Chapter Three #3
“Of course. I would never let down the Hui family like that.” He nodded toward Aiden briefly before turning the copy over to the stepmother. “This is the last spread that contains an actual photograph of Hui Ye.”
“You are good to do so. Let us talk. We must continue to work together.” His stepmother shoved the spread into He Bao’s hands. “Tear this apart. Make sure no one can ever put it back together.”
The stepmother grabbed the man by the arm and led him away with continued whispers.
Aiden stared at the spread. He thought of the gallery on his phone—devoid of any photographs of his brother.
“Ma, do I have to?” He Bao called. “What if I get cursed or something because of tearing up the photo? You said it’s bad luck to destroy photos of the dead!”
“I’ll take care of it.” Aiden held his hand out. His foot tapped against the ground.
He Bao grinned. After shoving the spread into Aiden’s hands, he picked up his favorite gifts left on the table and chased after his mother. “Zhu Zhu, come on!”
Zhu Zhu rolled her eyes, still playing with her phone, and walked off after her brother.
Aiden held his breath, not daring to breathe until he saw them walk out of eyeshot.
Panting and grinning, he dropped to the ground.
The paper ripped painfully between his fingers.
He tore the headline apart. Fire. Dead. Accident.
The photograph of the burning car disintegrated beneath his greedy hands.
Pieces of paper fluttered to the ground.
The smile grew wider, and he grasped the one remaining piece intact.
The forbidden photo of his brother.
I can have a picture of him. No one needs to know.
He hugged his brother’s lopsided smile to his chest. Still unable to cry, Aiden rediscovered his ability to laugh, hiding the joy in a hall celebrating death.
· · ·
“Hey, we need to talk about what to do for the future.” He Bao slammed open the door to the guest room, catching Aiden in the middle of packing. Aiden spared a glance to his stepbrother, but he continued folding his clothes. “Why are you packing? Are you still leaving?”
“I need to go back. I’ve already signed up for classes.”
“You can’t leave. How can you leave right now?” He Bao stormed out of his room. “Ma! Aiden said he’s going back to college!”
Sighing, Aiden flopped onto the bed and rubbed his forehead. He never intended to escape back to campus without their noticing, but a small part of him still dreamt he could magically teleport in a second.
His stepmother entered the room with her hands on her hips. He Bao followed behind her. “You’re leaving?”
Looking up, he nodded.
“Why would you go back to that college after everything that happened? You need to drop out for this semester. You can go back to school once everything’s calmed down—to a college that we trust, with people we know.”
“Ge already paid for this year.” His entire body was limp. “I’d be wasting money if I didn’t go back.”
“We have money, Hui Lang. Money is not the problem. It will be a problem if we do not talk about your future and our family’s future. The will needs to be executed, and once it has, you’ll be sitting at the head of the table.”
The flash of car headlights turned around the corner and pointed through the windows.
Warm blood dripped against his eyelid. An ache resurrected in Aiden’s leg.
The red carpet beneath his feet glowed of fresh stains.
The bullet remained stubbornly lodged, and his leg burned like fire.
He attempted to clench his hands but couldn’t summon any more strength than to twitch his fingers.
Breathing shakily, he surrendered and allowed shadows of the memory to play out.
“Are you scared, Hui Lang?” Her voice did not slice away the scene but instead hovered over the sight of death crawling his way. “That is a weakness.”
“Why would you want to go back anyway? It’s not like you would’ve made any friends in the short time before your classes started.
” He Bao’s words struck and cracked his heart, but it simultaneously shook him from his stupor.
Aiden swiveled his head toward He Bao, unsure of how to even properly portray his offense and shock to his stepbrother’s accuracy, but He Bao shrugged.
“You never checked your phone during the funeral. Clearly, no one cared enough to check in on you.”
“Be reasonable, He Bao. How can he possibly have friends?”
“I have friends.”
“You have friends because you listen to me.” His stepmother huffed.
“Hui Lang. You don’t want to go back there.
” Aiden got up to walk around, but she charged to meet him.
Her fingers clawed into his shoulder. Wincing, he immediately dropped the bag and stumbled back onto the bed.
“How will going back to that college help you? You are surrounded by people who know nothing about you. Stay with your family. We can mourn together.”
Eyes wide, mouth pressed in a thin line, and body stiff, Aiden couldn’t move even if he wanted to.
Her right talons continued to sink into his shoulder.
You’re not mourning anything, he would say.
You just want to make sure the business stays in the family, so that you can continue spoiling your kids.
His mouth would not speak the words, but he successfully forced his legs into action and moved squarely away from her hand to grab his bag again. “I will come back for the execution of the will and figure out how to proceed. For now, I’m going back.”
“You’re seriously going to go back just to become a stupid teacher?” He Bao exclaimed.
