Who: Mingmei and XiaoXing What: Arrival Where: Las Vegas airport then onwards When: Saturday Mid afternoon Warnings/Rating: None (possible mention of death)
XiaoXing hadn’t managed to sleep at all on the flight over, her head was too full of thoughts and worries; though the voice had been silent for which she was very grateful and hoped it was an indication that it wouldn’t return now she had left China.
As the plane began its descent into Las Vegas she looked out of the window with a small smile on herce. She was very much looking forward to seeing her sister, she had missed her greatly especially recently since the death of Hyun Su and the emergence of the mysterious voice. She had been relieved when, upon contacting Mingmei, her sister hadn’t hesitated before telling XiaoXing she could stay for as long as she needed. A change was as good as a rest they said, and XiaoXing was hoping that would prove to be true.
She stepped off the plane with a quiet thank you to the stewards and collected her luggage from the baggage reclaim area before heading out the door to the arrivals area of the airport.
Mingmei was excitedly awaiting her sister’s arrival. She knew it was coming on a sad note, but she was very eager to chat with her sister and to share everything that she’d learned so far in Las Vegas. Her English had improved a lot, but she still couldn’t quite get her accent right. She still spoke in Mandarin or Cantonese when she could, and with XiaoXing things would be no different. She grinned broadly when she saw her sister come through and pushed her way to her. “Jie jie!” she exclaimed in happy Cantonese, speaking the name for ‘Older sister”.
She continued in the harsh tones of Cantonese, aware of some of the stares they were getting from the people around them, but not really caring at all. She spoke English so often that it sometimes was exhausting. “How are you? Are you tired or hungry? Americans love coffee. We can try some before we go to my apartment.” The Cantonese came back so naturally to her, and a smile remained planted on her features. This was her sister, here finally! Currently, Mingmei had a dorm to herself at UNLV, but there was a spare bed so her sister could stay with her until they found something a bit more permanent.
An honest bright smile appeared on XiaoXing’s face as her sister called out and pushed her way to her, “Mei mei” she replied happily, thankfully to once again be speaking a language that came naturally to her unlike English which she struggled with.
XiaoXing didn’t notice the stares as she happily conversed with her sister, she was simply happy to be there with her, “I’m fine” she told Mingmei chuckling softly at her sisters enthusiasm, “I didn’t sleep on the plane but I’m not really tired. I am very hungry though, the plane meals were not very appetising. Coffee sounds like a plan” she added with a nod. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long” she said as she followed her sister, “Was the plane on time?” XiaoXing had forgotten to put her watch on that day, add to that that cell phones were not allowed on the plane and the time difference then she had pretty much lost track of time.
Mingmei happily took her sister’s suitcase, grinning. Plane food never was very delicious, though she had only been on two flights her entire life. “We can go to the cafe that I work at. It is great,” she chattered away as she brought them outside, hailing them a taxi with ease. She gave the address to the Starbucks that she worked at, and she was sure they were grateful for her coming back from China. Maybe she could get XiaoXing a job there, too. It was good money, and they got free coffee, too!
“It’s fine,” she returned to her sister’s worries. “I’d wait however long I needed to for you,” she comforted lightly, a grin on his features as she switched to English to speak to the taxi driver. She asked him to help with her sister’s belongings, then held the door open and waited for XiaoXing to get into the car before following in suit. She turned excitedly to point out a few of the popular places on the way, then thanked the taxi driver once they arrived at her work. “I work here so we can put your things in the back until we go back to my apartment.” Before they went inside, however, Mingmei enthusiastically embrassed her sister, adding contentedly, “I am so glad that you are here!”
XiaoXing has been on numerous trips with her husband and had never found the food to be great, though she was usually too busy excitedly planning what they would do when they landed to really care. Or she had been asleep. Neither of which had been an option this time around. She was however now looking forward to seeing Mingmei’s place of work, the thought of maybe getting a job there too not really entering her head at the moment.
