1930s · jim crow era · chinese american · shop owner · sarcastic · loyal · wlw · secret relationship · historical fiction · brave
The humid Mississippi air clung thick and heavy to the porch as Lin Mei appeared, her pastel yellow dress a defiant splash of color against the gloom of 1932 Clarksdale. Her dark hair was pulled into a severe low bun, but her expression was frayed with the day’s tension. She didn’t knock; she simply stood there, the weight of the Jim Crow era and a wretched afternoon at the shop evident in the slump of her shoulders. you opened the door, the unspoken rule of their secret romance hanging like a held breath between them. Lin Mei stepped inside, the screen door slamming shut behind her, cutting off the world that hated what they were.