Chapter 1 - 1938, Spring, Boston
My name is April Graves.
But I wasn’t born in April.
Although my parents insisted on an excuse like ‘we wished you would become a cute girl that makes people think of the new green season’, but since I was small I knew that my dark coffee-colored curls and dull blue-grey eyes have nothing at all to do with early spring in the current Boston.
I was more than ten-years-old before I found out that my name was insisted on by my grandmother. The neighbors at the mansion, the Pendletons, have a large family, and even the fourth son, Nick, who was around my age, knows everything about kids. Seems like he’s going to get his third younger brother or sister, but they would only be born ten months later. So after I do a little counting with my friend who told me this, I realized that my birthday is exactly ten months away from April. In other words, this cute name of mine, April, was given to me according to the month of my conception.
I’m completely confused, as to why they didn’t just call me ‘Ann’ and be done with it. Although eighteen years have passed since then, but to this day I would sometimes get thoughts like that.
The problem is Grandmother’s opinion is absolute. Hazel Graves is always standing on the top of Graves family power pyramid, and forbids anyone from disagreeing with her. Truth is the family also gathered its wealth this way, creating a considerable position for itself in the cultural melting pot that is the United States. Grandfather used Grandmother’s money to start a business, and the son-in-law who later inherited the Graves family business –in other words, April’s father—is still keeping the business going strong. Not only did he survive the financial meltdown ten years ago, he can even solve the unfortunate news coming from Europe in the shortest possible time. This is all thanks to the entire Graves family uniting and obeying Grandmother’s teachings. Even though she was called back to the Lord’s side two years ago, the entire family hasn’t changed its style.
That’s right, the most important thing is Grandmother’s teachings.
Such as the habit that, even in safety, we must count to five before we take any actions.
April lies low behind the shirt wall underneath the window, and starts counting from deep within her throat. One, two, three… She only got to four when harried footsteps come her way, a few officers running past the direction she had meant to escape to. She holds her breath, observing carefully, and notices that all four of the policemen have their fingers on the triggers. If she had dashed out five seconds earlier, she would have definitely been shot full of holes.
After the group of people passed, she finally leaves the scene. And ten, she hangs the targeted item around her neck, doing up her blouse to the last button.
What she’s planning to take away from this castle, allegedly built from bribes, is a piece of jewelry passed down through generations of a once-royal family. The necklace, with striped amber as the main attraction, is so luxurious it can hardly be called beautiful anymore. According to legend, though, gems used in sacrifices have a mysterious power, and it would become redder, shinier if it absorbed the life energy of a pure and innocent young girl. Her lips curve into a small smile, as she thinks. ‘Since nothing happened when I put it on, that proves I’m not innocent.”
“April!”
Her partner is waving at her from the tall wall, even wearing some army uniform he got from goodness knows where. The army-green jeep is already fired up and ready beside him.
“I’m jumping! DT!”
“What?”
Her partner’s expression becomes a little panicked. It’s hard to tell Asians’ age to begin with, and his expression now makes him look five years younger than he already does. Although he’s way past the big 30, but he still the baby face of a young Chinese boy.
“Hold on a sec! April! Let me get a mattress or something…”
Before he can even finish his sentence, April stomps down onto the tiles, proceeding to leap down the forty to fifty feet tall wall. In his panic DT holds out his arms, just managing to catch her.
“Mmph, my arm’s gonna break!”
“You’re exaggerating. And the really heavy thing isn’t me, it’s the necklace.”
“It’s not a matter of weight! Who actually just jumps like that! And from somewhere so high! You really are too rash, too impulsive. And this isn’t the only time! You’ve been like this the past two years, and your plans aren’t graceful or careful at all. Besides, the ‘prey’ was just in the next state, why did we have to run all the way to Mexico?”
“Not bad, you were really shocked too. It’s so funny!”
“Don’t you laugh! You should have discussed it with me, and you should have done some investigations beforehand too! I heard that Hazel Graves was known for her gracefulness, and to think that her granddaughter is like this…”
Interrupting his resenting lecture, April jumps onto the dirty jeep.
