Melodrama Award

She patted his head. "Why not? I'm your twin. If you can't cry in front of me, who else can you cry in front of?"

He didn't answer.

"Besides," she added in a whisper, "I'd rather you cry than keep pretending everything's okay. You're allowed to be sad, you know."

"…Yeah," he said, voice muffled.

They sat like that for another moment until Chen Yu, sensing the heaviness still lingering, decided it was time to stir things up a little more.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, tapping her chin, "when you cry like that, you kind of look like a giant puppy. All floppy and pathetic."

Chen Yan jerked up and glared at her. "Excuse me?"

"Yup. Golden retriever energy. The kind that gets left out in the rain and waits by the door with wet fur and sad eyes."

His mouth dropped open. "That's cruel!"