Short Story

Knock, knock, knock.

Three confident knocks sounded throughout the large house, and fourteen year old Lucas Miller ran downstairs to open the door. “Coming!” he yelled as he sprinted through the long hallway, down the wide staircase, and finally into the carpeted foyer to open the large oak doors. A strange face, Chinese, just like Lucas, met him. He was a man of about thirty years old, ragged clothes, and an aged but smiling face. The man lifted his hands for a timid wave but Lucas only shot him a glare. “Mom! Dad! Who is this?”

Lucas’s dad’s voice echoed throughout the house as he too, walked into the foyer. “What did I say about interrupting me in the middle of a – oh.” Lucas’s dad observed the man outside the door. “What can I do for you, mister?”

“Yes, yes, thank you for your warm welcome, sir. I’ve really been struggling recently, life’s not been treating me so good…” the man cast a wistful glance at Lucas before turning back to his dad. “But if you could have some mercy and offer me a job at the house. I see you have a large house here and I would be willing to do anything from cooking to cleaning to gardening – anything. It would be much appreciated, Mister…”

“You can call me Mr. Miller,” Lucas’s dad said, holding out his pale hand for a handshake. “And yes, you may have a job. This is perfect, because I’ve just been looking for someone to look after my son here,” He continued, elbowing a frowning Lucas, “and you can keep an eye on him since he’s been getting quite rebellious recently. May I have your name?”

The man’s face immediately lit up. “It’s Xiu Ying,” he said as he dipped low into a bow. “I am forever grateful and I owe you my life. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.” 

—

Lucas did not enjoy his new living situation. Xiu Ying was constantly bothering him and keeping him from doing everything he wanted to do. He was fourteen, afterall. He wanted to stay up all night on the phone with his girlfriend, and game until the sun came up. Yet Xiu Ying ruined all that for him. He already had a hard enough time fitting in with his white parents, and Xiu Ying only made it worse. So, of course, Lucas promised himself that he would get Xiu Ying fired. However, his parents seemed so fond of the man. It was close to impossible. 

“It’s 10:30, Lucas! Go to bed!” Xiu Ying chided as he walked into Lucas’s room. “If you don’t go to bed now, you can’t grow up to be big and strong. I would know, look at me.”

Lucas didn’t bother looking up from his gaming console. “No. You can’t tell me what to do and what not to do.”

“Yes I can! Your father hired me for a reason. Now go to bed!”

“No! Can you stop meddling in my life and just stay out? Is that too much to ask? Why are you even here, and why my house of all houses? My parents refuse to fire you!” At this point, Lucas was furiously clicking away on his gaming console, aggravated by Xiu Ying. Lucas didn’t didn’t understand what it was, but Xiu Ying was just too involved. His parents always let him do his own thing, but Xiu Ying was overbearing, too much. 

Xiu Ying sighed, fluffing out Lucas’s blankets. “Fine, don’t go to bed now. But dear boy, if you want to grow tall, please go to sleep soon. Good night, Lucas.”

While muttering under his breath, Lucas raised his hands up for a quick wave. This man was simply unbearable. Who was he to care? 

—

There was so much more that Lucas hated about Xiu Ying. Once, after an argument with his girlfriend, Lucas was sitting in his room sulking to himself. He only wanted to be alone, to numb his mixture of anger and despair. But of course Xiu Ying had to walk in. 

“What’s wrong, boy?” Xiu Ying asked. “Who has upset you again?”

“I got into an argument with my girlfriend!” Lucas shouted. “I didn’t even ask for you to be here! Get out!” 

“You know, you shouldn’t be dating at this age, it never ends well. I know I was irresponsible… ” Xiu Ying started, placing a hand on Lucas’s shoulder that Lucas quickly shook off. “But don’t be upset, for there is so much more to life. Focus on your studies and it will bring you far. Don’t be like me. Study hard, do amazing on your exams, go to a good university, and get a fantastic job. Then you can worry about girls.”

Suddenly, Lucas’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Xiu Ying! I know how I can resolve my argument with her!”

Xiu Ying frowned. “That wasn’t my point – ”

“I can just buy her a ring! A jade bracelet!” Lucas immediately got up from his bed and began pacing around the room. As the gears in his head turned, his footsteps quickened, and soon he was prying open all his drawers to find money. However, he ended up with only a mere 40 yuan in his hand. 

This won’t do me any good, Lucas thought to himself, throwing the money to the floor. “How can I get enough money to buy her a jade bracelet?” Lucas pondered aloud. 

“Maybe a job?” Xiu Ying suggested, shrugging. “I don’t know, you’ll figure out a way.”

