Chapter 43: Family Photo and the Protagonist (Two-in-One)
Chapter 43: Family Photo and the Protagonist (Two-in-One)
Lyon knew he had to console Anna, whose condition had stabilized, but she had only recently been discharged from the hospital. Crying too much would only make her feel worse.
After stroking his younger brother's head, Lyon left the secondary bedroom, heading towards Anna's room. The old house in Veteran Alley wasn't their original home; it was an ancient place assigned to them by the military after withholding a portion of their compensation. The house was nearly five times older than Lyon.
The entire place was dilapidated, with poor lighting and not even a proper bathroom. Besides the small living room connected to the kitchen, there was only one master bedroom and one secondary bedroom.
Lyon had always occupied the slightly smaller secondary bedroom, while the so-called Anna's room was actually the master bedroom shared by her and their younger siblings.
"Squeak!"
The old door creaked as Lyon pushed it open and entered the master bedroom. The first thing he saw was his sister, Anna, sobbing into the bedding.
Like Lyon's secondary bedroom, this tiny master bedroom also had only one single bed. When William and Melanie were younger, they could manage to fit, but as the two troublemakers grew, the space became cramped.
So, Lyon had collected some wooden boards and bricks from outside, extending the old bed and padding it with mattresses and their parents' old clothes, hoping to make it more comfortable for his younger siblings. However, due to the makeshift materials, this extension was slightly unstable, and the bed shook easily.
Anna was currently lying on this unstable extension, and with each muffled sob, the bed shook, causing her bottom to wobble. As she sobbed and twisted, it looked quite comical, making Lyon chuckle.
"Brother! You're laughing!"
Hearing Lyon's stifled laughter, Anna, who was lying on the bed, became even more upset. She rarely threw tantrums, but now she kicked her two delicate feet in the air in frustration. Unable to hold back, she complained,
"It's all because you spoil them! Before, when they misbehaved, you always stopped me from hitting them! Now they're even feeding people horse manure! And you're still laughing!"
"Um..."
Feeling embarrassed to explain why he was laughing, Lyon averted his gaze. He scanned the room's furnishings and said, "I think it's not enough to just spank them. They need to understand why they're being punished, or they might think that causing trouble is okay as long as they get hit.
If you don't believe me, look at William. He's already figured out how many times he'll get spanked for each mischief. So, it proves that we still need to reason with them."
"But they'll only listen to reason after they've been punished!"
Anna, who was usually gentle and rarely voiced her opinions in front of Lyon, became assertive when it came to disciplining their younger siblings.
Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, Anna stopped sobbing and turned around. Pouting, she argued,
"You don't spend much time with them, so you don't know how annoying they can be!
Melanie knows right from wrong, but she thinks she can get away with being sly. William is even more of a worry. He doesn't cause trouble often, but his ideas are always strange. I can't even find the right words to describe his quirky thinking..."
After struggling to find the right words to describe her brother's unique mindset, the frail girl pounded the bed in frustration and concluded, "Anyway, we have to discipline them! If we don't do it now, it'll be too late when they grow up!"
"Yeah, discipline! We must discipline them! Next time, I won't stop you!"
Lyon agreed, walking to the bed and sitting down. He gently stroked his sister's back and soothed her in a soft voice,
"Let's look at the bright side. Although they are mischievous, they've never bullied anyone intentionally. The previous incidents weren't entirely their fault... Hmm... Let me think."
Recalling the situations he remembered, Lyon's expression became complex as he spoke,
"This time, they got into trouble because someone said you weren't coming back. The time before that, they were playing a game and got carried away when a kid called William a wild child. Before that, they stopped a bully named Jack from picking on someone. Going further back, I went to work at the docks as a loader but was chased away because I wasn't strong enough. People in the alley talked behind our backs. Even earlier, you coughed loudly at night, disturbing the neighbors' rest, and they called you a tuberculosis victim..."
