Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Meanwhile, Einstein had showed up as a surprise baby, completely unplanned.
Either way, everyone in the South knew his brother Daniel. He was the kid who had it all—the talent, the charm, the smile that could light up a room.
Einstein—on the other hand, was the quiet one—the one who was always in Daniel’s shadow.
But then, when Daniel was just fourteen, everything changed.
There was an accident—a freak accident, really. Daniel had been riding his bike home from baseball practice when a car came out of nowhere, swerving onto the sidewalk. Apparently, the female driver had been on the phone arguing with someone and wasn’t looking at the road.
The impact was fatal.
Daniel—the golden child—was gone in an instant.
Einstein was only ten at the time—too young to fully understand the magnitude of the loss but old enough to feel its impact.
His parents were shattered, but instead of turning to Einstein for comfort, or even acknowledging his own grief, they withdrew into themselves, consumed by the loss of their firstborn.
Aunt Betty used to say that maybe his mother was scared to love him after losing a child. Maybe she was trying to protect herself from the possibility of more grief.
Regardless of the reason, Einstein’s parents became shadows of their former selves.
Banks told me once that every time he spent the night, he caught Einstein’s mother just sitting for hours in Daniel’s room, while his father spent most of his time at work, coming home to drink and retreat into his own world of despair.
Basically, Einstein became even more invisible to his parents.
No one noticed when he didn’t eat breakfast or dinner.
No one cared when he stopped trying to bring home good grades, or when he began spending all his time in the school library, never going to class. His teachers found it difficult to even get his parents on the phone.
At too young of an age, Einstein had learned to fend for himself, to rely on no one. He was independent, self-sufficient, but many times he was utterly alone.
Books became his escape, his refuge from a world that had forgotten about him. He read anything he could get his hands on—novels, science journals, encyclopedias.
Often, we shared books during the summer and chatted about them.
When my mom passed, he was there. Not in my apartment, but in his car sitting outside of it and reading a book. He must have did that for months, just made himself available to my sisters and me without loudly declaring it.
I returned my focus to the current moment and watched him some more.
Einstein kept a stern expression and turned to me. “How long are you going to stare at me without saying anything?”
“Probably just as long as you were going to stare at that door without saying anything.”
He smirked. “You know that I can usually blend in the shadows with many people, but not you.”
“You’re hard for me to ignore.”
“Oh yeah.” He tucked his book under his arm. “Why is that?”
“Because you, my friend, are utterly intriguing.” I headed up the stairs. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
“Show me something?” He followed.
“That’s what I said.”
By the time, Einstein became a teen, he’d built walls around himself so high that almost no one could get in.
Lucky for me, I knew how to climb his emotional walls with ease.
I glanced over my shoulder. “What do you think of Lotus Blossom?”
“It’s extravagant.”
“Is that a good or bad thing?”
“Neither. Just the only word I can think of.”
“Liar.”
“Me?”
“You have many more words you’re thinking about when it comes to this place.”
“So you want to have a deeper conversation?”
“That’s the only conversations I like to have with you.”
He nodded. “Well then I would say another word comes to my mind when I realize that you have possession of this place.”
“And what’s that?”
“Power play.”
“Why power play?”
“Leo is signaling to the East that you’re a force to be reckoned with, and he 100% approves of your union with his son.”
“Hmmm.” I grinned. “Maybe.”
Einstein snorted.
We got to the second floor.
Instead of taking him toward the bedrooms, I lead us in the opposite direction. “I think that you will like this surprise a lot.”
“I’m interested to see if you’re going to be right.”
Further down the hall, I could hear my sisters’ voices, full of excitement, as they explored their new bedrooms.
Aunt Min and Aunt Suzi were fussing over them, making sure everything was perfect.
Einstein got to my side. “You did good, Moni.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your sisters will be happy here.”
Warmth hit my heart. “You think so?”
“Definitely.”
“Banks is worried about us being in the East.”
“No. He’s just being protective. I think deep down inside he knows that Lei will never hurt you. At least not physically.” He kept his gaze on me. “But I have a tough question for you.”
“Go ahead and ask it.”
“Do you think Lei has fully mourned Chanel?”