The Mo family's secret

At the bottom of the stairs, Mrs. Mo turned and said, "And Kio, take Xia upstairs and give him one of your pajamas. You both should be the same size."

After saying this, she led Yu Chen upstairs. For a minute Chen thought that they were going into Kio's room, but she was led into a room past it. As Chen followed Mrs. Mo into the room, she could instantly tell that it was a girl's room. And it did not seem like a room for a regular guest, it was decorated like any girl would do to her own room. But it was clear that nobody had slept in the room for many days.

The room was insanely pink. Almost everything there was pink. Chen's attention was attracted by something on the computer table. It looked like a laptop. As Chen started walking towards it, Mrs. Mo called her coming from the closet.

Mrs. Mo: "Chen, what do you think about these?"

Yu Chen turned around to see her holding baby pink pajamas. She took it and said, "Thanks aunty."

Mrs. Mo: "Go on. Try them."

Yu Chen went into the closet and wore the pajamas. They were a little short as her ankles were exposed and the sleeves came upto three-fourths of her arm. But it was comfortable. The material felt nice against Chen's skin. Chen walked out of the closet wearing the pajamas, her dress and Xia's coat in her hand.

Mrs. Mo took them from her, "Let me get them washed. You seem to have...."

She stopped as Chen also noticed some blood on her clothes. Chen nodded and Mrs. Mo changed the topic. She said, "Let me ask Wei to take you to your bedroom."

Yu Chen: "I'm going to say goodnight to the boys. Tell her to fetch me from there."

Mrs. Mo nodded and began walking towards the door. Yu Chen looked around the room and said, "Umm... Mrs. Mo, if you don't mind me asking, whose room is it?"

Mrs. Mo stopped in her tracks. She said, in such a small voice that Chen barely caught it, "Kio's sister."

Hearing this, Chen was transfixed. "Kio has a sister? How come he has never mentioned it before. And where is she right now?" Many questions sprung up in Chen's mind, but she refrained from asking them as she looked at Mrs. Mo's face. She clearly did not want to talk about it.

Chen silently followed her out of the room. As they came out, and Chen turned to go say goodnight, Mrs. Mo stopped her. She said, "Chen, do me a favour, don't mention anything to Kio. Will you?"

Yu Chen gave her a reassuring smile, "Of course not, aunty."

As Chen knocked on Kio's door, she tried to wrap her head around this information. But she could not ask Kio. Aunty had made her promise, and anyway, she could tell they did not like to talk about these things. "Kio will tell me whenever he is ready." With this thought, Chen knocked on the door.