"Kid..." Don Quixote turned around. "Could I trouble you... to wait outside the door for a mont?"
Li Wei paused. Seeing the look Jose gave Don Quixote, he said nothing, simply nodding before he stepped out and pulled the door partially closed.
Even though he was standing just outside, he could still hear what was happening in the room.
Jose wasn’t very articulate, and he spoke in fits and starts. It took Li Wei a while to piece together the gist of his story.
After Don Quixote left, Jose had continued to work on the construction site.
But he had been consciously saving every penny, preparing for his wife to give birth. His coworkers sohow found out he was putting money aside.
’None of us have any savings. None of us can save a di. So how can you? What if you actually manage to crawl out of this hole? You bastard, you deserve to die.’
What followed was a masked robbery. Then, he had to borrow 400 USD from Leto for an ergency dical check-up for his wife. Then, he had to take on three jobs to support his family and pay off the debt. Then, he needed to buy strange "stimulants" from Leto just to stay energized enough to work. And that’s how he ended up in this state. To make matters worse, Leto was planning to raise the price of the "stimulants" soon.
A few minutes later, Don Quixote ca out.
"Let’s go. Jose agreed," he said. "Before I head to the airport tomorrow morning, I’ll swing by one more ti when no one’s watching and bring him a few things."
"Count in," Li Wei said. "I’ll chip in... 72 USD."
Don Quixote nodded, and the two of them left the South Bronx together before sunset.
...
At the crack of dawn the next day, just before 5 AM, Li Wei heard Don Quixote heading out.
It was Saturday. He was going to Delaware with Susan and probably wouldn’t be back until Monday.
After washing up, Li Wei headed to his part-ti job at the boutique. Today, he planned to be a "salary thief" for the entire day.
However, when he got to the shop, he found out it was only open for the morning.
"Oh, right! I forgot you’re not a full-ti employee," Emma said, smacking her forehead in frustration. "Um... we all have sothing to do this afternoon."
"Sothing to do?"
Li Wei was instantly on alert. ’Are they really the Russian Mafia? Are they going to attack the Italians tonight?’
"Of course," Emma said, full of excitent. "Tonight’s the charity gala we’re co-hosting with LV and Christie’s philanthropic division. I might even et so rich, divorced tycoon."
"Hey, why the disappointed look?" she asked, glancing at Li Wei. "You want to go? I can take you. It’ll be an eye-opener."
"I..."
Li Wei was about to make an excuse—that he had sothing on tonight, like having to take care of his ntally unstable "Santa Claus" uncle.
But then he rembered Don Quixote was off in Delaware with Susan for the weekend, and the excuse died in his throat.
"A little shy, are we?" Emma giggled, pulling him into an embrace. "Don’t worry about it. Just stick with this afternoon. Lady Delores won’t say a thing."
That afternoon, Li Wei didn’t get to enjoy the simple pleasures of being a salary thief. Instead, Emma dragged him into a fitting room and had a tuxedo brought out from the stockroom.
"I can just wear a regular suit," Li Wei said. "I’m only going to freeload on food and drinks. There’s no need to wear a full tuxedo, is there?"
"Don’t be silly. At a gala of this caliber, wearing a regular suit would be a major faux pas. You don’t want to be mistaken for one of the staff, do you?" Emma said, pulling off his shirt and swapping it for a pleated dress shirt. "I have to admit, though, you’ve got a great build."
"You can talk," Li Wei said, "but keep your hands to yourself."
Once he was changed, Li Wei got into Emma’s rcedes. They drove from the Upper East Side to the Regent Hotel in Manhattan and slipped into the ballroom through a side staff entrance.
At 7 PM, the gala hadn’t officially begun. A pre-event cocktail party was in full swing, and the foyer was already teeming with people.
"Alright," Emma said, patting Li Wei’s shoulder. "This is as far as I take you. I’m going to go find so fun. You just hang out here, eat, drink, and take it all in—but don’t get too carried away. Don’t want you getting kicked out or kidnapped."
She was clearly a veteran of these kinds of events, disappearing into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
Li Wei scanned the room. Most of the attendees were significantly older than him, primarily in their forties and fifties. He also noticed a distinct lack of Asian faces.
He even recognized a few faces from the big screen—Hollywood A-listers, most likely.
Li Wei wasn’t the social type to begin with. He wandered around the ballroom for a bit and grabbed a bite to eat (though a waiter refused him champagne, thinking he was too young). Eventually, bored, he found what looked like an empty balcony and pulled out his phone.
Standing high up in a Manhattan skyscraper as night fell, the people and traffic below looked like a teeming colony of ants. Li Wei suddenly understood why domineering CEOs in TV shows always lived in penthouses. Standing before a floor-to-ceiling window really did give one the feeling of looking down upon the masses.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, a strikingly pretty girl who looked about his age, or perhaps a little younger, walked out onto the balcony, talking on the phone through a pair of headphones.
She was exquisitely beautiful, but her aura was razor-sharp. Her skin was pale, but not the dry, coarse white of many Caucasians; it was the luminous, smooth white of fine porcelain.
User Comments
0 comments from readers