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“Seriously, what happened?” I ask, motioning with my chin to his neck.

He shrugs. “Nothing, it’s not like that time I fell asleep at Tian’s and your brother lost it and beat the shit out of T. But the man did bump into me on the stairwell and then some.” He raises his black long-sleeved shirt; I can see the bruises starting to color on his ribcage.

“What the fuck? Did Moon do this to you?” I gasp, holding his shirt up to inspect the damage my fucking brother inflicted. I don’t understand why he hates him so much. El can fight, his knife skills are unprecedented, and he’s the best translator there is, and he’s never turned down a job for them, so what’s his problem? Everything he does is for me or the family.

He shakes his head. “Let’s sit,” he says, motioning to two lawn chairs standing in the middle of the rooftop. He plops down and I follow suit. Leaning his head back, he stares up at the string of lightbulbs hanging overhead. “Thanks for decorating.”

“I already put your gift in your room.”

“What is it?” he asks all excited.

I get comfortable in the chair. “You’ll see,” I tell him while he smiles. I got him a new vintage camera to add to his collection. He’s been eyeing it since we left New York.

“Do you know how long the meetings are going to last for?” I ask. “Before the one where they tell me who I’m going to marry?”

“Why?” He puts both hands under the back of his head.

“Do you think Moon will ask us to move back to Shanghai once I marry one of them?”

He shakes his head. “You know it’s only in name, right? I think they all would want us to stay in New York. So we don’t get in their way,” he mumbles and swallows hard while looking into the distance.

Eliot suddenly looks uncomfortable. “What the hell is that look, El?”

“Nothing,” he says, but his voice rises at the end as he sits forward, fidgeting uncomfortably in the chair. He’s lying.

“There’s nothing for me here, El. I missed Shanghai, but what are we going to do here?”

“Nothing for us,” he adds, looking out over the city as he spreads his legs wide.

“I’m the obnoxious sister my father brought home one day.”

“And I offered myself up the day I walked onto this compound.” He chuckles. “That’s why we’re soulmates,” he says softly.

I run a hand through his hair, and he leans into my touch and sighs.

“You’re the only one I need, you know that?” he tells me, batting his eyelashes at me.

“Same here,” I promise him, meaning every word. I hold out my pinky, smiling when he does the same as we press them together.

“What about Tian?” he asks, his voice small as we sit back, staring up at the sky.

“He hates me. He didn’t say it to my face, but it’s clear he can’t stand the sight of me.” The image of him pressing himself against me flashes through my mind, and the way my heart started to beat erratically makes it hard to breathe for a second. That was a physical reaction, it has nothing to do with me judging by the stories of the women he’s been with.

“Why are you looking into the distance? I mean Shanghai is pretty, but you’re looking a little bit too soft,” he teases. “Do you like him?”

I punch him in the shoulder.

he laughs rubbing at the spot. “Hey, it’s my birthday and I already got hurt by one of your blood tonight. But don’t worry hun, they promised you could finish your studies like your mom did before your father abducted her to the motherland. We got this.”

I flip him off and he chuckles, batting his pretty eyelashes at me again. The fucker is too pretty for his own good. He hasn’t been with anyone the last two years we’ve been in New York, but sometimes I could hear him stumbling through the door at four in the morning to crash on the couch, while drunk dialing someone in China. I couldn’t hear the whole conversation; it sounded one sided but every time he would tell the guy on the other end how many guys he fucked, when I know for a fact, he didn’t. Not like the asshole who stole my smokes.

“Let’s stay here all night to look at the stars. It’s my birthday after all.”

“There are no stars here.”

“You’re my star,” he jokes, putting his hand on his ribs to protect himself from the punch he knows is coming his way.

I raise my eyes to the sky, counting to ten and punch him.