Page 81 of Four Aunties and a Wedding

Staphanie closes her mouth abruptly and glares at Third Uncle. “You told them? You had one job, Third Uncle. One!”

“He didn’t, but you just did. None of us has white cable ties, so the only explanation is that Third Uncle brought them himself. And I’ve been wondering why Dan kept coming to the room about the noise in the middle of the day, when most hotel guests would be out of the hotel. It’s because you were the one calling to complain about noise coming from my mom’s room. Because you wanted him to go in and find Third Uncle.”

Staphanie grits her teeth.

“Looks like I was right.” I shouldn’t gloat. It’s not nice to gloat. But damn, look at me go, outsmarting Staphanie!

Ma must agree as well, because she claps and says, “Wah, Meddy, very good.” She looks around at everyone, smiling and nodding, and says, “Very good, ya? Pinter, ya?”

Big Aunt nods with a small smile. “Yes, pinter sekali.”

Again, that little part of me that has the maturity of a five-year-old beams and skips while crowing,Big Aunt says I’m very clever!I smash it down and force myself to focus.

“Okay, but what about Big Uncle and Second Uncle?” Staphanie snaps.

Ah. “Yeah... those ones we kidnapped,” I mumble, deflating a little. “But it doesn’t matter, because we’ll let all of them go.”

Everyone stares at me with wide eyes. “Meddy, I think you say wrong thing, deh,” Second Aunt whispers.

“I said what I said. We’re going to let all of them go.”

The corners of Nathan’s mouth curl up ever so slightly, and I take some comfort from that.

“But before we do, I want to know the truth. Why did you make it look like Third Uncle was kidnapped by us?”

“Because—I just—everything was a mess, and we couldn’t get a hold of Second Uncle, and then Big Uncle went MIA and, I don’t know, we had to come up with a plan at the last possible second to get you in trouble with the authorities, okay?” Staphanie says. “Can we all go now and forget all this ever happened?”

“No!” Several people shout it at the same time, and we all look at one another, taken aback.

“I need to know why you did any of this in the first place,” I say. “I know you weren’t actually after Lilian. What were you truly after?”

Now all eyes turn to Staphanie. For the first time, I see her falter. She takes a small step back, her gaze flitting nervously from Ama to each of her uncles. “None of your business. Just let them go.”

“You tell us now or you all die!” Second Aunt barks.

“Whoa, Second Aunt, I didn’t—”

“Yes, if you not tell us, I kill this one,” Big Aunt says, striding forward and standing ominously behind Third Uncle. “We mafia, you not messing with us.”

Third Uncle whimpers.

Big Aunt raises her arm, looking menacing as hell.

“Stop!” Ama cries. “It’s because—because—you kill my only grandson!” she cries, before bursting into tears. Deep, gut-wrenching sobs that shake her entire body, a sorrow so deep my eyes tear up in response.

“What? Where got kill your grandson?” Big Aunt says. She looks at us as if to say,What the hell is going on?The other aunties shake their heads and shrug. Big Aunt shuffles forward and pats Ama’s shoulder gingerly. “I think you make mistake, deh.”

That’s when the awful, horrible, earth-shattering realization sinks in. It’s so enormously bad it almost brings me to my knees. The dead cousin that Staphanie had mentioned back at LAX. The one she had been close to.

My voice comes out in a hoarse whisper. “It’s Ah Guan, isn’t it? Your grandson is Ah Guan.”

32

“Hanh?” Ma says. “Meddy, you say what?”

Nathan, who’s a bit faster on the uptake, looks at Staphanie with a new light of understanding. “He was your cousin?”

Staphanie nods, her face a warring combination of resentment and exhaustion.

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