Khánh sets the turtle plush in a place of honor on their bedside table. It’s the first thing they see when they wake in the morning, and Khánh loves starting their day being reminded of the lovely feelings Kai gives them.

The alarm clock beside the turtle declares the time 7:52am. Stretching their arms over their head, Khánh reaches under their pillow and pulls out their phone, wiggling slightly until they achieve the comfiest position possible in the nest of pillows and blankets. That settled, they unlock their phone and open the messaging app.

Khanh: Good morning! 🌞☀️ Thank you again for the gifts.

Knowing Kai’s late work schedule, Khánh doesn’t expect him to answer anytime soon. To their surprise, a reply pops up before Khánh even has time to switch apps.

Kai: you don’t have to thank me so much, they were thank you gifts for you lol

Khánh smiles at Kai’s predictable response. They can’t very well just leave it be, though. They’d never expected Kai to give them a gift, and the fact that it was Kai who had given them made Khánh’s heart thump irregularly. Scolding themself internally, they snap a picture of the turtle on the nightside table.

[Khanh sent a photo]

Khanh: Mr. Turtle says hi 👋

Kai: asdfdkalaksjdh you named it Mr. Turtle?

Khanh: His name is Mr. Turtle, yes, and I’ll thank you to treat him with the appropriate respect afforded him as the CEO of Turtle Enterprises.

Kai: Very sorry about that, President Turtle. Won’t make that mistake again. Would you care for a refreshment before your board meeting with the shareholders, President Turtle?

Khanh: He says he'll consider forgiving you the next time you come by. 🐢 Any predictions on when that will be?

Kai: I’d like to come by today, if that’s okay. I have something to ask you

Khánh’s heart starts racing and thumping erratically again. Something to ask them? Like what? Good or bad? They do their best to swallow their anxiety and type out a reply.

Khanh: Today is great. Every day is great. President Turtle and I will be expecting you for dinner (?)

Kai: I’ll be there around early evening. See you then 🤗

The little blushing emoji with hugging hands instantly does Khánh’s heart 9000 damage. They can’t help but obsess over it. What could Kai want to talk about? They consciously avoid considering that it might be related to the feelings they’ve been suppressing.

Khánh’s nerves won’t stop buzzing the whole day. To compensate, they sit down and write out an elaborate course menu of the food planned for tonight. It’s always better when they know exactly when Kai will come over so they can prepare the most delicious dishes. He only deserves the best, after all.

An army of fresh vegetables is recruited, chopped, and arranged into small side dishes that will accentuate the main meal tonight: cá kho tộ. Khánh is sure that Kai will love the caramelized, braised fish and can’t wait to watch him eat it.

When the sun is hanging low in the sky, Khánh starts cleaning the fish with salt and rinsing it. They set that aside and prepare the sauce: fish sauce, soy sauce, water, coconut soda, and chillies. Then, Khánh uses a nonstick pan (not exactly traditional, but Kai probably won’t mind) to caramelize sugar into a sauce before sautéeing garlic and shallots. They carefully arrange the fish on top and leave it to simmer for some time. Once everything is cooked through, Khánh sprinkles some cracked black pepper and freshly cut green onion from the jar on their windowsill over top everything.

They are just pulling out their phone to ask Kai when he’ll arrive when they hear his knock.

“You’re just in time for dinner!” Khánh calls. “Come sit—” their voice fades away as they stare at Kai.

“...Do I look weird?” He’s rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, looking as tall and handsome as ever except for the stark difference of having shaved off all the hair on his head. That’s not the worst part though.

No, the worst part is that Khánh felt themself fall a little further into their crush at how good Kai looks with his head buzzed.

“Ah, I, um,” they respond eloquently. “Dinner’s ready?” It comes out as a question for some reason.

“Oh, I’ve got something first.” Kai fumbles around in a pocket for a second and then pulls out a folded up sheet of paper that he offers to Khánh.

They open it to find the following:

Dear President Turtle,

I’m sorry.

Sincerely,

Kai

Khánh bursts out laughing. “I can’t believe you did this!”

“It’s only proper,” Kai sniffs. But the serious expression holds only for a second before he’s smiling. “Now, what smells so good?”

Khánh takes a detour to present the note to the turtle plush, then leads Kai to the kitchen.

To his credit, Kai only sighs in resignation at the amount of food on the table instead of protesting. “I don’t know why I’m surprised every time, but I am. Can you tell me the dishes today?”

Khánh points out the obvious first—rice, sliced cucumbers, sautéed water spinach with garlic, a light soup with vegetables (canh)—before presenting the gently bubbling deep amber fish sprinkled with green onions. “This is cá kho tộ, or Vietnamese caramelized and braised fish. It’s traditionally served sizzling in a clay pot, but it cooks more evenly in a pan. Unfortunately, you don’t get the same effect this way.”

“I’ll live,” Kai comments, taking a seat. “But only if I get to eat some of it right now. That fish smells amazing.”

The two of them ensure that Kai will, in fact, live, and after finishing just over half the food on the table and splitting a custard apple for dessert, Khánh finally can’t take it anymore.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” they ask deceptively casually.

“Right.” Kai rubs his palms on his jeans, then does it again. “Right. Um, would it maybe be okay if I stayed here for a bit? At, uh, your house? Just for a few days, starting tomorrow afternoon. And I would need to leave a few things here, I guess, if that wouldn’t impose on you—”

“Yes! Yes, absolutely, that would be fine,” Khánh cuts in, an uncontrollable smile on their lips. Kai!!! Staying! At! Their house! Where they can spend even more time with him!! “I can set up the second bedroom for you. And I’ll drive you home so you can gather the things you’ll need to leave here and I’ll take them back here for you.”

“Are you sure?” Kai chews his lip, concern evident in his eyes. Khánh idly notes that his eyes are ever more prominent now that his hair is buzzed.

“Anything for my good friend,” Khánh emphasizes. “Do you want to go now? Or maybe we can have a bit of ice cream first?”

Kai checks the clock. “I’d better not, it’s getting late. Let me do the dishes and sweep and wipe down the kitchen first, and then I’ll go, if that’s alright.”

“You know you don’t have to—”

Kai fixes them with a look of mock sternness. “You already know I’m going to do it anyway, Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh, so don’t even try me!”

“Ooh, your pronunciation was quite good!” Khánh follows as Kai makes his way to the sink with a stack of dishes.

“You think so? I started Vietnamese on Duolingo to figure out how the alphabet works.”

“That would explain why your accent is so Northern…”

Later, much later as they wave goodbye at Kai’s building later that night, it occurs to Khánh that in the midst of their excitement, they forgot to ask exactly why Kai needs to stay at their house.

Oh well, Khánh thinks. It’s probably nothing too serious.

*

Bonus scene:

Kai: Wish me luck tomorrow

Coworker: Good luck

Coworker: Wait why

Coworker: Are you okay??

Coworker: Kaaaaaaaaai

Coworker: D:

Kai: Sorry, just went to get a tissue. Thanks dude

*

Note: Vietnamese has many different dialects with different words for the same thing and different pronunciations of everything. The three main ones are Northern, Central, and Southern. If you meet a Vietnamese person who was born outside Vietnam, chances are they speak and understand the Southern dialect; however, the “official” dialect is the Northern one. That’s why a language-learning site like Duolingo will typically teach the Northern dialect.