The Bride Test

by Helen Hoang

Nothing gets to you. It’s like your heart is made of stone.

thought you two were close.

insisted his parents take him to a psychologist, he’d known he was different.

There was no such thing as autism or Asperger’s syndrome in the countryside of Vietnam.

if he couldn’t grieve, the flip side also had to be true. He couldn’t love.

Hồ Chí Minh, Việt Nam

“I knew I liked you. Places make people. I grew up there. I named my restaurant Mỹ Tho Noodles.

reminded herself to keep her head down and go about her own business. Jealousy wouldn’t get her anything but misery.

“You’re a good, hardworking girl and pretty in an unusual way. I think I could trust you with my Khải.”

You’d have to make him change his mind.”

“This is why I like you. You can’t help but be yourself.

first, she wanted to do nothing for a few moments. Just nothing. Nothing was such a luxury.

Her childhood had been difficult, but it had prepared her for life.

she’d never regretted her baby. Not even for a second.

what about love? Love mattered, and no one could love her baby like Mỹ could.

“What young man wants a family? If he loves you, he’ll love Ngọc Anh.”

What had Cô Nga seen in her that she thought Mỹ was a good match for her son? Would her son see it, too? And would he accept her daughter? Would her own father accept his daughter?

Exactly fifteen minutes. Yes. There was nothing as satisfying as perfect increments of time.

three different varieties of mango. There were big red-green ones, medium yellow ones, and small green ones in the box that bore Thai script.

Real loneliness would stick with you all the time.

Real loneliness would hurt you nonstop.

He felt nothing most of...

His house was his sanctuary, the one place where he could escape people and just be.

“Welcome to San Francisco, California. The local time is 4:20 P.M.

The paper part. This was when everything could go wrong.

“Welcome to the United States, Esmeralda Tran. Enjoy your stay.”

All of this was too new. Even she felt new. New place, new name, new person, new life.

Hollywood and Disneyland were here.

Picking out clothes was so much easier when it was all one color.

If you knew how to look at them, the numbers meant something and reflected culture and values.

He replayed his comments in his head, trying to pinpoint the offensive thing, but it was no use.

Mathilda Avenue,

She was a liar, and she was ashamed of herself.

admired a sky painted in bright hues of apricot and hyacinth.

What a difference an ocean made.

She didn’t know him well yet, but she’d picked up on his strangeness right away.

Odd was good. Odd was an opportunity.

It was the best gift he could have gotten her, the absolute best.

when she looked at his actions, all she saw was kindness.

“I only want you to be yourself with me.”

people around him usually wanted—for him to act differently, more appropriate, more intuitive, more considerate, less eccentric, less . . . himself.

fruit smorgasbord

He wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was perfect for her.

Khải, meant victory,

but the way he said it, flat like that without the accent...

For whatever reason, he’d built a thick wall around himself.

“Hi, Anh Khải.”

the shade of her eyes. Seafoam green.

Never assume he knows what you want. Because he doesn’t.

he cares about people. Even you.”