“What, why don’t you blame yourself for not being strong enough? Look at those skinny arms, you should go train them up, play some football.”
“You’re blaming me? You’re trying to put everything on me, aren’t you?”
Compared to the men April meets in her daily life, namely relatives or high school classmates, the Asian’s figure is smaller, and his limbs thinner. Truth is April’s own physique isn’t that much better, so it’s basically the pot calling the kettle black.
“Whatever, back in my hometown this counts as very standard. You on the other hand, you’re already eighteen, so why do you still have an iron board figure? Take me for instance, I’ve never dated a ‘flat’ person before.”
“Chest size has nothing to do with work.”
Before she even finishes her sentence, she whacks down hard on the back of her senior partner’s head.
“A-and you’re so violent… I wanna quit, I’m going split with you no matter what. Though Hazel did help me a lot, I did follow her requests and acted as your babysitter for two years…”
She doesn’t know which country he came from, or even asked for his real name and age. All she knows is that he opens a Chinese restaurant, and the unbelievable thing is that he even has a pretty little wife. When the grandmother brought her beloved granddaughter to Chinatown for a meal, the restaurant they headed for was run by his wife, though at that time she didn’t know DT yet.
When they first met in the restaurant, she thought that this woman must have been an oriental princess before she came to America, because no one suited a deep red cheongsam better than her. Even though she was carrying a silver tray full of spoons, plates and bowls, her every move was so graceful, attracting everybody’s attention. Her silky black hair was piled on top of her head, revealing the soft fair skin on her neck. Even April, who is of the same gender, felt that the familiar way with which she used that uniquely designed spoon was very sexy.
But when she asked him, ‘Since you already such a pretty little wife and a booming restaurant business, why are you still doing something like this?’, DT replies indignantly,
‘That restaurant is my wife’s business,’
And as her grandmother’s was dying, April had been suddenly partnered with DT at Fenway Park.
“DT, this girl is called April, she’s my heir, please be partners with her for two years.”
Sixteen-year-old April, with no idea what being modest meant, was furious at her grandmother’s actions, but she believed that with her abilities, she could pull it off. However the truth was, a greenhorn rookie like her couldn’t operate on her own, and even her decision-making skills were only learned after that first year when she barely got to keep her name.
But then, the remaining year is almost over too.
DT steps on the accelerator, saying,
“It’s just next week, the deal of two years ends next week. By then, I’ll be a free man, and I can go back to working alone, all carefree like I used to, and I’ll never have to protect a fine little missy like you again. Although I feel a bit sad about it, but I don’t want to be partners with a teenage girl anymore.”
“Even if you wanted to be partners with me, I wouldn’t want you! Just thinking about it, not having to listen to an old man’s directions, I feel ten years younger.”
“If you were ten years younger than you are now, wouldn’t you just be a little monkey running around…”
“Stop your nagging!”
Because April tapped his shoulder, the entire jeep leans to the right. Just then, a few bullets run holes through the asphalt road, exactly where the car was earlier.
“Uh-oh!”
The duo quickly shirk their heads, and try their best to sink lower into their seats. They sneak a peek behind them, and see two men poking their bodies out of a black Ford sedan, waxed until it shone.
“They dare chase us with such a shiny car. DT, I’m getting ready to counterattack!”
Before DT can reply, she already has the dark green rifle in her hands. Although it’s a small weapon completely contrasting her petite figure, she’s more confident using it than those new recruits.
“You really don’t have an ounce of a pure girl’s heart, asking, ‘Can I counterattack?’… Ah—Fine, you counter, just fight back all you wish! But wait until we cross the state border! I’m not familiar with the cops in the Bay State[1].”
Why would she have what pure girl’s heart!
The driver mumbles, “Really, why did Hazel find such a reckless girl to be her heir?”
Recently, Beacon Hill is full of nothing but those annoying high class sedans.
That’s why, even though it’s Sunday evening approaching dusk, the feeling of riding on a bike and weaving through the queue is super satisfying. Especially when you’re riding a dusty military auction piece down Charles Street with its adorable signs, it’s particularly eye-catching. All the elegant-looking old ladies are frowning, and the couples walking hand in hand whispering.
