"26." Meiying emphasized, clamoring close behind Mom down the stairs. "26 successful dives into the trench."
"Nice to see you found somethin' new to talk about." Jonas looked up from their bags, ensuring all was ready for Mana One tomorrow. Good, she had been wearing him down slightly. If they coordinated, Mom wouldn't stand a chance!
"Where's the tablet?" Mom motioned to the pile Jonas was working on. He lingered it out of her reach. "Why do you need it?"
"All subs have been equipped with anti-predatory measures." Meiying took the tablet so she'd have their full attention. She smiled eagerly. "Updated radar just last month, which Jaxx showed me to use-"
"No." Both cut her off this time. Mom took the tablet with the usual exasperation. Her persuasion tactics had become persistent over the last few months. Ironically, Meiying could relate. She didn't know how much more patience she could keep up.
Mom bypassed her, opening a file on her desk while the tablet turned on. The lower level of their 'apartment' acted as her office alongside a living room. Both lighted by one of the oblong windows into Haiqi's tank. Uncle's facility on Hainan was workplace and home all in one; a piece of the ocean pressed against her bedroom wall. Except for school, everything in their lives was water. Going farther, deeper... only until the Mariana Trench told them to stop!
Fueled by determination, Meiying skipped back to Jonas, keeping the smile on her face bright and hopeful. "It's spring break and I'm going anyway. Uncle designed a suit in my size."
"Probably to protect his reputation as the fun uncle." Jonas raised a brow, but she didn't appreciate his snarky tone. "Or because he takes my ambition seriously."
"Meiying, we have discussed this." Mom looked up from her work, voice as generic as her words. And Meiying saw the tense lines on her mother's face. They were supposed to go away... stay on target!
"It'd be a great topic to go back to school with." Meiying rushed up to Mom's desk, making confrontation inescapable. "I'm arguing conservation for my debate class."
"Which you do not need to dive for." Mom scrolled down, eyes back on some proposals she'd shared with Meiying just yesterday. It was apples and oranges, but Meiying only saw it as unfair- and hypocritical. A part of her parents' world, but not fully immersed in it. "People can suffer the bends, anoxia, oxygen toxicity at 60 feet deep. You can't tell me that 6 kilometers is too dangerous."
Jonas clearly saw their diving lessons coming back to haunt him. He looked at her with his odd-puppy eyes, but his mouth was set in the usual Pitbull resolve. "Too dangerous for you; too many unknowns. We happen to like having you around."
Meiying sighed at him, nudging a figurine on Mom's desk. Jonas narrowed his gaze on her, a practiced 'dad' glare, which always ended in a grin. It didn't raise her spirits any. How could they say they have confidence in her, yet not allow her on a dive? She wouldn't actually drive the sub, just... "If i'm in the same sub as you, how can I be any saver? You're the expert on deep-sea anything."
Mostly deep-sea rescues, but she wasn't focusing on THAT! Jonas meanwhile, chuckled. "Your belief in me is astounding."
Mom finally lifted her head. "This isn't the dive be taking family trips on. We are testing the new exosuits and investors will be watching when we do."
"They can see me in mine!" Meiying suggested.
"Don't give them ideas." Jonas growled, eyes over her head at Haiqi's tank. Meiying's resolve started to wear. "You both know putting me off can't work forever and I wouldn't keep bringing it up if I didn't want to do it. Why not believe in my ability like Uncle?"
"We believe you will be capable." Mom put in.
"Plus, Jiuming believes everything can be planned for or controlled," Jonas came around the desk, pointing Meiying at the tank. His words were direct and deliberate now, if not a bit hostile. "Enough calculations or contingencies, and everything works out. Nature's not like that, Meiying. First thing the ocean ever gave me was humility."
Meiying didn't understand the weight behind those words, but she felt it. She kept her own voice serious and earnest. "It makes me curious, just like you. And no amount of risks has stopped either one of you."
"Because it's part of our responsibility." Mom stood up, posture exhausted with the topic. "Besides, investors or not, you're only 14."
Such an old excuse! Meiying dug in her heels, planting herself squarely in front of Mom. "I've been SCUBA-certified since 10. I know every Mana One system, every diving and emergency protocol." She glanced back at Jonas. "All submersibles are equipped with anti-predator shocks, back-up power... I can list dozens more."
She straightened up in all the pride she could muster. "I'll learn to respect the ocean the sooner I'm a part of it. I'm ready."
Neither answered. Rather, they looked at each other, doing a strange talk with their eyes- while she suffered!
"You want to be ready." Mom placed a hand on Meiying's shoulder, then to her cheek. "There's a difference. You can't go yet."
I... Meiying's chest fell, shrinking from Mom's touch. "You're going to say that every time."
"Meiying-" Jonas started.
"Another time." Mom said hopefully, but it fell flat. Meiying's mind backpedaled. "Why won't you take a chance on me?"
"It is decided." Mom's answer was swift, shrinking Meiying to 3 feet tall. Even all the way down though, Meiying's cheeks burned. She stepped closer to Mom's face. "I'm only acting on what you've encouraged my whole life. That 'I can do anything', you said that! Now I'm saying 'I can do this!' I'm not scared like you!"
She almost pushed Mom into the desk, bolting for the doors. It was only a few yards farther that she halted in the hallway, sensing her blown chance. Though, were they really giving her one to begin with? Meiying turned to find Jonas following. Not Mom... that figures.
"I know-" she scuffed at the floor with her sandal. "anger doesn't help my case."
"How 'bout goin' back and apologizing." Jonas suggested after a minute. Meiying sulked against the wall. "You'll change her mind before she does. She hasn't done a dive in months, why should she have a say?"
"Cuse she's your mother." Jonas stated, the dad glare turning on for real this time. Meiying resisted hesitation, repeating. "Who hasn't dived in months."
"That's a separate issue." Jonas said. "One you don't need to be dragging her down with."
Meiying bit her lip. "I didn't mean to..."
She crossed her arms, hating how she could argue and talk with Jonas in the same minute. Hands going to his pockets, he studied her. "You want my advice?"
She shook her head.
"Opinion?"
"I want some trust." Meiying stared back, wanting to pin him- and Mom- with her point. "You risk your lives and come back. Inspiring people every time you do. I want to do the same. Maybe- maybe even inspire Mom." Her mind left the trench a moment, glancing back at the doors. "Or, get her to hope again."
His face changed, catching her deeper meaning. Meiying had more then noticed the strain that had settled into their faces- Mom's first day out of the hospital after the miscarriage. She'd thought it would leave, heal, or disappear. The pain was duller in her own heart, depending on how much she thought about her sibling. Yet, it only turned Jonas bolder, Mom quieter. As though, they were fighting against it.
"Mom's been doing a lot of second-guessing." Jonas admitted. "That's not a good feelin'... when you're an adult and supposed to have all the answers."
Meiying swallowed, combing back her hair to hide growing tears in her eyes. "Well, I know you don't have all the answers. You tell people I'm smarter than you."
Jonas drew his arm around her. "That you are."
She moved for a closer hug, but their backs trembled with the wall, halting thought and movement. Haiqi-
"She brushed against the wall again." Mom dashed out of their apartment, phone at hand. "Jiuming's in the tank."
"In?" Jonas repeated, on her heels in an instant. "With the meg?"
That's what makes him Uncle. Meiying sighed; secretly admiring him for it.