Chapter 4
Jin was leaning with his arms on the top of the wall of the roof looking up at the billboards attached to the side of the buildings around the building where he was on top off. Behind him Yi came from the exit to the roof, walking towards the raven-haired boy and stopped beside him.
"Good evening" Yi greeted looking at Jin, which glanced at her smiling shortly. "Did something happen?"
"No" Jin responded. "I…..remembered before about the day we found out your father had died."
"Oh…...why?" Yi asked seeing Jin shrug his shoulders.
"Remember that day, when you saw your dad on the stairs before we left for school?"
"Sure"
"And remember, when I came a little later and explained to you, that he had said something about, that I should take care of you?"
"Yes…..wait, you're not thinking about, that he killed himself or something?" Yi asked gazing seriously at the friend. "My grandparents said, it was a heart attack"
"I know, but I still don't get it why he said that on the same day as he died. It's like he knew he was going to die"
"Maybe that was a coincidence?" Yi questioned Jin. "Or he knew it was going to happen and…..he wanted to make sure I would be alright?"
"But why did he give me that envelope for you?" Jin questioned himself, making Yi tilt her head.
"What envelope?"
"This…..oh I've forgot it down in my room" Jin mentioned slapping himself on the head. "Sorry"
"It's alright, what's with the envelope"
"He gave me that envelope and told me to give it to you when you get sixteen, but I forgot it and I just found it down in the drawers of my bed"
"Oh okay and what's in the letter?"
"I don't know, it's meant for you to open, not me"
"I'm kinda curious. What could the letter be?" Yi questioned looking at Jin, which gazed down at the streets neutrally, then Yi placed her hand on his shoulder looking at the boy. "Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier" Jin apologized turning around to look at the girl. "I preferred to tell you this, because I didn't want you to get angry at me if you would found this out. Although it's my fault I've forgotten about the envelope"
"It's okay Jin, I still can see that envelope. It doesn't matter, if it is on my birthday or any other day" Yi mentioned making Jin smile.
"Also I didn't tell you how I felt on that day after his dad and the fact he had given me the envelope. You were devastated on that day and I thought if I would have told you that you would get mad at me"
"You did the right thing. You just wanted to spare me from more pain"
"Yeah I can't imagine how hard it was for you to lose a family member. The pain you have felt. It sure was more painful than the pain I got from seeing my little sis heartbroken" The Chinese-descendant boy mentioned looking at Yi, which was looking along with him at the buildings in front of them.
"You won't believe how awful it felt back in time"
"Really bad" Jin commented observing Yi smile a little at his agreement. Jin tapped with his fingers on the wall as the two stood there now in quiet silence, the only thing they could hear were the cars down the street. Jin rolled his eyes at the teenager, then spoke at her again. "You know you can count on me"
"I know" Yi answered looking at the boy, which smiled gently at the girl. "Thank you" Yi responded gazing at the boy, which had his eyes glued on the girl slowly turning a little enamored at looking at her, same Yi's lips had turned up as she was also gazing at the boy a little lovelier as before, then Jin slowly leaned his head forward at the girl puckering the lips, while Yi's eyes widened as she saw, what her best friend was about to do, afterward she closed her eyes leaning her face closer to the boy.
"Hey guys!" Shouted a voice shrieking the two, which back off from their move and looked at the other side of the roof to see Peng. "Did I interrupt something?"
"Uhm…...no?" Yi answered unsure looking at Jin, which shrugged his shoulder. "Come out" Yi called the boy and Jin sighed disappointed at the unsuccessful first kiss.
"How you're doing cuz?" Jin asked as if nothing had happened before.
"There was an envelope addressed on us three from Mr. Burnish" Peng told the two teens holding it up at the two.
"Oh cool" Yi mentioned then the child handed the envelope out to the girl, which opened the envelope and looked at it along with Jin.
"Who's Miss Burnish?" Jin asked squinting his eyes at the letters at the begin of the letter, seeing Yi shrug her shoulders.
"Maybe he has a daughter?" Yi replied unsure looking at the tall boy.
"Dear Yi, Jin and Peng. I don't know anything about you two, but I know a lot about you. My older brother used to talk about you three and the time you helped out bring the yeti back to Mount Everest. Yes, I know about Everest, but this secret is well guarded by us. You don't have to worry about it. With this letter, I wanted to inform you, that Mr. Burnish has unfortunately passed away last week and I needed to contact you three to pass by the Burnish Industries here in Shanghai. It's about his last will and I was hoping you three could help me" Jin read aloud, then looked at the two around him, which were a little sad at the news they just heard.
"I can't believe Mr. Burnish died" Peng mentioned followed by Yi pet his shoulder.