She smiled at her sisters assurance that she didn’t mind waiting, before watching her proudly as she switched to English with seemingly little effort. XiaoXing listened intently as Mingmei pointed out popular tourist places before they arrived. She was surprised but soon returned the hug, “Me too” she said softly tightening her arms around her sister for a moment.
She was very grateful for the closeness with family. She wouldn’t like to admit how much she’d missed her family while she’d been away. It had seemed like a very long time, but it was really only about half a year. Realizing they probably looked a bit silly standing in front of Starbucks hugging each other, Mingmei hoisted up her sister’s luggage and tugged her inside. She happily greeted her co-workers and a few common customers that she knew by name, then dragged XiaoXing’s luggage in the back. She returned with a menu in hand, hoping that her sister could at least read English if she couldn’t speak it very well.
“So what do you like? There is many kind of coffee,” Mingmei explained. “Chocolate, caramel, hot, cold.” She rattled off the names the best she could in Mandarin, remembering what she’d looked up on the Chinese website for Starbucks to put a name to it in their own language. “And do not worry about paying. I work here,” she stated proudly, as if that explained everything. “They also have very good sandwiches and pasta here too, so what you like you can have!”
XiaoXing loved her family and saw her parents and brother fairly regularly though she did miss Mingmei and that had only intensified with recent events which is why she was so glad she was here now. Smiling she released Mingmei and followed her inside, breathing in the coffee smell which was strong yet comforting in an odd sort of way. As her sister greeted the people she must work with XiaoXing found herself reassured that she was happy here with friends and a good job.
She took the menu and studied it as her sister spoke, she could read some English and menu’s were easier thanks to their simple layouts, “Hot caramel coffee would be good” she replied, “And a chicken salad sandwich?”
Mingmei looked positively thrilled at the knowledge that her sister had read the menu. She beamed happily, then offered XiaoXing a seat and bounced over to the barista station. After chatting to her coworker a moment, she happily made her sister’s order, then her own. She brought the meals back to them and took her seat beside her sister, still grinning all the while.
“So have you thought about what you want to do while you are here?” Mingmei asked lightly, speaking more and more comfortably in her native tongue rather than in English. She waved every now and then when someone caught her attention, but for the most part, she was focused on her sister. She was worried about her, as she’d only heard a few things that had happened to her lately from their parents. She imagined there was much more to the story than what she’d been told over the phone or even in person when she’d been in China recently, but she would let her sister tell her on her own time what was happening.
Mingmei’s smiling face was such a joy to see that it eased XiaoXing’s heart and made it just that little bit lighter. And she desperately needed that right now. She watched her sisters easy interaction with the work colleague behind the counter, XiaoXing had a few friends back in China but none she would particularly miss. She had lost a number of friends after the miscarriage when she withdrew and as a result it had made her much more wary than she had been when she was younger.
XiaoXing considered the question for a moment before shaking her head, “I haven’t thought about much beyond just getting here” she admitted, “Mother and Father have been wonderful but they were getting more insistent that I shouldn’t be on my own and I...I couldn’t move back home. I knew they were right though, it was hard being on my own in the house.” Particularly when the voice started talking to her, when that happened she knew she had to do something or risk going insane.
Mingmei knew better than to bring anything up unless her sister wanted to share, but she would be curious about the voice eventually. There would come a time for it, but for now, she was going to be happy for her sister’s arrival here. She smiled contentedly over at XiaoXing, a gentle expression on her other features as she munched at her sandwich a bit.
“They’re worried, that’s all,” she returned lightly with a shrug. “I think you made a good choice to come here. We’ll take care of you here.” She patted her sister’s arm for a moment, then glanced around them carefully before turning back to her sister. “Luckily for you, I have thought some. You could get a job here with me if you wanted, or my friends here can help you find another job. I know some people at a hotel here. They would love to help.” She smiled lightly. “If you want to you could even take classes with me.” It was just a very good thing to finally have her sister here with her. Enjoying a cup of coffee before she would take XiaoXing back to her relatively small apartment near the university. She imagined there would be many things that were completely different from home, too.
