Huanying! Welcome to Shanghai, China. The place of all the peculiarities. Where everyone have their own stories about the families living there, especially the Xu's. Their ancestral house that they own for many generations have an infamous garden w...
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Timmy saw a little boy, about five years old, running around the yard with his arms stretched wide like an airplane. There's also a young man leaning against an old Toyota car, parked on the street. His arms crossed tightly over his chest, watching the little boy. The man looked small, frail with messy black hair and deep circles under his eyes. He seemed to be holding himself to keep from trembling.
Timmy wondered absently if this was how his grandmother felt when his daughter came home after years away, when his pregnant mother, Samantha showed up on her grandma's doorstep, with a six year old clinging on her leg. Timmy felt the relief, the anger, the sadness and his panic. Finally, making his legs move, he crossed the yard, leaving Johnny behind.
"Mei?"
Mei pushed himself away from the car quickly, startled. His eyes went all over Timmy before he smiled. "Hi, Timmy."
Timmy stopped on the sidewalk, a few feet away from Mei. He could be a ghost or maybe someone who looked incredibly like his younger brother, Mei. The Mei that Timmy knows would never let his hair look that messy. He won't wear a shirt with food stains on it. Mei used to be so meticulous, so put together. He always tried so hard not to look like one of them, a Xu.
"Where have you been?" All Timmy could ask for now.
"Everywhere," Mei smiled that spectacular smile of his and suddenly it didn't matter to Timmy what his hair or clothes look like. Yes, this was his brother, Mei.
The little boy from the yard ran up to Mei and stood close to him. Mei puts his arm around the little boy.
"This is my son, Tyler,"
Timmy looked at the child and managed to smile. The boy had a dark hair, as dark as Timmy's, but the child inherited Mei's beautiful eyes and his charming smile. "Hello, Tyler."
"And this is...?" Mei asks suggestively, looking at Johnny's direction.
"Johnny Huang. I live over there, next door" Johnny replied, extending a hand past Timmy.
Timmy didn't realize that Johnny had come up behind him again.
"The old Min's place. It looks good. It wasn't blue the last time I saw it. Just a hideous moldy white," Mei shook Johnny's hand and nodded.
"Well, I can't take credit for it. I bought it like that," Johnny replied,
"I'm Mei Xu, Timmy's brother." Mei introduced himself properly.
"Nice to meet you. I'll just be going. Timmy, just call me if you need me for anything..." Johnny squeezed Timmy's shoulder then left.
