The Restoration Rival novel · Chapter 10 of 21

Chapter 10: Nine Years Old

The snow kept coming.

I stood at the window with my back to him and my hands flat on the sill.

"Nine years old," I said.

"You were nine. I was nine."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do."

"No. I don't."

He didn't raise his voice.

He never did.

"The alley behind the noodle shop," he said. "On Dongmen Street. The one with the tiled wall."

"There are a hundred alleys."

"Not with a tiled wall and a broken drain."

The wind pushed against the window.

"There were three of them," he said. "Two older, one your size. They had your bag. They'd already taken your shoes off."

I didn't say anything.

"You were on the ground with your hands over your head."

"Stop."

"I was walking back from my aunt's with a bag of oranges."

"Lu Chen."

"I dropped the oranges and I got the big one by the collar and pulled him off you."

I turned around.

He was standing where he'd been standing, with his tea going cold on the desk.

"He hit me in the mouth," he said. "I still have the chip in my front tooth. You can see it if you look."

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