It was the only good lesson that came from knowing Meilei back then. That he had to protect himself if he didn’t want to march to the beat of his mother’s drum for the rest of his life. It’s why he had deepened the bond with his cousin and sibling and relied more on unrelated friends like Tian than he did on family so easily pulled from his side. The Xuchens were a massive family, but in recent years he had drawn his circle small and relied only on those he trusted. San had been an eye-opener.
The table was silent, tension high, and the air stuffy and heavy with it. The door opened as a food cart was wheeled in, and everyone was still and quiet as they dished the food to the center swiveling table. All eyes were on the action of servers, acting polite and as though nothing was amiss. The act they all knew well. Never show anything other than perfect harmony.
Minhui’s hand snaked under the table, and she patted her brother’s leg in a comforting gesture, side-eyeing him with a sorrowful look. Her brows lowered, her eyes glazed, and she slightly smiled, although she was unhappy. Minhui, too, had been here before.
Their parents had chased away her teenage first love, and she had been forced into an arranged marriage a year later. Her husband died in a tragic car accident six years on, yet Minhui’s grief was not for him. She never loved him, and they had borne no children together. She had been freed from meeting her parents’ requirements for remarriage under the guise of mourning and discovering her infertility, but her heart had never left her first love. A man who had moved on and married before Minhui was freed.
They waited until the staff left the room and closed the door behind them. Their mother pausing for their father to serve her some dishes, like an unwritten rule that they should wait.
As soon as he presented her with her plate of food, Anna and Minhui leaned in to serve themselves, but Kai sat steadfast.
Anna’s eyes filled with tears, and she dropped her chin to her chest, her lip wobbling. She knew this, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.
He turned, stopping at his sister’s side.
Kai shook his head, walked three steps, and stopped. A flash of question raced through his head, riled by the fact he knew his real war was about to start. He had no doubts his mother would not let him off so easily.
There was a long, heavy silence, Minhui darting a confused look toward her father and mother. Their father glanced down at his food and let out a long, slow breath, signaling he was thinking about how to respond. Their mother just seemed blank and normal, like always.
Another huge tell. Father losing his cool was a sure sign of knowing a lie or feeling guilty. Kai was dumbfounded, and an icy chill ran through his veins.
Minhui forcefully pushed him towards the door when neither parent gave them any signal. The silence was heavier than ever, and Anna looked about ready to curl into her chair and hide under the table.
Kai allowed Minhuii to pull him outside into the corridor and then marched him along until she was sure they were out of earshot. Glancing backward to ensure they were not followed, she tried to calm her pounding heart.
“What is this?” She whispered, afraid their mother might hear and still not relinquishing her hold on him. “What was that question?”
Kai leaned in and hugged her tightly, smoothing her hair and letting her calm in his arms. Giving her the kind of loving embrace that was a surefire way to cool down a sister on the verge of a tear fest.
Her words caught Kai off-guard, and his throat ached with the immediate heartache it caused him. He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant because, on some level, he had instantly loved that kid the second he met her.
Kai watched her go. Torn in two.
Kai swallowed hard, his thoughts racing as he pulled up so many conflicted questions in his mind. His head was aching with everything that had just happened. He couldn’t think straight.
He turned on his heel, ran his hand through his hair with a sigh at the weight of stress he was carrying, and walked on.
“Fuck my life.”
Ling opened one eye as the light of day flickered through the crack in the curtains and roused her from her dead man’s sleep. Hurting her eyes because it shone directly between them and made her wince. Her head was aching, and the room was still swaying, and she tried to turn over in the unfamiliar hotel bed. Moaning in agony because every inch of her was tender and felt bruised.
She knew she must have been black-out drunk last night to wake up feeling this way. Trying to make no sudden lurches for fear she might throw up, she moved to her back, yawned, balling a fist in her mouth before stretching out her left arm across the unused side of the bed. It was a long stretch out, and then dropped to meet the pillow, only she met with a warm, soft, rigid surface as the back of her hand slapped down on it.
The sound of skin thwacking skin.
“Urghhhhh.” A deep husky groan made her freeze in place, her sleepy eyes clicked open in alarm, and she couldn’t move as paralysis of shock took over. The sensation of a hand coming up to hook hers and throw it away made her stomach somersault into her chest, and she snapped her head in that direction and almost gasped out loud in a crying choke at what she saw.