Chapter 93

The days slipped by. Snow was rare in a city this far south, but this winter had made an exception.

Judging by Elise's friends' feeds, the heaviest snowfall was happening on their phones.

Hers buzzed her awake early in the morning. The class group had gone wild, filling the chat with short videos of falling snow. She rubbed her eyes and scrolled back through the messages.

Ten minutes earlier, Ms. Parker had posted a New Year's cash gift for the class to share, along with a cheerful greeting. There was one randomly sized share for every student, and only a few remained unclaimed. Apparently the late sleepers would get theirs last.

Elise tapped it. Four dollars and thirty cents. Fair enough. Her luck was somewhere in the middle.

Mu: Awake?

Elise: I am now.

His reply came at once, as usual. She'd complained about this before: Julian ran a company too, and he was busy from morning to night. Sometimes he couldn't answer because he was in a meeting. Whenever she messaged Mu, though, it was as if he had been waiting beside his phone the whole time.

Mu: Happy New Year.

A little disappointment crept in. A few days ago, Pei had found a specialist overseas who might be able to help Mu's mother recover faster. Mu had hurried abroad with her for treatment. He wasn't due back for another four or five days.

She probably wouldn't see him for New Year's.

Pushing that thought aside, she borrowed a meme from the class chat and sent it to him. It wished him a prosperous year, then held out a hand for a cash gift.

Mu: A little later.

Elise: What's a little later?

Mu: Your envelope.

Elise: Wait, you're really giving me one?

Elise: I was joking.

She hadn't said yes to him because she wanted his money. She liked an ordinary, uncomplicated sort of affection, with no price attached.

Mu: Of course. A nice thick one.

Her eyes lit up.

He might be overseas, but he could still send money on his phone.

Elise: How thick?

Mu: You'll see.

Why couldn't he send it now? Was he waiting until midnight?

Still, receiving a gift was a happy prospect, especially one from Mu. Grinning, she typed back a bright agreement.

Julian had given the entire household staff New Year's Eve off. Even the chef had been allowed to go home. Before leaving, he'd worried about what they would eat for their holiday dinner, until Adrian thumped his chest and announced that he had everything under control.

The chef's departing look hadn't been especially reassured.

Elise climbed out of bed and hurried to wash. This would be her first New Year since returning to the Whitmores.

Downstairs, Adrian had already made breakfast: steamed buns and congee. Simple, but for someone whose cooking was only just getting started, it was a respectable effort. Elise had no complaints. She ate every bite.

As soon as she finished, Julian took a red envelope from his pocket. Gold letters on the front wished her a happy New Year, but the lettering was hardly the point.

It was thick.

“Happy New Year, Ellie.”

She accepted it and looked at the bulging edge. It was about as thick as her English textbook.

She'd never received a cash envelope quite this extravagant before.

“That's all?” Adrian asked, unimpressed.

Theo gave it a glance. “Looks like fourteen hundred. Maybe twenty-eight hundred.”

Julian went silent for a moment.

“I tried to put more in. It wouldn't fit.”

For one envelope, that was already plenty. More than plenty, actually.

Elise could only shout this inside her head.

Julian looked sideways at Adrian. “And yours?”

Since he had so much to say, his envelope had better be thicker.

Adrian scoffed, took out his phone and tapped away. Then he gave Elise a triumphant look.

“Check your phone, Ellie. Tell me which brother loves you most.”

Bewildered, she opened the app. He had sent her $18,250, with a particularly heartfelt memo attached.

Yours for life.

“Adrian,” she said weakly, “could we maybe choose a message that's a little less special?”

Someone who saw that might think he really was a creep in love with his own sister.

“Creep,” Miles supplied.

Adrian hooked an arm around his neck. Miles immediately started pulling at it, and the two of them dissolved into a noisy wrestling match.

Theo ignored them. He had performed the rare feat of getting up in the morning and still looked as though part of him was asleep. Seeing Julian produce an envelope reminded him to dig through his own pocket. After a considerable search, he handed Elise a red envelope with crumpled corners.

“Don't judge it by the outside,” he told her. “It's what's inside that counts.”

Training had kept him out until the middle of the night lately. He hadn't had time to buy an envelope, and with all the staff away, there had been no one to ask. Eventually he'd found this one after rummaging through the house.

Elise measured its thickness between her fingers and smiled. Who needed a pretty outside when the contents were so satisfactory?

Miles, refusing to be outdone, handed over his.

“Here. As promised. An envelope as thick as a book.”

She hadn't taken that promise seriously when he'd made it. He had remembered.

Her eyes nearly disappeared into her smile.

Three weighty envelopes in her hands, plus Adrian's transfer. Four gifts altogether.

Receiving money was pleasant under any circumstances. Receiving one generous gift after another before the morning had properly begun was especially pleasant.

Her phone kept filling with greetings. She answered them one by one.

