#;i

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard that correctly. The Nam family is joining our dinner because of what now?”

   Yunfan wasn’t someone who’d ever knowingly show attitude in front of his father, he was the ideal son (at least in the house) and prided himself in being able to keep his composure in front of the intimidating man, but the words his ears picked up had thrown him off-guard. He knew that there had been discussions like these about him since he was a child — back and forths between important adults politicising his future — so it wasn’t the words themselves that threw him off. It was the name connected to them.

   “Forgive me for asking, but how exactly would an arranged marriage with the unruly Nam Kiran benefit us? Since when are we on good terms with them?”

   To his dismay, his father seemed in a particularly good mood, so something must’ve happened between the two dons. To his even bigger dissatisfaction, he quickly came to realise that the seat beside him at the restaurant table was empty for a reason. But just as his father is about to answer his questions, midst tapping the ash off of his cigarette, the door slide open as a group of familiar faces walked. Instead, his father gave him the ghost of an amused smile and motioned for him to stand up to greet the guests —which he did, albeit internally reluctantly. 

She’d shriek and shake. There was a caterpillar wiggling through her golden brown locks. It brought small tears to the child’s eyes- which she would rub with balled fists- distressed.