"He didn't seem like the youngest thought" Jin mentioned. "He spent almost his whole life trying to find a yeti to prove, that they existed"
"Yeah"
"It's been a long while, that we have passed by them," Yi mentioned. "They had changed everything. Since Burnish had allowed Everest to go back home he had invested his fortune to turn it into a plant to take care of species close to extinct and other animals, that were found and brought to them"
"The chuckling Miniature Kangaroos were the cutest" Peng mentioned smiling as he thought about them.
"They made me think at some point at some criminals, that get sent into mental institutions in some movies?"
"Like that crazy lady from the dalmatian movie?" Peng asked earning a nod from his older cousin.
"Hey I know tomorrow is Saturday, but why don't we pass by the Burnish industries and see, if we can find Miss Burnish or anyone, that could help us find her?" Yi suggested the boys.
"Yes, please I want to see those Kangaroos again!" Peng shouted jumping up and down excited. Jin rolled his eyes in amusement at the little boy and nodded.
"I'm in" Jin agreed making Yi smile.
"Okay boys, tomorrow at 10 am we meet down in front of our building. Is this good?" Yi suggested earning a nod from the two boys. "Great"
"So this means, we should better go to bed in the next minutes" Peng mentioned seeing Jin fondle Peng's hair playfully.
"I and Yi probably need it mostly" Jin mentioned watching Yi hold her hand in front of her mouth to yawn. "See?"
"Oh yeah I really should go to bed,"
"Yes, we come later down too" Jin mentioned and Yi embraced both boys, then moved away towards the entrance to the building.
"G'Night boys"
"Good night Yi" Both boys said in a chorus, seeing the girl disappear into the building.
"What were you two doing up here?" Peng asked making Jin groan and turn his back to the boy. "Did you get somewhere?"
"We nearly kissed, but you showed up and it didn't happen"
"Oh….right" Peng answered embarrassed. "Sorry"
"It doesn't matter now, maybe it wasn't the right time though," Jin said looking down at the streets, where fewer cars were passing by.
"There is still tomorrow and other days. You will make it Jin"
"I'm just more worried about if she reciprocates it or not"
"But she was going to kiss you Jin. She likes you, why else would she do that?"
"As I was leaning in, you saw she was going to kiss me?"
"I…..I don't know, I just saw you two together jumping as I got in. I didn't note, what she was doing or you" Peng mentioned making Jin sigh.
"Maybe I don't have a chance with her anymore. I mean did you see how I was during the time we acted towards each other as we were on bad terms?"
"Uh self-absorbed?"
"No, not that. The girl thing"
"Oh the many girls you dated?" Peng asked earning a nod from Jin. "Are you dating anyone?"
"No, I haven't since our trip to the Himalaya. I had been single for the entire school year"
"Cool, Yi has been single her entire life" Peng mentioned earning a glare from the cousin. "Uh sorry"
"I think with my past she won't probably even want to have anything with me. Who would love a guy, that had many chicks in his life and two or three per day?"
"You were dating chicks?" Peng asked starting to chuckle, then Jin warped his face realizing Peng was just a child and didn't understand certain slangs used by older people.
"Yeah kinda…." Jin added hoping Peng would forget about this.
"But that's in the past Jin, you have to look for the future. Just let the past behind you and focus on the future. You're an amazing guy, you're Yi's best friend and you have always been the best friends since the preschool. She knows you very well and she knows you're not the worst guy in the world" Peng reminded his cousin, which got a smile on his face due to the boy's recital.
"Well, you're right. I've got more chances" Jin admitted looking down at his cousin. "I will wait for the perfect moment or I'll organize something for her and in the end, I'll confess to her how much she means to me"
"Yes that sounds good" Peng confirmed, then received a playful slap on his back from Jin.
"You're the best Peng, thank you" Jin thanked the boy, which embraced his cousin happily, that he could help him out.
The next morning the trio had got reunited and made their way to the other side of Shanghai to visit the enclosure of the Burnish Industries, which had now a new paint all over the building and the walls around the building had graffiti sketches of various types of animals all over it. Next to the entrance, Yi appeared along with Jin and Peng walking at the entrance, which wasn't a big, electronic fence, but a barrier system with a guard at the entrance.
Yi approached the cabin with the guard in it, which was reading a newspaper, then the girl knocked on the glass to get his attention and the man looked out at the three kids and smiled.
"Hi is Miss Burnish here?" Yi asked, then the man pushed the gap of the window aside to be able to speak with the girl.
"Good morning, you three must be Jin, Peng and Yi, right?" The man asked earning a nod from the group. "Great, you can pass. I will inform them in the inside"
"Thank you"
The three raven-haired friends passed beside the barrier walking the road up to the entrance of the building, then the slide door opened by itself letting the group enter into the small hall, where they met a female receptionist.
