The joy lighting up Marley’s face warmed Jake’s heart in a way he couldn’t quite explain.
“Yeah, I’ll start a list!”
She darted off into the adjoining room, her usual study space when Jake didn’t have clients. It was Saturday morning, and the office was empty save for the endless pile of paperwork Jake never seemed to dent.
“Don’t forget we have?—”
“Dinner at The Lotus. Got it!” Marley yelled over her shoulder, already absorbed in the hand-me-down phone Jake had scrounged up from Minnie last year.
Minnie, or Minh, worked at her family’s restaurant. The Lotus was a beloved fixture in Willowbrook, and Sunday night dinners there had been a tradition for as long as he could remember.
Minnie’s little brother and his best friend, Thao, let Jake tag along when they were younger, after Thao found out Jake was home alone most nights. After school, Jake and Thao would walk from the school grounds to The Lotus. Even though Thao was no longer around, Jake still stopped by every week.
They’d met in first grade when Thao was seated next to Jake. Though English was Thao’s second language, they instantly bonded over their love for anime and comic books. Jake spent more time with the Lien family than with his own. All of his fondest childhood memories involved the Lien family.
Minnie would always bury herself in books, too busy with her studies to spend time with them. Thao’s twin, Gia, on the other hand, was always the third wheel to their shenanigans. She had been a wild one. Younger than Thao by a few minutes, but sharp. Spirited.
Jake used to find it amusing how annoyed Thao would get whenever Gia tagged along, even though he was fiercely protective of his twin. She argued like a lawyer in her native language,winning her point, her entire being glowing with victory when she did. Like a blooming flower basking in the sunlight.
She was a firecracker. A spitfire. Mischief always danced in her eyes.
Jake envied the closeness between the siblings. He was an only child. A blessing, in hindsight. He couldn’t fathom having to worry about a sibling when his parents hardly noticed he existed. Thao and Gia had something special. So, even though Thao would moan and groan about how embarrassing it was to have his little sister tag along everywhere, Jake knew he secretly loved having her around. They were so in sync with each other and would often finish each other’s sentences. Two peas in a pod.
Though Jake had loved spending time with Thao, just the two of them, it was a completely different experience when Gia joined. She made everything feel exciting. Even if they were only hanging out at Moonshadow Falls and daring each other to jump over the cliffs. She knew how to turn things into a fun game. The way her brown eyes would light up when he’d join in on her games used to make his heart flip inside his chest.
The last time Jake had seen Gia was after the… incident. Her eyes had been full of tears. His words still haunted him.
“This was a mistake.”
Words he could never take back.
She’d left town soon after and never looked back. She’d taken a piece of him with her.
He’d lost both of his best friends that summer.
Three
GIA
Gia woke up about an hour earlier when Carson pulled into a gas station. He’d apologized for disturbing her sleep, saying he needed to step inside for a refreshment, but she was grateful. The stop gave her a moment to gather herself. To mentally brace for what lay ahead and freshen up a bit, she’d slipped into the dingy gas station bathroom.
Her reflection under the flickering fluorescent lights stopped her cold. Dark circles, too deep for her best concealer to mask, framed her swollen, bloodshot eyes. The last breakdown had all but erased her makeup, so she reapplied it with robotic precision. Foundation, concealer, mascara. Her armor. It didn’t help much. She still looked awful. Sickly. Haunted.
Hours later, Carson pulled the SUV to a stop in the short driveway of Gia’s parents’ modest, two-story home. The house was small. Its front yard was well-kept but simple, with neat hedges and a faded welcome mat. From her vantage point in the back seat, Gia spotted a swing set in the backyard that hadn’t been there the last time she visited. It looked recently installed for the kids.
A quiet pang of something—nostalgia, maybe—fluttered in her chest.
For someonewho prided herself on appearances, Gia found it strange how little she cared in the moment. Vanity took a back seat to the overwhelming dread creeping in her chest. All she could think about was what came next.
She was terrified.
Her relationship with her parents has always been strained. As old-school Vietnamese immigrants, they never truly understood her desire to leave Willowbrook, much less pursue something as precarious and image-obsessed as modeling and acting. They saw her dreams as foolish—a betrayal of the sacrifices they’d made to give her a stable life.
And yet, she’d proved them wrong.
But at what cost?Was any of it worth it?
Gia’s fingers tightened around the strap of her bag as she stared out the window. Beyond the house, beyond the quiet street, memories of another looming presence cast a heavy shadow. Thao. Her older brother. Her protector. Her best friend.
