Spring was supposed to be here, it was April, but it was still chilly and the sun couldn’t be seen either. It was dreary and hinted to rain perhaps later in the day, nothing new this spring so far, and Xi-Wang had decided to go for a walk. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a place in mind, he did, but he was taking his time in getting to the grocery store. He had two different stores to go to, “the normal grocery store and the asian one, in order to get everyone on the list he had.

Sighing softly as he stepped into the bright lights of the grocery store, trying to ignore all the people moving about and the screams of someones child, the dark haired teen pushed the cart he had slowly. One hand, nearly engulfed and hidden by the sleeve of his sweater, was up towards he face as he moved.

Moving towards the produce section he took his phone out of his back pocket, with the hand not up to his face, and unlocking it he pulled up his list and went about gathering what he needed. He knew Jason or Nischal could do the shopping but he didn’t mind doing it, it was one small way of him contributing to everything.

Pocketing his phone, so it didn’t get taken, he went to get a bag so he could tart grabbing the fruits he needed. Both hands were used, as they had to be, in order to check everything before it went into bags which were then put into the bottom of the cart.

---

Rhona had discovered that Xi-Wang had been a special sort of boy. The way he carried himself made him non-intrusive, of course, but he had a ways of making himself even smaller in his mannerisms and tendencies. While she had been happy to make space for him in her life, she hadn’t had to move too much around. This was becoming apparent with two teenage boys in her house in that current moment. Not that they ate too much… Rhona supposed that they ate about the right amount for their age but it was just… increasingly hard to keep food in the house. Jack and Leiko were slowly but surely eating her out of house and home and Rhona was in a made dash to keep food in the house AND get her church set up so that she could get business going and make a life -- a real life -- for them all.

The question was… what did she buy? She tried to keep tabs on what they ate most frequently and keep it stocked as best she could. For Jack it was simple things. Sandwiches and fruit, so she loaded up and cold cuts, cheese, and produce. Leiko preferred richer foods, so she loaded her cart with sweets from the bakery for him. For herself she grabbed weekly meal prep ingredients. Meat and potatoes. Steamed and seasoned veggies. Rustic, classic, international foods.

Now to the bakery. Rhona could spy a fruit tart in the case with ehr name on it and she was under budget thanks to a coupon she found hidden between a box of pasta. She was about half way there when she spied a familiar dark head bobbing around the merchandise.

Tarts could wait.

She closed in on Xi-Wang with a smile, knocking her cat gently against his.

“Hey stranger. Long time no see, huh? How’s life in the Ivory Tower?”

---

Hearing that familiar voice, and realizing who’d tapped his cart, he turned his focus onto Rhona as he turned towards her. “Ivory tower?” He questioned, confused, as he gave her a rather curious and wide eyed look.

“I’ve been busy...school keeps me on my toes.” Even though he was a good student, making top grades, it took a lot of work. It didn’t come naturally to him like it did some people, he had to study and work for his grades.

“What are you shopping for - I..I can help if you want. We can shop together.” Turning the focus onto Rhona as he offered to help her, as he was more interested in helping her and just what she was shopping for.

---

“Yeah, Ivory Tower. Rumor has it Avior has crazy mad money and lives in a palace or some s**t,” Rhona giggled. Not that it mattered, not really. Xi was being taken care of by someone, and learning to take care of himself. Be it there or with Rhona, as long as it was happening. That was all that really mattered. Xi and Jason… they were all that really mattered.

“Yeah, school has a way of doing that. And I can always use the company. It’s been a long time since we could hang out together…” Her shopping was about done, but it looked like Xi still had some left to do.

“What all do you still need? Seems like you’re shopping for three too.”

Somewhere off in the distance, something dropped, a bunch of cans it sounded like. The clamor startled a child who started to cry, and Rhona’s smile widened.

“It’s nice to be in the normal world for a little while, isn’t it,” Rhona asked, her voice dropping as she leaned in to Xi. “Normal things, normal sounds. I have to remember to hang on to this just like I’m hanging on to Mirrorscape.”

The smile dropped fractionally when she turned her gaze from in front of her down to Xi’s exposed neck and shoulders. Bruises littered the skin, older from the discoloration, but enough to awaken something dark in her chest. She straightened then, clearing her throat as she remembered Xi talking about the White Mooner who tried to kill him more than once.