"Miss Burnish will see you in a moment" The receptionist warned earning a nod from the girl, which stood along with the boys in the middle of the room.
"She's new" Peng mentioned making Yi shrug her shoulders.
"I think there are more people working for the reception or anywhere else most of the times," Yi said, then walked to the waiting area, where a few chairs stood for the visitors and over on the wall were paintings of mythical creatures, including a white one resembling a yeti, but not like the ones she has seen once back at Mount Everest. Jin approached the girl standing next to her admiring the images too, then looked at her, who had her eyes still on the paintings.
"They're wonderful"
"You're right" The boy agreed glancing at them, but still he rolled his eyes at the girl again, which noted and chuckled about it.
"Are you okay?" Yi asked, then Jin shook his head as he realized he had got distracted by the girl.
"Sorry, I was distracted" Jin apologized a little abashed, then the two looked back as a woman around the 60th appeared coming from a corridor in a white coat.
"Yi, Jin and Peng. I'm happy to meet you" The woman announced walking towards Peng, which smiled at the woman. "You must be Peng?" The woman asked earning a nod from the boy.
"Hi Miss Burnish" Yi greeted approaching the woman along with Jin.
"Oh and you' must be Yi" The woman guessed holding her hand out for the teenage girl.
"Exactly and this is Jin, which you would probably have guessed as next" Yi introduced to the woman earning a chuckle from the adult.
"Wow, I always thought I was the one with the smaller hands" The woman mentioned holding her hands over Yi's small hands.
"Oh," Jin mentioned curious at the woman's discovery.
"And this is Jin obviously," The woman mentioned giving Jin her hand earning a charming smile from the boy. "Oh you would be a good fit for my granddaughter," The woman said jokingly, making Jin grin embarrassed.
"Yes, he's quite nice," Yi mentioned looking at Jin, which smiled at Yi's compliment.
"Yes, but I'm kind of not interested in meeting a girl right now," Jin said looking at Yi, which observed the woman walk around the three.
"If you don't mind please follow me" Miss Burnish questioned the trio, which walked behind the woman to a door, then the door slide to the side automatically and they entered into a long corridor with a large outlet zone on the sides closed on the side with large glass windows.
"This is the floor, where we keep the Australian hares. Three months ago the mother Bonnie and the father Stew had a bunch of babies and to avoid more multiplication between them again, we have the father in the other cage.
"Oh," The trio said following the woman into the next section of the corridor, meeting at one side of the floor a enclosure with a fully dark-red fox sitting on the ground licking itself under his legs while leaned to the wall lied another fox with the same fur color as the other fox, but it was a vixen, that had in front of her legs three kits with their snouts under her belly all drinking milk.
"Aww look at it" Yi mentioned as she saw the mother feeding her cubs, then Jin approached the glass to observe it.
"Very adorable" Jin mentioned, then saw the male fox looking at him earning a smile from the Chinese boy.
"Those are Tomatofoxes. Those are the last two of their species, the male one has been found in Germany and it got sent to us to see if it would be possible for them to mate, which luckily worked.
"What are their names?" Peng asked.
"The male one is called Nate and the female is Layla, named after an Italian actress," Miss Burnish explained looking down at Jin, which watched the male fox approach the glass.
"Hey, can you tell me, what does the fox say?" Jin asked, then the fox opened his mouth to release a short fox scream causing Jin to jump back and fall on the ground, making Peng and Yi laugh.
"They do sound like regular foxes, right?" Peng asked looking at Miss Burnish, which nodded.
"The foxes you see in there are a little shorter than the usual red fox. Most of the characteristics are the same"
"They look very lovable" Yi mentioned entering into the next section followed by Peng and Jin, which joined after getting away from the fox enclosure.
"The animals we encounter here are full of surprises" Jin mentioned glancing at the next enclosure with a rare orangutan sitting on a large rock gazing around its space.
"Rambe is probably wondering, where his younger brother is," Miss Burnish mentioned. "We had taken him out of the enclosure, cause he seemed sick and called the vet to check him out"
"Poor little guy" Peng mentioned looking at the animal inside the room.
"He will do his best to help the brother out" Miss Burnish mentioned turning left walking to an elevator, then pressed on the arrow opening the door of the elevator, then all entered into it to head up to the office along with the woman.
The elevator reached the third floor and the kids followed the woman into the corridor turning left at the end of the corridor approaching the office, which used to belong to Mr. Burnish.
"Would any of you like a cup of tea or coffee?" The woman offered watching all three shake their heads.
"No thank you" The trio responded and the gray-haired woman walked behind the desk, that used to belong to her older brother and sat down on the chair opening the drawer beside the table.
