Unwelcome Change (3) - Evan's POV

I slowly stepped backwards, joining my cousins who tried to look the other way. Luke's eyes were furious as he scanned the area. His eyes landed on grandma's field, noticing a small empty area where Rika had pulled out the stalks of wheat. The dirt grounds were murky and muddy from the water we poured out, slipping into carefully managed plots of land. I shuddered as his gaze increasingly became colder, spotting the ongoing fire under the cauldron. Meanwhile, Alex resembled him, appearing like he was calculating something inside his head.

Ally mouthed to warn Rika, who didn't know anything. We didn't think they would appear out of nowhere, a few rings after Rika didn't answer the call. Initially I blinked several times, not believing my eyes. I couldn't hear any sounds of them walking nor see their figures coming closer to us. Although we were confused, fear quickly consumed our minds. When Rika slowly turned to face them, she instantly tried to run the next second.

However, her reaction was too late with Luke immediately grabbing her wrist, preventing her from running. April's face went pale as she watched Rika getting dragged away, eventually trailing on the ground. Both of them were crazily scary, immensely pressuring, creating a tense atmosphere. Adam hid behind Ally until they were out of sight, close to crying from their cold and unfeeling gaze. Afraid we would be next, we poured some water on the fire, attempting to get rid of the evidence.

April began to use the shovel, digging a hole to place the barely cooked rice inside. Adam helped her as we soon started to clean the pot. Eventually discovering some areas were burnt, stubbornly sticking to walls, hopeless when we tried to scrape them with our shovel. This was when Ally resorted, "we should hide this pot deep inside the storage room. Maybe they won't be able to find it amongst all the other junk."

After desperately hiding the pot, covering and surrounding it amongst many other useless junks, we entered the house. Silently trying to pass the room Rika used with them, being closest to the entrance. My eyes quivered as loud sounds of scolding and lectures entered my ears a few steps away from their door.

"This shack is not our mansion, you should know you can't act the same way," Alex yelled.

"I only used a junky pot and pulled out some plants," Rika sniffled.

"That pot is one of her family heirlooms and the fields are an important source of income for someone like her. You can't damage someone else's property and use their possessions without permission. The fire could have spread to destroy the surrounding fields, which could have led to serious consequences," Luke raised his voice.

Everyone in our family knew the items inside the storage room were useless junk. Although grandma claimed they would become valuable one day, no one would accept them as our family heirlooms. Since grandma knew this, she laughed as she equally treated it as a joke. I didn't think they would believe grandma's bluffs, trying to prove she wasn't any lesser than them. A few days ago, I noticed grandma giving them a tour around the storage room.

"This is a rare artifact I managed to procure," grandma proudly lied to them.

"I attended an auction to get this rare pot created from the finest craftspeople," she presented them with an iron cauldron.

An auction in grandma's terms was negotiating with the stall owner in her local market to lower the price. It was the same place where she sold the vegetables and fruits she raised. Since the owner found grandma gullible, he intentionally fought with her to persuade her it was valuable. It was obvious he wanted more money for something he was close to throwing away. Grandma was a regular customer who always visited his empty stall.

"Anyone who possesses this pot enjoys many prosperities in their life, legends mentioning these throughout history," grandma created a trashy story.

"This is indeed a unique piece of information to know," Alex responded.

"It cost me nearly my entire fortune to purchase," she emphasized the value.

"This must be very precious to you," Luke studied the pot.

"I wanted to leave something behind for my children and grandchildren," grandma nodded.

Since Luke and Alex behaved like they respected grandma's storage room, she continued to brag to them. Meanwhile, my parents and aunt's family pretended to not know what was going on, not wanting to bring grandma's mood down. It was a fact grandma was less stingy towards us lately, her pride rising. It was unfortunate one of the few people who didn't know about this was Rika, busy catching bugs with April and Adam.

"Haven't they been yelling at her for more than six hours?" Ally listened.

"I think around seven hours had passed," I whispered inside her room.

The walls were thin enough that we were able to hear muffled sounds of Rika crying. Although we couldn't exactly hear their conversation, we could tell their lectures were brutal. They never took a break, taking turns sometimes. Adam stayed with my aunt and uncle, hoping they would protect him from Luke and Alex. Meanwhile, April couldn't stop trembling in fear, eventually biting her fingernails.

"We can't become like Rika," April mumbled.

None of us predicted Luke and Alex would take more drastic actions a few hours later. My hands uncontrollably shook as I peeked through a slight opening in grandma's door.