“Speaking of Mirror things, though… we need to find out who tried to hurt you. Stop them from putting more marks on you.”

---

“Ohh...umm yeah. I don’t think of it like that - it’s just a place to live for me.” He didn’t think of the money, or how nice the place was, it was a home...well sort of. He still wasn't sure if it was a home but he certainly lived there and he was glad for it, glad to have someone willing to let him stay with them. “I didn’t want to ask you to move in again….I didn’t want to admit that I again needed a place.” That he had messed up, though Kit and him had talked and he felt like things were less his fault than he’d previously thought, it was something he didn’t want to admit to.

“Yeah...I like to do the shopping - it’s something I can do for them.” He cooked also, when he could, as a way of thanking the two and showing he cared. “I’m almost done with the produce..ummm.” Reaching for his phone to look it over he tilted his head as he glanced it over. “Meat...rice...drinks and some other things.” He said offering his phone to the other, so she could look over the shopping list. “Some things I need to get at an asian market across town…”

“Mmm..normal is nice - it’s safe.” He answered in return. “I like our family and the mirror but normal is needed.” Even if school was...a lot to handle at times. It was still normal and appreciated. “I like to play games when I can...and sleep.” Though sleep as of late also meant nightmares which woke him.

“Mmmm...there was a captain recently too….b-but these aren’t from either...or anyone else trying to hurt me…” He whispered, his cheeks going red as fingertips moved up towards his neck. It was, sadly, too warm for a turtleneck to cover up the marks. He did find a way to cover them up, hot as it was, when at work but out shopping he was dressed for comfort...even if it meant some things showed.

---

Now it was Rhona’s turn to go red. She pulled her hands away and looked directly forward. She didn’t know why she was suddenly embarrassed but… she was. Xi Wang was a young man, of course he would be… sleeping with someone… Rhona swallowed hard and clutched the phone in her hands. She glanced at it once but she didn’t really register anything that it said.

Well what the hell, it wasn’t that she was a stranger to sex. She’d been having one night stands since she corrupted, and loved every single one. Why shouldn’t Xi-Wang have the same thing? Was it because she was taking her role of his mother too seriously? Well, if that were true, shouldn’t she be happy for him? Support him in this curiosity? Tell him how to be safe in case his partners weren’t doing it. Rhona cleared her throat again and glanced over at Xi, steering her cart towards the first aisle that he would need, searching for the words.

“Did they… your partners… did they treat you well?” She didn’t need to know who it was… maybe it was better if she didn’t. She wouldn’t have to harass anyone that way. Woe be unto anyone who hurt her boy, after all.

---

Following her, pushing along his cart, he wasn’t surprised by her red face at his words. He had sort of expected it, perhaps because she did act so like a mother to him, at least he wasn’t the only one with a red face now.

“Only one person...I don’t...not with multiple people. It’s not...we’re not dating.” But they were sleeping around and it wasn’t like they weren’t close and weren’t friends. It wasn’t dating but a lot of things most would figure were needed for a couple were there. It was...safe. There weren’t strings, no expectations, but everything else was there. For now he was happy with it.

“They wouldn’t hurt me...I don’t think they could. It would be bad for family to hurt family - right?” Stepping away from his cart, and Rhona for the moment, he went to grab something from the top shelf. Drinks were right next to produce, and he needed several things, so he went about grabbing things and putting them into his cart.

---

Family? So he was sleeping with a Dark Mirror? Well, Rhona could at least put that worry to rest. Rhona felt like she knew most of them well enough, unless Xi knew one that she didn’t. And even then, she trusted that whomever it would have enough respect for what and who they were not to abuse that. And if they didn’t well… Remarque and Leto both knew her well enough to turn the other way while she… fixed things.

“Well, you should give that a try sometime too, now that you’re experimenting,” Rhona sighed, injecting her normal cadance rather forcefully while she waited for it to be natural, “there is a certain… I dunno thrill to not really know who you’re with. I dunno, maybe it’s just me though -- rice right?” Rhoan reached over and tossed a bag into Xi’s cart.

She watched him for a long moment then. Watched the way he moved and the way he walked. It was still very much the way he always had moved and walked but… and maybe Rhona was just seeing things but… would he have come out by himself when she first met him? Would he be experimenting like this? There was no way for Rhona to be sure but she felt like she knew the answer.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” Rhona muttered, fighting the sudden lump in her throat. She swallowed it back and cast Xi a warm smile.

