Spoiled by Eight Uncles (Lily)

Lilly took a look at the house.

Aunt Melanie didn’t get angry outside that easily, but she seemed to flare up all the time in this house.

She had already gotten rid of the bad aura, but it was still going to take a little time to get used to things.

“Aunt Melissa, you can't just say bad things about Sean like that. It's not very nice,” Lilly said.

Cathy's mother stopped, taking a breath. “You don’t understand Sean. He's just like that, always so impatient with his sister. He would even fight over things with his sister.” “He’s almost thirteen now, but his sister's so young. Do you think it's right to fight with a toddler?” Lilly gave it some thought. “My Grandma always says that you must be fair with loving children, and give an equal amount of care to every child or there'll be a problem for sure.” “I've got a brother who's like that too. His mother only likes his sister, and not him. Though Zachary doesn’t fight over things, but instead refuses anything other people give him... | feel like Sean and Zachary are the same...” Lilly had especially taken note of when he had sat on the sofa and maxed out the volume on his headphones, and felt at once that he was a rather lonely person.

Lilly was like a little adult, making sense with every word she said.

Cathy's mother held on to Cathy, falling silent.

She cracked a bitter smile. “You're right... alright, let's not talk about that. Let's wash our hands, and get ready to eat!” She put Cathy down, and Lilly led Cathy off to wash their hands. “Cathy and | are going to go get Sean!” But Aunt Melissa said, “Don’t bother with him! He'll come out here to eat if he’s hungry, he won't starve! There's no point in calling for him, anyways. He's just like that, shutting himself in his room whenever he’s angry. Even his Dad can’t do anything.

Lilly asked, “How would you know if you don't try?” Aunt Melissa watched as Lilly went knocking on the door, and could not help but shake her head. There was no way Sean would come out— she knew him too well.

Lilly knocked on the door with Cathy in tow.

Knock knock knock.

Lilly said, “Sean, open up!” Cathy said, “Sean... open up, open up!” Lilly said, “Open the door, it's Lilly!” Cathy said, “Open the door, it's Cathy!” Lilly began to giggle, lying by the door. “Sean, come out to eat! | can hear your stomach growling from here!” Cathy lay by the door as well, calling out excitedly, “Your tummy’s making noise, Sean!” The door slammed open.

Sean stood at the door, glaring at the both of them. “You're so noisy! | don’t want to eat, stop disturbing me! I'll bash your brains in if you keep making noise.” He wanted to close the door after that.

Only for Lilly to reach out and hold the door open forcefully, another hand on her hip. “Sean, I'd advise you to be smart about this! Don’t make me beg you on my knees!” Cathy said, “Be smart about this! Don’t make me beg you on my knees!” He found that he could not bring himself to get angry in front of the two little kids.

Even his frustration from early seemed to magically dissipate and take a turn for the better.

“I don’t want to eat, stop it.” He wanted to close the door, but found that he could not move it.

Sean exerted more force in secret, but the door refused to budge still. Sean could hardly contain his shock— was Lilly that strong? Upon second glance though, there was a shadow in front of him. Blake had somehow appeared at the door.

Oh, this was the person holding it...

Blake lowered his gaze, staring down at Sean. “Come out and eat. Don't make me make you beg on your knees.” What the...

Sean scoffed loudly, walking out to eat reluctantly.

He set down his cutlery forcefully, clanging the utensils about loudly.

Cathy's father’s expression darkened. “Behave when you eat! Go to your room if you don’t want to behave!” Sean’s mood dropped again all at once from when it was originally taking a turn for the better. “As if | want to eat! You insisted on getting me to come out against all odds!” He held his fork, and was about to slam it onto the table.

Blake glanced at him.

Sean's hand trembled, and he tightened his grip around his fork. Let alone slam it— he did not even dare drop it.

Frustration filled his chest. Who did this man think he was? Sticking his nose in others’ business! Who was he to meddle in other families’ affairs? Yet despite thinking so, Sean did not dare to show it. He had a gut feeling that Blake might chop him into pieces if Sean were to piss him off. It was only his first time meeting Blake, but there was just a default sense of fear of him in Sean.

Cathy's mother said, “Come on, eat! Just eat your food first!” She tugged at Cathy's father lightly.

Cathy's father lowered his head, refusing to say anything more.

Cathy's family was not as luxurious as the Crawfords’, and dinner consisted of pretty simple dishes.

Bamboo shoots and minced meat, pork with bell peppers, steamed chicken, fish with spring onions and ginger, sweet and sour ribs...

Yet upon closer look, it could be seen that there was a small portion of every dish with chillies in it, and every spicy version was put in front of Sean.

Cloud did not understand what was going on here. Cathy's mother had asked before cooking if any of them were alright with spicy food, and he'd said that neither him, Lilly or Blake did.

That was why Cathy’s mother had taken a small portion of every dish, and made a smaller, spicy version of it...

Cloud asked why, and she said that she and Cathy's father didn’t like spicy food either— but Sean did. It would be a waste to cook too much of it, which was why she had only made a small portion.

“Sean loves spice, he won't eat anything that isn’t spicy.” “He likes dried bamboo shoots like this... that's why | made a little more of this.” In the kitchen, Cathy’s mother seemed to pay great attention to everything that Sean liked or disliked.

She even knew that Sean disliked spring onions, and had thus taken out a bit of fish to make a spicy sauce to pour over it instead.

Cloud glanced at Sean. He was eating with a sour expression on his face, but only ate from the dishes that were in front of him.

Maybe he had never paid closer attention to his mother doing all of this for him. Maybe he had, but was used to it? Sean was in the middle of reaching for a dish, when a hand reached out and took away the piece of bamboo shoot he was about to take.

He stopped short.

No one had ever taken anything from his portions of food at home.

Sean raised his head, and saw that it was Lilly.

She hissed at the spice, chewing on the spicy bamboo shoot. “It's so yummy! You're such a good cook, Aunt Melissa!” Cathy's mother scrambled to say, “Lilly, there’s a non-spicy version of that here. You...” Lilly's eyes were creased into little smiling crescents. “That's alright! | like spicy food too!” As she spoke, she took another piece of bamboo shoot.

Sean frowned, sneaking a glance at the rest of the table. It was only then that he noticed that the rest of the table held dishes that weren't spicy, and it was only dishes that he liked that were in front of him.

He pursed his lips, reaching out silently to get a piece of spicy fish.

Only for Lilly to reach out as well, snatching a bit of fish off the plate in front of him.

“Whoa, this fish is so good! There aren't any bones in it!” It was only then that Sean realized that the fish that had always been placed in front of him had no bones.

He had always thought that his mother picked out the best parts of the fish for his sister, and put the rest of it into his bowl with just an extra sprinkle of chili on it to appease him.

Sean fell even more silent, not saying a word.

Cathy's mother said, “I truly am so grateful to all of you. Cathy wouldn't have made it through if it wasn’t for you guys.” Cathy's father said, “Yes, she really scared us this time. It's never been this bad before, | was preparing myself for the worst yesterday...” Both parents were filled with terror at the mere thought of what had happened, Cathy's mother tightening her grip on Cathy in her arms.

Sean paused at once.

Cathy had fallen sick again yesterday...”