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My father lets out a loud guffaw. "How could I forget? Your mother used to joke that the road from our house to school was worn down from her having to drive there so often to pick you up after you’d caused some mischief."
A warmth in my chest spreads as I hear him laugh at my story, and I silently kick myself for not being a little more open with him. Would it hurt to let him into my life a little more?
Before I can answer, my brother appears, interrupting our conversation.
"What's so funny?" Nathan asks, strolling in from the back room of the bar, newspaper rolled up in his left hand, briefcase in his right, looking like he was born with them attached to him. He takes off his tailored suit jacket and hangs it over the back of a bar stool, smoothing out an invisible wrinkle with his hand. Something about the movement makes me scowl, he’s always been such a tightly wound control freak. Sometimes I’ve wondered if one day his head might just pop right off from the stress of being Nathan Yin.
Or maybe I was just frowning at the intrusion.
I specifically picked this time of day for my meetings with Dad because Nathan is usually busy at the office during the day or having on-site meetings. I suspect the reason my lunches with my father over the last few months have lasted without too many problems is because there were just the two of us. I love my brother, but the journey he’s taking with his life is very different to the one I’m on, something he refuses to acknowledge.
Dad waves him to our table. "Oh, Nathan, your sister and I were just reminiscing about her school days."
"You mean about the time she got suspended for starting that gambling ring?" Nathan reminds him, smirking.
My father almost falls off his chair guffawing. "Oh, I forgot about that. Made quite the killing betting on the school team’s soccer games, as I recall."
"Some things never change, hey, sis?" Nathan reaches out as if to ruffle my hair, then pulls his hand back, seeing the look on my face. "Dad, you know she won every time because she was always flirting with the captain of the soccer team to see if her was in good form or—"
He stops ten seconds too late at the sight of the vein popping on my forehead. At least he can take a hint. Must be something he’s picked up in the last few years.
Nathan is five years older than me, and having just turned thirty-one, seems to think that he is wiser than Solomon. As the current CEO of our family's company, Yin Tech, he will inherit the bulk of Dad’s stake and control my stake as well. Nathan is richer than God and acts like it.
But he’s also been my protector from the day I was born, so me now choosing to live my life out of the family fold (and checkbook) is the perennial thorn in his side.
And if I'm honest... maybe one of the reasons I do it.
Maybe.
Okay, definitely.
"How's your week been, Keeks?" he asks, plopping down on the seat from me, nodding a thank you to the server who appears with a glass of whiskey and lays out a plate and cutlery in front of him.
"Fine," I shrug. "Busy."
"Well, that's more than she told me, Nathan," our father teases, giving me a wink. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the meeting with Tareen Enterprises?"
Nathan spoons some soup into his bowl and nods. "I was. They didn't have anything to tell me that we didn’t already know, so I left. Waste of our time. Their books are a shambles."
Dad frowns but doesn't say anything. I know it's coming though. He only retired a year ago, weighed down with the burden of mourning our mother. He thought it was the best time to hand over the reins but I imagine that it's been hard to step back from the day-to-day running of the company.
If I know anything about my brother, though, it's that he'll do right by my father's legacy, and take the company into bigger and better things. And as long as they don’t involve me, I believe in him 100%.
Sensing my father's curiosity, Nathan gives him a quick report of his day, and I sit back, arms folded, closing my eyes, letting the business talk fade into the background.
I can't help but think how things have changed since I moved back to Hong Kong after living abroad since I was eighteen. Almost seven years on my own, away from friends and family. There were times I would've given my right hand to sit in this bar with my brother, reminiscing about the old days and holding my own as he teased me. But then I’d remember what had driven me away in the first place, and I wonder if I'd have been able to really enjoy their company again unless I’d spent that time away.
Not to mention the distance I’d needed from a certain someone…
Life gives you choices, but it never tells you what the other roads might have led to.
"Keeks, you're snoring," my brother shouts at me, after who knows how long.
"Shit." I startle awake. The table has been cleared and my father is nowhere to be seen. "What time is it?"
Nathan gets up from the table, pulling on his shirt sleeve to check the time on his watch. "Time to get some sleep. You want to stay at the house tonight?"
"I'm fine. Just resting my eyes."