“You’re a young man, now. Old enough to not need your mom.” It was only half a joke. She’d watched him grow from basic to super, and she’d see him grow into an eternal before long and then after that… who knew. Maybe the mirror would choose him to be their next leader. Maybe he’d fall in love. Maybe he’d get married.

They’d all grow...

“I’m proud of you.”

---

“Try that….you mean with someone I don’t know? Someone not in our family?” He asked, turning from what he was doing to look at the other. Was that what she was suggesting, he could be wrong, but incase that was what she meant he shook his head. “I’d rather they be family...or at least involved...and where I can tell them. I-I think that was an issue before...with me and Caleb.” The lying and hiding things, vanishing, had likely played some part in damaging things. But it had already been damaged, from the start really.

“Mmm, yeah rice. It’s not the kind for Chinese food but we still use a good amount of rice.” He’d have to pick up rice, again, at the asian market because it was different and it was noticeable when cooked.

When she spoke next, about how proud she was of him, he turned fully and moved over to embrace her. “I’m glad I can make you happy.” He tried to make his own mother happy...and had failed, he would have failed no matter what though, so making someone happy or proud of him was nice to know. He could, and had, done right by other people.

“I’m not a man...not yet. I’m still a teenager...not out of that stage yet- almost though.” Shrugging he smiled down at Rhona, moving his fingers to ruffle her mass of curls gently. “And I’ll always need you and the others - you’re family...of my choosing.” And that was important. He had no other family, not yet at least, but these people he’d decided on making his family. They were what he needed.

---

The hug caught Rhona off guard, but she really should have expected it. After a moment of shock, she smiled and her body let go of the rigor of surprise and she held Xi back, pressing him in to her. Of course this wasn’t a surprising reaction, she thought upon brief reflection. This was Xi, and this was who he was. It did, however, make it difficult to swallow the lump in her throat the longer he held on to her.

“You always do, kiddo,” she muttered, not bothering to mask the crack in her voice as she spoke, “and I expect you always will. Because you’re you.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. How did anyone actually parent? Rhona was always so full when she thought about any of her charges, and they weren’t even her actual children. The idea of being a real, fully fledged mother terrified her, if it was anything like this.

“And I expect, also, that I’ll always need all of you too. Someone has to give me purpose. You know what they say about the blood of the covenant. It’s stronger than the water of the womb.” Just like Xi, Rhona had also chosen her own family. For very different reasons, granted, but she still had. Maybe that was why she felt so dedicated to Xi. They were both parentless. Children without safety, so they had to build their own. Rhona could only hope that she’d made it so that Xi didn’t have to build as much as she had…

“Well, now I’ve gone and ruined my mascara,” Rhona sniffed, finally letting Xi go and dabbing at her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “Damn my sensitivities. I’ve always been too deeply feeling for my own good,” she laughed at herself and sniffed, swallowing the rest of whatever was swirling within her.

She’d called it pride but there was so much more inside of her now.

“But… I mean yeah keeping things in the court makes it easier for… relationships. But I’ve never seen anything wrong with sleeping with whomever. As long as you’re safe… you are safe right?” Rhona looked around to make sure they were alone and lowered her voice to keep from totally embarrassing Xi.

“You’re using protection, I mean. Right?”

---

“Mmm, I already know I always will need you and the others.” He knew it. They were his family and didn’t people always need their family? At least most people anyway, as there were some who never talked to family. He wasn’t like that, he couldn’t be, the court was too precious to him at this point. He knew if anyone tried to get him to change sides it would fail, it just wasn’t in him to leave what he’d built for himself. Rhona had helped as had Jett, they’d been the first two. Other people had come and filled in spots, had fleshed it out, but it was what he needed.

“You have us - all of us. I think because we’re a small group it works for us better than the others.” The Negaverse and the white moon had a lot more people - too many. They didn’t get to get to know everyone, though there were members of his own court he didn’t know, he knew enough of them for it to feel like he knew the group. It felt close knit and safe...like a warm blanket he could snuggle into, that sort of comforting safe feel.

