We're a Wonderful Wife - First Love - Book 1 of 4

by Duleigh

©Copyright 2024 Duleigh

The award-winning story of Don Campbell and Lanh Nguyen, high school outcasts, a tiny Asian genius and a lonely outcast farmboy, close to suicide and hated by all. They came from different worlds and were drawn together in a cruel high school prank, but the prank backfired on their tormenters. Somehow, Don and Lanh beat the odds as their love blossomed in high school while watched over by angels.

Chapter 1

Kim-ly was rousted out of her sleep on this icy Christmas morning by two of her most favorite people on earth and before she realized what was happening, they stripped her of her nightgown and used her body in ways that even her lustiest dreams were milquetoast in comparison. "Why?" she gasped, "Why now?"

Kim-ly found that she was kneeling upright on the bed and was sandwiched between a beautiful, tiny Asian and one of the most loving men she's ever met. Their hands roamed over her body without mercy, stroking and petting, their mouths kissing and suckling on her neck. Kim-ly could feel his hard cock pressing against her back while his hands drove her out of her mind. He reached around, seeking her pussy, and fumbled through her silky pubic hair and reached for her clit. Contact! "Too much," she groaned.

The little Asian stopped suckling on Kim-ly's nipple long enough to say, "We're just getting started, love."

"No…" gasped Kim-ly, "not without coffee, I need… up!" a finger soaked with her own juices was put in her mouth.

"You seem ready already darling," sighed the tiny Asian. "I am too."

Kim-ly's beautiful black almond-shaped eyes rolled in pleasure as the four hands and two mouths touched her everywhere she's been aching to be touched for so long. Always the wiseass, Kim-ly never revealed her feelings when a crude joke would suffice. "What is this? Fuck the Asian day?"

The little Asian held Kim-ly's face still and gazed into her eyes. Dark brown, almost black, Asian eyes met Asian eyes. "Yes! And you're our grand prize winner!" and their lips met. In a morning of shocks, this was the top shock. "That girl can kiss!" thought Kim-ly. As the tiny Asian's tongue probed deep into Kim-ly's mouth, the man's hands became gentler, gently stroking her clit and teasing a nipple. Then she felt his lips on her ear.

"We love you Kim-ly, you're a part of us and we can't bear to lose you," he whispered.

The tiny Asian broke off the kiss, leaving Kim-ly stunned. She's never been kissed like that by a man or woman in her 35 kink filled years. The tiny Asian's eyes were softer now, maybe even tear filled. "He's right, we love you. If you want to go we won't stop you, and if you want us to stop we will, but this is something we've wanted to do for a long time…"

Kim-ly pulled the woman to her and silenced her with a kiss. "No decisions like that before coffee!"

The small Asian grinned as relief coursed through her body. She didn't say stop! "Coffee or not, I'm going to try to sway your vote."

"I dare you," grinned Kim-ly, but inside she was screaming, "They want me!"

The small Asian started kissing her way down Kim-ly's soft, surprisingly curvaceous body, paying attention to her large, hard nipples and round breasts. "She's right, we've wanted this for a long time," he whispered in her ear.

Kim-ly arched her back and groaned, trying to push more breast into the small woman's mouth, "Why didn't you say anything? OhGodThatsGOOD!" The little Asian left Kim-ly's breasts and kissed her way down Kim-ly's narrow waist and flat tummy, getting nearer and nearer to Kim-ly's pussy.

"You know, life. It's been a long, long…" he choked up, but Kim-ly twisted in his arms and brought her lips to his and silenced him with a kiss. Their tongues were tentative, gently probing, reaching for each other, and when they finally connected, the kiss beckoned Kim-ly to heaven. It went on forever, a kiss that she had waited so long for, one she never dared dream was possible. They were only interrupted by the woman pushing Kim-ly's legs apart.

"I wanted this too," Kim-ly gasped as their kiss ended and the little woman's tongue flicked her labia gently. "Oh God how I need this," she gasped then fell forward, catching herself on her hands, staring at a patch of jet black pubic hair. "God damn!" thought Kim-ly, and she lowered her mouth to the pussy as the little Asian guided the man's long, thick cock into her cunt.

The woman she was kneeling over in a perfect 69 had the most delicious pussy she had ever encountered and Kim-ly found herself addicted to the juices that flowed from the little woman's pussy, but suddenly she was pushing Kim-ly away. She had already cum several times tonight and Kim-ly's lips and tongue were becoming a sweet torture to her pleasure ravaged body. "No more," she gasped, "please…"

Kim-ly stopped her oral loving on the pussy set before her and just concentrated on the cock that was pounding her into sensual oblivion. The little woman twisted out from under her, but remained licking the back of Kim-ly's neck, which turned Kim-ly on even more. Head down, ass up, the hot 35-year-old Asian beauty was in heaven. Her fucker was pounding her with a nice steady rhythm. His hands gripped her hips, owning her, and she let him take full control. This was a fuck for the ages, a fuck she had waited years for, and now she was being rewarded for her patience. As her orgasm ravaged her mind and body, she could hear the woman say, "He's nowhere near coming, I drained him earlier, so this is all for you. Merry Christmas honey."

Kim-ly's coal-black eyes rolled back in her head as she groaned, "Best Christmas present ever!"

The sunrise lit up the sky and she could see outside the bedroom window; the sky turning blue, and his cock was relentless. It was so long since she had a cock in her pussy, and even longer since she had someone who could wield a cock properly. She once spied on this cock slamming another pussy years ago as she diddled herself to an incredible orgasm. Oh god, just thinking of that night back then caused another brain rattling orgasm! "Fuck! Me! Fuck! Me! Fuck! Me!" she chanted this mantra in time with his pounding rhythm. Another orgasm was building, and the previous one hadn't finished yet!

"Harder! Harder!" she gasped. "You can't hurt me… I won't break…" His strokes became more forceful. The sound of their flesh slapping together filled the room. "Fuck that pussy!" she groaned into the mattress. The little Asian wriggled free, then reached under Kim-ly and her fingers searched for a nipple to twist. Meanwhile, another finger probed for her asshole. Her fingers found their targets at the same time and as she twisted Kim-ly's nipple, she began to fingerbang Kim-ly's virgin asshole hard.

Oh God! That did it! The strongest orgasm in Kim-ly's life hit her like a freight train and Kim-ly started yelling in her first language, "Đi đi mau! Đi đi mau!" Vietnamese for "Go! Go!" and Kim-ly knew it would spur him on. His hips were a blur as he pounded her pussy into a foaming lather. Kim-ly bit the blankets and screamed a muffled scream as hard as she could. This was fucking!

