But today.
I looked at myself, crammed awkwardly onto the subway, rain soaking the cuffs of my pants and my already-ruined shoes, and before I could think twice I was dialing my mom's number.
「Mom.」
「I'll do the blind date.」
By the time I got home.
The rain had stopped.
I pushed open the front door and didn't even have time to react.
【Pop——】
Streamers drifted through the air.
「Surprise!」
I froze.
「Mia!」
「Happy birthday!」
Chloe stood in front of me wearing my cartoon slippers, dressed in my pajamas, her hair swept up in a loose twist held together by the shark clip I'd just gotten delivered yesterday.
My eyes locked onto Chloe's face. She didn't seem to notice at all, just called out toward the kitchen.
「Stewart!」
「Your wife's so shocked she forgot how to breathe!」
「Quick, come give her mouth-to-mouth!」
Stewart's laughter floated out from the kitchen. He walked over carrying a lychee cake, grinning the whole way.
「If I actually gave my wife mouth-to-mouth in front of you, you'd throw a fit.」
「You'd say we were rubbing it in, picking on you for being single.」
Stewart looked at Chloe with that indulgent softness he always reserved for her. Chloe just stuck out her tongue.
「So what.」
「I'm single and proud. Mind your own business.」
Stewart was always like this.
He could joke and play around with Chloe as if no one else existed, the two of them so close they might as well have been glued together, like they were the inseparable couple and I was just some stranger who happened to be standing there.
I was the outsider wedged between them, watching them laugh and roughhouse, watching Chloe giggle as she pinched Stewart's waist, Stewart holding the cake and yelping in mock pain.
「Chloe.」
My voice came out thick, heavy with congestion.
「You're wearing my clothes.」
I looked straight at her.
「Did I say you could?」
The mood iced over in an instant.
Chloe's expression crumpled into something wounded, and she turned to Stewart. His face had already changed.
「I told her she could wear them.」
All the playfulness was gone from Stewart's voice.
「Clothes sit in a closet to be worn,」 he said, looking at me with open disapproval：「Or are yours lined with gold? Nobody else is allowed to touch them?」
「Mia.」
「You've been out of line all day. Chloe didn't hold any of it against you. She even remembered your thirtieth birthday and put all this together.」
「Don't push your luck.」
「Stewart.」
Chloe's eyes rimmed red. She tugged the hem of his shirt, her voice small：「Stop. Don't say any more.」
「Why shouldn't I say it!」
Stewart's voice shot up, the way it always did right before his temper broke loose. This was the pattern: he'd defend Chloe, raise his voice louder and louder until volume alone counted as winning.
But this time, I didn't play along. I just asked him.
「Stewart.」
「Do you remember,」 my throat was raw, my voice barely there：「what you promised me?」
Stewart blinked, caught off guard.
「You said when I turned thirty, we'd get married.」
His expression went rigid.
「Today.」
I looked at him.
「I'm thirty.」
I didn't care whether I liked lychee cake or not. I didn't care about the wounded look on Chloe's face. I walked up to Stewart and blew out the candles that were already lit.
「So,」 I said, word by word：「are you going to marry me?」
The air.
Seemed to freeze solid.
I stared at Stewart's face, watched the tangle of emotions flicker across it, and then heard Chloe let out a sudden snort before doubling over with laughter.
「Mia.」
「So all this fuss today.」
「It was because you're desperate to get married?」
Chloe laughed and shoved Stewart's arm.
「Stewart, just say yes already. You know what they say, a woman at thirty is a force of nature. Better watch out.」