Laughing softly he let Rhona pull away, watching her fix her makeup and her face as best she could. “Sorry...and you do have very strong feelings.” Even when it was anger it was strong. All her emotions were strong and very...pure - yes pure. You knew what she was feeling and there was no mistaking things with her. She went with her emotions and didn’t tend to hold back, not afraid to show them at all. At least that was how he saw her, what he knew of her. She was just that sort of person, and he liked it about her.

“Mmm, yeah but it is easier...in court. Even if it’s not a relationship, which I wouldn’t dare to have outside of outside.” Maybe someone with the Negaverse but he’d be picky there - very picky. Most of them didn’t like him, almost as much as the white moon. Speaking of which...it hurt lifting too much and the lifting of bottles did hurt, and it wasn’t so easy to hide it when Rhona was close to him. He’d tried with the bottles and had mostly succeeded in hiding the pain it still caused, that captain really had been a bit crazed, but he could feel it in his shoulder. As he went for another bottle he couldn’t exactly hide the fact it hurt. He just had to hope the talking kept her from noticing.

“Of course.” And his cheeks were red, the tips of his ears also, she was asking him about safety and...well damn. “Y-yes...ummm yeah.” Nodding his head slowly as he brought the bottle down and into the cart the last bottle went. “Done on this isle.”

---

Yep, Rhona had pretty much expected Xi to be embarrassed no matter what, but in cases like this she really didn’t want to take chances with euphemism. She needed to know in plain terms in case whomever he was with wasn’t doing their part. In which case family or not, Rhona would have to have some words with the party in question.

What she hadn’t expected was for Xi to struggle as much as he did with lifting. At first she didn’t really notice it, but there was a shadow of it. It was enough to keep her watching for something else, trying to see if she was just seeing things. Xi’s second attempt proved that theory wrong. Rhona lifted a brow and watched, poised to help but not wanting to treat Xi so much like a child. All she could do at that moment was be ready to spot him if he needed.

“You know… I can help you if you need,” she offered gently, leaning hard on her cart as she watched.

“I know that you don’t want to worry anyone, but straining an injury will only lead to worse problems.” Rhona, of all people, would know that. “Have you seen a doctor about your injuries?” Rhona wasn’t sure if seeing one this much later would do any good… but if they were bad enough a visit might be warranted.

“When we got back from Altea I wasn’t allowed to lift more than ten pound for like six weeks. I assume my intestines would have fallen out or something, I wasn’t really listening… Hey and also, while we’re on the subject of major life developments that I missed out on -- why didn’t you tell me you and Caleb broke up? Especially since you were living together… I mean heartbreak is a b***h. I feel bad that I wasn’t able to be there for you…”

As sensitive as Xi was -- and he was incredibly sensitive -- Rhona couldn’t imagine what that break up was like. Hell, her fiasco with Lavender nearly killed her, and she had seen that coming a mile away. The thought that Xi had to go through that at all nearly tore Rhona up. Knowing that he didn’t feel like he could come to her… Rhona knew it was most likely because he didn’t want to upset her. Xi spent too much time and energy looking after everyone else, Rhona knew he forgot to take care of himself. It was why she spent so much time taking care of him. Why Jason did the same. Xi would waste away in the service of others, god love him.

“I mean, I adore you Xi. It would have been my privilege to have been there for you, no bother at all.”

---

“I’ll be fine...run in with someone like me...but not...darker.” He kept his voice low, just incase, but he was trying to tell her what he couldn’t say. He’d had a run in with a Captain..so equal in level but darker than his court was. “I had a bit of...accident with something sharp and pointy….” And it left him hurting and sore but he was nodding his head. “I’ll let you help...if you want. I don’t think I could explain it to a doctor.” And he didn’t want to really, he didn’t like doctors or hospitals all that much.

Pushing his cart, slowly, he was glancing over his list. The meat department wasn’t too far away and he did need things there, so that was the next destination. Passing a few isles, all of which had things he didn’t need, he ignored the isles where soy sauce was found since it offered a small selection and he would be going someplace better...and cheaper. “Honestly...I was blaming myself for all of it and I didn’t want to tell anyone how much I’d failed, especially you. I didn’t want you to go after Caleb, for hurting me, or to have to go looking for a home again…” He’d honestly felt like a failure and he just...he couldn’t look at Rhona and tell her that.

It was only because he’d needed someone, anyone really, that he’d called Nischal. The other had an idea what would have happened, having known of his plans for the day, so he was the best choice really. Plus with Nischal came Jason as well, a two for one deal sort to speak.