His pile-driving hips ram fucked her as he pounded his way to his own climax. "C-C-CUMING!" he roared as he slammed his hips forward and his cock spurted his semen into her vagina, splashing against her cervix. With a very unlady-like grunt, Kim-ly collapsed on the bed, that marvelous cock still imbedded deep in her body, squirting what seemed like a gallon of sperm into her. Her lover collapsed on her back, pinning her to his bed. She relished in the feel of his cock going soft inside of her. She wanted to shout, "Mission Accomplished!"

Exhausted, he rolled off to one side of her and the little Asian curled up on the other side. Kim-ly rolled to face the little Asian, and they kissed gently. She felt her hair being moved to the side and the big dicked man began to gently kiss the back of her neck. She's waited her whole life for this moment, not just the mind-bending sex, but cuddling in post coital bliss with a lover who really, really cared for her but would also let her up to do her own thing. Maybe that's what she wanted for Christmas most, a caring lover, and now she's sandwiched between two. Her heart leapt with a joy she didn't know was possible. The three of them snuggled closer as they absorbed the knowledge that their lives have been inexorably changed forever.

A thought popped into Kim-ly's mind. She's had one other three way; it was long ago and not near as good as this. She panted and cuddled with her lovers and realize that the horrible ménage à trois decades ago was the day it all started. It truly was the beginning of the story. Her next thought was,

I hope I didn't wake the kids!

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Chapter 2

Kim-ly's first and only other three-way happened years before, when she was an eighteen-year-old sophomore at the State University of Minnesota at Bemidji. She and her twin brother Bao received full scholarships to SUM@B when they graduated years early from their high school in Minneapolis, where they were living at the time. Their parents saw an opportunity to branch out in the family business, so they moved to Grant Valley, a rural community near Bemidji, Minnesota, and opened a restaurant, saving the twins a fortune on food and dorm fees. Being an accounting major, Kim-ly could understand her parent's concerns. She had two older siblings in Minneapolis, both working on their postgrad degrees, her oldest sibling, her sister Tam looking for her doctorate in psychology, and her oldest brother Huy working on his degree in jurisprudence. Her other older brother Trung was going to school in North Dakota at UND on a hockey scholarship studying agronomy.

In return for room and board, Kim-ly and her 2 minute older twin brother Bao help her parents with the books at the restaurant and at home. There was no way she and Bao could get their university degree solely on what the restaurant brings in, so everyone pitches in to make Nguyen Pho a success, and they work their tails off to maintain their scholastic scholarships.

That was her family, má (Southern Vietnamese for mom), ba (dad), three boys and three girls. The only one she didn't mention was her little sister, Lanh. Lanh was born two years after Bao and Kim-ly and was a preemie. She was born tiny and fragile, and her mom Mai was almost too terrified to touch her, Lanh had so many tubes and sensors on her for so long that Kim-ly and Bao weren't allowed to touch her for months after she came home. Eventually, eight-year-old Tam, the oldest Nguyen child, started taking care of tiny Lanh while their mother worked and concentrated on the rambunctious twins.

Lanh grew up lonely, sad, and scared. The older kids tried to get her to smile, but their antics merely terrified Lanh, so the boys gave up on her. So weak and tiny she wasn't able to go to kindergarten until after she turned six, and she wasn't able to advance in school rapidly like her siblings, putting in the effort that they did almost killed her. Kim-ly loved her, but Kim-ly's attempts to play with her little sister often hurt Lanh, so Kim-ly also distanced herself from Lanh.

Her parents were afraid that she was autistic, but when tiny Lanh saw it was Tam, her mother Mai, or her father Duong holding her, she would break into a smile that was heartbreaking in its beauty and adoration. But when the other children touched her, she was worried, confused, and tried to get away.

When the family moved to Grant Valley, the move traumatized Lanh. In rural Grant Valley High School, she was the only Asian in the school. Being Asian and no taller than most student's kid sisters branded her as an outcast. Her only outlets were excelling in her classes just to piss off the other students and the debate team, where her skill and analytical mind made her the first freshman captain of the debate team in the history of Grant Valley High School. Her final outlet was a goldfish named Marissa, with whom she confided all of her secrets.

Fast forward to Kim-ly's eighteenth year. She was no longer that underage kid in college. She still couldn't buy alcohol, but that didn't mean she couldn't get it. She quickly discovered that sex was a bigger rush than alcohol and if she wanted alcohol, all she had to do was swing her cute little ass at any of her classmates who were all several years older than her. "You bring the wine, I'll bring this," in a sexy voice was all it took.

Then came Poli-Sci. Gawd how she hated that class. She had a straight A average in all of her classes, but Poli-Sci just galled her, and it was a prerequisite for her degree. Her grade in that class was border line mostly because the professor would spend the hour on a personal rant, then assign reading from a book that a friend of his wrote, and her grade stuck out like a big sore thumb. She had to boost her grade somehow.

Her opportunity to improve her grade came when Professor Lefkowitz, her Poli-sci professor, invited her to his place for a "kwanza, wine and cheese soiree" but only if she could "leave her bourgeois moralism behind." She was hoping he meant "let's snack and fuck." This may be her chance to bump her grades up. Her buddies all told her they're doing it, there's no reason to let her 4.0 GPA go to shit just because of one stupid class.

Professor Lefkowitz shows up to class every day wearing a knit suit coat with elbow patches, a t-shirt emblazoned with slogans like a black power fist above the word RESIST! in stencil typeface, and blue jeans. He was so scrawny she doubted he could stand up against a stiff breeze let alone a well thought out disagreement, but she needed an A in his indoctrination… um… class, so why not try? He only asked her to his place because she was hot, so why not?

At five foot six she flaunted her 35-22-32 figure with clothing that showed off her curves, and she didn't hide the fact that she was Asian by dying or perming her hair, in a land of blue-eyed blonds she wanted to stand out! She wore her hair straight and left it black, and it raised eyebrows. She even flaunted her love of everything kawaii by carrying a notebook emblazoned with ultra-cute Sunshine Bunny! and a darling Domo Kun purse.

Kim-ly arrived at Professor Lefkowitz' apartment fifteen minutes late because being punctual was "soooo bourgeois," as he said in class. He greeted her at the door wearing a dashiki, the colorful robe worn by men in western Africa, and an African kufi hat, which made him look like he was wearing a rainbow colored pill box on his head. At least it covered his bald spot. He ushered her into a dark apartment lit by candles and black lights. The air was thick with the smoke of incense and marijuana, both of which being the cheap kind. This place was like a temple to the year 1968 and Kim-ly couldn't wait to tell Professor Lefkowitz that the Beatles broke up.