Nora had written a long, very personal New Year message. It was plainly meant for Elise alone, rather than copied and pasted to everyone she knew.

After the placement exams, Elise had moved into Class One while Nora stayed in Class Two. Nora had clung to her and cried as though they were parting forever. It had taken Elise a long time to console her.

Nora: Happy New Year! Sitting next to someone else is SO weird. I miss you, Elise. I've signed up for a bunch of tutoring classes. I'm getting into Class One too. Wait for me! Sooner or later we're going to be together again!

She hadn't stopped at signing up. Even today, she was shut in her room studying.

At this rate, perhaps she really would manage to join Elise in the new year.

Elise smiled and sent her an encouraging meme.

Jade was more direct. She simply sent a cash gift.

Jade: Here's to a lucky year.

Elise opened it, replied with a heart and sent a gift back.

Since she and Jade had become friends, Miles had stopped giving Jade's group trouble. Later, he'd even included Jade among the people he looked out for, though she refused to acknowledge that she needed his protection. According to her, the truce existed because she'd been magnanimous enough to overlook his many faults.

They had progressed from trying to fight whenever they met to trading insults instead.

Elise felt she deserved a considerable share of the credit.

Dylan: For my little sister. Buy yourself something good to eat.

She eyed the gift's label without immediately opening it. For reasons she couldn't fathom, Dylan had taken to announcing everywhere that she was his sister. When asked, he explained that she'd adopted him as an honorary brother.

She had never agreed to any such thing.

After hesitating, she accepted the gift and sent back roughly the same amount.

Dylan: Is this so your big brother can buy himself something good too?

Dylan: Unlike that brother of yours. Not even a Happy New Year. Breaks my heart.

Dylan: You're the best sister ever. I'm crying.

Elise stared at the screen, then left the conversation without a second thought.

New Year's Eve was a night to stay up together.

With the staff away, the villa felt oddly empty. After dinner, Theo went upstairs to charge his phone. As soon as he switched it on, Alger called.

“Boss, when are you coming back? Aren't you spending New Year's with us?”

Quite a few of the younger players came from out of town. For one reason or another, they couldn't go home, so they were staying at the team base for the holiday.

In previous years Theo had stayed with them. He'd had nowhere else he wanted to go.

“Not tonight,” he said.

“Huh? Didn't you say you'd only be away for a few days?”

When he'd moved out of the dorm, he'd taken only a few changes of clothes. Most of his things were still in his room.

Theo fell silent.

He'd come home because Mu had suddenly appeared at Elise's side. At the time, he'd told the team it was temporary. He'd meant it, too. Once the trouble with Mu was settled, he would return to the dorm.

Now it was settled, and he still hadn't moved.

“I'll think about it,” he said at last.

After the call, he stood by the window and smoked for a while. Only then did he notice how strangely quiet the house had become.

Adrian usually opened his window and played music in the evenings. Tonight there wasn't a sound.

Theo put out his cigarette and stepped into the hallway. Faint noises came from behind one of the doors. He paused, then walked over and pushed it open.

Julian, Adrian and Miles were bent over an old game console.

It was more than a decade old, a model that had been popular when they were children. Back then, they'd bought so many consoles and game discs that they'd filled an entire room. This had been their playroom.

Theo hadn't set foot in it for a very long time.

After a great deal of fiddling, the screen finally lit up. There were plenty of games, from Contra and Super Mario to a whole assortment of arcade titles.

The holiday had put them in a nostalgic mood. Miles had mentioned the old consoles, and that had brought them all here.

There were several controllers. Miles found a game for four players.

Adrian spotted Theo leaning against the doorframe and tossed him one.

“Come on. One round.”

Theo had watched their efforts without interrupting, but his fingers had begun to itch. He caught the controller and slowly raised a brow.

“You're sure you want to play with me?”

He hadn't lived at home for years. He'd barely kept in touch. Mu's appearance had briefly united them, but years of distance couldn't disappear so easily. Now that they no longer intended to drive Mu away, they didn't even have a common cause.

Did they still want him here?

Miles looked puzzled. “Who else would we play with?”

Julian had already settled cross-legged in front of the screen, just as he used to when they were small.

“It's starting.”

“Stop stalling and sit down,” Adrian said, giving Theo a disparaging look.

Theo lowered his eyes. Then he laughed softly. Whatever had stayed knotted inside him for so long seemed to loosen at those few careless words.

When he looked up again, his expression was openly challenging.

“No. I meant, are you really sure you don't want to reconsider?”

He was Fin. Who did they think they were taking on?

All three turned toward him. Interest sharpened their faces, and their competitive spirit rose at once.

“We're sure,” they said together.

Fin or no Fin, they were going to destroy him.

One round later, Fin had demolished all three of them.

They refused to accept this and clamored for another round.

Smiling, Theo took out his phone and messaged Alger.

Theo: After the holiday, pack up everything I left at the base and send it here.

