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It was just starting to get dark and yet it looked darker than it should - it was too dark. A storm was moving in and it looked nasty. He could see, from the living room windows, the lighting flashing against the large clouds that were rolling in almost lazily. They were big and full clouds, dark in color, and he was sure it would pour soon.
Pressing his fingers to the glass he shivered before turning to make for the kitchen, Baozi watching as he walked past. Reaching down to pet his kitty, he showered the little furball with affection, it was in the kitchen that he grabbed a drink from the fridge before heading back for the windows. He enjoyed a good storm, especially watching them roll on in. Maybe he should light some candles? Order some food for Caleb and himself and invite Gabriel over as well?
He could cook, he had more than enough, but he honestly didn’t feel like cooking at the moment. He wanted to just enjoy some food and a good storm, simple wants, but he didn’t know if Gabriel would come over tonight. It wasn’t like his boyfriend couldn’t spend the night, and he knew it, but Gabriel might be busy.
Looking around, wondering where he’d left his cell phone, Xi-Wang figured he might just call Gabriel and invite him over for dinner and to spend the night. “What do you think Baozi? Want Gabriel to spend the night?” Looking to the white fluffball that pretended to be a cat.
Taking a sip from the bottle he had in his hand, as he continued his search for his phone, a glance was given out the window to the storm that was just starting to reach the city. “It’s going to be loud tonight.” He had no doubt about that, but he liked that.
---
Despite her father flying her first class, Fanglan had decidedly not enjoyed her trip. She’s flown before, sure, but never for so long. And there had been a family in first class with a baby, which was fine. Fanglan liked babies as much as anyone else, she supposed, but what she did not like was that said infant began crying upon take-off and only silenced long enough for a small three-hour nap before picking up right where they had left off. Fanglan had not slept both for that reason and the fact that the in-flight meal had, for some reason, not sat right with her. For more than half of the flight, she lingered between wanting to throw up and being fairly okay.
Until the descent.
And the pilot basically nose-dived into the airport, sending Fanglan directly to the bathroom despite the flight attendants pounding down the door to the lavatory. Fanglan, after all, was not about to vomit into a bag like some commoner.
Because of this, the first thing she did once she hit the ground after getting her bags was dig out her toothbrush and toothpaste to try and clean away the taste of her own sick. Once that was done, several sessions of brushing later, she flipped out her phone and dialed the number she had long since memorized and waited for the other end to pick up. She didn’t wait for the greeting when the line picked up and instead chirped, “I’m at the airport big brother, and I need a ride to your place! I’d take a cab but… who are we kidding, no I wouldn’t!”
He was going to be so surprised!
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While still looking for his phone he heard it ring. That helped, a lot, in finding his phone but who was calling him? Digging his phone out from under the couch cushions, he didn’t know how it got there, he hit the answer button.
“Fanglan?” He didn’t get time to say anything else, to ask how she was and if everything was ok. Her next words sent a wave of shock and surprise through him.[ She was here...in Destiny City! Why though? “I-I’ll be there. Just text me which terminal and airlines you took. I’m on my way.” It was late out and it looked like it was going to pour any moment and his sister was here...in a forigne country and alone.
Rushing to get socks, in his room, he managed to not trip while trying to get his socks on whilst making his way back to the front door so he could get his shoes and his wallet and keys. He actually had a drivers license, thanks to Jason, and his father had assured he had a card, his father had co-signed for him so he made monthly payments. He could, thankfully, pick his sister up and not have to bring her home via public transport.
“Stay inside, please, it’s going to rain soon and I don’t want you wet.” And possibly getting sick then. Tipping to the side, as he tried to get a shoe on, he hit into the small table where keys and wallets were often left.
“You’re ok though? I mean your flight was ok and you’re here...and father knows your here?” Why had no one told him she was coming? Not that he was upset - far from it! He was happy but he wasn’t prepared and Caleb wasn’t...and while she had a bedroom waiting for her here he wasn’t sure how she’d like it….and he wasn’t prepared for his sister to visit, at least not in his mind.
Once he caught himself Xi-Wang was heading out the door, nearly slamming the door by accident, as he hurried down the hall in order to catch an elevator down to the first floor. “I’ll be there soon.”
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Xi Wang may have been panicked, but Fanglan was not. She never really panicked. Even when it was probably a good idea to do so. Instead, she texted her brother the information that he needed and waited inside the sliding glass doors that lead out to the pick-up area. He was right, she mused looking up, it did look like it was going to rain. A pang of guilt shot through her gut as she realized that he would be driving through bad weather, and she contemplated calling him back and telling him to wait at his place for her… though on second thought if he was already on the way calling him wasn’t a good idea. Distracted driving was as dangerous as driving through rain…
She sat down on the largest suitcase and fiddled with her hair, suddenly very nervous about what was happening. Honestly, she hadn’t really thought this through. Shocking… Her father said things were heating up too much in China’s political sphere and she needed to be somewhere safer. Instantly she knew where she wanted to be because there was no place safer than by her big brother’s side. She hadn’t called him like she said she would, instead opting to surprise him once she touched down but now… well now it was real. He was real. Talking over the phone and texting, she had thought, had made this man seem flesh and blood but… now that she was here, about to reach out and hold him, she realized that even when she nearly toppled over when she first heard his voice he didn’t seem this real.
