Sorry for the slow updates. I ended up breaking three of my fingers and can barely type right now.
On top of that, the medical bills have been pretty overwhelming. If you're able to support me, I'd really appreciate it. My Patreon is $10/month, and you'll get access to 20 chapters ahead.
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Thanarit
"Hello, Vik. I think you're confused about what to call me."
Ren was smiling. He was also moving his mouth without any sound, looking directly at Viktor, and the words his lips formed were: call me Father again and I will kill you.
Viktor went rigid.
"Ha, haha. Sorry, my brother." He put one hand on Ren's shoulder with the bright energy of a man redirecting a conversation at speed. "How is my beloved brother doing these days?"
"I was fine until I got a call from the school."
Viktor cleared his throat and turned to his son.
"What are you standing there for? Apologize."
Chu Xinghe, the principal, and Leo Qin all went quiet at the same moment. Viktor's entire posture had shifted in under three seconds and none of them could account for why.
Is that his father?
Why does he listen to him?
Is that boy adopted?
Leo Qin straightened slowly, both arms in their casts, and looked at Ren. "I, Leo Qin, apologize." He meant it. Whatever had happened in that fight had rearranged something in him.
"Good," Viktor said quickly. "So that's settled, right? We're settled, yes? All resolved?"
"Wait," Ren said.
Viktor and Leo both flinched.
We already apologized, they were clearly thinking. Please let us leave.
"Martinez."
Ren turned. His voice dropped.
Martinez was looking at the floor.
"Father," he said.
"What did you do to Leo."
Martinez didn't answer.
"I'm asking a question."
"I hit him with a school desk." A pause. "And then with a paperweight. And then I face-planted him."
Holy shit, Ren thought. Are you a fucking warlord. What is wrong with you. You're thirteen.
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I did nothing wrong, Father." Martinez looked up, chin set. "I protected Lily's honor."
"Father, please don't blame Martinez." Lily stood up immediately. "He did it for me. It's my fault for saying something I shouldn't have."
Ren looked at both of them for a moment.
"The part where you protect each other," he said, "is the part I like about you both."
They went quiet.
"Martinez. Protecting your sister isn't wrong. But you nearly killed him. If he had died, you'd be a murderer. Is that what you want?"
Martinez looked at the floor again.
"Look at me."
Martinez looked up. His jaw was tight.
"If you'd thought it through, there were ten other options that didn't involve a school desk. You know Viktor is my brother. One message to me and this situation resolves itself. Viktor would have handled it."
"For my brother, I would go through fire and—"
"You." Ren pointed at Viktor. "Shut up."
Viktor closed his mouth.
"And even if you wanted to use force," Ren continued, "why do it openly in school? If you want to teach someone a lesson, find a quiet place. Don't leave evidence."
Chu Xinghe and the principal looked at each other.
Is he raising an assassin, Chu Xinghe thought. What the fuck is he teaching this child.
What kind of parent is this, the principal thought. Should I report this to someone.
Martinez's eyes had gone wide, then thoughtful. He was processing. The realization that his method had been tactically inefficient was landing in real time.
Brother is something else, he thought. No wonder everyone at the guild respects him.
Ren reached out and patted both their heads.
"We're family. We rely on each other. That's the point." He glanced at Chu Xinghe. "Your father is the Dao Guild's number one doctor, by the way. I've even treated the Vice Guildmaster."
"More like given him permanent psychological damage," Chu Xinghe said, under his breath.
"You didn't have to add that."
Ren looked back at the room. "Martinez, apologize to Leo. Tell him why."
Martinez turned to Leo. He looked at him for a moment. Then: "I apologize for almost killing you. There won't be a next time."
Leo stared at him.
Is that a threat, he thought. There won't be a next time? What is wrong with this family. What the fuck have I walked into.
"Okay," Ren said. "Settled. Let's go eat something."
He turned to Chu Xinghe and the kids and smiled.
"Yeah!" Lily and Martinez said together.
"Let's go!" Viktor said, already standing.
Ren kicked him sideways. "Who the fuck invited you. Get out."
