Page 17 of Too Good to Be True

Rowan

W hen I arrive at Seth’s house that evening, it is Mr Yang who welcomes me. Seth had to work at the club.

“Mr Yang,” I greet him with a nod. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve brought my friend Paul. Do you remember Paul?”

“Of course I remember. It’s not like I’m senile. Paul. The other lawyer.”

Paul overtakes me, still standing in the doorway, and makes his way into the house. “Hey, how are you?” He greets the children sitting on the floor of the living room. They seem to be doing their homework.

“I’m here to…”

“I know exactly why you’re here.” He finally lets me in. “You can put your things in that corner.” He points to the space between the sofa and the armchair. “I’m cooking,” he says. “Noodles with fried vegetables and spring rolls.”

“You shouldn’t have bothered.”

He looks at me sideways and I realise I have to shut up.

“I love noodles.”

He shrugs, then turns to Paul. “You can stay too.”

“I never turn down a dinner invitation. In fact, if there’s anything I can do…”

“Wash your hands and then join me.”

Since when does Paul help with anything? At home, I had to do everything myself! All he did was hand me some tape and comment on everything I put in the boxes.

Paul takes off his jacket and puts it on the sofa. The sofa that will be my bed from tonight on.

“Where’s the bathroom?” He asks the children.

They point to the corridor.

Paul disappears and I approach them. “Can I give you a hand or something?”

Logan laughs mockingly.

“I’m not that old,” I say, a little hurt.

“It’s not because you are old,” Emily informs me. “It’s because he doesn’t need anyone.”

I overlook the fact that no one here has confirmed that I am not old.

“Oh yeah?” I ask Logan, who lifts his head and adjusts his glasses.

“Let’s just say I can take care of myself.”

“He’s a nerd, you know.” Mason provides the bit of information that still eludes me. “One of those nerds that makes you nervous.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with being a nerd,” I say, trying to join the conversation.

“And who said otherwise?” Now Logan looks angry.

I raise my head towards Paul, who has just returned to the living room for a little help, but in response, he mimes a sarcastic “You’re doing great,” before joining Mr Yang in the kitchen.

I have only just set foot in this house and I have already made a poor impression.

I’m not good with children. That’s why I avoid them. And yet here I am, walking through the front door into their home and life, all in the space of a few weeks.

What the hell am I doing?

“I’m going to ask Mr Yang if he needs any help,” I warn them, before walking away to catch my breath.

“They’ve already cut you up, haven’t they?” Paul asks me, laughing.

“I don’t think they like me.”

“They’re suspicious,” Mr Yang warns me.

“I understand that.”

“They don’t know how long you’ll stay. And how much damage you will do.”

“I’m not here to do any harm, Mr Yang.”

Mr Yang looks at me over his shoulder but does not answer.

I have been here for five minutes and I already regret it.

“Perhaps I’ll set the table,” Paul offers, on the pretext of leaving me alone with Mr Yang.

“I understand that you are also very cautious.”

‘I love these children. And I love Seth.”

“You want to protect them. I understand that.”

“And you, Mr Kennedy?” He turns to me, ladle in hand. “What are you trying to do?”

“Trying to keep this family together.”

“Why do you care so much?”

I look into the living room, where the children are putting their notebooks away for dinner.

“Because I know what it is to lose everything that makes you feel safe.”

Mr Yang is silent for a moment. The only sounds are the chatter of Emily and Paul and the sizzling of vegetables in the pan.

“This is their story, not someone else’s,” Mr Yang tells me, harsh but fair.

He does not say he realised it was me.

He does not say that he understands that this wound I am trying to heal is my own.

“You are right, Mr Yang. I promise to do my best not to complicate the situation.”

“I’ve never liked lawyers.”

“Neither do I.”

“At least we agree on that.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Mr Yang becomes serious again. “I think you’re already doing it, Mr Kennedy. I just hope in the right way.”

AT DINNER, THE SITUATION improves thanks also to the presence of my friend Paul.

I hate to admit it, but he has a way with everyone.

I was right to ask for his help. I don’t know how I would have managed the first night at home with the children without Seth and with Mr Yang’s eyes always on me.