XiaoXing had always appreciated her sister for knowing when to and when not to ask questions, Mingmei respected her right not to talk far more than their parents and for that she was very thankful. She’d talk to her about everything eventually but she was hoping the voice had gone away now that she was here. Though she had yet to talk about her husbands death, every time her parents had attempted it she had left the room.
She took a bite of her own sandwich and nodded at Mingmei’s words, “Thank you mei mei” she said squeezing her sisters hand briefly. She chuckled, “You’ve thought about this a lot” she said impressed, “You have lovely friends to offer their help. Honestly I don’t really know what I want to do”
XiaoXing thought for a moment, “I don’t think my English is good enough for classes, though do you think I could find an art class around here? I think I would be okay with that” Her family didn’t know she had been the one who had done the designs for her husbands work, they knew she was creative but there had never been a need to reveal her involvement.
One benefit of being the youngest child was learning how things worked quickly. She had adapted to what worked best for her family and when XiaoXing was ready, she knew she would share. Until then, they could wait. “Of course I have. It’s scary coming here on your own, not really knowing anyone. I had classes to start, but I don’t know what I would have done if I’d just come here on my own.”
She bit into her own sandwich and sipped at her coffee happily. “It’s what friends here do. They help each other,” she commented lightly, a gentle expression on her features. “We’ll make sure that you’re well taken care of.” She patted her sister’s hand comfortably, a smile on her features all the same. “How about we go back to the apartment?” she offered lightly.
Being the older sister XiaoXing was used to doing the looking after rather than being taken care of, however with recent events she didn’t feel capable of looking out for herself let alone others. Hopefully being here would change that and she could begin to ‘cope’ at the very least.
She appreciated that her sister understood that it was scary to move here, even if she did have Mingmei here to help her. She drank her coffee as she listened to her sister, feeling the warmth of the drink spread through her. XiaoXing smiled her thanks before nodding, “I’m looking forward to seeing your place” she said, gathering up her and Mingmei’s rubbish to put into the trash bin on their way out.
Mingmei waved a quick farewell to some of her coworkers, then she gathered XiaoXing’s luggage and hailed a taxi a moment later. She rattled off the address to her apartment, and thanked the taxi driver once they were there. Approaching UNLV, Mingmei indicated a few of the buildings on the way, then excitedly motioned when they were close to her apartment/dorm complex.
She lugged the suitcases up to her apartment, and opened the door easily enough. Inside was a fairly simple dorm for UNLV, but it was pretty extravagant compared to a lot of the homes in China. Two single beds were in the room. Plush blue carpet covered the floor. She was on the third floor of her apartment complex, with a decent view of the campus to meet them when they looked out the window “Here we are!” Mingmei announced excitedly, indicating her home with a wave of her hand.
XiaoXing dragged her thoughts from the future and decided to focus on the here and now, there would be time to worry about everything else in the future. And it wasn’t like she was destitute, everything her husband had owned now belonged to her and his business had been extremely profitable.
As she followed Mingmei into her apartment she smiled, the whole room just sang her sisters name to her, she had made it very homely and comfortable. “It looks amazing” she told her sister with a bright smile.
Mingmei grinned brightly over at her sister and suddenly moved forward and wrapped her arms around her proudly. “I’m so glad that you are here,” she blurted, hugging her tightly. She knew the reasons her sister was here was difficult, but they could work through that, like they always had. They were sisters, after all, and Mingmei would do everything she could to take care of XiaoXing. There would come a time when she could introduce the topic about the other half to her sister, as she wondered curiously if XiaoXing had another voice in her head, but that conversation would come in time.
XiaoXing hugged her sister back just as tightly, “Me too” she replied, “I’ve missed you” she admitted softly. She was so beyond grateful to her sister for letting her come and stay, knowing it must be a disruption to her life, even though she knew Mingmei would say she didn’t mind. Still XiaoXing was determined not to be a burden, after all she was the older of the two and therefore she should look after Mingmei. That was just the way it had to be, wasn’t it?