章節 4: Adopted...?
I grunt as I push the cart up onto the sidewalk from the road, Tiêuve walking beside me with her hands clasped behind her. I'd made my 'plea' a couple hours ago and since then she had me helping her make banh mi. It's basically oriental sandwiches with exotic ingredients, quite popular but apparently, she'd been selling them at barely a profit. I'd asked her if she was going for quantity over quality, but she'd just brushed me off as if I was a nosy child... Which I suppose I was?
After providing free labour for the day, she'd then asked me to push her stall back to her home, which was half a mile away, along with the inclines that had me wanting to release the cart and see how fast it'd go downhill. God, I hope all this work would get me somewhere, otherwise I'd just wasted a day working as an even shittier intern.
"Child, what is your name?" she casually asks, completely uncaring of my struggles. A sadist?
"I don't have one. It left it when my parents died."
"Why?"
"Why what?" I repeat, unsure what specifically she was referring to.
"Why are you out here? I know this city is foul, but there is a number of orphanages," she questions.
"I need to change my identity. When my parents died my family..." I trail off, clearing my throat to 'prepare' myself to reveal something dreadful. "They aren't nice people, my uncle he-," I shake my head, "I won't go back-, there's nothing to go back to."
I see her in my peripheral, eyes squinted slightly as if spying into my soul for answers. I purposely look away, down in between my arms, trying to portray the frailest front possible.
"And you won't report them to the authorities?"
"No. The police won't investigate themselves..." I state vaguely, implying they had a status of some sort. I was aware it could backfire, Tiêuve rejecting me in favour of not antagonizing potential threats, but I was hopeful for her better nature.
"I see..."
---------------------------
"Leave it here." she says, gesturing under some stairs leading into an apartment complex. I do so and she chains the cart to the wall, an obstacle for any would-be thieves.
With that she turns and begins making her way up the steps, leaving me uncomfortable standing at the base, the sun setting over the horizon behind me.
She stops at the top and looks down at me with a tilt of her head, "Coming?"
...
I follow, not quite expecting what this was. Would she offer me a room for the night? 'Adopt' me? Give me some spare clothes and have me leave?
As I follow her through the dirty hallway, my thoughts slowly turn blacker, eventually reaching room number 204. The interior of her apartment was actually in a better state than what I'd seen of the rest of the building, a slap-dash wood panelling floor that she'd probably had to install herself, carpeting in the side rooms, and walls painted white that'd turned a slight cream-yellow with age.
There was a low table in the main room with some unlit incense sticking from a bowl of sand, and healthy-looking plants dotted around the outskirts, giving the place an inviting and 'lived-in' appearance.
"Sit, I will make some tea." she all but orders, nodding at the beige couch in the centre of the room. It looked out of place, bought for its low price judging by the half-scratched-off discount label on the back of it.
I do as she asks, playing the best houseguest I can. Though, I do let my eyes wander, I wasn't quite sure what kind of 'Asian' she was yet. As a former English gentleman, my knowledge of other people's cultures is based on only what we stole. While I know my way around a lamb bhuna, I still have no idea what kind of 'Asian' she is.
At the side on a colourful cabinet set against the wall connecting to the kitchen a could see a number of pictures. Some black and white, and some the fuzziness of early coloured photos... All of which were damaged in some way or another, even through the glass I could see the paper curled at the sides, indicative of water damage.
The people looked like Tiêuve, must be her family, diseased given their absence and the flowers and other items decorating them.
I jolt slightly as Tiêuve surprises me by setting down a teapot, pouring a glass and handing it to me. "Thanks..."
She hums in response, sipping deeply of her drink and watching intently as I do the same. "How is it?"
"B-bitter..." I clap my lips, "And... Sweet?"
She smiles and nods, "Good. I used my nice tea from Tân Cương for this. My son will know good tea." she drinks again, watching in amusement as I do a doubletake.
"Son?" I ask.
"That is what you want, isn't it?" she says matter-of-factly.
Huh... Looks like I need to change my assumptions on her. I hadn't made any direct requests, and all my attempts to reach this point had been less than obvious, or to be more bluntly put, deceitful and manipulative.
"Drink your tea." she says and continues as I take another sip, "I am not a genius, but I am not silly either."
...
"Yeah, I want to stay here. It's nice, warm," I glance down at my drink, "The tea is good...?" I say, drawing a quiet snort from her at my shitty lie. "There are things I want to do but are impossible without an identity. I'm really, really smart, and I want to do something with it... What do you want in return for taking me in?" I ask.
"What do I want?" she hums in thought, "You will follow my rules, pay attention, and..." I sit up straighter as her lips thin...
...
"Be a good boy."
"... Be a good boy...?"
She nods, "What else can you do? You're a child. Let the adults worry about adult things, as long as you are good, you should enjoy your childhood while you can. We can discuss this more later, but am I right in thinking you will accept?"
...
This is suspicious, very suspicious. No woman, no matter how nice in this shit hole of a city would willingly open her home to a street rat. She lived in the centre of ABB territory, this apartment was probably owned by them. There had to be another angle I wasn't seeing, she'd figured me out already, not everything but enough to get my back up.
