She straightened from her lean against the countertop and gestured to him. “You tell me.”
Chapter Sixteen
A cold soda can kissed Aiden’s cheek. He looked up.
Hui Ye looked down with a small smile. “Did something happen at school?”
Tears welled in Aiden’s eyes. He scrunched over on the front step of the porch, gluing his bottom to the stone ground. “I cried so hard today that I accidentally got someone in trouble,” he finally mumbled.
“Why did you cry?” Hui Ye sat down beside him.
“One of my classmates was making stupid sounds and said he was speaking Chinese. It made me so upset that I started to cry, and I couldn’t stop, and then he started to cry, and then the teacher got mad, and after we both explained, the teacher got mad at my classmate, and now he’s in trouble, and I’m unhappy.”
His brother blinked. “Why?”
“I didn’t mean for him to get in trouble!” Tears burst like a dam. Aiden bawled. “I just wanted him to stop is all! Now, he’s going to think badly of me, and because of me, he’s going to think badly of all Chinese people, and he’s just going to hate all of us!”
His brother’s mouth twitched, forming an awkward half-smile and half-frown. “That’s not going to happen,” he said, and a chuckle slipped through. Coughing, Hui Ye tried again. “Either way, he shouldn’t have mocked the Chinese language.”
“Mock?”
“Xiao huan.”
“Oh. I don’t think he was trying to—what’s the word? Mock? I don’t think he was trying to mock me.” Aiden sniffed. He took the soda and held it between his hands. “I just think he didn’t get it is all. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t funny, but instead, I just cried. Like a baby. I’m not strong. Ba Ba’s always telling me to be strong, but I cry too easily.”
He angrily wiped tears from his eyes, but more followed. “How do I become strong like you?”
As a child, Aiden couldn’t read his brother’s face. His eyes were shadowed, his mouth pressed straight, and his shoulders relaxed. However, as the memory resurfaced and he looked upon his brother’s face with older eyes, he saw his brother’s eyes widen. A light glistened from Hui Ye’s irises, and his mouth twitched upward. A light laugh escaped from his lips.
“Lang.” Hui Ye shook his head, chuckling. “Lang Lang, to call you anything but strong would be the greatest disservice I could ever do as your older brother. I’ve always thought that you were strong.”
Aiden clutched the words to his heart and closed his eyes. “Did it hurt?” Bracing himself, he opened his eyes. Hui Ye laid on the ground. His legs were mangled and twisted like a pretzel. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His chest heaved with every breath stolen from the air, and his eyes flickered between consciousness and death. Aiden swallowed. He wanted to dash away, but instead he folded his legs beneath his body looked down at the dying man before him.
“Of course, it hurt.” His brother chuckled. “Though Celia gave me a mercy kill. I don’t actually know when I died on her lap. So, I guess in a way, it didn’t actually hurt. Hey.” His brother wrenched his torso to turn over, but his legs remained still on the ground. Bone fragments snapped through the skin of his waist. “Did she ever answer my question?”
Aiden shook his head.
“That sounds like her.” His brother sighed. He collapsed face first onto the ground. “As long as she’s still having fun. As long as you’re happy and safe. That’s all that matters now.”
Silence.
Aiden watched Hui Ye’s breaths grow smaller and sparser. Blood pooled underneath his legs, pouring from a deep slash across his brother’s neck. Hui Ye glanced up one last time before the last flame of life extinguished inside him. “You ready?”
Aiden nodded.
Death swooped from the air and snatched his brother’s life away. Beside him, the burning car magically appeared and crumbled underneath the heat and fury of flames. He watched Wang Xing’s familiar figure succumb to a terrifying stench that overtook even the smoke billowing out from the groaning car. He leaned down and hugged his brother’s cold body.This will probably be my last time ever hearing his voice.
He opened his eyes to the darkening sky. His head rested comfortably on a soft pillow, and his nails dug into Brendan’s hand with the intention to never let go. However, despite the red grip marks Aiden left behind, Brendan sat comfortably beside him, buried in the instructions Celia wrote down for the equipment he would handle. Aiden stirred, and Brendan turned his head calmly toward him. “You ready?” he asked.
“Yeah.” He pushed himself up from the bed and caressed where his nails dug in too deeply. “Thank you for coming with me.”
Brendan reached over and kissed him on the forehead. “Happy to.”
• • •
Aiden stared down into the basement. Lowering his head, trying desperately not to pant, he descended down. His steps slowed, flinching at the creaks of the stairs. They reminded him of the tight space, cold air, and dim lighting of the basement that imprisoned him. His hands latched to the railing, and for a good second, he contemplated running back up the stairs.
However, a different reality confronted him when he found the courage to look up. The basement was wide with shining, clean floors. Bright lights illuminated the walls, and items were stored in meticulously labeled storages.
