedly saying "sorry."
Amidst the young mother’s soothing voice, he took off his heavy winter coat, balled it up, and shoved it into the overhead rack along with his gym bag. He hadn't slept at all last night. As soon as he sat down, he pulled his hood up to block out the light from the window.
"Could you help me for a second?" the mother’s voice asked.
Lin Yiyang was so exhausted he thought he was hallucinating.
The mother asked again, sounding embarrassed. He jolted out of his half-dreaming state, pulled down his hood, and rubbed his face with both hands to wake himself up. "Sorry," he muttered.
And so, for the first ten minutes after the train left the platform, he spent his time helping the young mother reach into her bag, pull out bottles, pour formula...
By the time she no longer needed help, Lin Yiyang couldn't fall back asleep. His head throbbed with exhaustion, his gaze lingering blankly on the baby drinking milk. A vibration in his pocket snapped him out of it.
It was a WeChat message.
He pulled his phone from his pocket. There were two new messages.
The first was from "Whatever": *On the train yet? I’ll come find you at the next stop.*
The second was from "Red Fish"—the name Lin Yiyang had given Yin Guo in his contacts, after the bar where they met.
She had sent him a transfer:
*I’m very grateful for your help the other night. I hope I’ll have the chance to repay you. But before that, please accept the car fare and the drink money from that night. [Smiley Face]*
***
