Chapter 1 - A Surprise That Will Change his Life

"Are you Mr. Ken Chu?"

The man who stood beside his car was young, sandy-haired, a little soft around the middle. His face was unfamiliar, but pleasant enough.

"That's right," Ken agreed a little warily, his hand gripping the car door. Salesmen didn't know your name.

The man extended a card. "Yao Lee, private investigator."

Ken took the card. It was plain, but the paper was heavyweight, expensive, the print engraved. His wariness edged into apprehension.

"What can I do for you?" he said.

The P.I. cleared his throat. "Mr. Chu, did you have a brother named Andy?"

Andy. Sometimes he could almost forget the part of himself he'd lost with the estrangement. Being reminded was a jolt.

"I have a brother named Andy." Admitting won't give any harm? "Did he hire you?"

The first real emotion showed on that bland face. "Hire me? You're not aware ....?"

"Aware of what?" Ken asked sharply.

Unexpected compassions added a few lines to the man's face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chu. It's your brother's widow who hired me to find you. I'm afraid he's dead."

Dead? Andy? Shock held Ken still, unseeing . Dead? How could his brother be dead without him knowing.

Images flashed through his mind with scattergun speed: the boy, cheeks still childishly round, beguiling their prep teacher; Andy, maybe ten, on the basketball court; hanging upside down from the top bunk in their bedrooms, tongue out and eyes crossed; lounging against his locker in high school, winking crazily at some girl; the eighteen year old, wiping blood from his nose and snarling. This last image was sharp, though seven years old. They hadn't seen each other since. Seven years, and Ken didn't have to wonder what his brother had looked like before he died. All he had to do was glance in a mirror.

"How long ago?" he asked numbly.

"Two years. I'm sorry. I ---"

"How?" Ken's teeth were set. "How did he die?"

"I'm not quite sure. Mrs. Chu didn't say."

Mrs. Chu. Andy had married and Ken had never known. He could not picture his brother standing at the altar, gaze held by one woman. Couldn't imagine him saying, "I do", and meaning it. Lifting the veil and kissing her, sweeping her across a threshold, staying faithful, maybe changing diapers or coaching a basketball team. Making a marriage work, when Ken hasn't tried even once.

Seven years. He kept bumping up against it. They had been so young when he'd broken his brother's nose and walked away without looking back. Their parting was not supposed to be permanent, whatever he had said at the time. Ken had figured out that Andy would give him some time to cool off. Their parents were devastated when Andy didn't not show up from then on. Alone on Christmas eve this year, Ken had started thinking maybe it was time he did the finding. But even then it had been too late.

Ken closed his eyes for a moment, let the pain rip open a wound, he had thought long healed. He rubbed a hand over his face.

"After two long years, why does she want to find me now".

The P.I. was not aware that only now he discovered that he will be the bearer of bad news. He was talking, and with difficulty. Ken just heard something ... a son ... A son who is five years old.

"Do you have a picture?"

The P.I. groped in one pocket of his jacket, then the other. "Mrs. Chu thought ..."

"A picture would soften me?"

"Yes. No. That is ... "

Ken took the picture. It was a school picture showing him together with his teacher and classmates. Ken knew his eyes, almond and dark; they were Andy's – and his own.

But how come his hair isn't an inch long, dark and fine, revealing the shape of his skull. And he was ghost pale, and thin.

He lifted his gaze and asked Mr. Yao. "What's wrong with him?".