Chapter 18: Rain on the Roof

The rain came down so hard that evening that the gutters on Anqi's building sang.

Mengyao stood at the window with a mug of ginger tea, watching the water sheet off the roofs.

"I want to go up," she said.

"It's pouring."

"I know. The roof drains on this building are blocked, and I want to see if the water pools by the door."

"You're a gardener, not a plumber."

"Water is water." She put down the mug and turned, grinning. "Also, I want to be rained on with you."

Anqi looked at her for a long moment, in the red cardigan and bare feet.

She thought of the scarf, still half-fringed on the desk, and the lease papers waiting for noon on the Double Ninth, and the fifteen days left.

"Five minutes," she said.

"Five minutes."

It was a flight up from the sixth floor, an iron door and a concrete roof with a low wall and a water tank.

The rain hit them the moment the door swung open.

It was warm and fat and slanting, and it soaked Anqi's blouse before she had taken two steps.

Mengyao ran out with her arms wide.

She tipped her head back and let the water run into her open mouth.

"It tastes like dust and sky!" she shouted.

"You're mad!"

"Come here!"

Anqi crossed the roof in three strides, and Mengyao caught her by the wrists.

The braid had come loose.

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