Theo: I'm not moving back to the dorm.

After dinner, Elise had gone to her room to talk to Mu on the phone. By the time the call ended and she came downstairs, her brothers had vanished.

Her phone buzzed.

Adrian: Second floor. Come up.

She followed the noise and found all four of them in the playroom, thoroughly engrossed in their game.

When she'd first returned to the Whitmores, her brothers had spent most of their time elsewhere. They'd each had places of their own. On holidays they might come home long enough to show their faces, but staying up together for New Year's would have been unthinkable.

Now they had all moved back, and here they were, playing together on New Year's Eve.

For a moment, she could only watch. Her family was finally all here. The house that had once felt so large and cold was growing warmer by the day.

“Ellie.” Julian lifted a controller. “Want a turn?”

At his invitation, the others looked toward her, plainly hopeful.

“Me?”

Elise was terrible at games. Whenever she played with anyone, she was generally the worst of the lot.

But their excitement was contagious. She walked over with a smile.

“Okay.”

She'd played with Theo before. She'd never played with all her brothers together.

They exchanged eager glances. Naturally, they would have to go easy on their little sister.

A thought struck her.

“One rule,” she warned. “No letting me win.”

Knowing her brothers, that was exactly what they would do. But what was the fun of playing if everyone kept giving way to her?

Another look passed among them.

“All right. Whatever Ellie says.”

They would do as she asked. Besides, it was only a game. Trying to win was part of the fun.

They switched to The King of Fighters. Knock the opponent down, win the match. Straightforward enough.

At first Elise fumbled with the controller. Soon she found the right combinations for special moves, worked out some awkward angles of attack and began pressing the buttons much faster.

A few exchanges later, her opponent hit the floor.

Victory flashed across the screen.

Her first match had been against Julian. She'd won.

The second was against Adrian. Another win.

Third came Miles. She won again.

Elise frowned and pushed out her lower lip.

“I'm done. You're all letting me win.”

Her three defeated opponents said nothing.

Theo gave a quiet laugh. “I'll testify. They aren't.”

“What?” She stared at him. “Then why do I keep winning?”

“Because they're bad at it,” he said calmly. “If anything, you're the one who ought to go easy on them.”

Elise was speechless.

A few seconds later, she understood. Pointing at the three of them, she burst out laughing.

She'd thought she was hopeless at games. Somehow her brothers were even worse.

Soon she was laughing hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Julian, Adrian and Miles turned varying shades of red. They'd been playing since childhood and had somehow failed to improve. They strongly suspected Theo had inherited every last scrap of the family's gaming ability.

Elise laughed until her stomach hurt.

They looked at her helplessly.

“Still want to play?”

Adrian's pride had taken a serious beating. Music, he could do. Games, apparently, he should leave alone. Julian was thinking much the same thing. One gamer in the family was quite enough. Miles was a little better than either of them, but The King of Fighters wasn't his game. However hard he tried, he couldn't work out the trick to it.

Elise wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Yes!”

She had discovered the appeal. Crushing her three brothers was wonderful fun.

They exchanged resigned glances. Losing to Theo made them furious. It made them want to knock the smug look off his face. Losing to Elise was painful too, but it came with a peculiar happiness. Seeing her laugh like this made defeat worthwhile.

“Another round, then.”

They could lose as often as she liked, so long as she was happy.

Beyond the windows, heavy snow began to fall again. The cold outside was bitter, but the room was warm. All five of them watched the game, smiling.

Elise felt so full of happiness she hardly knew what to do with it. Having these four brothers beside her made this second life worth everything.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Mu: Come outside.

She glanced instinctively toward the window. Snowflakes crowded the darkness, driven by the wind.

Was he outside the house?

For a moment she couldn't move. Wasn't he supposed to be away for several more days?

She got up and hurried to the window. A Maybach stood beside the gate. A man in a thick coat waited next to it. As though sensing her gaze, he raised his head and looked up.

Elise caught her lower lip between her teeth. She wanted to run straight to him.

Then she looked back at her brothers, still playing, and hesitated. Would they be upset if she left them to see Mu?

Adrian clicked his tongue.

“Go on. I know what you're thinking. If you want to see him, go.”

One look at her face by the window had told him who was outside.

Her eyes brightened. All four of them were watching her gently.

Once she'd left the room, Theo lifted his controller.

“Shall we?”

Julian gave him a level look, refusing to admit defeat.

“Of course.”

A thick layer of snow covered the ground. Elise ran toward Mu, who frowned when he saw her coming. Before she reached him, he strode forward and caught her by the arm.

“Slow down.”

Her breath rose white in the air. Her eyes shone.

“You said you wouldn't be back for days.”

“I came home early.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smoothing what her run had loosened. “I wanted to see the new year in with you.”

Warm sweetness spread through her. Then she remembered something and fished a red envelope out of her pocket.

“Here. For you.”