Shui stepped out, peeking across the small corridor that led to the stairs at the other side. She let out a silent breath and then imdiately berated herself for it.
"How many tis should I remind myself? Just act normal. Normal! I-It was only just a small peck after all..." she didn’t know why she held her cheek.
She walked further but didn’t hear the morning chatter and chaos she had expected. At this ti, the two brothers would already start for the prep in the kitchen, but the cafe felt awfully silent.
"Have they stepped out?"
"Who?"
She turned, surprised. "Ah. Ruyi," she breathed out. "Y-you just ca out of nowhere..."
"Ah, sorry," she scratched her chin.
"Did you see Lin? It feels too silent."
Ruyi pressed her lips, her expression turning somber.
"What’s wrong?" Shui blinked. She gave it a thought and asked, "Between Cai and you, did sothing unfavorable..."
"No, no, Miss. Han," she quickly clarified. "Nothing happened like that. But...Cai was..."
She pursed her lips. "Mr. and Mrs. Hou, right? I knew it. He looked cheery on the outside, but he wasn’t looking so good."
The hesitation in her eyes suggested to Shui that sothing else was up too, which felt more serious than suddenly eting their parents.
"I am not...liking the look in your eyes. What’s wrong?"
Ruyi said, "...You should stay by Bro Lin’s side today. He would need you today. Cai will tell him the truth today..."
"What truth?"
—
Shui rushed to the main dining area but only found Cai seated at the table.
"Where is Lin?" She looked all around but didn’t find him anywhere.
Cai remained silent, but his eyes were far from quiet as his tears made the most aching noise.
"He went out...He hates now..."
"What? No. Lin would never hate you."
His vision blurred further. "I hid it from him. I had no right to do that..." he trembled, "But I shortened the ti he could have spent with Mom. I decided for him what he should feel. It was selfish of . Now...Now...he would never talk to ..." his head dropped as he broke down.
Shui took the other chair, raising his head up to make him look at her.
"Do you think he left because he was mad at you?"
Tears spilled from his eyes onto his cheeks. "He is surely di-disappointed in ..."
"Maybe. But that’s just your assumption. We should give him so ti to process the news," her gaze turned solemn as she thought about Hou Luli.
"He is...juggling with his own emotions right now. But one thing I know for sure is that he would never hate you. You have stayed together for all these years and supported each other as brothers. He understands what you would have been thinking when you hesitated all this ti. I have a big brother like that too, so I know. Big brothers are amazing and very forgiving."
Her words, though kind, did little to soothe his apprehensions.
"Do you know where Lin went?"
"No..." he sniffled. "He simply got up and left without a word. But I think he might have gone to et Mom and Dad."
—
It had been well over fifteen years now since Lin had stepped foot into those familiar streets of his ho he lived for eighteen years of his life. A lot had changed. A lot hadn’t.
One of the sights that hadn’t changed was his ho. The walls and the exterior still looked exactly like the ti he had left after high school. He felt as if ti hadn’t put any dent in this place at all.
He breathed in and breathed out, taking a small step ahead. But he stopped when he saw Hou Fa and Hou Luli enter the lane on the other side of the road, taking a turn from the previous corner. He quickly hid in an alley and poked his head out just enough to watch them.
Hou Fa was holding Hou Luli’s hand, helping her walk. He walked painfully slow as he matched his wife’s pace. They stopped in the middle when Hou Luli felt tired.
Lin watched them from afar. If it was twenty years ago, then there was no force on the earth who could stop Hou Luli from rushing from one place to the other. She was always on the move, whether at ho or at work. But now, walking just a few steps made her feel out of breath. Yet she had chased after him in the park yesterday despite her frail condition. Her hair had turned unnaturally grey and her arms looked too fragile to carry any strength.
Hou Fa waited for her to catch her breath and they resud walking. They returned ho and closed the door behind them. But Lin remained standing, staring at the closed door. He ca out of his hiding place but didn’t move an inch after that.
Should he or should he not ring the bell?
He rembered Hou Luli’s face. Her eyes. Her expression as she had desperately caught onto his arm. There was a strange warmth in her gaze, which he had forgotten how her eyes looked like. In his mories, they were always stressed and troubled, especially because of him.
Lin couldn’t decide. He kept swinging between that yes and no decision point. He clenched his fist as he took one step forward when his phone buzzed.
"Yes, Mr. Zhong?"
He heard a painful bout of coughing noises from the other side. "Lin! I need your help...! Co to my house quickly!"
He blinked. "What happened?"
"I am dying!" He coughed hard, his breaths sounding shallow. "I am really dying..!"
That brought no change in Lin’s expression.
"Dying like the ti you were in the hospital and eating pizza?"
"This is real, you dumbass...! *Cough cough* A-as my future son, how could you just ignore ...!"
Lin closed his eyes for a mont and opened them again. "I am coming."
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