—

“Bye Mom, Dad, have a good day at work!” Lucas yelled as his parents pulled out of the driveway. After he was sure his parents were out of sight, Lucas shut the front doors and ran into the kitchen. “Xiu Ying, can you heat up some leftovers from last night? Find me in my room.” 

Xiu Ying nodded briskly as Lucas ran up the stairs and rushed into his parent’s room. “Where is the key?” Lucas groaned under his breath as he overturned the room in search of the key to the safe. Finally, he found the key hidden under a pile of old papers inside a drawer.

Taking the key, Lucas held his breath as he inserted the key into the safe. Slowly but surely, he twisted the lock and the door popped open. He took a stack of cash out of the safe, stuffed it into his pocket, quickly returned to the room to what it looked like, and ran into his room just in time to see Xiu Ying walking up the stairs with the leftovers and tea. 

“What are you doing?” Xiu Ying demanded, an eyebrow raised. “This is suspicious.” 

Lucas snatched the tray of food from Xiu Ying’s hands. “None of your business.”

Xiu Ying nodded unbelievingly, but let it slide. 

—

Of course, Lucas’s parents found out about the stolen money the next day. 

“Tell me why 500 yuan was lost! How could 500 yuan possibly just disappear?” Mrs. Miller yelled, her face flushed with anger. “If it wasn’t you, who could possibly have done it?”

“I don’t know, Mom! Why won’t you believe me? I told you it was Xiu Ying! He’s poor, he needs money! Why would I steal money from you if I knew I could just ask?” 

“Because we trust Xiu Ying!”

“And you trust some random poor dude that asked for a job at our house more than you trust your own son? You literally chose me!” Lucas screamed back. 

Lucas’s dad cut in. “If you’d just tell us the truth, we’ll make this – ”

“No, Lucas is right, it was me.”

Lucas and his parents looked up to the door in surprise. There stood Xiu Ying, head hung in apology, hunched over in shame. “I did it.” He whispered. 

Mr and Mrs Miller both shook their heads. “We know you wouldn’t, Xiu Ying, you’ve earned our trust. You don’t have to stand up for Lucas…”

“No, really. I did it.” Xiu Ying said, once again, this time defiant. He looked into their eyes and then continued. “I don’t deserve to be here. I thank you for giving me a chance, and giving me an opportunity to see… never mind, but I’ve done so much wrong. My conscious will not take more. I must ask you to fire me.”

A deafening moment of silence passed. Mrs. Miller finally spoke, hand on her husband’s shoulder. “You’re right. You’re fired.”

“Alright then,” Xiu Ying whispered, stooping down into a low bow. “Thank you for everything. I will leave now. Goodbye, Lucas. I’ve enjoyed seeing you again and witnessing what you have become. Be a good man.” With that, Xiu Ying left the house forever, sparing Lucas one final wistful glance as the door shut behind him. 

—

The next day, as Lucas woke up, Lucas sighed a breath a relief. Everything worked out just in his favor. He got to keep the money, and Xiu Ying was out of his life. Sitting down at his desk, he opened up his drawer to grab a pen for his homework. 

But he found a note lying on the top of his pen, a thick creamy paper with neat lines of black ink on it. Carefully, Lucas picked it up to read. 

Lucas, I know you don’t like me. I know that you don’t want me around. At first I thought you just had to warm up to me, and I kept trying. But I finally understand that you just don’t need me. You have a good life on your own; I can see that. It is the best for me to leave. What I do have to say though, is that I love you, Lucas, because I am your dad. Please understand that everything I’ve done while I was here was done out of love. Don’t worry, I’ll be long gone as you’re reading this. Look under the stack of papers. I’ve been saving up to get you a little something while I was working here. Please return the money to your parents. And never forget that I love you. Love, Xiu Ying. 

Under the stack of papers, Lucas first found a beautifully glossed jade bracelet hammered with gold. And underneath that lay a black and white photograph, one of a younger Xiu Ying in his teens with a baby laughing in his arms. That baby was unmistakably Lucas. 

---

Writing Process (Click to open):

---

Reflection:

When I first heard about this assignment, I was thinking about how interesting it would be – except that I didn’t have a single idea about what to do. I spent the first class we had to work on it brainstorming, but came up with near nothing. At first, I wanted to do a story about a man who sounded like he was going to smuggle opium into China, but revealing to the readers at the very end that the man was really bringing silver in. But then, I found that it would be really complicated to write and I couldn’t get very far. So, I decided to scrap the entire idea and spent another day thinking, and I finally finished with this. Once I had the idea, it became easy to put it down on paper. What I really enjoyed about writing this story was building each character’s personality and giving them personalities. I enjoyed writing this even though it was definitely a challenging and rough start for me, because I don’t think I’m very creative!