DAHLIA - Xu Minghao

Chapter 7 - Secrets and Memories

"Digging through your old birthday letters,
A crumpled 20 still in the box."

***

Minghao was walking to his bedroom, after taking a shower, when he suddenly heard yelling. A female voice. At first, he thought it was a staff member, scolding someone, but when he listened more closely, he heard that it was Meilin, yelling in Chinese.

"Pa! No offense, but I really don't care." She fell silent for a moment. "No! She deserved what she got, I don't want to talk to her." Was she talking about Yenling? He wondered. Did something happen? "I don't care that it was to protect me. She shouldn't have done it, end of discussion." More silence. "No, Pa! I don't give a damn, and I'm done with this conversation. Tell Mother not to call me." She sighed loudly and dropped to her knees. Minghao watched through the crack in the doorway as she buried her face in her hands.

He considered walking away and pretending he never heard anything, but those thoughts immediately left his mind when she started crying.

He went inside, and, oh dear, was it necessary, because the girl was a mess. Minghao kneeled down next to her, locking his arms securely around her. He didn't say a word, he just let her break down in his arms, shushing her softly as she clung to his shirt for dear life, staining it with her tears.

He had no idea for how long they sat there, before Meilin finally redressed herself and wiped her tears off her cheeks with her sleeve. "Sorry for that." She said, attempting a smile.

"I wasn't supposed to... hear that, was I?" Minghao said softly.

Meilin shook her head. "No, but since you did, do you want to hear the full story?" Minghao nodded slowly. "Okay, but not here. It's too risky. Let's go to the park, all right?" Minghao got up and offered her a hand, which she took gratefully. She disappeared to the bathroom to rinse her face, as Minghao put on his shoes and waited for her by the door. Meilin put on her coat inside her room, slipping her phone into her pocket. It had been getting colder as of late, so she wrapped a scarf around her neck too.

The two of them walked to the park in complete silence. Once there, Meilin led him to a bench and sat down. Only then did she drop her stone expression, and a certain sadness glazed over her eyes.

"That was my father. He called to let me know that my mother wants to call me tomorrow morning. Mother doesn't get to call often, you see." Minghao noticed the difference in the way she addressed her parents, calling her father 'Pa' and her mother 'Mother', but he kept quiet, letting the girl tell her story. "It's because she's in jail, and I told her not to reach out to me." Now that he thought of it, she indeed had never mentioned her mother before.

"Wondering what happened, aren't you?" She said, glancing up at him. Minghao could only nod. "She killed someone." Her voice dropped to a whisper, so no one would overhear, but the way she said it so bravely, without wavering, had Minghao both impressed and shocked. He wordlessly took her hand, and Meilin looked down at it, smiling sadly. "It was May 2008. I was only ten. My mother had badly remarried after divorcing Pa, when I was six. He hit us, my stepfather. He hit mother, but showed her love and affection immediately after. That's why she stayed with him. He beat me and Yen. He'd give us these bruises that took weeks to heal, then told us to suck it up. We were only kids, but we were taught from that age that we weren't allowed to show pain. At least not around stepfather. He put me in the hospital several times, because I tried protecting Yen. He hated me for protecting her, and he hated her for letting me protect her. But he loved Bo. Bo is my brother."

Another person she had never mentioned.

"Bo was the perfect son for him. He gave him everything. And Bo accepted it without a second thought, spoiled as he was. He'd help stepfather punish us, sometimes, for extra pocked money." Minghao gasped, making Meilin chuckle. He had heard about stepfathers abusing before, but he could never imagine being abused by one's own sibling.