So she was nervous. Nervous to put a flesh and blood and bone body to the voice and the face she’s seen on a screen for so long. What if… what if he didn’t want her? What if he got here, turned her around, and sent her back. What would Fanglan do if that happened? She tried to reason with herself that it never would -- Xi Wang was excited to see her. He had to be. But that didn’t stop the swell of anxiety in her stomach as she fiddled with the ends of her hair while she waited.
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The whole drive to the airport was filled with nervous energy, he could feel it shivering under his skin, he saw it in his hands as they shook with nerves as he drove. At least the roads weren’t as packed as they could be, the weather likely keeping some people off the road, as the sky opened up and it started to pour he turned on the windshield wipers and continued on his way, maybe even hurried a bit more, he had a sister to pick up.
When he did reach the airport it was a mess trying to find where he needed to be, he’d never been to the airport before, and it was a mess finding his way around. But he did manage, after asking for some help, and when he did park outside the correct terminal he got out, banging his head in his haste to get out of the car, and hurried towards the doors. Normally he wasn’t so uncoordinated, he was used to his height, but he did nearly trip over his own feet at one point.
The door thankfully opened for him, an automatic sliding door, as he was busy fiddling with his sleeves out of nerves. Dark eyes taking a moment to glance about before landing on her. It was hard to believe she was real, even though he’d talked to her so much over the last few months, but he never had thought he’d see her. He never could find the time to go to China, as much as he wanted to, but his sister was here now. Maybe it wasn’t his whole family, as he wanted to meet them all, but it was the only sibling he had and it meant a lot to see her.
It was a shock though to see her sitting there on a suitcase. “Fanglan.” Approaching, slowly, he really wasn’t sure what to expect from her. She wanted to see him, she said it often enough, but what would she think of him now? Tall, a bit on the thin side, and wearing an oversized shirt and tight jeans. There wasn’t a lot which stood out about him, at least not as far as he figured it.
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Words failed her. Language, both mother and learned, slipped from her mind as the tall, handsome, impossible man entered the airport and scanned the room. She knew it was him, and yet she remained rooted to the spot, limbs and joints refusing the answer her calls for action. He may not have thought much about himself, but to Fanglan he was everything. And when her world creaked back into motion and language returned to her, she defaulted to her mother tongue, crying out so sharply that families stopped in their tracks and turned, concerned of an injury or worse.
She crashed into the man with everything her slight frame could muster. Half of her expected that she would pass right through him, that she would wake up back home and none of this would be real. But she didn’t. She collided with him because he was flesh and bone and blood and really really really real. And he’d come to get her. And he seemed as nervous as she was which calmed her nerves more than anything else could. She wasn’t the only one who had been nervous about this meeting. So maybe he wouldn’t send her back home
”Big brother, I’m so sorry I called you out into this weather! I should have just taken a cab! Are you alright, are you hurt, did you get here alright? She defaulted to her native language, the nuances of carefully studied English still having yet to return to her. ”I’m so glad you came! I was so worried I thought that… maybe you wouldn’t want me… here... tears welled in her eyes before she could stop them and she momentarily thanked that she had the foresight to reapply some waterproof mascara in the bathroom. ”But you do, and I’m so happy.”
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He didn’t expect the loud cry from his sister, though he should have expected it, but he wasn’t surprised when she came crashing into him. It did still have him moving to catch his a balance though, despite how slight and small his sister was, his arms came around her as he held onto her. He still couldn’t believe she was real and here. For once he didn’t care about people staring, and he knew they were, but he did his best to ignore them and focus on the one who mattered most right now - Fanglan.
Shaking his head, laughing softly, one of his hands came up to ruffle his sisters long hair. “I’m fine, it’s alright. I would have come no matter what.” Switching to Chinese, since it seemed preferred by her at the moment, his own wasn’t as polished as his sisters but it wasn’t bad either. It was a far cry from what it was years ago...or even two years ago.
“I would never turn you away - you’re my sisters...family.” And for him family was everything, the family he’d built for himself and the one he’d found. He hadn’t grown up with the best family so it was treasured by him now. Lifting her head gently he wiped at her tears. “I will always come if you call...if I have to travel across the world I will.” He would find a way because she was family, and she hadn’t turned him away either. She hadn’t been upset finding out she had a half sibling, she hadn’t turned him away ever, she hadn’t been negative when finding out about him. She still loved him no matter what.
“We should get you home.” Because for her his home was her home as well, it always would be. “I kept a room set up for you...incase you ever wanted to visit.” Which he assumed was the case right now. “You brought a lot with you, thankfully I can fit it though.”
