“Aiden, are you listening?”
Jumping, he looked away from the gloomy world outside and back at his older brother. Hui Ye tipped his head. “Clearly not. I guess you’ve gotten bored of me already.”
“That’s not true—I was just distracted by the storm.” Aiden straightened against the seat. “What’d you say?”
“I’m asking if you wanted to go anywhere else before your flight. And while we’re on that topic, we should buy you some snacks before you head back to the States.”
“I don’t need to go anywhere else. Snacks would be nice.” Aiden’s lips quivered. The clap of thunder and sudden downpour of rain sounded like bullets pelting against the glass. His hands continued to shake. He jammed them under his legs and prayed his brother didn't notice.
He glanced over to ask about the restaurant they were heading to, but his brother focused beyond the car window. An empty road stretched before them, and the car glided against the rain.
Hui Ye reached for Wang Xing. “Hey, I told you that I like busy roads.”
“The weather is bad today, Hui Ye. Not many people are out on the roads.”
“This is Hong Kong. There are always people out on the roads, no matter the weather. Find one.” He settled back against the leather seat with a slight jitter in his leg. He reached into his jacket, revealing the handle of a weapon, and ran his thumb over the cold steel gun. Aiden tensed at the sight, but Hui Ye just turned toward him with a bright smile. “I’m sorry, Aiden. I know you’re probably annoyed that I keep taking us into traffic.”
“It’s fine. It’s business…” He glanced down. “You still don’t have…businesstoday, do you?”
“Everyone’s aware today is your last day with me. If they have any respect for me, they'll let me spend every last second with my younger brother.”
The car turned sharply onto a larger road and slowed upon approaching a long line of cars. Hui Ye’s hand loosened from around the gun and pulled out his phone instead. “I don’t really have anything planned after lunch. I wanted to go to the park today, but we can’t with this weather. Why don’t we catch a movie instead?”
The tight coils relaxed around Aiden’s chest. He smiled. “Yeah, I’m down for anything. What do you want to watch?”
He leaned over to look at his brother’s phone, but angry honks blasted from behind. Both of them jumped at the fury cutting through the tinted glass. Wang Xing stuck his head out into the rain, releasing a string of profanities at the driver behind them, and ducked back inside the car, grumbling with a dripping head.
The two brothers watched the drama unfold with wide eyes. Aiden pursed his lips, but upon seeing Hui Ye’s own cheeks ballooning like a puffer fish, they both gave into their laughter. “Oh man, if only they knew who they were honking at.” Aiden snorted.
“I’d be tempted to reveal our identities if it didn’t mean getting myself, the family, and the group in trouble all at once.” Hui Ye wiped his eyes. “Head of the Famous Hui Reveals Entire Existence Due to Hong Kong Local Because He Got Honked At.That’s a good headline.”
“Yeah, right. That headline would never exist.”
“It definitely can. In a fantasy perhaps.”
Aiden’s smile faltered slightly. He eyed the gun against his brother’s jacket.
“Stop thinking so hard. I can see the rabbit hole of questions written all over your face.” His brother pushed him back. “Are you here to visit me or are you here to stress about my life?”
“Visit,” Aiden answered resolutely.
“Then don’t think about my life at all.” His brother leaned forward to Wang Xing. From behind, Aiden could see Wang Xing’s lips twitch in annoyance at the snail-paced traffic. His brother patted Wang Xing on the shoulder with a disarming smile.
The chauffeur relaxed but rolled his eyes. “You don’t pay me enough,” he grumbled.
“For today, Wang Xing, I will give you a raise.”
• • •
“Xiao long bao.” The waitress lifted the bamboo top from the container. A mist of steam floated into the air, and the scent of soup dumplings permeated the room. Aiden’s eyes glowed as the food rolled in—pork buns, shumai, and rice noodle rolls.
He clicked his chopsticks. The second the waitress left, he reached over, picked the dumpling up, and placed it in dipping sauce.
“Careful, it’s hot,” his brother said, but Aiden had already bitten a hole through the dumpling and carefully drank the soup.
Warm and salty flavors of pork that smoothed over like water burst upon his tongue. Aiden sighed longingly, savoring the bite. “I’m never going to get food as good as this back in the States,” he lamented. “Every restaurant makes the long flight worth it.”
“Right?” His brother grabbed sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.
