Page 24 of The Air You Breathe

EVAN

Ipulled up outside my childhood home for my weekly dinner with my mom and my sister. Ever since Cal almost lost his fight, it seemed I was putting out more fires every day. Now that he was in contact with someone who was in the business of trading women, Lucio was becoming even more manic. Every day it was the same hue and cry, money, more money, we need even more money!

Giovanni and I had been trying relentlessly to get him to do something different, even buying a shit ton of drugs. He was dead set on trafficking women. It’s where the money was at, he said, and he didn’t want to miss out on a big payday. I took a deep breath trying to release some tension from my body.

I need a massage, fuck that, I need a spa day. I need to get away.

I got out of my car smelling sukiyaki as I walked up to the front door and opened it without knocking. The house smelled amazing. I inhaled deeply as I made my way to the kitchen. My sister and ma were singing to some song saying they wanted to dance with someone.

Since my father had died, my ma and sister lived alone in this house, even though my ma begged me to come home. I was too worried that they would get hurt because of me if something did go wrong, so I lived alone. They were safer away from me.

I leaned against the door frame enjoying the sight before me. My sister Kaili had a clump of rice in her hands, singing and swaying her hips. At the same time, my mom stirred a pot with both of them looking happy and carefree. This is one of the reasons I did what I did. This is why I put up with Lucio, why I did shady shit, and why I sold my soul to the devil. The thought of Darcy threatened to make my mood sour. I regretted not trying to make it work, but the tiny voice in my head always said she would have left me anyways.

My sister has been cancer free for one year now. It was a rough journey to get her here but completely worth it. I just wished my father was here to see it.

“Wow! Dinner and a show,” I said, walking through the threshold of the kitchen, when both women squealed in surprise.

“Musuko, you scared the crap out of us,” my ma said, coming up to me—calling me son in Japanese—, and giving me a hug. “I’ve missed you, Ren.”

“Yeah Ren, it feels like we haven't seen you in a while,” my sister said as she came to hug me and my ma together. My family had always used my Japanese middle name, and it was comforting but my ma always said she wanted me to carry a piece of my heritage with me. She also said I was the spitting image of my grandfather, who I was named after.

I kissed both of them on their heads before we all pulled away.

“How has work been?” Kaili asked me, and I always felt guilty for lying to them.

“Good, busy and a little stressful,” I said, trying to keep to the truth as much as possible. They thought I worked for a startup software company as a data engineer. My boss was a pain in my ass, but I stayed because I had been promoted and earned a hefty salary.

I actually was a data engineer, working freelance and only took on a couple of jobs here and there, usually on a referral basis. This started to bring me a decent income on top of what I got from Lucio. That money is what I used to help my ma because working on one income in Mountain View was extremely hard, especially when they took out a second mortgage to pay for my sister's medications and anything else she might have needed.

“You’re always stressed out,” my ma said to me as I helped my sister with the rice while ma served all of us.

“It's my big boy job, isn’t stress a part of it?” I laughed. “How’s school Kaili?”

“School is good!” Her face lit up in excitement. “I will start my clinicals next semester and I’m so excited.”

I smiled at her excitement, glad that she was getting to finish her nursing degree. My ma had tears in her eyes, and I knew she was feeling the same way. We were able to give my sister a chance at life. My mom hoped she would stay cancer free for as long as possible because there was always a chance it could come back.

Kaili talked about her classes as we set the table, getting more excited at starting her clinicals and finally getting her nursing degree. Once we sat down for dinner, our conversation slowed easily. My ma was a teacher at Monroe University, teaching economics and statistics. She talked about her students and gave us a few laughs. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket as I was eating the last of my dinner.

I fished it out of my pocket to make sure it wasn’t Giovanni or Lucio. Nathan's name popped up in a text message and it made me curious what it was about.

It’s Darcy’s birthday and we are going out for drinks tonight at Group Therapy. Just thought you’d like to know.

I stared at the text, trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do.

“You ok, musuko?” I snapped up to see my ma looking at me with raised brows.

“Uh, yeah just got a text from a friend,” I said, putting my phone down.

“Oh, just a friend?” Kaili waggled her eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Yes, it was my friend Nathan.”

“Is this the same Nathan that is friends with Aiden and Cal?” she asked, leaning forwards.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, getting grossed out. “First, they are my friends and second of all, they are too old for you.”

My ma laughed, “She’s only four years younger than you.”

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