As she sat on the couch waiting for Ruben, or Ruben X as he insisted he be called by the students, she studied the posters that covered the living room walls. Most were communist "workers unite" kind of thing. She wondered if Ruben X ever physically worked a day in his life. The rest of the posters were black velvet black light posters depicting strange images. One showed Elvis sodomizing Jesus with a naked John Wayne sitting next to them smoking a postcoital cigarette, another showed the coyote sodomizing the roadrunner and saying, "Now let's hear you say beep-beep you son of a bitch!" Kim-ly wasn't a psychology major, but clearly Ruben X was fixated on something.

The music was strictly 60s stoner, late Beatles, Grateful Dead, Grace Slick, etc. A 60s style light organ flickered with the music as an eleven-inch reel to reel slowly churned out the stream of acid inspired rock music. As she surveyed the bookshelf from a distance, praying she'd find a copy of the Federalist Papers, or at least anything by Orwell, a naked woman walked into the room and sagged into a chair across from Kim-ly.

This woman was scrawny, ghost white, and stoned out of her skull. Her ribs and hip bones stuck out, there was barely any flesh on her legs and arms, her knees and elbows were knobs marking the halfway point down each limb. Her eyes were sunken, and her breasts were mere folds of flesh with dangling nipples. Her head was adorned with a huge ginger afro and her cheekbones were prominent, but with sunken cheeks she looked like a skull that was painted with flesh-colored paint.

She stubbed out her cigarette in an overflowing ashtray. Then, taking an EZ Wider cigarette paper from a sleeve of papers, she slowly rolled a joint from the pile of stems and seeds on the coffee table. She twisted it as tight as a toothpick and, making sure she had a roach clip at the ready, she lit the joint and took a long, deep drag. This was pure 1960s. She didn't use the bong or the ceramic pipe that was on the table; it was papers and low grade ditch weed. As she sucked on the joint, it snapped and popped, then she took a deep breath and held her breath for what seemed like forever. Then she let the smoke out with a cough and looked around the room with bleary eyes. Only then did she notice that Kim-ly was in the room with her.

"Oh wow… like… hi. My name is Wetlands." It leaned forward and held its hand out.

Kim-ly shook hands with Wetlands. Her weak, spiritless grip was as cold and damp as a Minnesota swamp. "Hi, I'm Kim-ly," she was going to say that she was a student of Professor Lefkowitz, but she wasn't sure Wetlands could process that much information.

Wetlands took another hit off the joint, then offered it to Kim-ly, "Ear…"

"I'm waiting for the wine," Kim-ly declined the joint with a wave of her hand.

"That's cool…" followed by a maelstrom of coughing.

Just then Ruben X appeared with a tray of wine, cheese and grapes and a bong. He pushed some books onto the floor and set the tray on the coffee table, then sat next to Kim-ly on the couch. "I see you met Wetlands."

"Yeah, we were just talking."

"She named herself after a vital natural resource that's being destroyed daily in this American hell hole," said Ruben X. His rabid dislike of America was real and it was scary, but then he relaxed and smiled. "We had a meaningful renaming ceremony where Wetlands chose her name. We did it in the middle of the Mississippi River near Alida." He said it like he was describing an actual accomplishment.

Kim-ly tried to suppress a chuckle and was almost successful. Where the Mississippi flows past Alida, Minnesota, "Old Man River" is two yards wide and a foot deep. The only thing meaningful there are the mosquitos, which fly in WWII style bomber formations and were rumored to carry off small children and slow livestock. Ruben X picked up the filthy bong and a Bic lighter and offered it to her.

"Ummm, no. I'm boycotting weed. It oppresses the poverty stricken masses in central America and puts money into the pockets of open market leaning cartel leaders."

"Cool," he smiled, "I'm down with that. It makes me hot to hear that. I have some horse if you'd like the fruit of the poppy," he said with a knowing smile that showed he knew where opiates come from.

Kim-ly shook her head, "Afghani slave labor…"

"Quite astute! Wine then?"

"Domestic?"

"Sadly, yes."

Kim-ly put on a great show of sighing, "California grape pickers, we have to show solidarity!" but she grabbed a piece of cheese and a slice of apple. "Some of my best friends are dairy farmers."

"Cheese is liquid meat," moaned Wetlands. In response, Kim-ly made a great show of putting the cheese into her mouth and enjoying it greatly just to piss off that sack of bones.

Somehow, they ended up having sex, or at least a close replica of sex. Professor Lefkowitz was naked under his dashiki, and Kim-ly tried to urge one of the smallest penises she's ever seen to an erection. Having babysat a lot, she's seen quite a few small penises, but this guy was so stoned he could barely get it up. At least when he got it up, she could deep throat the guy without a problem.

Successful deep throat, check that one off the bucket list.

Soon she ended up on her back with her panties around one ankle, her skirt and bra rolled up, and Rubin X slobbering on her tits while guiding his penis (way too small to be called a cock) to her pussy. As he fucked her like a hamster on speed, Kim-ly opened her eyes and saw the hairiest, ugliest cunt she could imagine lowering to her face. At the same time Rubin X grunted, "you are the best my eastern angel!"

Kim-ly was shocked, He came?!? Ten tiny strokes and he came?

Lanh was the first thing that popped into Kim-ly's mind when she scoured her brain looking for an alibi to get out of this god-awful excuse for a sexual interlude that was her first ménage à trois, as Professor Lefkowitz put it. "Oh my god, look at the time!" She quickly untangled herself and gathered up her clothes. "I forgot that I have to take my kid sister to her first high school dance!"

"Family is a bourgeois concept created by…"

As she struggled her panties into place and rolled down her skirt, she whirled on the professor and shouted, "Not to an Asian! Family is everything to an Asian! That's a very racist thing for you to say professor!" She whirled on her heel and, carrying her sweater, her jacket, and her Domo Kun purse, she stormed out the door. "I may have to speak to the dean of students about that!"

She didn't know if what he said was anything close to racist. At least she put some fear into that bug fucker. She fired up Tam's Toyota and headed home and suddenly she decided what her term paper is going to be; "Senator Joe McCarthy May Have Been A Drunken Lout, But When It Came To Communists He Was Right." Let's see Rubin X give her a failing grade after tonight's fiasco.

When Kim-ly arrived home, her baby sister was a terrified, jittery mess. She was pacing in the kitchen and wringing her hands. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" big sister Tam asked Lanh.

Lanh nodded her head so hard she almost shook off her glasses. "I've got to! Mrs. Gunderson said it would look good for the captain of the debate team to attend school activities."

