Dating, married, single, divorced, and more. Advice on the relationships you have in life. Dear, Humans..
“Don’t emasculate him.” What a warning to give a woman. What a warning to teach a little girl. What a dangerous thing to teach a little boy.
By THE HONED CRONE26 days ago in Humans
There are eight hundred people in your phone. At midnight, you can call maybe two. You stare at the screen, scroll, lock it, and go to the kitchen for water. The glass is dirty. The water is cold. You drink two sips, think about work, and go to bed.
By Jin26 days ago in Humans
To read people, don’t only watch them at the conference table. At the table there are lights, topics, and other people’s eyes. Watch them waiting for the elevator. Watch them after they laugh. Watch the half-second before they speak.
The elevator reached the seventeenth floor and stopped. A man in his early fifties came in, gray jacket, carrying two bags of groceries. Behind him was a man in work clothes, a badge clipped to his chest. The gray jacket said his son was acting up again, saying he was stressed and couldn't sleep. The work-clothes man laughed and said, Don't worry, big brother. Wait till he's my age. It'll be fine. You're almost free anyway. The female colleague next to him added, Kids today aren't like us back then. They're a bit dramatic.
By Jin27 days ago in Humans
Loyalty. Honesty. Being faithful. Commitment. All of these words should exist a relationship. But what happens when they don't? Well, I'm glad you asked.
By Nerissha Hunt27 days ago in Humans
My friend Lin keeps an empty tea tin on her desk. The label has faded. It once held jasmine tea. She has a cupboard full of tea and does not drink this one. Someone remembered she liked jasmine. In her kitchen there is rice. She does not remember who gave it.
She sent thirty-seven messages. The last one went out at 2:09 a.m. It said, “I’ll change. I really will. This time I’ll change.” She stared at the screen for forty minutes. The chat stayed quiet. She slid the phone under her pillow. Three minutes later, she pulled it back out. Nothing. The next morning at seven, she saw that at 3:01 a.m. he had liked a mutual friend’s photo of a cat.
The wind at Houhai blew her hair across her face. She didn’t push it away. She stared at him. His phone buzzed in his pocket. Once, twice, three times. He took it out. On the screen: “Project group @everyone.” He muted it. The screen stayed lit.
She worked overtime until ten. Her phone was dead. She pushed open the door. The entryway light was on. He was crouched on the floor fixing the faucet. A bag of grapes sat beside the wrench. She changed shoes. He nudged the slippers toward her feet. He did not ask why she had not replied. She washed her hands. When she came out, a bowl of soup was on the table. She took two sips. “I’m tired,” she said. “Take a shower first,” he said. “The water’s hot.”
1. Lingzi's Night Tokyo begins with a menu torn apart On the day Lingzi splits from Bao Zong, there is no fight. She changes the menu at Night Tokyo. The old menu served Shanghainese food: braised pork, sweet-and-sour ribs, salted pork and bamboo shoot soup. Bao Zong liked those dishes. The new menu has paofan, pickles, fermented bean curd, and a dish still called "Bao Zong's paofan." Same name. Different recipe. Saltier.
Would You Date a Good Friend? Zhou Ye first found Cheng Cheng annoying at 3 a.m. She sent him a blurry photo of his back on the balcony, cigarette in hand. He wrote: “Delete it.” She wrote: “No.” Next morning she printed it and taped it beside his monitor. He tore it down, folded it, and put it in the bottom drawer. The drawer already held her hair tie, old movie stubs, and a sticky note: “Remember to eat breakfast.”
The phone screen lights up. Caller ID: Manager Wang. Your thumb hovers over the answer button. You press mute instead. The screen goes dark. Then it lights up again. Your stomach clenches. You stare at the number like a door someone just knocked on. If you don’t open it, they’ll knock again. If you do, you don’t know who’s standing outside.
