10 Are you High?
Ding!
The bell chimed when she entered the stuffy store. Walls filled with shelves of boxed mobile phones, covers, screens and electrical accessories.
Lina wafted a hand at the smoky air and spotted Yanlin sitting behind the counter with another young guy, surrounded by boxes and both were taking turns smoking a thickly rolled joint.
Lina quickly ran around the counter and snatched the burning cigarette from her brother's hand, sniffing it with a disgusted expression.
"Yanlin! What is this?!" she yelled, kicking him to stand up.
He laughed and stood on wobbly legs. His eyes were bloodshot red and he looked high as a kite.
Lina scowled coldly, and threw the blunt on the floor, extinguishing it with her boot.
She grabbed him by his t-shirt and smacked his cheek lightly, "Yanlin you idiot! Sober up! This is a store! Someone could rob you or something!"
He laughed like a hyena and his friend joined in with the stupid laughter.
Lina turned to face the other boy, "Get out!" she said kicking his leg.
"Whooaa Yan, your mom is cruel..." the boy cackled on his way out.
Yanlin burst into a laugh but quickly covered his mouth, "Sorry Lina."
Lina picked up the clear bag and scooped the remaining cigarette papers and blunts into her hands and ran off to the small bathroom at the back of the store.
Yanlin followed shouting, "Don't Lina dont!!!" he begged.
"Too late!" she said, as she flushed the contents down the toilet.
Yanlin slumped to the tiled floor and held the toilet bowl pathetically as he watched his precious belongings swirl away in the murky water.
Lina watched her brother with a disappointed expression on her face.
"When will you learn Yanlin? You're twenty-one now, this is dangerous... if you get caught again, it won't be like last time!"
He sobbed pathetic tears, "That was expensive Lina... You didn't have to flush it. I could've sold it."
Lina stormed out, "You're an idiot Yanlin," she said coldly, "Getting caught selling it is even worse than smoking it... there was a cop outside of our building just ten minutes ago."
"A cop?" Yanlin said jumping up to his feet.
He watched Lina gather her bag and begin to lock away the cash register.
"What was a cop doing here?"
Lina sighed, "He was asking me out to dinner..."
"What!" Yanlin said shocked. He grabbed Lina's coat desperately, "Lina you can't date a cop!"
"I know!" she snapped, "I'm not a fool, I already told him that I'm not interested, but he is weird so I am warning you now because this guy might come around again..."
He nodded sheepishly.
"Now let's go home, you're not fit to watch the store right now."
Lina and her brother locked up the store and turned off all of the lights before walking across the street and heading home.
...
When they arrived at their apartment, Lina pushed Yanlin in the direction of the bathroom to go have a shower before dad noticed that he had been smoking.
"Dad, what shall we have for dinner? Fish or shrimp?" she said rolling up her sweater sleeves and piling a selection of vegetables into a plastic bowl.
"Oh Lina, can you make that shrimp dish like your mother used to make?" said Mr.Liang with a nostalgic smile.
He sat at the breakfast counter and watched Lina wash the vegetables.
"Sure dad, anything for you." she smiled sweetly.
...
After dinner Lina headed to her bedroom and locked the door behind her. She loved her dad and brother very much but it was exhausting taking care of them.
How was it that she was a young single woman, with no boyfriend but she felt like a stressed single mother!
When will I leave this place? she wondered, as she lay down on her bed.
Her eyes wandered over to her bulky bag, with papers falling out of it.
She should probably start working on grading those exams but she felt burned out.
Tomorrow, she decided.
She changed into some comfortable, lilac colored cotton pyjamas and she checked her cellphone before going to bed.
There was a text message from Wen ShaoQing.
It read,
Hey Lina, thanks for covering me today. Let me take you out to dinner tomorrow to properly thank you.
- Shao.