Lalin met Briare's eyes with a blank expression after he said the word triad. She had met a lot of people because of her aunt's work. She was born and grew up in the neighborhood where the group of people Briare was talking about were not strangers to her.
They were called by different names but she knew that if they were working in a structured organization, they must be the Triad or something akin to it.
And for her to end up in one, she wondered what Briare was thinking of her.
"What can I do here? I'm just a kid. Is it because I'm an orphan? No one is going to look for me."
Briare smiled gently at her, shaking his head.
"No. Whether you believe it or not, we are taking you in because we want to take care of you. There are many things that I cannot explain to you right now because of the consequences and the circumstances of the truth, but I'm asking you to trust me when I said we wanted you safe."
Lalin scoffed. "Trust you? I don't know you. You had someone follow me. You stole my money. You told me that in the future I should kill you, and now you're asking me to trust you?"
Briare chuckled.
Lalin creased her forehead. She did not see anything funny from what she said.
"I will leave you with Storm," he said, handing her an ATM card. "I don't know if there will be an opportunity in the future for us to meet again."
"I won't look forward to it," she said with a sneer. She didn't like all these mysterious talks because instead of answers, she was left with questions and puzzles to solve.
Lalin looked at the new card in her hand. It is from a familiar bank. She ran her thumb on the glossy finish of the card and a bit of comfort ran through her body. She never liked the idea of not having her own money. It must be a result of what she went through growing up.
Most of the problems and difficulties she and her mother experienced were because of lack or absence of money. When her mother died, she promised herself that she would not let it happen again, hence, she developed the habit of saving every extra penny that came her way.
However, her aunt did not trust any bank, thus, they ended up just keeping their money at home. She had learned how to hide their money safely in a house where there wasn't enough space to hide important things such as her hard-earned money.
Briare turned his attention to Chang and they spoke in a language that she couldn't understand. She just recognizes it as a Chinese dialect because of the flow of the words.
She studied Mandarin in her free time because all of her friends speak the language. She learned from them that there are different Chinese languages.
"Till next time, Lalin."
Lalin stood up and shook the hand that Briare offered. She felt things happened too fast because before she realized what happened, she was alone with Chang who didn't seem to enjoy talking.
After a long suffocating silence, she asked. "Can I go now? Where is the house I'm going to live in and how should I introduce myself to them?"
"I will take you there. We can all go together."
"All? Who is this all?"
"The couple you're going to live with."
Lalin furrowed her brows and gave Chang a questioning look.
"They are working with us. And right now, they are inside, discussing their next job."
"Which is to take care of me?" She asked, raising her brow.
"In a way, yes."
Lalin scoffed and folded her arms over her flat chest.
"I am the one who will take care of you. The couple is more like a facade because how are you going to explain your family situation? You need someone to attend school events, someone you can introduce as your guardian now that your aunt is gone. My condolences, " he added, lowering his head.
Lalin averted her gaze. She didn't like the pity she was seeing in Chang's eyes. She hated the feeling of being patronized and pitied.
She became quiet, pondering what life would be like now that she was all alone. She wondered if it was a good idea to let Briare and Chang decide about her life.
Her life was turned upside down in just a blink of an eye. She was not ready.
"Don't worry about it, Lalin. You're going to have a huge family in the future."
Without looking at Chang, she said. "And you said you don't read my mind."
Chang chuckled but did not dispute what she said. She had an overwhelming desire to glance at Chang but she fought it. She did not want to see his face.
She forced herself to think of mundane things that she had put on hold for the past week because she was mourning the death of her aunt and she was busy running away from Briare and those men that were after her.
She had an unfinished math workbook that she had to answer. She tried to remember the questions on them, calculating the time that she needed to finish answering them.
She also had other homework that she did not finish. She left everything at a drop of a hat because of what happened.
She had to finish them all because she had to go back to school tomorrow. Her plan of leaving would take the back burner for now. Even though she already had her money on hand, she could not help but think that the danger her aunt was talking about with her later was still lurking in the shadows.
She had no idea who they were, thus, identifying them was a problem. And she knew that she should be very careful of them because they were able to get her aunt. They could easily get her too if they want.