Rewritten Past

Uncle Long's eyes flashed. "Luo. Shut up."

"And this is why your son doesn't listen to you, Big Bro. You gotta set a proper example~ Come on, you're all arguing in front of the kids." Uncle Luo laughed and then walked over to ruffle my hair. "You lost a lot of weight huh, Little Fatty? Mm... I guess I should call you Little Monk or something now? Look at those muscles... you trying to go to Shaolin or something?"

Aunt Xia scowled and rounded on Uncle Luo. "You disgraceful brat. Shut up and let the elders-"

"Moooommy!" A whiny female voice echoed from off in the distance. "Cousin Donnie broke my Barbie!"

A nasally male voice echoed in response. "You threw it against the wall, Moron! Of course it'll break!"

The whiny female voice echoed again. "My name's Murong, you liar! And I didn't throw it! Tell him I didn't, Mommy!"

...That would be my female cousin, Murong, from Aunt Xia. And then my older male cousin, Donnie, from Aunt Long.

...This was going to be a long night.

Mom turned to look at me with a strained smile and said, "Why don't you take your friend and go play with your cousins, Sweetie? We'll... get dinner ready."

I reflexively glanced back at Mama Yue for her input.

But I didn't realize how that would look.

EVERYONE noticed.

Mom's strained smile crumpled.

Mama Yue looked guilty, but she didn't back down, maintaining clear hostility.

Dad pursed his lips.

Eldest Uncle Long's eyes flashed, as if he had just gotten something useful.

Youngest Uncle Luo's brows furrowed before he let out a frown.

And then Aunt Xia let out a grating laugh. "Ohoho? So that's how it is, hm?"

April, clearly sensing the tension in the air, quickly moved to my side, hiding behind me. "Alex... I'm scared."

I smiled, calm. "It's fine, April. Come on, I'll show you to my room." I patted her shoulder and then deliberately walked over to my mom first. "I'm taking my friend to look at my room. Is that okay, Mommy?"

My mom blinked. She looked between me, April, Miss Serena, and Mama Yue. Then, with a tentative smile, she nodded and said, "Of course, Sweetie. You go have fun. We'll call you when food's ready."

I nodded. "Okay. And here, Mom. For you." I handed her my tupperware of mug brownies.

For clarity, they were brownies made in a mug, not a bunch of mugs with brownies.

But anyway, I handed her that tupperware and said, "Brownies. Your favorites, right?"

My mom's eyes widened before they started glimmering with unshed tears. She took the tupperware and said in a soft voice, "Thank you, Sweetie."

I smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before I grabbed April's hands and walked her deeper into the house.

Now...

To ignore the blatant flags of drama that were my cousins or to troll them...

Decisions, decisions...

===

My room was the same as I left it. My bed was made, my various sketchbooks were tucked on the shelf next to old story books, and the few toys that I DID have... mostly some Power Ranger merch, were sitting in the corner of the room by my closet.

It seemed like my cousins hadn't gone in here. Probably my dad's doing. Despite everything, he had that much sense at least.

Though since they weren't here, that meant they were probably in the guest bedroom...

I could only imagine the mess going on in there at the moment.

But not my problem.

Instead, I walked April inside and said, "This is my old room, April. Make yourself comfortable."

April took a look around and blinked. "It's... boring."

I reflexively choked at the unexpected response. "What?"

April frowned. "...No wonder you like Miss Yue better. You don't have anything fun here. Just books and toys." She idly poked at a Megazord.

"That's... well."

Damn. She isn't wrong. Like, objectively. As a kid, I HAD been pretty boring-

Wait.

I blinked and said, "You don't think it's boring where we live now? I mean, I just do martial arts and my usual stuff..."

April smiled and said, "It's not boring because you're happy there!" She paused and looked around the room. "This just feels... sad. It reminds me of my old room."

Ah.

Huh.

I guess April would know best about that.

Still, to say that it's sad...

Well. I couldn't refute it.

April spun around to look at the room again and said, "What can we even play here, Alex?" She frowned. "There's no games. Or toys..."

"I mean, we could play pretend?"

April gave me a blank look.

...Okay, yeah. That was pathetic even to my ears.

I sighed and flopped on my bed. "Well, I guess we can just talk?"

April flopped on the bed next to me, nodding. "Okay! Then let's talk!"

Outside the room, I could still hear barely audible arguments from the adults and my cousins bickering in the distance. But at least for now, it was just me and April.

I sat up and said, "How about we trade questions? You ask me something, I ask you something?"

April's eyes lit up and she said, "Okay! Then do you like Miss Yue or your mommy better?"

Kuh.

Straight for the jugular.

What else would I expect from a kid?

I wanted to dodge the question, but from the expectant look in April's gaze... I couldn't do it to her.

So instead, I seriously considered it and said, "I don't like them 'better' because I like them for different reasons. Mommy is my mommy, so I'll always like her. She was there for me since I was small. But Mama Yue gets me."

April tilted her head, mulling over the response. Then she nodded and said, "I get it. Like choosing between pie and ice cream! Both are good, right?"

"Right." I smiled, relieved she understood. And that I didn't have to explain more.

"My turn then!" April beamed. "Ask me something, Alex!"

"Okay. Then..." I hummed, thinking about what to ask April.

There wasn't much that came to mind, really...

I spent so much time with her that I knew a lot about her. And that was before taking into account any future knowledge too...

Ah. But I guess...

"...What was it like growing up with Miss Serena?"

That was what I was really curious about.

The April I remembered from my past life was always a bit too sunny. That was why I didn't notice her slipping away before my eyes until that day she ended it all.

Now I knew it was her way of coping...

So I wanted to understand her properly and prevent it.

Well, also because she was my friend. And I planned to be the best friend ever to her.

April tilted her head. "With Mommy? Um..." She hesitated. Then she said, "...Mommy cried a lot. And there were a lot of bad guys too. And Mommy threw up a lot. She also showered a lot too..."

Oh.

Oh, that's uh...

...Suddenly very much NOT feeling guilty about (allegedly) murdering all those people that night.