Because of You: Junping and Yuerong

Chapter Two: The First Time

Yue Wu was the end, and she was the beginning. I heard her before I saw her.

I had received a message from my older brother, Jundao. I was in my second year of high school, and he was a third year of university under stress of preparing internship applications. We had received a message from our father about coming to dinner, and he wanted to meet up with me.

J: "Make sure that you wear a clean shirt to dinner even if you're still in uniform."

Me: "I don't want to have to go home and change my shirt. I have basketball this afternoon."

J: "Where are you?"

Me: "I'm in front of library."

J: "You better not be lying."

Why would I lie? I didn't say I was going in the library. Right when I was about to text back, a finger flicked my forehead.

"Ow. What are you . . .?" My voice stopped when I saw how pale my brother looked.

"What's going on with you?"

"I need you to be as presentable and as calm as possible at tonight's dinner. I just need to get through it. WE just need to get through it." His face had a grim expression, so any joke or bit of sarcasm I would have usually made just died before the thought was even formulated.

"What's going on? I don't know why I have to go anyway. Our father just wants to talk to you about your future job prospects. He doesn't care about me." I had to ask.

He looked at me as if I had disappointed him. "Don't you get it? He wants you there to start scaring you about your studies and because, otherwise, your mom will come back here thinking that he's making some deal with me and leaving you out. Do you want that?"

Shit. I hadn't thought of that. The one thing I did NOT want is my mom coming back to town. I enjoyed living alone, which is what is was like without her. I rarely saw my father even though we lived in the same house.  When my mother was back, she would insist we have meals together. Awkward, painful dinners. I didn't want my mom coming back trying to act like she was my mother. I didn't want to listen to her continuous complaints about how my father treated her while watching her act as though she was an icon in the community. It was annoying.

"Fine. I will be there. And I . . ."

"JUNDAO!!!! JUNDAO!" Like I said, I heard her before I saw her. In fact, what I saw was just a blur of uniform because she flew by me so fast. I small girl with the kind of skin you see in face wash commercials came bounding up, grabbing onto his arm. She smiled sweetly at him, but her face despite the smiles was too sharp for my taste. Did Jundao like her ?

"Aren't you going to have lunch with us? Don't you want to have lunch with me? Why don't you have lunch with me? I really like you. I'm going to court you as they say in those Thai dramas. I don't know why girl has to wait for guys to ask. Aren't we living in the 21st century? And you're so shy. I think we make a good match."

No way. Jundao? Shy? Not hardly. He just didn't talk to people he didn't like. I looked at his face and could tell that he didn't like her, so why would he even bother? I usually can charm myself out of situations that are bothersome. Jundao doesn't make that kind of effort. He's not as brusque Cheng, but he can be sharp and cold. Why wasn't he telling this girl off?

Then I saw the reason why when his best friend, Xiang Shi showed up.

"See?" the girl said loudly. "Xiang Shi is here. You can't say no. He promised that he would take me around and introduce me to more people and good places to eat. I'm so glad I met you again Shi-Shi. Even though, we are such distant cousins, we should try to act more like family."

Shi-Shi? Who was this loud girl? Xiang Shi looked a bit embarrassed but still smiled indulgently. Ahh. I get it. If she were Xiang Shi's cousin, even a really distant one, Jundao would put up with anything. Jundao gave Xiang Shi anything he wanted, but I always wondered if it was because Shi never really asked for anything and never expected anything and that was how they became friends.

I slowly backed away as the girl chattered, but before I could get away completely. Jundao reminded me about dinner. They were about to walk off when another boy ran up to them, waving what looked like a small purse in the air.

"Yue Wu. Why do I have your wallet?" He grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around.

"Oh, Rongi, of course it's because your wallet always has more money than mine." Yue Wu smiled, reached into her backpack and took out a wallet that must have been his.

This is the first time I saw Yan Yuerong. He was about two inches shorter than me then, slightly chubby but not by much. He wore his school uniform like a successful grandpa wore his suits. He didn't look too sharp as if he were some idol modeling uniforms, but not worn in and slightly sloppy like the rest of us. I remember thinking at the time that he looked like what adults would look like if they wore school uniforms, but that wasn't what made him interesting to me. It was how he handled his sister.

He didn't whine, throw a fit, or yell. He just talked to her like she was a small child.

"Yue Wu. I have your wallet with your ID in it. I want mine back with all of the cash that was in there when I last had it. If you do not give it to me, I will tell grandfather's people that you disappeared from the school grounds and all I found was your wallet."

I didn't know what that meant, but she looked shocked and a bit scared. She silently gave him his wallet back. He took two bills out of it and put them in her wallet before he handed it to her.

He seemed tired of it all. Not tired like the rest of us teens, but truly tired like he had more responsibilities than he felt like handling. What was their story?