"But a dance?" asked Kim-ly. "That's kind of… personal."

"She just wants to wallflower," said Tam. "She just wants to be seen by her teammates."

"Courtney said she was going to introduce me to a nice boy," insisted Lanh. Tam, Kim-ly, and Mai didn't like Courtney. She was a sophomore like Lanh, but she was a varsity cheerleader, and those girls were snobs. They've all seen the varsity cheerleaders in their restaurant, ordering Lanh around like she was their slave, leaving four cent tips for all their demands… "I've been practicing, in my room," insisted Lanh, "with Sydney."

Sydney McCloskey was Lanh's only friend in school, a fellow debate team member, a slightly chubby white girl, and a social innocent like Lanh.

Their mother, Mai, sighed. This was a bad idea. She had a feeling about it, but when Lanh made her mind up, there was no changing it. "Kim-ly, keep an eye on my baby, please?"

"I will," said Kim-ly as she fished Tam's keys out of her purse. "Let's go tôm!"

"Stop calling me shrimp!" demanded Lanh as they headed for the door.

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Chapter 3

Lanh wasn't the only outcast barely making it through the Grant Valley High School snake pit of student relations. Don Campbell was foundering socially and academically. His grades weren't good, in fact he was barely above a D in just about everything. He hasn't cared about anything since he was eight when he watched his mother waste away, finally succumbing in morphine dulled agony to spinal cancer on that horrible Christmas day… Thank God she was numbed out of her mind on the drug, so she wasn't shrieking in agony when he spoke to her before she died. She could barely recognize him as she said goodbye and went peacefully holding his hand. But ever since, he just didn't care about much of anything other than swimming.

He loved swimming, his dad has a big lake oddly called "The Pond" on their property and even before the ice has fully melted, he is in there swimming as hard as he can, his dad Ralph in the rowboat coaching him and keeping an eye out for snapping turtles. Don almost always skipped gym class, unless it was a swim day when he could swim in the indoor pool. He was so much better than his classmates, and his gym teacher, Mr. Mach, noticed it. He just couldn't get through to that kid. He can't have a kid skipping class on his JV team, but if he can get him on the team, they can work on that.

At swim team practice recently, Mr. Mach gave that piercing whistle that put the silver whistle he wore around his neck to shame. "Lewicki!" he called, "Front and center!"

Craig Lewicki, a junior but captain of the varsity swim team because of his talent, hoisted himself out of the pool and approached the towering hulk of a coach. "Yes coach?"

"Do you know Campbell?"

"Don? Yeah, kind of. We don't talk, he's not a talker. Not much of a team player…"

"I don't care, he can swim, that's what I care about. I want him for the two hundred freestyle, he's got the speed, he's got the lungs, we need him. Do what you can."

"I don't know coach…"

"I want a Christmas miracle, and I want it now Lewicki."

"Yes coach!"

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Don was only at the Christmas dance because Craig Lewicki wanted to talk to him about swimming. He hung around, dressed in his Goodwill Industries best. Not having older brothers, there were no hand-me-downs, so everything he has to wear comes from the secondhand store, and the "darling little angels" of Grant Valley High School made sure he was reminded of that loudly and often. He sullenly watched the girls dancing with each other to all the modern songs, and sometimes they even danced with boys. Whenever there was a slow dance, the floor emptied except for the couples that were dating. On rare occasions, a guy would ask a girl he didn't know or just casually knew to dance a slow dance, and it was almost never when she said yes. Of course, later those same girls would complain that NO ONE asks them to dance.

The gym was decorated for the holiday dance, red and green crape paper streamers lined the walls, Christmas trees surrounded by gift wrapped boxes sat in each corner, there were smoke machines and disco balls, and a DJ dressed as Santa Claus spun actual records, but everything was actually on CD. Meanwhile faculty and parents stood at the ready to quash any and all unauthorized necking, groping, or canoodling.

Craig Lewicki saw Don there and was shocked, Don doesn't come to school dances, he doesn't come to sporting activities either. He just mopes around from class to class dressed in rags. He's got to break through Don's emotional wall and talk to him. Don showed up, which proved to Craig that he might be interested in talking about the team. Craig visited the sophomore boys' swim class yesterday and saw what Coach Mach saw in Don. The kid had the speed and the lungs. He could be what they need in the 200. However, as Craig walked up to Don, Tad Larson and Dale Swenson, both seniors from the baseball team walked up to Don as well. Something was up.

"We got a chick you really need to ask to dance," said Dale Swenson, a grinning blond, blue-eyed son of Norwegian stock that made up a large part of the population of Northern Minnesota. Don himself was more than half Norwegian, but with a name like Campbell, he was still an outcast.

"You betcha, go on man, it's going to be hilarious," said Tad Larson to Don. "We want to prank this chick."

"Yeah, she's going to be all spastic with her arms and hair flying around," said Dale Swenson.

They had it in with the DJ. When the DJ saw Don on the dance floor with any girl, he was going to play a slow number, and they had the perfect nerd girl to get Don to ask to dance. They'll convince Don that it will be a fast dance, but when the DJ plays a slow song, they'll be so embarrassed. A laughingstock! Their girlfriends on the cheerleading squad have the perfect little nerd bitch ready. They just got to get Don to ask her. Then that ass kisser from the swim team shows up, Craig Lewicki.

Craig put his arm on Don's shoulder like they've been buddies all these years. "Come on dude, what do you have to lose? Hey! there may be a spot opening up for a sophomore on the swim team, Jamie Davidson's family is moving at the end of the quarter, we'll need a middle-distance swimmer."

Don had heard about Jamie's family moving, but he knew he'd never make the swim team. "You think it will happen?" he asked, meaning the girl, not the swim team.

"Dude! It's in the bag!" said Tad. "all you got to do is ask Miss Prim and Proper out on the dance floor. These guys say that next song is going to be a real rocker."

"But I can't dance," said Don, looking down at his worn sneakers and his patched blue jeans. It's been pretty lean at the farm this year. There's no spare money for better clothes or even a trip to Goodwill. No girl would be seen dead with someone who dresses worse than a hobo.

"Dudes aren't expected to know how to dance, girls practice all the time. Dolly tells me that this bitch can't even tie her shoes without falling over," grinned Dale Swenson. "Now go!" They gave Don a shove, and he took that long, lonely walk across the dance floor to meet his doom.

