Can You Call Me Sister?

"Rest? Like sitting still on the street like you did last night?" Rachel asked quietly. "You must've had a rough life. Otherwise, who would sit on the street in the middle of winter?"

"How old are you?" she asked again.

"Twenty-seven," he replied.

"We're the same age," she said, surprised. "When's your birthday?"

"November."

"I'm in July, so I'm a few months older than you," Rachel said with a small smile. "You don't have any family, and I don't either. How about you call me 'Sis' from now on? I'll treat you like a brother."

"Sis?" He let out a soft chuckle. No one had ever dared to call themselves his sister. Yet this woman had the guts to say something like that?

If she knew who he really was, would she still dare to talk like that?

But maybe it was because she didn't know that made it kind of... interesting.

"Is it not okay?" she asked, her eyes dimming slightly.

Her mom had died when she was only three years old. She only remembered hearing that her mom passed away from complications during childbirth.

The baby, a boy who was already six months along, had only lived for ten minutes. She had overheard her relatives talking about it once.

If that boy had survived, he would've been her younger brother. Maybe then she wouldn't feel this lonely now.

"Are you sure you really want to be my sister?" His voice cut through the quiet suddenly.

She looked up and met his gaze. His eyes were clear and bright, like blooming flowers, but they held a strange depth, like there was something hidden inside.

"Yes," she said softly.

"But I have no home, no real job, and I'm barely surviving. Why would you want to be my sister?"

"Because…" She swallowed the last bite of her bread roll.

The taste was just okay. In the past, she might've turned her nose up at something like this, but now, taste didn't matter.

Filling her stomach came first.

"We're the same kind of people, aren't we? Both abandoned by society, struggling to survive at the bottom. Maybe people like us aren't wanted or cherished by anyone, but at least we can find warmth in each other. I can care about you, and you can care about me, right?"

She smiled at him, eyes filled with hope, a little nervousness, and something that looked like longing.

"Is that so? It seems we really are alike…" he murmured, staring at her like she was some small creature trapped and helpless.

Maybe life had just gotten too dull for him, since he could get anything he wanted without even trying.

This little game… seemed more fun.

"Sis." The word slipped softly from his lips, the word she'd been waiting to hear.

And just like that, her smile lit up like a star-filled sky.

After dinner, Rachel took Jeffrey to the night market to buy some clothes. Even though she picked the cheapest stuff, it still cost her over 500 shillings.

She had Jeffrey put on the new jacket right away. "Feeling warmer?"

"Yeah," Jeffrey answered quietly, glancing down at her. She was almost a head shorter than him. "You didn't have to buy me these clothes. I'm used to the cold. Even with my old clothes, I'd be fine."

"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean you have to suffer through it," she said. "I don't have a lot of money and I can't buy you much, but I can at least make sure you're warm."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked softly.

"Because I'm your sis," she said with a small smile. She accidentally brushed against his hand and noticed it was freezing.

She gently cupped his hands in hers, lowered her head, and blew warm air onto them, then started rubbing them back and forth.

"Your hands are too cold. Rubbing them like this helps them get warm," she said.

His hands stiffened a bit, and his eyes, usually so calm, narrowed slightly.

No woman had ever done something like this for him just to warm his hands. He usually hated being touched, but her touch didn't bother him.

Was it because she had become important in this little game? Was that why he could put up with it?

When he didn't say anything, she suddenly seemed to realize something.

She looked down at her own hands, rough and a little calloused. "Are my hands too rough? Did I hurt you?"

She quickly let go of his hands, like all the warmth had disappeared in an instant.

He frowned just a bit. "I don't think your hands are rough at all. My hands are still kinda cold. Why don't you rub them a little longer?"

He held his hands out to her again. She hesitated for a second, then took them back into hers.

Compared to his big hands, hers looked so small.

In the freezing winter night, her little hands did their best to cover his, rubbing them gently.

She lowered her head and blew warm air onto them now and then.

Her nose, slightly red from the cold, looked really cute to him.

Jeffrey's long eyelashes trembled slightly as he watched her wrap his hands up in hers. It actually did feel a little warmer.

Two days later, Rachel got a call from Danielle.

"Sis, Dad said he wants to throw away that old photo album. I managed to convince him to keep it. I want to give it to you, but can you come over to my place?"

Rachel's heart skipped a beat when she realized what Danielle was talking about—the photo album that had pictures of her and their mother from before she turned three.

"If you don't come, I might lose the album, and that would be a shame," Danielle said sweetly, then gave Rachel the address without waiting for her to respond before hanging up.

Rachel stared at her phone, knowing full well Danielle wouldn't offer the album without having some other reason. That album held precious memories of her mother, memories she could barely remember without it.

"Rachel?" A calm male voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and answered, "Jeffrey, I need to go out for a bit. You should go to bed." She stood up quickly, grabbed her coat, and left, completely unaware of the eyes silently watching her.

When Rachel got to the address Danielle gave her, she found herself standing in front of a club.

She went inside and walked to the private room Danielle mentioned.

To her surprise, it wasn't just Danielle there, it was also a slightly overweight man who looked to be in his forties.

"Danielle, is this your sister? The one who used to date Ralph, the First Young Master of the Patel Family?" the man asked, giving Rachel a long, judgmental look.

"Yes, Deputy Director Hall, this is my sister. Sis, this is Deputy Director Hall from my current crew. He heard you used to be Ralph's girlfriend and has been really eager to meet you," Danielle said with a smile.