Chapter Nine
“This what you want! Everything’s always about you!”
Aiden stopped short of the front door at Zhu Zhu’s screaming. His stomach grinded. Disdainful eyes, a razor-edged voice, and a body boiling with impatience waited for him inside. But I can’t stay outside forever…
He forced the door open, stepping inside to see Zhu Zhu’s tear-streaked face. She threw a decorative vase onto the ground. The porcelain crashed into pieces, and scattered, joining the torn pages of an artbook.
He closed the door, shutting it louder than he hoped, and the three abruptly stopped to stare at him.
Zhu Zhu’s hair stuck out in chaos, and mascara streamed down her face.
She wiped her eyes, glared daggers at her mother, and stormed up the stairs.
Aiden stepped aside in time as she shoved past him.
Her bedroom door slammed so hard that Aiden’s heart jumped to his throat at the expected impact.
“Zhu Zhu!” He Bao cried and attempted to give chase.
“Leave her, He Bao. There is no point in trying to reason with her when she is being so emotional,” Aiden's stepmother hissed. A few strands stuck out from her well-crafted bun. She realigned her dress sleeves.
I could not have worse luck.
“I was waiting for you,” his stepmother snapped. She marched out of the living room to where he stood at the doorway and shoved the photograph of his brother in his face. “Why do you have this?”
Aiden’s heart heaved back into his mouth, racing for an acceptable excuse, but his stepmother continued before he could even attempt one. “You knew that this was dangerous to have for the family. He Bao told me that you volunteered to tear this up. Is there a reason for you keeping it?”
The hair on the back of Aiden’s neck stood up. I can’t believe this. He gaped, incredulous. Why is she testing me?
“Well? I’m waiting. Or have you gone deaf magically after going to school?”
His body almost burst into flames. “The reason is that my brother’s dead,” he growled, “and I don’t have a single picture of him. It’s my only memento of him. What’s your problem?”
Pain flashed against his cheek.
Aiden gasped, head swinging to a different angle. His hand touched his stinging skin. Slowly, he turned toward her, but she kept her arm up in preparation for another swing. Behind her, He Bao stared with his mouth open.
“You are the problem. You are utterly worthless when compared to your brother.” Her voice froze the entire house over. “Unless you want to argue with me about that fact?”
He didn’t dare.
“After everything I’ve done for you, you decide to talk back to me?
Because of me, our secret about the missing will is safe.
Because of me, the other families won’t look down at us or your dead brother for doing something as stupid as forgetting where he hid it.
Because of me, I have protected you from getting killed.
You could be killing people right now. Stealing things, navigating legal loopholes, all the things you are wholly unprepared for, and you want to speak to me like that?
I didn’t owe you anything. I did this of my own accord. ”
You didn’t tell me everything either. The words stayed lodged in his throat.
His stepmother stepped back and inspected the photograph carefully.
With a purposeful glance at his direction, she split the photo into two.
She continued ripping. The sound shredded Aiden’s own heart into pieces.
Tears bubbled up to his eyes as she, with cold indifference, dropped the pieces of the torn photograph, watching it float to the ground with a satisfied grin.
He Bao grabbed his mother’s arm. “Ma, you’re tired,” he said softly, “and Zhu Zhu made you angry. You should rest.”
For Aiden, the world had stopped turning. He stared blankly at the floor.
“You’re right.” She turned away. “Aiden, get the house cleaned up tonight. The families are hosting a meeting, and I need to ensure our house gives a good impression. All the cleaning materials are in the utility room.” She shook He Bao’s hand off and marched away. He Bao stayed frozen in place.
Aiden knelt down. Panting, he crawled over to where the pieces of the photo fell and picked them up.
He held each piece to the air, taking note of the lines and the color before lowering it into his palm.
A corner of his brother’s left eye. The top of his brother’s head.
As he formed the photo whole in his mind, he remembered Hui Ye’s last words.
Whatever you want, I can give to you.
Lies. All lies.
He bit down on his quivering lip and tasted blood. Blinking furiously, he battled to keep the tears from falling. He barely heard He Bao say, “Zhu Zhu didn’t eat tonight, so you should eat it. It’d be a waste otherwise.”