Escorted by Tad, Dale, and Craig, Don walked up to a group of girls who parted like the Red Sea before Moses, revealing Miss Prim and Proper, a tiny, skinny Asian girl with waist length black hair, thick square glasses, and a mouthful of braces. He knew her! She was the cutest girl he had ever seen. He's been watching her from a distance since he first saw her at freshman orientation last year, but she was taking college prep classes and acing them while he was failing dummy classes. He felt even more like a nobody than ever before. "Oh God, I want to die," he screamed to himself. But she was smiling at him like… like… like he was worthy… oh God! His asshole puckered in fear as Tad nudged him.

Don stepped up to Lanh and tried to talk, but he was even failing that. "Care to… I mean would you… uhh… like…" Don was dying; he hasn't spoken to a girl since the fourth grade, and he was now face to face with HER!

"Dance? She'd love to!" called out one of the girls standing with HER. It wasn't clear to either of the butts of the joke, but obviously to everyone else watching, these girls were in on the joke, too. They pushed the tiny girl out onto the dance floor where she stood staring at Don, her sweet smile never fading.

"What the fuck did you do?" demanded Craig as he faced off against Tad. Tad had four inches and thirty pounds on Craig, but Craig was a swimmer. Pound for pound there's no high school athlete more powerful than a swimmer, except for a wrestler, and Craig was both.

"Lighten up fish," sneered Tad, using the popular derogatory term for a swimmer. "It's just a joke."

Suddenly, there was another Asian girl next to Tad. She was taller than the butt of their joke, but still shorter than Tad. "If you do anything to embarrass my sister I will shatter your spine," she hissed. There was fire in Kim-ly's eyes, and a black belt in her closet.

"Take it easy lady," said Tad but before he could say anything more, she had him in an extremely painful thumb lock and was twisting his arm up behind his back painfully.

"I'm already having a bad night," she hissed in his ear, "so spending a few hours in the ER watching you die won't bother me at all."

The song ended and the gyrations of the other dancers slowed as the song faded. "I really don't dance," said Don as they took their place away from their tormenters.

"I don't either," said the little Asian so quietly that he could barely hear her.

"It'll be fun," assured Don, then suddenly his heart sank. Elton John began singing and everyone in the gym could name that tune by the opening three notes.

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside…

"Your Song by Elton John! oh God" groaned Don inwardly, one of the sappiest, most romantic slow dances on earth! Normally, all the dating couples would step out on the dance floor, but he and this girl were all alone out there, and a spotlight just illuminated them.

They realized they were both the butt of a colossal joke, and the entire school was in on it. The crowd waited in silence for the chance to laugh and humiliate the couple. Maybe he'll wet himself in embarrassment. That would be incredible, but if the girl ran off in tears, that would be perfect. Kim-ly knew what was happening and was paralyzed with shock. Yeah, her sister is a tiny twerp and a pain in the ass, but she's KIM-LY's pain in the ass. No one tortures her sister without HER permission.

Both kids almost ran. They looked around nervously, but they didn't run. "Let's try it," said Don softly. Almost magically, the two outcasts both decided "what the hell" and after a moment of fumbling, they figured out how to place their hands. Don even held her right hand with his left hand because he saw it in a movie. The thought that the last female whose hand he touched died before his eyes nine years ago kept entering his head, but he somehow chased it away. With more confusion than they could have believed possible, they started rocking in time to the music. "Hi, I'm Don," he finally said, his voice harsh from the dryness of his throat.

"I'm Lanh," muttered the little girl.

Don had seen her name in the town paper when she and her family moved to town. "I know, Lanh Nu-guy-en?" Don suddenly blushed crimson red. Here he was dancing with a girl, the Entire School was watching them, and he just slaughtered her name. He was so embarrassed; he nearly ran from the gym. God! She's so cute! He's been stalking her with his eyeballs since their freshman year. Whenever she walked past him in the hallway, his whole day brightened up.

Lanh suddenly giggled. "It's pronounced N'win."

He felt like such an idiot! He had heard her name a dozen times in morning announcements, but he didn't associate it with HER. He saw her in the school paper almost every week when it came out and he thought her name was Lanh Nu-guy-en. When Lan Win was mentioned often in morning announcements for some academic achievement, he thought it was someone else. Now he really wanted to die. He soldiered on and asked, "How do you get Win out of Nguyen?"

Lanh looked up at Don and shrugged. "Don't know!" and she giggled again. It was a nervous giggle, but it was more of a giggle of relief. He was a real person!

At the same time, Don thought 'she didn't hate being with me, and she's a real person!' "I like the way you laugh," smiled Don, terrified that if he said the wrong thing, she'd run from him, and he'd be alone… again. Like always.

"I like the way you blush," smiled Lanh, "it's cute," which made Don blush even more. Suddenly Lanh gasped, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"No, it's ok, it's just… I've never…" Don sputtered trying to explain the ocean of feelings that were exploding in his heart, how do you tell someone that you fell in love on first sight over a year ago? And as their embarrassment faded and their friendship blossomed, they stopped their Frankenstein like rocking and began gently swaying to the music. They didn't become Fred and Ginger, but they became comfortable with each other. Little by little, their bodies grew closer together.

"Awwww," sighed Kim-ly as her little sister and the young boy grew closer together, and their eyes remained locked. The world around them disappeared, and Elton continued singing. "Ain't that sweet?" Kim-ly asked Tad. "She just saved your life, dumb shit." She shoved Tad away and said, "Get the fuck out of here before I get mad."

How wonderful life is while you're in the world…

"I think I'm going to start liking this song now," said Don as he got lost in Lanh's coal-black eyes.

"I think so too," said Lanh as she experienced the first genuine smile of her painful young life.

Craig Lewicki stood next to Kim-ly and smiled. He turned to her and said, "I like your style, you got fire!"

Kim-ly eyed him up and gave him a rating of Not Bad. "You old enough to buy beer?"

"Nope, sorry."

"This day just keeps getting worse and worse," she muttered.

Meanwhile, the song had changed to another slow dance, this time Lionel Richie, and Lanh and Don continued to dance. Seeing that the joke had fizzled out, other couples stepped out on the dance floor, and they were forgotten, just the way they like to be. Eventually, the DJ played a faster song and Don and Lanh drifted off to a dark corner of the gym where they talked about everything.

"Do you like to fish?" asked Don.

"I never tried," she said, just excited there was a boy out there that wanted to talk to her. "But I like to cook fish!"

"We could be a team, I'll catch them, you cook them, and we'll sell them."

"Yeah!" said Lanh, "we'll start simple then as the customers get used to a fish fry, we'll start working in some Asian fish dishes. Turmeric fish with rice noodles, no! Cá kho tộ!"

"What's that?" asked Don, catching her enthusiasm.

"Caramelized and braised catfish, sweet and salty!" Lanh was getting hungry just thinking of it.