His stepmother didn’t chase after him. “The will leaves everything to you.”
He froze. “We don’t know—”
“Hui Ye loved you more than anyone else in this family. That is to be expected. He will leave the business to you, and when he does, that leaves us in your care. What will you do then?”
The bag threatened to slip from his grip again.
Aiden held harder and turned around. His stepmother tipped her head at him, brow slightly risen.
Her arms rested lightly across her chest. With a slight quirk of her lips, she continued.
“Abandon your younger siblings? Disappoint your brother by refusing to step into the role you are now meant to take up as the oldest child in the family? Will you choose to dishonor him that way?”
She stepped forward, and, with each step, she bore new holes into Aiden’s head.
“Will you run away from your duty to your family after everything they’ve done for you?”
Her questions were puppet strings that tied his limbs. Her voice whispered in his ears. Her shadow hovered over his back. Sweat prickled his skin as her questions assailed him in every direction he looked.
He knew he had to face the future—a future where he led the family. Ge wouldn’t do that though. Right? He knew I didn’t want to be involved.
But there was no one else in the family Hui Ye could leave this role to.
If I reject this, I would be rejecting my brother’s last wishes. The fact haunted him. She’s not wrong, either. They’re dependent on me if I inherit the position. I would be abandoning them. The thought sent shivers up and down his body.
· · ·
He traveled back to campus. He rested. He walked between classes.
He escaped with chains tied around his wrists and ankles.
In the buildings and on campus, students rushed forward with determined and panicked faces. Laughter tinged the air, and screams of happiness exploded. The atmosphere bounced off him as he trudged forward with his head down.
What do I do? His backpack weighed a thousand pounds. He hugged a textbook to his chest, stuffed with syllabi from prior classes.
His questions grew together, forming a tsunami wave that threatened to crash down and wash him away. Yet, as he stared at the looming questions of his responsibilities, his family, and his dreams, Aiden realized he had no energy to even run.
Then…just let it take me away.
His feet stilled.
I’ll just let others decide for me.
His back slumped against the wall of the hallway.
There is no point in trying to decide anything anymore.
His vision blurred.
His arms loosened.
His textbook collided with the ground. He heard the distinct sound of paper scattering against the floor. He hung his head low and closed his eyes.
He was so tired.
“Hey, are you okay?”
A soft hand against his shoulder pieced his senses together. He blinked his eyes open to see a boy with clear, blue eyes and golden hair. “Do you need water? You don’t seem okay.”
“I’ve got water.” Behind him, another boy with brown hair sticking out in all directions reached into his backpack and drew out an unopened water bottle.
Someone busied themselves on the floor.
Aiden glanced down to see a girl with black braids gathering the pages of syllabi together.
Are they friends with each other?
“Why don’t you sit down? If you want, we can take you back to your dorm.”
“Or outside. For fresh air,” the girl suggested.
“Yeah, let’s go outside.”
“It’s fine,” Aiden managed to croak, but he knew he didn’t fool anyone.
Not the friend awkwardly lingering behind with a backpack slung over his shoulder, still holding the unopened water bottle.
Not the girl who finished gathering the scattered papers from the ground and held them in her hands as Aiden made no move to take them back.
Definitely not the boy whose eyes never stopped watching him. His hand remained on Aiden’s shoulder.
Yet despite the humiliation of having complete strangers stop and check on him, Aiden found energy returning out of shock.
There was an utter lack of pity, suspicion, and disapproval that Aiden grew to expect in these stranger’s faces.
“Brendan, he said he’s fine.” The girl stepped forward and held out the stack of paper.
With a slight nod, Aiden took it with shaking hands.
The boy named Brendan let go of his shoulder. He bent over and picked up the textbook. “Would you like the water at least?” he asked.
Behind Brendan, the other friend waved the unopened bottle of water.
Aiden snatched the textbook back, readjusted his backpack around his shoulders, and quickly distanced himself from the three strangers.
His heart pounded against his chest. He tensed his shoulders to force himself bigger.
His hands clenched by his side to scare the numbness away, and he managed to raise his head enough to look at them directly.
The girl had stopped looking at him and waited at the side. The other boy tried his best to look nonchalant, but his eyes kept stealing glances. Brendan, however, kept his eyes on Aiden like lasers. Aiden addressed him with a squaring of his chin. “Thanks, but I’m actually fine. I was just tired.”
He spun on his heels and dashed away. As the blood returned to his face, his mind turned in sudden awareness.
His stepmother was right. There was no one else in the family his brother would leave the family business to. He needed to step up for the sake of his family. Everyone needs a family.
“Ah, wait! I think you—wait!”
Aiden thought he heard Brendan’s warm voice calling after him, but with a shake of his head, he banished it.
They were outsiders, and once Aiden informed his stepmother of his pledge to them, they were nothing more than strangers who he would never see again.