“I think I’m better though. I’ve been talking to Kit and he’s helped...I can see things a bit more clearly now and figure it out - see what happened.” Because Kit had experience and understood things he didn’t. It had helped a lot really. Talking about Kit also had him blushing a bit, only very slight, but it was there.

---

Someone but… darker? Negaverser? Rhona could puzzle that much out herself, but the rest was lost. Sharp and pointy? Painite? Rhona knew so pitifully little of the negaverse roster that was all she could guess as to who did anything. She’d have to tease out the rest later. There would be time of course, and when she found out… they wouldn’t be bothering Xi any more. Rhona would see to that personally. Already her mind was working out machinations and schemes to avenge Xi’s assault. Mirrorspace, probably. She’d toss them in a mirror for as long as mirrorspace would have them and then slice them up when it tossed them out.

Rhona coughed when her vision narrowed, forcing the blood from her eyes.

“Kit? Good, I’m glad he’s taking care of you. But honey, I would never blame you for a break up.” She reached out and settled a few stray locks of Xi’s hair, tucking them behind his ear and pulling his sweater up higher on his shoulders. “Those things just… they happen. I mean… unless it was blatant abuse I wouldn’t go after him. The relationship didn’t work out. Like me and Lavender. Didn’t work out.”

You mean you ******** it up?

Rhona forced the voice from her mind and reached out for a little bag of chocolate for herself -- an impulse buy that she couldn’t resist. Something to nibble on when Jack and Leiko went to sleep. She could watch tv and indulge.

“Nah. I’m sad for you, because it sucks to go through it but Caleb? I’d imagine he’s hurting as much as you are. No need for me to step in there.” Besides, Xi was getting stronger now. His steps less trembling. He needed to be about to stand and act without her. And if Kit was there ot steady his step and Jason on the other side… she had no qualms leaving Xi to fend for himself in that regard.

“I need to invite you and Jason over for tea some time soon. Hell, I need to have everyone over for tea. Just a good, old fashioned family reunion, yeah?”

---

“Mmmm, but I was blaming myself.” He really was blaming himself then, less so now thanks in large part to Kit. “Y-yeah...they do fail but it felt a lot like my fault...he made it seem like it.” And Rhona, above most people, knew how he was. So him taking the blame shouldn’t surprise her at all, it was typical of him really. “Lavender…?” He couldn’t remember hearing that name before...but they were obviously important to Rhona, or had been anyway.

“Tea wouldn’t be bad.” He commented, eyeing up her impulse grab of the chocolate bag. “We could bring food also…?” Make it tea and food - so lunch. He could mention the idea to Jason when he got home, if the other was home. He was rather sure that Jason would like the idea, they were both still close to Rhona.

The idea was appealing. “Almost done shopping here.” Since he was busy grabbing the cuts of meat he wanted, looking each one over carefully before it went into his cart. He’d soon have to make his purchases here and move onto the other grocery store, across town. “Are you going to join me when I go to the other market?” Maybe he was a bit hopeful...maybe not, he did like the company especially when it was Rhona.

---

Yeah… Rhona got that. And she did know Xi. They were too much like one another for their own good really. It took her a long time to stop blaming herself for what happened with Lavender.

“Yeah, she was a girl I was dating this winter. It was… not… great. She didn’t want me to fight when I needed to fight…” And well… that was about how that went. Asking Rhona not to fight was like asking the tides not to go out or the winds not to howl. War was in Rhonas blood. It pulsated from her star and through her magic. It was who Acubens was, of that much she remembered. A general from a long dead planet who died for her people. Those precious memories of her past self she held near to her heart and strove to exemplify.

“Yeah, food would be great. We can make a thing out of it. Just unwind and pretend for a little bit that we’re just twenty somethings. Nothing else.” As much as she loved mirrorscape and her Court… it was nice to ignore the pressure for a while.

“Oh,” she cried out suddenly, hopping against her cart in realization, “Oh, oh oh oh oh! We can have lunch at the church I’m just wrapping the renovation up on! The electrician has come in and done the wiring, so we have power and god, Xi, it’s beautiful. Oh, I hope you guys love it. I--” Rhona stopped suddenly, casting a sidelong glance at Xi, “I want you to be proud of me…”

Clutching at a new topic and ignoring the return of the lump in her throat, Rhona answered, perhaps a little too quickly, “I’d love to come with you.”