The iron cauldron we were sure we had carefully hidden was in front of grandma, damaged and barely holding together. Although we didn't mind if grandma found out, it was another story for Luke and Alex. My cousins joined me, pitying Rika as the yelling continued inside this room. Luke harshly pressured the crying Rika, scolding her at the same time. She greatly shrank under them, wiping her tears and hanging her head down.

"Apologize Rika," Luke was merciless.

"It's not fair," Rika's voice wobbled.

"This isn't a matter of fairness. This pot is precious to her, an item she spent nearly her entire fortune to leave behind for her family," he began to raise his voice.

"Apologize Rika," he sternly repeated.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," she miserably mumbled.

"You shouldn't be saying this to me, speak properly and apologize to the right person," he urged her to face grandma.

However, Rika continued to horribly stutter, and slowly began to break down. Her eyes were red and puffy, appearing tortured and wronged. I struggled to continue watching them, seeing her forced to take full responsibility for something we did together. Meanwhile, Luke wouldn't let her go, eventually shouting at her to properly apologize. I could tell grandma was filled with guilt, close to admitting the pot wasn't actually a family heirloom. But she feared them as much as we did, more so when this continued for over five hours.

"We apologize for damaging your fields and family heirloom. We will make sure this will not repeat. We started to thoroughly educate Rika and will continue until she understands," Alex genuinely faced grandma.

"I really don't mind. Rika is my granddaughter," grandma avoided looking at Rika.

"It is only right of us to do this. Although we know the value of the pot is priceless, we can try to compensate you for your losses. Here is a number, including our valuation on your fields Rika spoiled," Alex pulled out a cheque.

"Are they actually giving grandma five million dollars?" Ally's eyes went large.

"They're rich," April nodded.

Grandma froze from reading the number, and declined the money. In fact, she accepted Rika's apology multiple times, thinking they were too strict with her. But Alex was incredibly insistent, and pushed the cheque towards her. It was like they didn't want to owe her anything, trying to fix everything with money. Eventually making me realize they didn't consider Rika to be grandma's granddaughter.

My eyes widened as I went through my memories, discovering Luke and Alex believed Rika to be strangers with us from the start. Although they were polite, they drew a clear line, wanting Rika to follow them. More than disapproving of Rika eating snacks, they didn't like that she used grandma's money to purchase them. Luke frequently offered better alternatives he could purchase for her. Only intending to use grandma's money to finish the errand.

"You can't behave like this in other people's households," Luke rebuked Rika.

"We're not even in the first district," Rika sniffled.

"Your family names won't get tarnished here," she mumbled.

"You should know you broke common etiquette and manners," he reprimanded her again.

"It's like they see us as strangers," Ally had similar thoughts.

My cousins and I agreed with each other. We never saw our family using money for these kinds of things. We forgave each other, expecting the same when another one of us makes a mistake. It couldn't be that people from the first district were different. Alex was helping Luke cover for Rika with the cheque in grandma's hands. I could tell everyone in their family were close to each other, remembering the calls inside the grocery store.

"We should stop watching them now," I suggested.

"It doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon," Ally agreed.

I returned to my room, checking my phone if any messages came from my friends. Like everyone else, there weren't many choices on what I could do. We were in the middle of nowhere where bus stops were a thirty-minute walk away. All forms of entertainment like the TV, the ancient gaming consoles, and other devices were either blocked or hidden. I flopped onto my bed as I decided to sleep the rest of the day away, waking early the next morning.

Unexpectedly, my phone vibrated beside my bed, and I tapped the screen to put it to silent mode. My parents were still sleeping, so I slowly walked out of my room to not disturb them. I bumped into Ally in the living room, finding it weird since she never woke up at this time. She whispered to explain to me, "they're still making Rika apologize to grandma. I couldn't sleep last night from the noise."

"Even now?" I didn't believe her.

"Walk by grandma's room," she gestured.

Surprisingly, the lectures had evolved. April uncontrollably trembled as she watched Rika losing the privilege to visit certain areas of the house. Eventually restricting her to their room, the dining area, and the living room. As Luke continued to assure grandma that this would never happen again. Grandma pretended to listen to them, trying to hide she was afraid. It was like she was traumatized, regretting showing them her storage room and making up fake stories.

"They were shouting at Rika up until a few hours ago," April revealed.

"It's calmer now?" I was stunned.

"People from the first district are scary," she nodded.