The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

73

"There's so many schools in this country, Klarise, I'm sure if a lot of them aren't good, one of them will be good enough. He has to go somewhere, anywhere will be better than us."

Klarise was at the kitchen counter making something while I sat on the dining chairs, waiting for her to come sit down and stop avoiding this topic.

"Would you like some drink? I can make us something." She offers, turning back and smiling at me. Sometimes, seeing her new face, it confuses me and I forget who this woman in front of me is. But then with her voice, I will always be able to know and remember. Just because her outside changed doesn't mean she wasn't her anymore. Well...(Pause) I'm not too sure about that, but one thing that's fully true is I still loved her.

I grunted, rolling my head back in frustration. "Are you even listening to me? This is very important."

She started humming a little melody as she stirred something in a cup, and though it sounded good, my frustration remained unchanged.

"Jackson isn't even my brother, and I am more worried about him than you are right now."

That gets her attention. She turned around, setting down the cup she was stirring in front of me. Is there a word for slamming but not breaking the thing? I think it's just slamming. Well, that's what she did.

"Of course I care." She pulled the seat across from me and sat down, reaching forward for the paperworks of schools we've looked through a thousand times and flipped through them with as little enthusiasm as she could.

I looked in the cup of what she handed me, some lemon water with mint and honey. I had a cough coming along, and an itchy throat, but I didn't even tell her about it. She just notices stuff like that. One of the many reasons I love her.

I take a sip of the drink, and it breaks out into a small sting in the back of my throat. That's when you know it's working. When I recover from the taste, I look back at her flipping through the packets of papers. "If we wait any longer, Jackson might have to be held back a year."

She puts the papers down and let her forehead fall into her hand, elbow leaning on the table. "I just, you know, I want to give him the best education. And something...I don't know, something about the schools here doesn't feel right. I want something else for him."

I reach across the table, just barely, and take her hand off her face. "What is it?"

She looked uncertain, glancing at me and then at the table.

"You can tell me, if anything, he is your brother. And what you have for him should always be considered since you're his sister."

I let her hold my hand, and seeing her take in a deep breath, I knew this was something important. And then as her face looked worried and hesitant, I realized this might have been on her mind for a while.

"I want Jackson to...I want him to get an education in Beijing. Or Shanghai."

I was surprised by this, raising my eyebrows, I asked her: "Why do you want that?" But not in the tone of judgment, rather curiosity.

"It's just so much has happened here. With our parents' arrest...and you know, everything else. I'd want him to be able to have a fresh start."

I nodded, getting the idea. "We can arrange that. We can look into the boarding schools over in those two cities and then——"

"No!"

I stumbled a little at her, and she looked away. I took another sip of the drink she's made me, wincing from the sourness and sting again. When I finish I see she has recovered a little better from her interruption. I wait for her to explain what that was all about.