Chapter 20
The Sun Clan had many illustrious properties throughout Greater Los Angeles, and undeniably the Malibu compound with its many
acres of scenic beauty was the crown diamond of their portfolio.
But far more architecturally fascinating was their oddball trinket inlaid with a cursed gemstone. Nestled high up in the San
Bernardino Mountains, they owned a log cabin behemoth containing more twisty turns and trapdoors than a haunted rollercoaster.
They called it the Big Bear sanctuary.
Perched on an archipelago above Big Bear Lake like a nesting Loch Ness monster, this sanctuary sprawled over four lots and
was in fact multiple wooden houses that had been haphazardly hammered together. It boasted a still unconfirmed number of rooms,
five and three-quarters floors, wings that seemingly went nowhere, and an overall feeling of the maddeningly absurd.
If this sounds like it would be a child’s dream house, it was just that for the Sun cousins.
Their youths were spent summering at the sanctuary, exploring and discovering the nooks, crannies, and many secrets of this strange cabin.
When they were older, they threw legendary house raves there, though whole sections of the sanctuary had to be roped off, lest someone accidentally stumble into one of its more perilous eccentricities, which included a nondescript door that opened directly into a fifty-foot fall to the basement.
The reason why the Big Bear sanctuary was the way it was was because of its creator. Big Boss Sun spent his final years there,
but he did not live there alone. He had a full-time construction crew in permanent residence, and it was this crew that built
out every whim and impulse that the old man had, even as his demands grew increasingly maniacal.
Fantastical the sanctuary may have seemed to the Sun patriarch’s grandchildren in their innocence, but to Roses, Iris, George,
and Hyacinth, it was a wood-carved monument of their father’s slow descent into madness during the sunset of his life. It
was where they hid him away when his condition had rendered him too unstable for public life, especially as the figurehead
of Sunfang Global.
And there, unwittingly reliving his early days as a micromanaging contractor, Big Boss Sun rolled up his sleeves to lead one
final, unending project—a project that only ended when he finally passed away in his sleep, still dreaming of new wings to
nowhere.
The first day of the baby shower weekend, Kat Norfolk arrived at the Big Bear sanctuary before anyone else. She had been there
once before, the previous weekend when she joined Wayward and Jamaal to prepare the premises for the Sun Clan.
Kat was surprised how cold it was when she got out of her old pickup truck. It was autumn in a high altitude, but this still
felt more like a crisp winter morning. She hoped the other guests thought to bring warmer clothes than she did.
At first blush, Kat was a peculiar first arrival.
But she had been tasked with an essential duty.
In front of the sanctuary’s immense front doors—comprised of eight redwood trunks stacked side by side and bound together an iron frame—she set up a check-in table, with a welcome bag of bespoke toiletries from South Korea, personalized maps to each assigned bedroom, and a syllabus of the weekend’s activities.
On this table, she put a final item. It was a large box with an opened padlock. Written on a placard next to it in Wayward’s
handwriting were the words:
This is a cellphone-free weekend.
Please place your phone in the box for safekeeping.
Kat stepped back to admire her handiwork. Behind her, she heard a car pulling up on the gravel driveway. The baby shower weekend
was ready to commence.
Then she felt a touch of cold land upon her cheek. Startled, she looked up.
It was beginning to snow.
Meadow had managed to fall asleep in the back seat, lulled by the repetitive sway of winding roads as Cristiano drove them
up the San Bernardino Mountains in their minivan. April, on the other hand, was carsick and nauseous, despite sitting in the
front with him. She rubbed her bulging belly, unimpressed by the majestic emerald of coniferous trees blanketing the slopes
all around.
Even that morning with all their bags packed, April had considered changing her mind about going. Why should she go up there
and return to all the toxic uncertainties of the Suns? Just a couple days before, she’d been nearly ready to run away with
Chinoiserie, yet now she was heading back to the dragons’ den.
April closed her eyes. Chinoiserie. The thought of Chinoiserie’s sweet face, her soft lips, her beautiful body .
. . April just wanted to freeze time and lie in a bed with her without a care in the world, to hold her and be held, to cherish her and be cherished.
Being apart from her, April felt like she had lost all her footing again.