"I love catching catfish! We have tons in our pond!"

"Let's do it!"

But just then Kim-ly appeared. "Let's go Cinderella, your pumpkin coach awaits."

"Awww, ten more minutes?"

"We're already an hour overdue, let's go." Kim-ly showed Lanh that she had her coat. "Say your goodbyes… and no tongue!"

"See you on Monday?" Don asked, overjoyed that he had a friend.

"Monday!" she said cheerfully, and like that, she was gone.

Don watched her and her sister's head down the hallway to the exit when a storm of cheer leaders appeared in a mood to get revenge for their joke backfiring. They lost face in front of the entire school, and they wanted payback. They promised the humiliation of two nerds, and they end up with nerd romance. They're going to get that bitch…

Don hopped off the bleachers and, sucking up a lungful of air, he held his arms out. "Let 'em go."

"Oh, fuck you, outta my way dork," a blond tried to push past Don, but he stepped in front of her.

"Leave Lanh alone," he ordered.

"Out of my way!" the blond screeched. Her scream brought her boyfriend Tad Larson and his toad Dale Swenson immediately.

"Problem?" grinned Tad.

"It's not your concern," said Don. His only thought was to distract the seniors long enough for Lanh to get away.

"I say it is," said Tad and swung at the boy, who was barely half of his size. Don ducked and Tad missed with the punch, but Don was grabbed by Dale, who put him in a full Nelson hold. Don was unable to use his arms or even get away. Tad grinned and advanced on Don.

The beating Don took was sharp and brutal. Tad and Dale used him as a punching bag and didn't leave a square inch above the waist untouched. When Don finally slumped to the ground, the cheerleaders began kicking his prone body until the shouts of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" brought the school administrators.

As Mr. Mach and several other teachers tried to sort out what happened, they failed to keep track of Don. He slipped out of the school and wandered off the school property without his coat. The cold actually eased his pain as he walked, hunched over from the beating he took to the midsection. Eventually, a car rolled up, and the window rolled down. It was Mr. Ritenour, one of dad's buddies from the legion. "Don! Donovan!" but Don kept walking. "Come on, you'll freeze to death."

Don looked at him sadly with an eye that began swelling shut. "I… I don't…"

"Damn it Don, I have a full six pack and an empty bladder, I can bother you all night long or I can give you a quick ride home, what'll it be?" Don surrendered and climbed into the old car. "Damn son! What happened to you?"

"High school stuff," muttered Don, "usual thing. Please don't tell dad."

"Ok, but remember I saved your life. I may come calling for help come calving season."

Don nodded; all dairy farmers need help come calving season.

<><><><><>

Don hardly got any sleep that weekend, mostly from the pain he suffered after Lanh left the dance. But beside the pain, he spent the weekend torn between anger at those guys who used him to embarrass Lanh, and anger at himself for believing that he could actually have a shot at joining the swim team. That and getting the crap beaten out of him. Don kept thinking of Lanh. Their dance was a joke. They weren't supposed to actually dance. They were supposed to be embarrassed, and they were both the biggest jokes of all the "Woodcutters" at Grant Valley High School.

At least Lanh left unscathed. Don didn't care what the bullies did to him. He was worried about Lanh. She was the first girl to treat him nicely; he wanted to protect her, and Lanh had no clue of what had happened after she left.

Don had lunch during fifth period and, as usual, he sat in the back corner of the cafeteria, far from the food line. He sat facing the back wall so no one would see him. It was the loser's corner. This is where the nerds, the geeks, the dweebs, the rejects, the losers, sat, and it was his home. He opened up his brown paper bag and found a bologna sandwich, a bag of chips, and an apple. His dad packed several lunches for him before he left for work in Mankato on Thursday, and this was exactly the same as all the others. Don sighed. His teeth and jaw hurt so much that everything in that lunch bag was impossible to eat. He didn't really care; he was done with high school. Right now, his only plan was to put his books in his locker and leave. To where he was going was something he'd decide once he got there.

At the far end of his table, someone sat down. He didn't look to see who it was. If they were sitting here and not with the animated crowds toward the front of the cafeteria, then they were a loser too. He stared at the half-smashed sandwich (Larry Jensen tried to crush Don's lunch earlier) and ignored whomever it was at the other end of the table. Whoever it was picked up their tray and stepped away in a few moments anyhow. He made another attempt at biting the sandwich; it hurt so much, but he was so hungry! He could bite a bit off, but he couldn't chew, so he tried biting off tiny pieces and swallowing them unchewed. Just then, someone sat down right across from him. He heard a tiny feminine voice say, "Don?"

He didn't look up; he knew it was Lanh. Her sweet little voice was music to his soul. He wanted to scoop her up and run away with her, but he couldn't let her see him like this. The jerks in this school must be torturing her just like they're torturing him. He kept his head lowered and said, "I'm sorry I put you through that, I didn't mean to. I didn't know…" He stopped right there; he didn't know how to talk to a girl…

"You didn't know what… that I was lonely?" She didn't sound angry, she sounded sad. "You didn't know that I was scared to talk to any man that wasn't a relative?" Lanh freaked herself out. Oh God, I don't believe I said that. She groaned inwardly. Now he's going to know that I'm a loser. She had sought him out to say goodbye. There was a bottle of sleeping pills she had stashed behind her fish tank. She stole the pills one by one from her mother's medicine cabinet and now she had enough. This morning, she was walking on air. Then Cindy Reese told her all about the joke and how she and Don were just dorks and looked so homely out there on the dance floor, a total joke.

Thanks to Cindy Reese, Lanh was planning to sneak out of school, go home, lock herself in the bathroom and take every single one of those pills and end this living nightmare she found herself trapped in. She just wanted to say goodbye to the one friendly boy she's ever met in her short, sorry life.

Don could only shake his head. Why won't the earth cooperate and just swallow him up whole? "I… I… I didn't know… they were…" he said again, then he felt a gentle finger on his aching chin.

"Don, look at me," she started, and when he looked up, she saw the bruises and gasped, "What happened to you?"

"When you left…" Don was suddenly interrupted by a sneering pair of jerks.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a pretty sight, the chink and the farmer. Hey farm boy, you gonna put in 40 acres of rice for her daddy's chop suey shop this spring?" It was Tad Larson and Dale Swensen, both in their baseball lettermen's jackets. Dale grabbed Don's lunch bag, wadded it up, and tossed it in the trash can like he was making the winning basket. "Nothin' but net!"

