Clang.
The sharp sound pierced my ears, and I turned around. Shattered fragments lay scattered on the floor.
Beyond them, a pair of delicate shoes came into view.
I followed them up slowly to find their owner.
It didnât take long before our eyes met.
ââ¦Lady Mi.â
The owner of those shoes was none other than Lady Mi.
Why is Lady Mi here? And why now, of all times?
Did she hear what I just said? Damn it, she must have. That expression says it all.
In other wordsâ¦
âIâm screwed.â
Thoroughly, completely screwed.
âWhat do I do?â
Cold sweat broke out across my body.
I had just sold out my father to save myself. But if Lady Mi overheard that, things were about to take a drastic turn.
How drastic, you ask?
âIâd rather not imagine it.â
No matter how I pictured it, none of the outcomes looked good.
The kid looked no older than ten.
If I tried to calculate⦠If this was really my fatherâs childâ
âWait. Even before doing the math, the fact that Lady Mi doesnât know about him already spells disaster.â
No amount of excuses could fix this mess.
âUm⦠Lady Mi. This isnât what it looks likeâ¦â
It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, bracing for the storm of a broken household.
What do I do? How do I fix this mess?
Gulp.
My dry throat kept swallowing as my thoughts spiraled into panic.
âShit.â
No matter how I turned it over in my head, there was no way out.
Confessing now felt too late. At this rate, Iâd have to not only sell out my father but drag him into disgrace.
Save myself, or throw my father under the bus?
It was an impossibly hard decision.
Still, as a son, there had to be limitsâ¦
âLady Mi⦠That is, I wasnât trying to hide it from you. Itâs just, with my fatherâs circumstances and all, I thoughtâ¦â
Selling out my father. That was my conclusion after a short but agonizing deliberation.
Heâs still healthyâhe can handle this much.
Iâll probably get beaten to death if this comes out later, but Iâll deal with that then. Right now, survival came first.