Page 13 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“He’ll grow out of it,” I always told Mother whenever she complained, but she insisted he was well past the age to know what consideration was.

Now, looking at him, I couldn’t help but notice how wrong she was. Granted, he still had difficulties with the words “thank you,” but he made up for it with flatteries and compliments.

I cleared my throat. “I’ll be going to see Mom today. Wanna come along?”

“Hate to break it to you, Gen, but I live here, which means I see both of them a lot more than I would want to.”

“But we’ve not gone together since the burial.”

“Well.” He hopped down from the kitchen island. “You’re the one who decided to go chase big dreams in the city.”

I put down the piece of food on my fork. “That’s not fair. Someone had to do something to make sure we didn’t die of hunger.”

He dumped the plate in the sink with a clang and turned to face me. “Yeah? So what’s changed? You found a new goldmine in Brighton Beach to replace your New York dreams?”

“You know I had to leave, and it worked. We were able to keep the house and you got to graduate from Kingsborough.”

His eyes shifted to the award display shelf behind me.

“I know you didn’t want to leave, but you have to admit, it worked.”

“So why did you give it all up to come back? You got a hidden stash somewhere?”

My shoulders suddenly weighed tons. “I told you I figured leaving wasn’t the best and now, I want something different from the fast life in New York.”

He paused, his gaze lowered. “I don’t think you’ll find that here.”

I was yet to tell him about my condition. Every day, I promised myself I would come around and all I needed were the right words, but days rolled by and I was yet to say anything.

My sob story about wanting to slow down and needing to be close to home would only hold for a while.

I loved Brighton Beach, it’ll always have a place in my heart, but I was always the kid with big dreams and my folks always knew it was only a matter of time till I soared off to chase them.

Leo was right to be suspicious of my sudden return, but how do I tell him I was dying?

We already lost both parents six years ago, and even though it was hardly my fault, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I would be leaving too.

It felt like a betrayal of some sort. Being in New York shielded me from certain things, like how memories of our parents haunted every block and turn.

I’d gone to the grocery store and was hit with a vivid memory of the last time I was there with my father. I left without buying anything.

Thinking of it, I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for Leo. I might’ve gone to chase a better life, but I was also running, and now that I was back, I was confronted with so many bitter truths.

Take for instance, Leo had gotten a tattoo and two piercings and I wasn’t aware. He’d finished college and I couldn’t make it, and in his anger, he refused to send photos.

Coming back with news like this would break him. I could almost hear him saying, “You came here to die?” and I didn’t have the answer yet.

According to my diagnosis, I still had a good amount of time left and I hoped to figure it out before then.

“I think I will,” I replied. “It’ll be different this time, I promise.”

He opened his mouth to reply when a crashing sound followed by a loud thud startled us both.

The entrance door was blown off its hinges and smoke covered the entryway.

I stood up, grabbing the kitchen knife close to me.

Brighton Beach wasn’t very crime-ridden, but it was crawling with Russians and I’d heard a couple of things.