Boyfriend’s brother
My boyfriend’s younger brother is the devil who
kept me locked in a basement in Myanmar for
three years. But my boyfriend insists his brother
has never even been to Myanmar. This guy,
dressed in a sharp suit, politely calls me “Sis,”
with this stoic, almost emotionless face. He’s
completely different from the maniac in
Myanmar who’d scream, “I’ll kill anyone who
messes with you!” I must be mistaken.
1
Three years after being kidnapped, I was
rescued. My boyfriend, David, carried me all the
way home from the police station, holding me.
so tight, like a gust of wind might snatch me
away again. Back home, my best friend, Sarah,
helped me bathe. She saw the scars on my
stomach and cried as she washed me.
“Did it hurt?” she sobbed.
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“No,” I lied.
She cried even harder. She didn’t know the two scars on my stomach and waist were what
saved my life.
When I came out of the bathroom, my parents had made a table full of Southern comfort food. I used to love spicy food, but I couldn’t even bring myself to pick up my chopsticks. Years of being locked in a basement with irregular meals had given me a severe stomach ulcer. Even a tiny bit of spice would make me writhe in pain.
“Try this spicy chicken, you used to love Mom’s recipe,” Sarah piled a bunch onto my plate.
“You eat it,” I pushed it back to her.
“She can’t,” David, who’d been silent, suddenly
spoke.
“Just a little,” Sarah glared at him and took a
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70
bite. The next second, she clapped a hand over
her mouth and ran to the bathroom.
I was confused.
“She… she’s pregnant, can’t eat spicy food.” my
mom sighed.
I was stunned. “She’s married?” I whispered.
No one answered.
My dad said heavily. “David and Sarah are
together.”
It felt like I’d been hit by lightning. I barely
remember what David and Sarah said
afterward. I sat there, quiet as a scolded child.
All I remember is my dad holding my trembling
hand under the table.
2
Sarah wasn’t feeling well, so David took her to
>
the hospital. My dad drove them. He had a
class that afternoon and the hospital was on
the way to the university. The bustling house
suddenly felt empty with just Mom and me.
“It’s understandable,” my mom sighed, wiping
the floor. “You were gone for three years.
Everyone thought you were dead. We were
frantic, searching everywhere. Everyone told us.
to give up, but those two… they never stopped
looking for you.”
“They’re both good kids. We’re happy for them, especially since… none of us ever thought you’d
come back.”
I lay in bed, listening to my mom’s reasoning, a heavy stone pressing on my chest, suffocating me. I didn’t cry. All I could think was, how did they end up together?
I’d liked David since high school. I only told Sarah my secret. She was my next–door
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neighbor, an orphan raised by her grandmother. We were practically inseparable, and she was always scheming to get David and me together. She climbed the tallest peach tree and
showered me with blossoms, hoping I’d run into him underneath. She let the air out of my bike tires so I’d have to ride home with him. She swore off movies and studied vocabulary with me so we could get into the same college. Even the night I confessed to David after graduation, it was Sarah who turned off the classroom
lights, giving me the courage to kiss him in the
dark.
That night, David’s face flushed crimson.
“Emily, have you no shame?”
Rejected, I mumbled, “It was just truth or dare.
If you don’t want to, I’ll kiss someone else next
time.”
He grabbed my collar, glaring. “You dare.”
く
3
We started dating after graduation, attending the same college. Sarah, unable to bear being apart from me, enrolled too. The three of us were inseparable.
So, when did Sarah start liking David? I had no idea. I was always the one gushing to her about how much I adored him, how overflowing my love for him was. She never mentioned having a crush on anyone.
Freshman year, we planned a trip to California. I missed my flight and had to reschedule, while they flew ahead. When I landed, a sudden downpour hit. The taxi driver tried to jack up the fare, and when I refused, he dumped me on the side of the road.
I bought their favorite snacks and huddled
under a dilapidated awning on a deserted highway, waiting for them to pick me up. But
thair nhonne want straight to unicomail
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32
Then a motorcycle pulled up under the awning
to escape the rain. The young rider, wearing at
helmet, paced angrily, making calls, I couldn’t
see his face.
“Yeah, well, just wait for the body bag,” he
snarled into his phone.
He cursed for a good fifteen minutes, and I was
too scared to make a sound.
He glanced at me. “Got any food?”
“Yes! Anything you want, it’s all yours.” I shoved
my bag of chips at him and, afraid he wouldn’t
be satisfied, placed the rest of my snacks on his motorcycle seat.
“Anything I want?” He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
I shrank back, terrified.
12:28
<
He ate my snacks, took over my dry spot, and
started making more calls, this time in a better
mood.
“Guess who isn’t starving anymore? Ran into a
chick.”
“Yeah, you and your dirty mind. You wouldn’t believe the kind of ‘chick‘ they send me.”
He continued his one–sided conversation, then looked at me. “What’s your name?”
“Emily,” I stammered, my voice trembling. “You don’t have to pay me, keep the snacks.”
“Emily?” He looked around at our surroundings.
“You know you shouldn’t just tell strangers your
name?”