"Brother, you wound me."
"I'll do more than that."
Viktor sat back down.
. . .
The restaurant was in the eastern Qintara district, a private room, the menu running toward sashimi and dishes that looked like something out of a Japanese izakaya crossed with a Chinese banquet hall, the furniture somewhere between the two.
What kind of world is this, Ren thought, looking at the menu. Someone stitched three different countries together and called it a country. I'm not going to say it out loud because if I do the author will be upset.
He set the menu down.
The door to the private room slid open.
"Hello, welcome, I'll be taking your order tonight. What can I get—"
The voice stopped.
Ren turned his head.
Rhea was standing in the doorway in a kimono, order pad in hand, staring at him.
"Mister?"
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be a student?"
"It's called part-time work, mister. Part-time. Work you do in part, when you have free time."
"You already work at a takoyaki stall."
She smiled. "Maybe I'm saving up to buy you a wedding ring, mister."
Ren felt something in his expression do something it wasn't supposed to do. He shut it down.
You're an adult, he told himself. She is a child. Functionally a child. Stop it.
He reached over and flicked her forehead.
"Ow! Mister, don't flick my head! What if I lose brain cells?"
"Deserved."
Rhea looked past him at the table. Chu Xinghe, two children, and Viktor in the corner trying to look like he hadn't been kicked.
"Who are the handsome scholar, brother-brother, and the two cute guests?"
"Chu Xinghe," Chu Xinghe said pleasantly. "Vice Guildmaster of the Dao Guild."
"We're Father's children!" Lily said.
"WHAT." Rhea turned on Ren. "Mister, you're dining with a Vice Guildmaster? And you have kids? You're married? I'm bitter. I'm unwilling. This dog of a man deceived a pure innocent girl like me—"
"Stop."
Chu Xinghe smiled. "The Doctor is the Dao Guild's number one physician. High-ranking official. Exceptional skill. Slight personality issues."
"You didn't need to add the last part," Ren said.
Rhea stared at him. Not the joking stare. The actual one.
"Wait," she said. "Mister. You told me you were a Dao Guild doctor."
"Yes."
"And I said you were just bragging."
"Yes."
"And you really are."
"Yes."
Rhea stood in the doorway of the private room holding her order pad and said nothing for a moment.
"Mister," she said. "I called bullshit on you."
"You did."
"And you just let me."
"Yes."
She looked at Chu Xinghe. He nodded once, confirming.
"Whoaaa." She pressed one hand to her cheek. "Mister, that's actually impressive. You're like a real important person and you just sat outside a convenience store with me and smoked."
"You offered."
"Still." She pointed at him. "You're kind of cool, mister. Our future children are going to be born on a pile of gold."
"Who said anything about children."
"And here I am working two jobs while my husband is out here saving the guild." She shook her head with exaggerated disappointment. "Aren't I the wife in this situation?"
"Who said anything about wife."
"Mister."
Martinez and Lily looked at each other.
"We're adopted siblings," Martinez said. "So you don't need to worry."
"That's actually a good point," Rhea said. "Room for one more?"
Ren put his face in his hand.
"Aren't you supposed to be taking our order?"
"Right, right." She produced her pad. "So? What are we having? And mister, I'm glad you're eating properly. You always look like you haven't slept."
"I've been busy."
"Working too hard is a bad habit."
"So is working at two jobs while taking a full course load."
She paused. Then she wrote something on the pad and flipped it toward him: a small drawing of a sun with a face, slightly smug.
Ren looked at it.
Why is this annoying and also not annoying, he thought.
"I'll put in your order," Rhea said, and left.
. . .
After she was gone, Ren exhaled.
"What a headache."
He turned.
Chu Xinghe was watching him with a small smile. Martinez and Lily were watching him too, their expressions warm and open, the kind that was deeply inconvenient.
"What," Ren said.
They kept smiling.
"Stop it. It's disgusting."
The smiles did not stop.
"I said stop."
Lily covered her mouth. Martinez looked at the ceiling. Chu Xinghe looked at his tea.
None of them stopped.