"A notary had passed by the office to hand me out Burnish's testament and I've read it and I thought you should take a look at it too" The woman mentioned while taking out a folded letter from the drawer, then held it out at the trio, then they exchanged looks with the other and Jin took the sheet from the woman and opened it to look at the writing along with Yi and Peng.
"I see your name down there Yi" Peng mentioned pointing with his index finger on the sheet, then Jin slide his finger down to Peng's to see one of the points on the testament of their old friend.
"I hereby give Yi out my precious Chow Chow mixed breed Kai the custody,"
"Oh cool, you got your own dog Yi" Peng mentioned with a smile while Yi smiled a little hesitant at the idea.
"Oh I don't know, what my parents are going to say to this" Yi said looking at the boys.
"Maybe Nai Nai has time to take care of him?" Peng suggested looking at Yi and Jin.
"You know owning a pet brings a lot of responsibility" Jin warned the young boy.
"Yeah I guess you're right," Peng said watching Jin smirk at his cousin's confession, then continued to read the letter.
"Jin has the honor to take home one of Duchess' grandchildren home or two. Maybe Peng or your girlfriend have an interest in one,"
"What girlfriend is he talking about?" Peng asked watching Jin and Yi glance at each other, then avoid eye contact from each other again from embarrassment.
"Maybe he meant someone else?" Yi added while Jin shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh maybe he meant girl friend or I think he never asked anyone of you about it or maybe he believed you two were together for some reason" Miss Burnish suggested watching Yi shrug her shoulders.
"I don't remember having acted as a girlfriend around Mr. Burnish nor did Jin the male role"
"Maybe because you were last time running behind Yi, because she scared you with one of the whooping snake dummies?" Peng recalled out from their last visit.
"I don't know what me running behind her had to do with it, but I think it doesn't matter now" The tall boy stated following the next sentence of the testament of the brother of Miss Burnish. "For Peng, I've got something special. My good old adventure belt I have used on many of my hiking adventures including my last one at the Mount Everest for any adventure you would like to go when you're old enough"
"That sounds awesome" Peng mentioned seeing Jin raising his left eyebrow up as he continued reading the letter.
"Am I reading the next part right or am I...uh...?" Jin asked holding it closer to his face, then Yi grabbed the letter by the side and Jin left it to the girl, which searched on the sheet, where Jin had stopped afterward he pointed at the sentence he had read before.
"My very last wish I would want to have my ashes scattered up at Mount Everest, one of the most meaningful places I have ever been on earth. I would really appreciate it if Yi, Jin and Peng would do me this very last favor," Yi read it out loud to the others.
"That's…..strange?" Peng stated unsure about what he should say in this case.
"He wants us to go all way to Nepal again?" Jin gasped at the request of the late man. "It's over a thousand miles away and at that time we weren't alone. We were with Everest"
"But you had at the begin of the trip your phone Jin. Just this time you won't lose it like last time" Peng mentioned making the cousin shake his head.
"I didn't lose it, I exchanged it with the boat, so I could find you and Yi. Otherwise, I would never have made it, if I didn't do that"
"This time is easier Jin, there are no bad guys going behind us nor do he have the need to have to hide Everest from everybody,"
"I know Peng, but we only did that trip once and we had to go the different way. We have to take different trains and other transportation vehicles across China. All that costs money and where are you going to get that money?"
"Maybe I can help you out?" Miss Burnish suggested.
"It's appreciated, but we don't need it" Jin mentioned. "I'm sorry Peng, but it's complicated for us three to go there"
"But it's Mr. Burnish's last wish"
"Jin is kind of right Peng, you know we would like to do this last favor for Mr. Burnish, but the current circumstances don't allow us to do so," Yi said placing her hands on Peng's shoulder.
"But it's not fair. He offered us his dog and some of his mouses. We can't just take it without promising him his last wish" Peng complained hugging Yi disappointed about their choice.
"I know Peng, I'm not fond of this either" Jin enunciated bending his legs down to have eye contact with the raven-haired child, then he placed his left hand on his shoulder, then it got slapped away by the boy, that afterward covered his face starting to sob. Jin sighed, then looked at Miss Burnish, which was also a little sad about the decision of the group, then Jin gazed at Yi, which was looking at Peng patting him slowly on the back.
"Was it wrong from me?" Jin asked glancing at Yi, which shrugged her shoulders.
"You're right at some point, otherwise it's sad that we can't do that" Yi attuned.
"Maybe I should let you three go" Miss Burnish announced getting up from the chair. "But if you change your mind, I'm here" The gray-haired woman assured earning a nod from Jin, which looked back at Yi, which embraced Peng to soothe him.