---

“Ohhh….you didn’t mention you were dating someone.” Not that she had to, she had no reason to tell him such a thing. “Not that you needed to tell me.” The words were rushed, said as he gave a very slight bow of apology for his first words. She had no reason, or need, to tell him what she did with other people. She had a right to privacy.

“Fighting though...that’s like breathing for you.” And he’d been learning that a relationship was a give and take...where you listened to each other. He knew fighting was just what Rhona did - it was who she was, and anyone who dated her should know that. That was one thing which she couldn't just...stop. Maybe relax on a bit but stop - never.

“I’m not twenty yet…” He said smiling at her. “I’m not even nineteen yet….” Though it was creeping up on him. Soon he’d be nineteen but that wasn’t for a few months yet.

“The church...I think you mentioned that before to me. I’m glad it has power, does it have internet as well?” He really would, now that she was talking about it, see it and just what the lay out was. He knew she was making it for them - for all of them. It would be a special place and thing for the mirror court. “You know we’ll always be proud of you - everyone.” Their court would be, how could they not be? She did so much for them.

“You don’t need to worry about me ever not being proud of you.” Yet he would always worry about her, and others, being proud of him. It was...just who and how he was.

“If you want anything at the market let me know, it’s on me.” Since he thankfully had the money to do a good amount of shopping, for groceries, today.

---

Well at least someone got her. It just wasn’t the one that she needed to understand. Rhona smiled at Xi and shrugged despite the hollowness in her chest.

“I didn’t tell anyone because it was so… tenuous. It almost didn’t feel like I was dating anyone because I never really knew what to do or say. I mean one night stands sure. Those are easy…” Did Xi know that she slept around? Well, he did now, whether he liked it or not. So Rhona let it go and continued on in her explanation of why she told absolutely no one about Lavender. Or Chione. Or however they would have known her.

“Around new years she came over, we had dinner, and after agreeing to start over she told me that she loved me. I spent so long recovering from the last time she left me and told me to leave her alone that I couldn’t…” say anything. She should have said something. Said anything. “It’s too late now, though. I’m swearing off of relationships from now on. The next person who wants to get with me has got to be exceptional.”

To be honest, Rhona was glad when Xi changed to subject to the church.

“No internet yet. But that’s on the list. Points of Sale need it to work and all that plus I mean people need that net for reasons and things.” She would have said more but Xi’s reassurance gave her pause. She wrapped her arm around his, squeezing affectionately as she allowed him to lead the way.

“Thanks, babe. But I think for the time being I’m just happy to be spending time with you.”

---

If he hadn’t changed the topic he might have commented that whoever she dated next, if she did, needed to be in their court. They needed to be someone he got to meet….someone who was strong...someone perfect for Rhona. She acted like such a mother, to so many other DMC, that it seemed like she needed a partner so people like himself had mother Rhona and the other parent - whoever Rhona was dating.

He was sure someone was out there, unfound as of yet, who would be a good match for her and accept her for how she was - for who she was. Rhona was special and to change...to change would to be not be her but rather to be someone else and that was unacceptable.

“Ok, I like spending time with you as well.” He enjoyed spending time with anyone from his court to be honest, and why wouldn’t he? They were the family he had chosen for himself. When his birth family was either denied him or was inadaquest he had chosen his own and they were perfect...they were what he needed, and wanted. They were both friend and family and were what he wished he could have had when growing up; they were what he should have had growing up.

“If you need help with the internet, or anything else, let me know. I’m sure I can help…” Or at least try anyway, he wasn’t the best with computers but he knew a fair few things.

Taking hold of her clothing, gently, he led the way to where he was planning to do his grocery shopping. “I was thinking of cooking tonight...so I need to get a lot of things. I should cook for you once...I don’t think I ever did when you let me stay with you…” Bowing his head a bit, in unspoken apology. He didn’t think she’d want him apologizing, she might just scold him gently or tell him not to apologize, but he did feel bad for bever cooking for her. He should have...at least once. She had taken him in after all and she was a good friend as well.

“I can shop for things for a meal we can make together. Something new for you to try? Or just proper Chinese food - the way they don’t have at the restaurants most people go to.”