When I returned to the house, Errol had already brought out the dishes.
He muttered “It’s cold”, closed the window and asked me, “Who is it?”
“The rent collector.”
“Didn’t you just pay the rent?”
I glanced at him and said nothing.
He sat down awkwardly. “Eat quickly, don’t let it get cold.”
I looked at the table and saw only one stir-fried vegetable.
I put down my spoon and asked, “Where are the spare ribs?”
He avoided my eyes and said hesitantly, “You just recovered from a serious illness, it’s not good to eat too greasy food. Be good, eat more vegetables. I put less oil on purpose.”
I lost my appetite.
He said again, “Harper, Judy has no place to live these days, I think… why don’t you let her come to our house and stay for a few days?”
I raised my eyebrows. In order to save money, my family rented a one-bedroom apartment.
Errol was afraid that I would be angry, so he quickly explained, “You know, the public security here is not good and I am worried about her staying in a hotel alone. Judy has a hard time being alone and her parents passed away early. As a brother, I should help her more.”
He probably forgot that my parents passed away a long time ago.
It was a pity that I didn’t have such a care and doting brother.
I didn’t even bother to raise my eyelids. “Then you can go get a room with her.”
Errol’s words choked in his mouth and he looked at me in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Judy is my sister, how can you say that?”
I looked up at him. “I didn’t say that you two should sleep in the same bed.”
He choked and after a long time he said, “If you don’t want to, just say it directly. I really don’t understand what you are thinking. You were young before, so it was okay to make trouble. Now you are so old, you should be sensible!”
He continued, “Even if Judy is not my biological sister, her parents helped me so much, how can I be ungrateful!”
Errol became more and more angry and almost jumped up from the stool.
I looked at him with amusement. When people were not reasonable, they would be furious.
He probably forgot that I stopped making trouble with him a long time ago.
When did it start?
It seemed that he left me alone on the night road because of a piece of news about Judy and I was afraid to go home alone in the dark.
It was like when he took the rent money from the family to buy a ring for Judy without permission.
We had quarreled so many times that I felt it was meaningless.
Now I could go to the hospital for a follow-up checkup by myself after a miscarriage, but it was a pity that he had to leave the spare ribs for others to eat.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to see him anymore.
Go away, ungrateful man.
Seeing that I didn’t say anything, Errol softened his tone again, “Harper, I just wronged you to stay in the store for a few days. Didn’t you often stay in the store when you were busy before?”
I nodded sensibly as he wished. “Okay.”
But he became panic again. “You are not angry, right?”
“No.” I stood up expressionlessly and continued, “I will leave tonight.”
I went to the hot pot restaurant on the corner.
It seemed that this was the first time I found out that Errol and Judy were not siblings.
I said, there was no brother in the world who looked at his sister like that.
The lady boss greeted me warmly. “You are here, do you want the same hot pot as before?”
I smiled and nodded.
In fact, I also liked to eat hot pot here.
Errol brought me here once, on my birthday.
Although he didn’t want to order more meat dishes, I was really happy that night.
The boss specially sent me longevity noodles.
It had been a long time since anyone celebrated my birthday.