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Home. That’s right. This was her home now. Destiny City. With her brother and his friends. She closed her eyes and steadied herself, pushing away when the trembling stopped.
“Well,” she sighed, looking around herself at her many bags, lamenting that she would, in fact, have to unpack nearly everything that she owned when she got to Xi-Wangs home. With more on the way, of course. She didn’t trust the airlines with her more delicate knickknacks, so they would be coming with an international moving company in the next few days. So, for now, clothing, accessories, shoes (so many shoes) were with her and hopefully there were dressers at Xi-Wangs place for her to put them.
“Enough with the theatrics,” she laughed, wiping whatever mascara would have run down her cheeks. “Let’s get home. When we’re there we can order delivery from every single fast food place you want because I think I threw everything in my system up when we landed and I’m starving.” She lunged for the closest bag and with her free hand made a beckoning motion. An attendant came over as Fanglan rummaged around in her purse.
“Hello there sir. Can you place take all of those,” she motioned to her army of pastel floral luggage, “and take it out to that car.” She pointed at Xi-Wangs vehicle.
“Ma’am, I’m not…” there was irritation in his voice, but only for a moment before Fanglan found what she was looking for. She pressed the hundred dollar bill into the young man’s palm and grinned, saying, “Oh no, I know you’re not. But it would mean the world to me if you could do this. I’m so tired from my flight and my brother came out last minute, I can’t ask him to do this for me. Pretty please?”
“Um… sure,” the young man said more to the money than to Fanglan, and began loading the bag up onto a cart. Fanglan wove her arm through her brothers and swung them around, heading towards the car as well.
---
“You were sick from the flight?” Concern for his little sister etched his face as he held her close, inspecting her. “We can get whatever you’d like to eat.” Though he would try and advise against certain things, if he knew they weren’t very good. But he would let her try whatever foods she wanted. “We’ll get you home and I’ll help you unpack.” It did seem strange how much she had brought. He wondered how long she was planning to stay, clearly it was more than a week or two.
While he went to go help his sister it seemed she had managed to get someone else to help them as well, he did wonder for a moment how she managed that. “You know I could have helped too, right Fanglan?” He asked his sister as her things were now being carted out to his waiting car. Unlocking it with a click from the key fob, he was really glad their father had talked him into the suv for safety reasons, it would have it’s space put to good use for once.
At least he’d tried to help the worker load things not the cart, he was able to get things into his car though and not let the worker do everything. “Fanglan, do you need personal things from the store?” He didn’t know what she’d brought with her, and he needed to know if they needed to make a grocery store trip, but to keep it private he had switched to Chinese. He knew some people, passengers from her flight, were likely to understand what he was asking he was fairly certain the worker helping him off load her luggage wouldn’t have a clue what he said.
---
“But you don’t have to, and now he has a healthy tip. As far as I see, everyone wins!” She flashed another smile at the young man who smiled back, albeit out of obligation and the hope of another healthy tip for a job well done. Fanglan already had another fifty at the top of her purse for when he was finished.
“Papa always said, if I’m going to be a princess, then I should be a generous one. As for personal things… I have my make up, my toiletries, my clothes… I think I’m fine. Anything that I missed will be coming in a few days anyway. And anything I miss after that… I mean I’m moving in so like there’s no rush to get anything, right?”
With the last bag in the car Fanglan turned from her brother to the attendant and thanked him graciously, placing the last portion of the tip in the already extended palm. If she was offended by the expectation that there would be more cash, she didn’t show a hint of it. As it stood, she wasn’t. It was, she supposed, the nature of those will less to want more, and she couldn’t blame them for it one bit. She was just glad that she was able to give them a little of what they wanted.
“Macdonalds, I heard, was different here. I suppose it all is. And another place… arbeees? Or was it Harbeans? Or is that someplace else? That’s what I’m most excited to try, all of the fast food that you like, big brother! And after that, everything else that you like! I want to see it all!”
---
For a moment he was going to comment about what their father had taught her, about being a princess, but he found himself instead staring at his sister. “You have things arriving?” For a moment he processed that before he just went wide eyed at Fanglan. “Are you moving in...like - never mind.” He had his answer from her, she was moving in. “I didn’t know you were moving in. I never thought we’d live together.” He just figured she’d visit him once or twice and that he’d visit a few times. This was going to be a shock.
“You know I’m living with my ex and I have a cat - Baozi.” He said, wanting to make sure she knew his living situation. He was sure she knew about the apartment, that father had told her, so he didn’t think Fanglan would be shocked about the place and how it looked.
“I don’t do a lot of fast food...but I do some. Greasy foods, oily foods, upset me.” Which meant a lot of Chinese food. For that he tolerated it, took down yogurt as well, he did what he needed to in order to not have it keep repeating on him. Fast food he mostly avoided as it wasn’t worth the hassle. “We can try McDonalds, I’ve heard it’s very different in China as well. Why don’t you get in and we can head home and grab tack out on the way. If you think you can...want to call Caleb, on my phone, and ask if he wants anything?”
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