His stomach claimed no hunger. Instead, he got up and headed to the utility room. He swept up the fragments Zhu Zhu left behind. He tossed the trash together. Guilt chained up his body and sunk him lower while he watched the remains of his brother’s existence drop into the plastic can.
He got down on his knees, scrubbing the floor.
The bleach burned his eyes, but his body pumped of energy.
He dusted the furniture and rearranged the pillows to their more performative places.
He methodically recited the rooms he still needed to clean, moving from the living room to the kitchen to the dining room to the study room.
His mind shouted no complaints, and he proceeded on autopilot. The mind-numbing chores forced his hands to keep moving, his mind to keep listing out to-dos, and his legs to scurry around the enormous house.
Anything to distract him from feeling.
Three books were stacked neatly on the ground of the study room. Aiden returned two to their original places. He reached upward to return the third, but pieces of paper fell out from the pages.
“Of course,” he mumbled, getting down on his knees and sweeping the paper together.
His brother’s face reflected back.
He stuffed photographs back into the pages of the book, but his mind screeched awake. Blinking, he pulled out one of the photos, staring at the familiar nose, eyes, and hair.
I’m so tired that I’ve started to hallucinate. Aiden closed his eyes. His stepmother used the study room the most. The books belonged to her. Then the photographs belong to her as well. He opened his eyes.
His brother was eating ice cream with a flirtatious smile.
He leaned forward toward a woman in a wide brimmed hat and a breezy dress.
Aiden grabbed the next photograph from the book, and again, it was his brother—now dressed up in a tight suit, meeting other business people in front of a restaurant.
He shook a man’s hand, eyes already glinting of dollar signs.
Another photograph of his brother serenading a different woman.
The woman sat stiffly in a chair, her gloved hands clenched in her lap, a beauty mark below her lip, and her curled hair elegantly falling over one shoulder.
Yet she looked familiar.
No, that’s the same woman. Aiden compared the photograph with the first. The hair color, eye color, eyebrows, lips, and body language all differed, but he caught the smile on their faces.
An identical smile that reminded Aiden of a fox.
However, the question plaguing his mind distracted him from the strange woman who looked like different people. Why did his stepmother even have private photographs shot of his brother in the first place?
A horrifying theory sunk in, and he dropped the photos in a panic.
Don’t be ridiculous, he scolded himself, stuffing them back into the book and shoving it onto the bookshelf.
His stepmother’s paranoia only existed because of his brother’s death.
Without his brother, the businesses remained in flux.
With the businesses in flux, her income and livelihood for herself and her children hung over the ledge.
She’d throw me away, but there’s no way she’d throw away her children’s futures like that.
He escaped from the room and reminded himself of the hallways to clean.
As he vacuumed, mopped, and dried the floor, a fire sparked inside him.
She’s such a hypocrite. He slammed the Swiffer against the wall and slammed it again for extra measure.
She demeans me for keeping that picture when she’s hiding her own.
Javier and Christina’s words echoed in his head.
Aiden drained dirty water in the bathroom and dropped the bucket loudly on the ground. He heard his stepmother stir in her closed bedroom at the disturbance, and a sickening sense of satisfaction spread through his body.
Christina and Javier were right about his family.
Brendan was right about him.
As he scrubbed the night away, Aiden made a promise in the dark. If he wanted to do something, he wouldn’t let her stop him anymore. After Infinite’s potluck, he would demand his stepmother to tell him everything, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
· · ·
Filed in the dimly lit office of Mr. Zhou’s home, Aiden kept his arms straight by his side and looked ahead.
The other workers of the Zhou family lined up beside him.
Their faces remained neutral, but Aiden noticed every twitch in their hands, eyes, and legs.
Mr. Zhou berated the man in front of them.
“Do you understand how important this acquisition was for us?”
“Yes, Mr. Zhou.”
“Do you understand the extent of protection this would’ve brought for not just me, but also you? To all of us?”
“Yes, Mr. Zhou.”
Mr. Zhou’s voice boomed like cannons when he lost his temper, and he lost it often. Aiden could hear it echo even a few hallways down, and a few times, the sound of bullets had ensued. The man who failed his mission and bowed his head low was a longstanding employee of the Zhou family.
“In my defense, I suspect there was sabotage.”
“Sabotage?” Mr. Zhou snapped his head around.