April sighed and looked back at Meadow, and reached back to zip up her little jacket. She stroked her daughter’s soft cheek
with her index finger. Whatever decisions April made at the Big Bear sanctuary, she would do so in order to be the best mother
possible for Meadow and her soon-to-be brother.
“Wow, it’s snowing!” Cristiano’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “It’s not even winter yet.”
April looked out the window and saw the white flurries, already dusting the trees and road with ephemeral powder. “Climate
change,” she replied. “Heard of it? My family is one of the leading causes.”
Cristiano sighed as he made a turn onto Big Bear Boulevard. “Is that your attitude going in, after not seeing them all these
months?”
“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”
Another sigh from her husband as they drove past the deep blue titular lake of the town. “Have you decided what you’re going
to say about . . . about . . .”
She glanced over to see him staring intently at her stomach. She was purposely wearing a bulky coat and had brought loose-fitting
clothes for the weekend, but she knew that it was impossible to hide. Cristiano had promised her that he had told absolutely
no one, and she figured he couldn’t lie about that.
Before she could answer, Meadow stirred awake, asking groggily, “Are we there yet?”
“There it is, honey,” April said. There was a clearing of the trees, and through it they could all see the enormous cabin
looming in the distance. Already the rapidly falling snow was icing the sanctuary like a menacing gingerbread house.
April shivered.
“I’m not going to surrender my phone,” Shannon gasped, her frosted eyelashes fluttering in horror. “What about my followers?”
You’re also pregnant, thought Kat. But she kept smiling. “It’s just for one night. Wayward wanted everyone to unplug and really
enjoy each other’s company. I promise your phone will be safe.”
Shannon was still clutching onto her phone like it was the Heart of the Ocean. “I can just turn it off and put it away,” she
insisted.
Kat shook her head and held out her hand.
Shannon huffed. Not only did she have to haul up to Big Bear of all the boring places, but now she was having her things confiscated.
Rolling her eyes, she plopped her phone into Kat’s outstretched hand, making a mental note to herself that when she had their
money, she would be relocating the Sun Clan’s ski lodge to Vail.
Kat handed her the map to her assigned room. “It’s a bit tricky to navigate once you’re inside, and definitely avoid the areas
that are marked with the red X’s.”
“That’s like half the map!” Shannon exclaimed as she stared at it. She stepped back and took in the Big Bear sanctuary. “What
sort of deathtrap is this house, anyway?”
“I could show you around, Mooncakes.”
Both Shannon and Kat turned as Sunbern approached, wearing a timid smile and holding a box of chocolates. He tried to reach
out for Shannon, but she leaped back from him as though he were a leper.
“I can find it myself,” Shannon snapped before fleeing into the sanctuary.
Kat cringed, feeling awful for poor Sunbern, who stood there forlornly, holding his chocolates like a rejected schoolboy. She was also confused. These two were supposed to be Asian America’s most famous couple. What was with the hostility?
She had no idea what else to say to Sunbern. “Phone, please?”
On the third floor of the sanctuary, Wayward and Bessie were in the attached bathroom of her bedroom, both sitting on the
tiled floor near the toilet.
“Just when we thought your morning sickness was over,” Wayward said, rubbing her back.
Bessie was groaning. “It’s definitely the altitude. I think I’m going to have to skip the mixer.”
“I don’t thank you enough, Bessie, for all of this,” Wayward said. “Having my baby is above and beyond, even for friendship.”
Bessie shrugged. “It’s not like you’re able to thank me, most of the time. At least the one thing that feels good right now
is being able to talk freely to you again.” She leaned her head back against the wall, fighting a wave of nausea. “I hope
Kat isn’t having too hard a time collecting at the door.”
“Forcing Asians to part with their cell phones?” Wayward chuckled. “I hope they don’t throw her into the lake. Fortunately
there is no force greater than a lesbian with a clipboard.”
Bessie laughed. “You know, Kat and Jamaal, they’re probably the only two people crazier than you and me. We’ve done what we’ve
done for the sake of launching Promessa. What’s in it for them?”
“Well, I know Kat wants to fuck with my family since she thinks that we’re the IRL version of the Death Star,” Wayward mused.
“She’s in it for the glory.”
Bessie nodded in agreement. “And what about Jamaal? He got back with you and immediately tumbled headfirst into high corporate
espionage and your family soap operas. Why does he do it?”