The more Lyon and Anna recalled their siblings' mischief, the more distressed they felt.
They hadn't realized it before, but now it was clear that their siblings' actions had reasons behind them. Rather than calling them merely mischievous, it seemed they were trying to protect their fragile family in their own way.
If I had been a stronger older brother back then, perhaps I could have shielded them from some of life's malice. Maybe then, they wouldn't have had to be so "mischievous," and they could have grown up as happy, carefree, ordinary children...
"Let's not dwell on these thoughts for now."
Noticing the glistening tears in Anna's eyes, Lyon quickly changed the subject. He reached for an old, yellowing photo album from the shelf by the bed and, embracing Anna's slender shoulders, he comforted her, "I have a position in the Police Department now. After I get my permanent position at the end of the year, I can even get William and the others enrolled for free. They won't have to fight with the kids in the alley anymore. So, let's leave the past behind! Our family will only get better from now on..."
"Oh, right. The last time we looked at the photo album together was more than two years ago when I had a high fever. It's not too late today, and if you're feeling unwell, let's look through it again."
"Hmm..."
Following Lyon's gentle nudge, Anna leaned into his shoulder. She caressed the worn-out hardboard cover of the album, then opened it and began flipping through the pages.
"This is Mother when she was young."
On the first page, Anna pointed to a faded group photo. In it, a woman with features similar to Lyon's, exuding a vibrant spirit, wore a military uniform. "When I was little, Mother told me... told us that this was her photo from when she passed the exam and was assigned to the Artillery Adjustment Class. And this is Father..."
Anna's soft fingertip pointed to a tall, handsome man with black hair, standing in the back row, his smile gentle and warm.
"Father and Mother were classmates. After graduation, they were both drafted into the same unit, and they gradually became close. Then, they had you, and the following year, they had me..."
As Anna slowly flipped through the album, Lyon witnessed the story of two strangers—their meeting, growing love, and finally, their wedding day, captured in the album. The couple, dressed in a suit and wedding gown, embraced each other in a small chapel, their eyes brimming with happy tears. Lyon's heart warmed at the sight.
Unlike the cold, cruel reality, the moments frozen in the album were filled with warmth. Despite the severe fading due to time, the smiles remained radiant and captivating.
Speaking of which, was Anna such a lively child back then?
As Lyon continued to flip through the album, he couldn't help but reach out and gently touch the golden hair of the little Anna in the photos, a child brimming with happiness.
In his memories, Anna was always either softly smiling at him or coughing into her hand, her brow furrowed in pain. Lyon had never seen his sister so genuinely happy before... What had taken away her smile?
Looking at the album, where Melanie hadn't even made an appearance yet, Lyon realized they had already flipped through most of it. The answer was clear.
"Oh, I just remembered, I still have some unfinished work!"
Lyon's body stiffened slightly as he was well aware of the cruel fate that awaited the seemingly perfect family in the photos. He cursed himself for the foolish idea of looking through the album. Apologetically, he suggested to Anna:
"Why don't we stop here for now? You must be tired. It's best if you rest early."
"Hmm..."
The slender girl responded softly, seemingly unaware of Lyon's unease. She closed the album and nodded slightly.
However, after Lyon left in a hurry, Anna didn't get up. Instead, she reopened the heavy album and slowly flipped to the last page.
On the yellowed back cover, where the most important photo should have been, was a torn old photo, glued in place.
The person who had torn the photo seemed to have done so with great force, even crumpling the pieces, causing the tears to curl up. Despite apparent attempts to flatten it, the photo remained uneven, and even the faces were incomplete.
In this strange photo, the couple, who had appeared multiple times in the album but had been dead for six years now, smiled happily at the camera. They stood under a sign that read 'Family Photo,' embracing each other.
However, in front of them were not the four siblings, two boys and two girls, but only one child, around eight or nine years old. The child held both Father's and Mother's hands, smiling happily at the camera.