"You just go away!" shouted Lanh as she tried to imitate her mother. She was loud enough to silence the typical hubbub in the cafeteria. "Haven't you cause enough pain?" The entire population of the cafeteria stopped whatever they were doing to turn toward the loser's corner and see Lanh leaning over the table and touching Don's chin, frozen in anger at two jock upperclassmen. The entire school smelled blood, and they knew it would be the nerds doing the bleeding.

"Shut your chi-com bitch up," yelled Dale, "my Uncle James was shot over there because of commie cunts like her."

At his words, Lanh stepped back in anger, and Dale reached forward and gave Lanh's lunch tray a shove. It slid off the end of the table and crashed to the ground. With a deep breath, Don slowly stood up. It was clear he was going to get another beating from these gorillas. He just hoped he could distract them long enough for Lanh to get away again. He looked Dale right in the eye and spoke truth to power, "Your Uncle James was shot in the ass by one of his own men for selling them chow hall oregano and calling it marijuana." It was a legend known by all members of the local American Legion post and their kids, like Don. His dad would share stories like that after legion meetings. Don steeled himself for the blow, which was coming any second…

Suddenly, a hand appeared on Tad and Dale's shoulders. "Problem here boys?" it was Craig Lewicki. From Don and Lanh's point of view, Craig looked as big as the Woodcutter's team mascot, Paul Bunyan.

"Just teaching these nerds a little manners, nothing to concern yourself about Craig," sneered Tad.

"Well Tad, then we have a problem. Don Campbell is my new two-hundred-yard swimmer, and if he can't perform at practice tomorrow, I may have to assume it's due to those bruises and we may have to speak to Coach Mach about how those bruises got there. Is there an understanding between us?"

Tad just glared at Craig. Coach Mach is adamant about his teams being ambassadors for the student body and he demanded how they need to act as such at all times. The coach benched their starting quarterback two seasons ago, sacrificing the regional championships because of the quarterback's behavior toward underclassmen. That's the problem with having the coach be the Guidance counselor. He expected his players to behave, and he got their compliance. Tad made a face and tried to shrug Craig's hand off of his shoulder, but Craig held tight. "I asked, is there an understanding between us?"

"Yes," Tad snapped, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Will wonders never cease, learning has occurred on the baseball team. It's a Christmas miracle. Now keep your fucking hands off of my team." And with a shove, he propelled Tad and Dale away from Don and Lanh. He then grabbed a chair and, spinning it around backwards, he sat down and leaned forward on the backrest. "Let me see those bruises," and he reached forward to inspect Don's injuries. "Ow, I'll bet that hurts."

"Yeah, it does," said Don through gritted teeth.

"Ok, forget what I said to those two, I don't think you'll be ready to swim for a while. Swing by the gym Wednesday for a suit, cap, and goggles and we'll go over the team schedule, get you set up for a team physical and get the paperwork done. Please don't tell me that you use a nose clip."

Don was incredulous. "I'm on the team?"

"Well, yeah. I mean not yet, if you can't swim you're out, but yeah, we want you. Did you think I was lying to you on Friday?"

"Yeah," said Don, "I did."

Craig rested his arms on the back of the chair. "I don't play that game, not with the swim team. Mr. Mach came to me and told me to check out your form in gym class, we think you have some talent, so after Christmas break let's see what you got."

"Ok," Don wasn't sure Craig could hear him, his voice seemed restricted.

Craig got up to leave, then paused. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for Friday, I didn't realize what those jerks were up to. I thought it was a, 'ya know, a hookup. For what it's worth, you guys looked great out there." And with that, Craig left, and Don and Lanh were left in stunned silence.

Finally, Don broke the embarrassed silence, "I'm sorry they called you a chink and a chi-com." He still couldn't look her in the eye. She was so cute! What is she doing with a loser like me?

"Would you be upset if someone called you a dumb canuk?" she asked.

"No, I'm not Canadian."

"See?" she grinned. "I'm not Chinese or a communist." When she saw Don smile, then wince at the pain that smile brought, she said, "You should eat." Why did he stick up for me? She asked herself. He's so nice! He could have any girl…

"I can't, hurts too much."

"Did you try the soup?"

Don looked at the lunch line, then shook his head sadly. "I don't have any money."

"We'll get you some soup, come on." Lanh stood and leaving her lunch tray on the floor. She led Don out of the cafeteria through the empty halls to her locker where she grabbed her jacket, then they retrieved Don's jacket and headed back toward the cafeteria. As they approached the cafeteria, the period changed, and students poured into the halls. They used the bedlam in the halls to cover their escape. They stepped out of the cafeteria exit, walked across the parking lot, ducked through the tree line that defines the school property boundary, and headed up Main Street.

The icy wind and the blowing snow made Don's bruises feel better, but Lanh looked cold. He offered her his Minnesota Vikings scarf, which she accepted eagerly. She wrapped it around her neck and over her head to keep her head and ears warm. As they walked, their hands brushed against each other and soon, they were unconsciously walking hand-in-hand. Shortly, they entered a small restaurant that Don had never noticed before. The sign on the front said Nguyen's Pho. "What is Foe?" asked Don.

"It's pronounced Fuh, it's soup."

"You have a restaurant just for soup?" Don couldn't conceive of a thing. Money is tight on the farm, so if they saved up enough for a meal at a restaurant, it was going to be more than just soup.

"You try it then tell me if a soup restaurant is a good idea." As they entered the restaurant, Lanh called out in a piercing voice something at the top of her lungs which startled the patrons of the establishment. A female voice from back in the kitchen answered in what Don would soon learn was Vietnamese. Lanh seated him in a booth, then disappeared back into the kitchen. He could hear animated chatter from that area. Then she came back and sat across from him, a happy smile on her face. Soon the beautiful Asian woman that he saw with Lanh on Friday night brought out Don a huge bowl of hot fragrant soup, placed it and a large glass of iced cola in front of him.

Don looked horribly embarrassed. He looked down at his hands. They, too, were bruised, not from hitting someone, but from getting stomped. He was lucky they weren't shattered. "I'm sorry, there must be a mistake, I can't afford this, I should go."

He tried to get up and leave, but the waitress plunked herself down on the booth seat next to him, blocking his exit. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere mister." She further slid into the booth, bumping her hip against his, forcing him to center himself in front of the hot steaming bowl of pho. When her shapely hips stopped nudging him into the booth, he found that his breath caught. He's never seen someone so beautiful before in his life. "You got my dorky kid sister out on the dance floor?" she grinned, "Buddy, you earned this and so much more!"

Another beautiful Asian woman arrived with a platter of bean sprouts, onion, jalapeño, Thai basil, lime wedges, hoisin sauce, and Sriracha and placed it alongside Don's bowl of pho. She looked at the seating arrangement and, with a quick few words in Vietnamese, Lanh and her sister quickly changed positions without question, then the woman sat down across from Don. "So? Introduce us," she told Lanh.

