I woke up to the sound of my door closing. It must had been Makoto trying to wake me up. The room had no windows and I still didn't have my phone with me. I sprang up from bed to look at the clock on the nightstand.
It was an hour before the meeting. My body was still sore and weak from the roller-coaster of event I experienced yesterday. I wanted to stay in bed longer, but my throat was dry. I decided to go to the kitchen for some water.
As I hovered drowsily to the door, I stumbled upon a package of things for me with a handwritten letter on top. 'Ren Anderson' was poorly scribbled with a marker. I unfolded the paper and read it.
'Hey, I'm sorry for last night. I have decided to forgive you too. I put together some things you might need if you're going to stay with us. Take it as an apology gift. P. S. I put extra clothes for you to change to, Tadashi's doesn't suit you. Signed, Hiro.'
I couldn't help but smile at the childish and passive aggressive remarks. Hiro acted differently when he was flustered and embarrassed of his good deeds. He had always been heroic and helpful, but I witnessed a whole other character that I had never seen before; a soft and sincere boy.
We wouldn't normally act this way towards each other. He used to jokingly flirt or tease me all the time, until it abruptly stopped one day. I couldn't figure out why.
I unpacked his gifts unto the bed, 't-shirt, shorts, sweater, more clothes, socks, jacket, a pack of cookies? A water bottle. He even filled it. My laptop bag!'
No one had messed with the bag. I opened it to check its content. My laptop was still fully charged and locked. Everything else was there. I gave a sigh of relief and organized my things in the closet of the guest room.
Suddenly I heard a buzzing noise from my bag. My heart raced at the thought of another hijack, but I toughened myself up and approached it. I was shocked to find my phone in one of the pockets I had forgotten about.
Hiro was calling me on the phone.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Oh, you're up. I was getting worried," he exhaled.
"Thanks for the care package by the way. It was really cute. I appreciate it," I thanked him.
He gulped, "u-uh… um… yeah… Happy that I can help. Do you like the clothes? You can have it if you want."
"That's kind of you, but I feel bad. I'm already staying at your house and eating your food. Tadashi said that they'll bring my stuff over anyway. I can just use my clothes again."
"Oh, um. But I think it's better for you to just use mine for the time being. You know… for safety reasons. And we don't really mind sharing this big house with another person. It's been lonely and empty all these years anyway. It was refreshing to have a guest."
I could hear his voice right outside my door, "where are you anyway? Why are we talking on the phone?"
"That's not important. I just wanted to make sure that you're not late for the meeting."
I opened my door to see him standing in the hallway, facing his own room.
"Well, thanks for caring," I whispered to his ears.
"Ahhh!" he yelped.
"Sorry," I hung up.
"You startled me!" he touched his heart.
"What are you doing?" I laughingly asked.
"Uh… I-I was just looking at the hall. I think I need to redecorate. It looks off," he turned to face me, "what are you doing skulking around? Go shower and have lunch with me. I-I mean us. We'll wait for you in the kitchen."
"Okay. I'll go get ready," I smiled at his quirky new personality.
"I'll head to the kitchen before Makoto yells at me again. You look good in white by the way," he rushed off down the grey hall.
I went inside and got ready. I browsed through the pile of new clothes in my collection and found the same long-sleeved white shirt he wore once. I changed into the shirt and a tight trainer pants after showering as those were the most formal clothes I could find.
Their mom would be attending today's meeting. I wanted to be respectful and careful as I was staying at her house and I was the reason she was dragged into this in the first place.
I brought the water bottle and my phone with me to the kitchen. Hiro and Tadashi had collected the file and evidence from my devices so that I wouldn't need to bring anything with me today.
Unlike other busy days, the kitchen was lively and bright today. Kenji was sitting at the head of the table, Tadashi and Hiro were sitting across each other, and an empty plate was set next to Hiro.
They were serving an array of dim sums in bamboo steamers on the table. Makoto was hustling up and down to replenish the meal as the three brothers chowed down their food at super sonic speed. I sat down next to Hiro and set my bottle on the table. My friend served me a variety of dim sums and forced me to try them all.
"Which one do you like the most?" he asked after I had sampled them.
"The Xiao Long Bao is really good. The skin is thin and the meat melts in my mouth. It matched so well with the ginger and soy sauce. I haven't had them in so long," I took a sip of water to wash it down.
"Take some more," he enthusiastically stacked more food on my plate.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. We had dim sum every first Saturday of an odd month. Don't ask why," Kenji said before proceeding to gobble down more food.
"You'll have to run miles to burn off the calories you just ate," Tadashi commented nonchalantly.
"You're no better!" his brother retorted.
"I still work out every day! Unlike you two, I'm not a workaholic that stays in my office the whole day. Get some sun sometimes!" the middle child spat.
"Well, you– "
"Children, please. Your hungover is still unbearable, Tadashi. And you two should pick up martial arts again," a lady walked in and sat at the other end of the table.
"Mother! I thought you'll be coming after lunch," the first child gasped.
"Do you have a problem? Am I not allowed to have lunch with my family in my own house?' her voice was shaky.
"Of course, you can. It's just that you haven't been around recently. Never mind. We'll proceed to the meeting hall right after," Kenji bowed his head.
The three siblings went quiet and continued our lunch solemnly under the watchful eyes of their mother. It was like a warm yet scornful presence. I felt both wary and safe at the same time. It was my first time actually meeting her and I didn't know if I was welcomed by her. My fingers started to shiver again at the thought of offending her. Out of nowhere, I felt a warm hand wrapped around mine under the table.
"It's okay," Hiro looked down at me.