Anna touched the child's face in the photo, flattening the curled-up edges of the tears, revealing the golden hair that matched her mother's. Looking at the girl's smile, which seemed unfamiliar even to herself, Anna bit her lip.
And then, as if she had made a firm decision, she used her nails to scrape off the glued-together pieces of the torn photo, then found a matchbox and a small bucket in the room, and threw all the fragments into the iron bucket.
Reluctantly turning her head away, Anna struck a match and lit a cotton ball, throwing it into the bucket, burning the last family photo of her parents and herself into a pile of black ash at the bottom of the bucket!
...
Hmm... I seem to have forgotten something yesterday.
Unaware of what happened after he left last night, a corporate slave without holidays, Lyon woke up at dawn and climbed out of his small bed.
As he took out the scrap paper he used as a memo, Lyon felt a bit helpless. Yesterday, worried about upsetting Anna and reminding her of sad memories, he had left halfway through looking at the photos, completely forgetting to confirm his birthday.
As for now... She and William are probably still asleep, right? I'll ask again when I get back in the evening!
Looking at the still dark master bedroom, Lyon shook his head and abandoned his plan to ask right away. Instead, he held a stack of old newspapers, quietly opened the door, and stepped out, walking to work under the starry sky.
Hmm? Where's the coffee stand? When he reached a spot similar to the previous days, Lyon was surprised to find that despite the ideal temperature, the unscrupulous merchant with the same name as Char Department Store was not there today.
After searching for him on the nearby streets, Lyon finally gave up on the half-price coffee and headed across the street to another small coffee shop with a dejected face.
It must be said that although Old Char's coffee stand was expensive and stingy with portions, the "consumer experience" was indeed top-notch. Other coffee stands just couldn't compare to the taste of Old Char's coffee.
With a sigh of disappointment, Lyon quickly gulped down the hot coffee. As he glanced across the street, he spotted a familiar face.
That person... seemed to be a regular customer of Old Char's too?
Recognizing the face and confirming he wasn't mistaken, Lyon hesitated briefly before quickly walking over.
"Hello, excuse me."
Pointing across the street, Lyon was about to ask his question when the regular customer, a man in his fifties, suddenly exclaimed in realization:
"Oh, isn't this Char's future son-in-law?"
???
Huh? What? I've only bought coffee from him a few times, and I paid for it too. How did I become his son-in-law?
Seeing Lyon's confused expression, the middle-aged regular customer laughed and explained the origin of the title, then asked with a smile:
"You're looking for me to ask about Old Char's absence today, right? I actually met him last night. He and his wife were doing business together and got scammed, losing a lot of money. She got so angry that she passed out on the spot."
Although his wife was lucky and saved by a kind young man passing by, she didn't suffer any major injuries. Still, it's estimated she'll need to recuperate for at least half a month.
"Old Char wants to take care of his wife and seek justice from those people, so he won't be able to run his coffee stand for a few days."
Doing business... Scammed... Losing a lot of money... Passing out from anger... Saved by a kind young man... This all sounds a bit too familiar, doesn't it? After hearing the story of this "Mrs. Char," Lyon couldn't help but scratch his head awkwardly, feeling like the coincidences in this world were a bit too far-fetched.
Speaking of which, if my mission to steal data from the water supply company could also be considered a "passing by," then these two Mrs. Chars' experiences were indeed quite similar.
Could it be that these two Mrs. Chars are the same person? And could this Old Char selling coffee be the same Char from Char Department Store?
That's impossible! After considering the possibility of such bizarre coincidences, Lyon couldn't help but smirk and mock himself silently.
Meeting a coffee seller who turns out to be the third richest man in the capital, and then on yesterday's mission, coincidentally saving the rich man's wife, and now hearing that the rich man seems to want me as his son-in-law, inheriting his department store empire...
That's ridiculous! Do you think you're the main character or something?
(End of Chapter)
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