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any other circumstance I would feel annoyed or pissed off. I felt happy
to just be sitting next to her talking with a pretty girl in the middle of
the night and not both be drunk.

"Sure;' r smiled, peering around at her textbooks, which I

shortly found out were not textbooks. I looked back up at her, confused.
She let her cheeks puff up, holding in air, a scream or a massive laugh
just waiting to explode out of her. Finally, it was too much for her.

Almost doubling over in laughter, Diayu said something in
between scattered gasps of air that I could barely make out. "I'm not
even studying; I'm just reading."

"Wait," I said, "you're in here in the middle of the night just
reading books?"

Diayu raised up a copy of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, let-
ting me see the bookmark lazily poking out at the halfway point. "It's a
bad habit," she giggled. "I can't stop myself from coming in here most
nights to just read in the peace and quiet, without any distraction. It's
my favorite time of every day."

Ilooked back at her in amazement.

"You would love it if you tried it;' she continued, lightly
touching my knee now.

I looked down at her hand, wondering what it all meant. Was
she flirting with me? I remember walking to class in Hong Kong, too
shy to make friends. I had not flirted with a girl since middle school. I
was as prudish as you get. It was early to bed, early to rise, unless there
was schoolwork to be done. My friends teased me, saying the only thing
I was ever in and out of at night was a pencil sharpener. Maybe this was
a sign to change things for the better, to not be that uptight schoolboy
my parents raised with a ruler, but to be someone spontaneous and
funny and, maybe, handsome.

Iwent for it, diving head first into the deep end without my
swimmies on. "Are you flirting with me?" I said. "Because I would love
to come in here at night and only read modern Russian literature."

We both busted out laughing. "Yes and that would be awe-
some!" shouted Daiyu letting her cheeks flush. "Why not start now
though?"

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