"Don, this is my mother Mai, and my older sister Kim-ly. Mom, Kim-ly, this is Don Campbell. He's a sophomore like me and we danced together on Friday." Lanh was blushing horribly by the time she finished these simple introductions, but she really started blushing when Kim-ly spoke up.

"They were really cute má, you should have seen it," said Kim-ly with an oddly dreamy look in her eye. "They daaaaaanced, then they went and sat in the bleachers and taaaaaalked… It was like a Hallmark channel Christmas romance." Lanh tried to kick her sister under the table.

"Mrs. N'win, I really want to say that the few minutes I've been blessed to spend with Lanh have been simply wonderful. Meeting you shows me exactly where her beauty comes from."

Mai was impressed that he was able to pronounce Nguyen properly, but she remained stoic. Kim-ly rolled her eyes and said, "Plain Jane beautiful? She rarely brushes her hair, and she never wears any makeup…"

"Not all beauty comes from a bottle," said Don softly. It was one of his grandmother's favorite sayings.

Mai's right eyebrow raised when she heard Don say that. She finally spoke. "Young man, you are either the nicest person on the face of the earth, or you are so full of shit your eyes should be as brown as mine. As Lanh's mother I'm hoping for the former, but until I see any proof of that, I'll be considering you the latter."

"I understand ma'am."

"I have some questions, and if you want to see Lanh ever again you need to be straight with me, the first one is, what happened to your face?"

"I got beaten up on Friday night."

"I can see that, let me rephrase question one, why did you get beaten up Friday night?"

Don did not want to answer this at all, but it was Lanh's mom that asked, and lying to someone who just brought you free food is simply wrong. "After Lanh and I danced, a couple of the cheerleaders were intending to hurt an underclassman. I got in their way and their boyfriends took offense to that and hit me."

"It looks like they hit you a lot," frowned Kim-ly.

Mai took a few seconds to understand the answer. Having raised six children, she knew when kids were lying to her, and this boy was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Slowly, she took a breath, then asked, "Why were they going to hurt Lanh?"

"I didn't say it was Lanh, ma'am."

"You didn't have to. Why were they going to hurt Lanh?"

Don moved his bruised and aching hands to his lap and looked down at his lap. "Because the whole thing was a cruel joke, they picked the two dorkiest people in the school and conned us into dancing a romantic slow dance so they could laugh at us, but we ruined their joke by not being embarrassed and ended up liking each other."

Lanh looked shocked. Don did that for her? And then, knowing what kind of beating he would get, he stood up for her again today?

Don sagged. Where was that crevasse to swallow him up when he needed it the most? Before he knew it, the words spilled out, "I do, I really like Lanh. I feel right around her… I haven't felt right in a long time."

"What does your mother think of this?"

Again, he paused, but Mai raised that eyebrow, which seemed to pry an answer out of him. "My mom died when I was eight, it's just been dad and me. I had to repeat third grade because…" and his voice drifted off from there.

If Don was expecting Mai to soften up when he said that, he was going to be sorely disappointed. "How did she go?" Mai asked him softly, but with enough iron in her voice to let Don know that if he was lying to get her to go easy on him, life as he knew it would end.

"Cancer, she had a spinal tumor that was inoperable. It spread to the bone, and she died on Christmas morning when I was eight."

"What about your father?"

"We have a farm just outside of town, right now he's down in Alida working for the Parks department for the past week, they're clearing a few acres of pulp wood, I'm watching the farm 'till he gets back tonight." Then he asked, "Do you mind if I eat? I haven't eaten since Friday, and this smells so good."

"Go ahead, what are you waiting for?" scowled Mai.

"A spoon."

Lanh giggled nervously and held up the Chinese spoon, a spoon with a short, thick handle extending directly from a deep, flat bottom bowl. "Oh, I thought that was a spoon rest," said Don. "My dad has one that he puts his teaspoon in when he drinks coffee." Ignoring Kim-ly's guffaws, Don tasted the broth and his eyebrows shot up, "this is so good! I have to bring my dad here."

Don started having trouble with the noodles. He tried to cut off chunks of noodle with the edge of the spoon, but was having difficulty doing that with the thick, ceramic Chinese spoon. Lanh gave him the chopsticks and said, "We eat the noodles with these," and tried to help him wield the sticks, but his hands were so bruised and swollen he couldn't hold them, so she ended up feeding him the noodles, bean sprouts, and beef.

Kim-ly offered (in Vietnamese) to get Don a fork, but Mai smiled and said (in Vietnamese) that they were doing fine. Finally, Mai got up and said, "I have a restaurant to run," and turned to leave. Then she stopped and added, "One last question," in a tone of voice that told Kim-ly and Lanh that má (mom in Vietnamese, it's pronounced "may") was about to drop a nuke. "School doesn't get out for almost two hours, what are you doing here!"

"He's starving momma! I had to…"

"Enough!" said Mai with a chopping motion of her hand. "You, young man, why are you not in school."

"I couldn't eat and I don't have money to buy soup at school… I was going to drop out… then I met Lanh… and the swim team wants me… I don't know…" Don's head was swimming with the strange twists his life has taken in the past 72 hours.

"They were going to beat him again momma, they called me names and he stood up for me, so we ran away." Lanh looked terrified as she pled for Don.

Mai glared at the two, her features clouded over. Skipping school? Over a farm boy? Unheard of! Lanh's older siblings were all in college and grad school. All had foresworn entanglement with the opposite sex to make something of themselves. And now here was Lanh, flirting and giggling like a Saigon bar girl. Did she not learn from her brothers and sisters' example? Mai was ready to explode when several customers walked in. "I will be back," she hissed. "You eat, and we will discuss this." And with that, she put on her hostess face and turned to her new customers.

The whole time Mai and Kim-ly waited for the new customers. Mai kept a close eye on Lanh and the boy she dragged in. She continued to feed him, and they were smiling. Every time their eyes met, they would blush and look aside. In the end, Mai didn't see any behavior that would lead her to think that there was anything suspicious going on, but a mother shouldn't let her guard down.

Finally, Tam, her oldest child, came into the restaurant and whispered, "What's wrong with Lanh?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with Lanh?"

Tam shook her head as if she saw something unheralded. "She was smiling."

Mai sighed and threw a dish towel over her shoulder as she stacked the dishware. "She met a boy."

That was a preview of First Love - We're a Wonderful Wife Series - Book 1 of 4. To read the rest purchase the book.

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