Taking Her Side

"I mean… I don't blame him for feeling that way. And even though it caught me off guard, I can't say I was surprised by it," Qian Meng told Mo Yize. She shifted her little nephew in her arms. "It made me sad, you know? Hearing him say that I wouldn't be a good parent."

The sympathy in her eyes didn't make Qian Meng feel any better. 

"And what did you say?" she asked. 

"Nothing." Qian Meng shrugged. "I said nothing."

"What? Qian Meng!" the other admonished. It felt uncomfortably foreign to Qian Meng because she rarely had someone reprimand her in such an affectionate way. "Why didn't you tell him how you felt about what he had said?"

"What was I supposed to say, Yize? That he was wrong? He has every reason to feel that way. I am rash and aggressive. He is cold and… we are both busy." Qian Meng looked down at the baby blinking up at her. "We have a turbulent relationship. He's right."