Was she part of their recruiting? Maybe she was hoping to leverage my 'powerful' relatives for money, would I be a hostage? Maybe she was from some cape organization and told to keep a watch on me, after all, I had just randomly appeared on a public park bench, there had to have been surveillance on it? And she just so happens to find and help me out as I'm about to be accosted by ABB thugs, I call bullshit.
Unfortunately, regardless of her intentions, staying with her was probably my best bet. If she was a secret agent running would be futile. If she was a kidnapper I might be in danger but I could work around it. Finally, if she was just a nice person, being a paranoid psycho and questioning everything would get me kicked out faster than if I called her a paedophile.
"Yes." I say, trying not to allow my tenseness into my tone.
She gestures into the hallway, "There's a free room there, take it, I will make food."
"Okay..."
-----------------------
The next day in the morning I'm back pushing the cart towards the market. Our chat was pretty thorough on the topics we wanted to cover, and I'd gained a number of things from it.
First on the list would be my new 'identity'. Officially I would become Tiêuve's son, unofficially for the locals and the ABB I'd be her cousin, born from her now-deceased brother and a white woman.
I would take on the name Kieu Ngọc La, mostly to keep the ABB off of my back. An Asian name would reinforce the idea of my Asian heritage, giving me some leeway when they sought trouble. Kieu(pronounced Key-you) wasn't something I would have picked but apparently that's what she would have called her son if she ever had one, I wasn't going to argue with her on it.
We'd wait a while before going to the authorities to confirm things, make sure the foundation of this lie wasn't too fragile.
I'd also learned a bit about Tiêuve herself. A Vietnamese immigrant who'd entered Japan to join the rest of her family. Unfortunately, this occurred around the time the Leviathan appeared, killing most of them and leaving her destitute and alone. A common story among survivors of the Endbringers.
She kept her privacy on specifics but was free with things like her favourite food, places, and hobbies... For your information, she apparently enjoyed those cheesy romcoms as she'd learned part of her English by watching and learning from them.
While things got figured out I'd help her with her bahn mi stall, I was hoping to get 'homeschooling' was it was done but I sincerely doubted that'd be possible. Just becoming an actual citizen would be hard enough.
"Phew!" I breathe as we finally make it to our destination. She folds the side over and fills the grill with charcoal before retrieving all her ingredients for the bahn mi, only to pause midway and look at me. "Ah, Kiêu, I forgot the pickled vegetables... Can you run back and get them? They're next to the fridge."
...
"I mean-, I just pushed this thing..."
"It's good for your body. Now run, before we start losing customers!"
...
"Be a good boy, please?"
"Fuck." I turn and whisper, prompting Tiêuve to laugh at my expense. That sadist!
--------------------------
I can't believe I forgot to ask for the fucking keeeeeeey!!!!
I drop my head onto the door and try again for the handle, still locked...
"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" someone exclaims behind me, coming out of door 202 with a furious scowl. It was an elderly Japanese man, a cane in one hand and a machete in the other, pointing it dangerously in my direction.
"Ah-, I'm Kieu, Tiêuve's cousin... She forgot to give me the key when she sent me for pickles." I sigh and run a hand through my hair.
..
The man looks me up and down, "You sure about that, young man? You look nothing like her."
I shrug vaguely at him, still eyeing his machete, "Half-caste."
"Hmph, even then..."
"Ojiisan, is something wrong?" a younger voice asks from inside the man's apartment. The guy quickly holds the machete next to his leg, concealing it as a girl around my age makes an appearance. Cute in the 'girl next door' kind of way, button nose, black hair, black eyes, and pink braces.
"Nothing Shita-chan, just meeting our new. Neighbour." he turns a light smile at me.
"What happened to Miss Tieu?" she queries.
"Ah-, I'm her cousin, name's Kieu." I slowly offer my hand.
She eagerly shakes it, "Hotaro Takeshita! Sorry, but you don't look like Miss Tieu."
"Yeah, I get that a lot... I didn't get your gramps' name?"
"Mr Hotaro to you," he turns to Takeshita, "Go get ready for school, and don't start coughing now because I won't believe it."
"Okay! Nice to meet you, Kieu!"
"You too, Takeshita." I say.
With her gone the older man reveals his machete again, "Let us hope you are who you say you are, if I hear Tieuve say anything about stolen items it won't be me you have to deal with, but our friends in the ABB."
The man makes to step inside but I call after him before he can go, "Wait... Any idea how I can get in? I don't wanna damage the door, and the run back is killer!"
He eyes me for a moment before shrugging, "I heard Tieuve's plants can be sticky." he says before shutting the door in my face.
"Her plants can be sticky? What kinda shit joke is that!?" I mutter to myself, but then look down at the doormat and houseplant next to the door. I'd already checked under them and found nothing but... I lift the houseplant up and tilt it, finding a key stuck firmly to the bottom of it.
"God damn it."
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