It had been days since Lien last left his bedroom. Every footfall and door closing made him jumpy as though this would be the hour of his punishment or release. The agony of waiting made him stir crazy even if his prison was in luxury and glamor. He had no other thoughts burdening him other than his uncertain future and that night with Vitya. Like tendrils, his mind was consumed with a tug of war. Fear and needy disposition festering like poison wrapping around his veins in desperate search for his heart. The other shoe had dropped. A jingling of keys clinking against the door from the outside.

Lien looked worse for wear. Eye bags and messy black hair a testament to his torment. Empty wine bottles scattered the floor and dusted traces of white powder on the coffee table. His crazed eyes glared at the door knob turning aggravatingly slow. His heart rate dropped like a prey animal caught in the predators trap. Lifting up his chin, he stood in way of the door as it finally creaked open.

"Peng." Lien's bewildered expression dulled into disappointment, "What do you want?" He asked while backing away from the man who was supposed to be his bodyguard and now was the means of his entrapment. Peng adjusted his red tie at his collar as though it was suffocating him. "I came to apologize for my behavior." The man said with a tight breath. Inching closer and closer to the object of his deepest regret and desire.

"Apologize for hitting me or being a creep." Lien spat with a blunt reply. He had lost any respect he once had for Peng. There was a moment of brief silence and Lien began to airily laugh. Turning on his heel and sitting on the leather couch. His vices requiring more attention than Peng as he reaching into the crack in the sofa cushions, pulling out a small plastic bag and tapping its contents out onto the coffee table.

"I was trying to save you from yourself. Why can't you see that?" Peng sucked his teeth and walked closer, the only barrier between them being the coffee table where Lien was preparing to get high off of the cocaine powder. "You've been self destructive and you've made a mess out of everything. I should of never let you convince me to let you go to Moscow." The man completed his thought that fell on deaf ears. Lien brought his head down to the table, snorting the substance and pinching his nose.

"I'm the master and you're the bodyguard. It's your job to protect me not order me around like I'm your wife." Lien furrowed his brows and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "If you were actually sorry you'd let me out of this goddamn room." He grew angry at Peng for this pretentious display of care. "You know that if I wanted to I would." Peng sighed, easily frustrated by this whole ordeal and understandably upset.

Lien gave a dead pan glare towards the other. "Then get the fuck out of my room, Peng." He spat. That was it. There was nothing else Peng could say or do to make this better and he knew that just as much as Lien did. "Fine. I'll leave." The bodyguard stood up and went towards the door, hesitating to turn the knob as if expecting Lien would give up the attitude and show that he cared about Peng. There were no parting words and Lien stubbornly remained quiet as Peng left.

When silenced had filled the room, Lien scoffed at the audacity Peng had to come into the room thinking they'd kiss and make up? No way. He had too much going on in his mind to even think of entertaining Peng. That was until he realized that Peng was his only way out of being trapped in this room. He stood up and went to the door, knocking on it a few times before speaking.

"Peng, I'm sorry can you come back in?" Lien begged and put his forehead against the wood. There wasn't a shadow under the door and he couldn't hear anything outside. That was until it had suddenly opened and Butler Yu was standing there. The old man had a toothy smile and a silver platter in his hand with a dome covering. "Young Master Cheung, good evening. I've brought you something to eat." He said softly and entered the room, setting the items down on the coffee table as Lien walked over and looked to Yu. "Well, thanks I guess. Have you seen Gao? I want to talk with him." Lien stated and sat down on the arm of the couch. Butler Yu hummed as he took off the domed cover, exposing the fresh noodles in the bowl underneath.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible." Butler Yu replied and stood up straight. His hands resting behind his back. "And why not?" Lien retorted. Being under house arrest was no fun and something felt off about what Yu had said to him in these tense moments. "That's all I'm at liberty to say, enjoy your meal young Master Cheung." Yu turned on his heel and left the room, though he had not closed the door all the way.

Was it a trap? Did his grandfather set up some kind of test for Lien to prove his obedience? Lien swallowed roughly at the prospect of testing the bounds of loyalty. It felt so strange to be tested daily by his own blood. He stood up and hesitantly went over to the door, but stopped in his tracks. "Hell no." He muttered and turned away, going into his room to change out of the robe he'd been wearing for days, having himself a shower and putting on his pleated black pants and tucked fitted shirt. He peaked out from the bathroom as he was getting ready. Noting that the door was still cracked open.

"Seriously? Not gonna work." Lien rolled his eyes and slid his feet into black leather loafers. Stepping into the lounge space by the door and pacing back and forth. It was easier said than done to ponder going outside when he was ordered to stay where he was. A realization struck him as he stared at the door. "Butler Yu would never be so reckless. And surely he wouldn't be the one testing me." He rationalized with himself and like ripping off a bandaid he rushed into the hallway. His heart sinking in his chest and the spiking of anxiety in his stomach threatening to make him nauseous.

When he noticed no one was in the hallway to catch him, he wasted no time to rush down the hallway and towards the phone setting on the hall table next to the vase of wilted flowers. He picked the phone up, looking around cautiously as he put in Gao's number and listened to it ring.

On the other end of the line, Gao was on his knees by the gravel road. His grandfather standing in front of him at point-blank range with a pistol to Gao's forehead. The moment was tense until the ringing of Gao's phone broke that tension and Master Cheung had grown more enraged. "Answer it. Now." He ordered by pressing the gun into Gao's forehead. "Okay! Okay I will." Gao hastily reached for his back pocket and pulled out the ringing device, holding it up to his ear and answering. He heard Lien's voice on the other end and tears started to form in his eyes. "Lien, I'm sorry." Gao uttered and his grandfather's eyes widened.

"To think both of my grandsons are traitors. Hah!" Master Cheung started to laugh hysterically. He didn't move the gun away though and Gao had began trembling, "You need to run." He said into the phone and set it down on the ground despite the muffled protests from Lien coming through.

The pistol was cocked and his grandfather glared into Gao's eyes with not an ounce of remorse for what he was about to do. "You are no longer my grandson, nor is your queer little brother. Traitors." Master Cheung chuckled and adjusted his footing and all that Gao could do was close his eyes. "Say something, boy! Or I'll shoot you." His grandfather continued, as wanting to probe for information that Gao didn't have.

There were moments in Gao's life that felt like life was permanent. The nights in the car with his parents in the front seat, Lien in a booster and Hana annoying him in the middle seat. He remembered those nights fondly. When times came that he felt in danger he would remember those fleeting moments of innocence he and his siblings once shared. The impermanence of youth. How he missed his mother and father and how inspiring they both were. He knew now that it was too late to change the past and thus he accepted what was to come of it.

Gao opened his eyes slowly and looked straight at his grandfather, "Life is temporary around you." He huffed, his heart racing and his fists clenching. Fear consumed his body, yet he couldn't let that show to his grandfather. He wouldn't actually shoot his heir, right?

BANG.