Yet I thought I was getting on his good side.

Maybe that was before I slipped into this family’s life as…

what? I’m not quite sure what's going on. I offered to be a guarantor and pretend for a while that I lived here, that Seth and I were a couple. I didn’t take the children into account. How should I deal with them?

“I thought you said you liked noodles,” Mr Yang points at my almost full plate.

“Sure, a lot. Especially these.”

“I have already finished my plate and would like some more.” Paul lifts his plate and is about to stand up when Mr Yang stops him. “I’ll get it.”

“Thank you very much, Mr Yang. You are very kind and a very good chef.”

Mr Yang walks away laughing. I take the opportunity to kick my friend from under the table.

“Hey!” Paul groans, bending down to massage the part I hit.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why are you trying to get on Mr Yang’s good side?”

“I'm not trying to do anything. I don’t have to try to please others, unlike you.”

“Are you someone no one likes?” Mason asks, joining the conversation.

“I’m a lawyer,” I reply diplomatically. “It’s not easy to be liked in this job.”

“But I like him,” Emily says, alluding to Paul puffing up his chest like a peacock. “He’s nice.”

“He is an exception,” I say. My gaze hardens on my friend, who feels all too comfortable in my fake partner’s home.

“People don’t like me either,” Logan says in surprise, drawing my attention to him. “Especially classmates.”

“I’m sure that’s not the case,” I comment, not knowing how to deal with it.

“No, that’s exactly it,” Emily confirms, before popping a noodle into her mouth.

Just one. She eats one noodle at a time.

I look at Logan again, looking for an explanation.

“Nobody likes nerds.”

Now I understand the argument from earlier and his sideways glance.

“That’s not true.”

“You’re such a lawyer,” Mason says. I look at him. “You’re just spouting bullshit.”

“Hey, language,” Mr Yang warns, sitting down again.

“We like you,” Emily says with conviction, turning to Logan.

Her brother smiles at her.

“Besides, thanks to you, I never hand in blank assignments,” Mason adds, giving his brother an affectionate shove.

Logan adjusts his glasses on his nose, a little embarrassed.

“Rowan was a nerd too,” Paul says. “He still is, actually.”

“Really?” Logan looks at me.

I don’t like to talk about my past, and Paul knows that, but I think I’ll let it go in this case.

“Something like that,” I say vaguely.

“Thanks to him I always passed all the tests.”

“Does that mean you were a nerd who made others copy?” Logan asks.

“Just me,” Paul says proudly. “His best friend.”

I roll my eyes.

“You should know that Rowan and I have been friends for twenty-five years, no, what I say, twenty-seven. Right, Rowan?”

“Roughly, yes.”

“And have stayed friends all that time?” Logan asks, interested.

“It wasn’t easy to win his heart.” Paul continues to be an idiot, which is the only thing he does well. ‘But once you succeeded…”

“Are you done?” I scold him.

“No, don’t stop. Tell us,” Emily urges Paul.

“We want to know everything about him. After all, he’s our fake future foster dad, right?” Logan says.

Luckily, my phone rings at the perfect moment.

“Excuse me, I have to take this. It might be important.”

I get up from the table and walk into the living room. When I pick up my phone and see his name flashing on the screen, I almost decide to drop the call and go back to the kids’ interrogation.

“Hey,” I greet him.

“Oh, hey,” Seth says. “I meant to call earlier, but I haven’t had a free moment. How’s everything going?”

“All good.”

“Are you sure?”

“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, but I’m not worried about the children. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

“I’m managing too.”

“You wouldn’t know it by your voice.”

“I’m just a bit…”

“Have they put you on trial?”

“With the help of my friend Paul.”

“Does he tell all your secrets?”

I only have one secret at the moment. The fact that your voice makes me feel so inexplicably good.

“Something like that.”

“I’d like to be there to hear them.”

I sigh at the thought of wanting the same.

“I can give you a summary when you get back.”

“I don’t want a summary. I want every detail.”

The way he says it sends a hot shiver down my spine.

“I’m not good with details, but I can do my best.”

A long, endless moment of silence, filled with his heavy breathing; then, Seth says, in his seductive voice, “I’m sure you will.”