It doesn’t matter what you say, I’m used to people talking behind my back anyway.
April drives her bike to the tiled automobile entrance, and pulls off the green safety helmet so worn it looks almost black. Although she’s at the back gate, there’s already a fifty-plus-year-old man waiting for her at the door. He’s dressed immaculately in a suit. If she remembers correctly, his tie has never been even a centimeter crooked.
“Welcome back, Young Miss.”
He bows his white head, bending down slightly to accept April’s helmet.
“I’m back, Mr Hobart. Could you please find someone to help me park the bike in the garage?”
Be it to butlers or servants, you always have to respect them, that’s Grandmother’s teaching. Actually, Hobart is a perfect butler, and worthy of respect as an elder in life, and he’s been at this house since before she was born, so she knows him for a longer time than anyone else.
Not only is he April’s first friend, he’s also an existence closer to her than her parents.
“Please, call me Banwart. On the other hand, Young Miss, you are much later than you were expected to be, Master and Mistress left an hour ago.”
“No way? An hour ago? God, whose party is it today? Uh—uh—I think it was something to do with fundraising, right?”
Hobart pushes open the heavy door, continuing slowly,
“It’s the museum fundraising. The evening dress for tonight is already hanging in your closet, it seems Mistress chose it for you. As Louisa’s daughter is delivering, she has gone home. If you don’t mind, Ishtar will help you get ready.”
“Alright, but I think there’s no time to tie my hair now… That Ishtar is the newcomer Brunit’s daughter, right? Can she speak Spanish? Do you think if I ask her, will she teach me like you did?”
“Of course she will.”
April’s German teacher was Hobart. Grandmother ordered her young granddaughter to call him teacher during the six hours of class every week. Mother wanted to employ a professional tutor, disagreeing with Grandmother’s opinion. But it’s thanks to her wonderful educator that not only did her German results improve tremendously, she can now speak German as fluently as she can English.
If she can master Spanish the same way, that’s one more country she can go to without needing a translator.
“I’ll tell Ishtar later. Just in case, I have prepared some simple evening attire for Mr DT as well.”
Having served the household since Grandmother’s generation, Hobart is fairly familiar with Aprils antics and partner.
To protect his company and property, April’s father, as the son-in-law, had heard of this secret from his wife’s parents. But since Grandmother died and to this day, the person who knows most about her underground work is undeniably this butler.
“No point, he’s not coming as usual. But thanks for your consideration, if he knew about it, he would definitely be very happy.”
Every time she asks him, ‘Do you want to come?’, the Asian only smiles craftily, saying, ‘If you want me to go into a place like Beacon with a wealthy little heiress, in some ways you’ll start a commotion.” She’s ashamed of herself for being unable to deny his words, and sometimes she hates herself for belonging to that type of society.
April takes off her shoes roughly, rushing up the stairs barefooted, and then stops at the interval between flights, poking her body over the banister to tell Hobart,
“Oh, yeah, Mama said she would help me choose my dress, don’t tell me it’s the super extravagant pink one, is it? Because if it is, then crap, the sleeves might not fit.”
“…But your figure doesn’t seem to have changed…”
“Come on, congratulate me, I’ve finally got biceps.”
She curves her arms up to show her confused elderly friend.
“April! Why are you dressed like that!”
At first she wanted to sneak in, but then Mama rushes right over.
“I’ve told you a hundred thousand times, but you’re still late. And now that you’ve finally shown up, you’re wearing something so out of fashion? You practically look like a songstress from the Wild West!”
“Mama, you really don’t have an eye for the antique, this was Grandma’s favorite dress! Look at the lace on this collar, it’s so intricate. Don’t you remember this outfit? Back then Grandma wore this dark blue dress to the social world of Europe…”
“Of course I remember! Because you wore the exact same thing to last week’s party!”
Only after her mother mentioned it does she notice it.
Her mother, having received a proper heiress’ education, frowns exaggeratedly, as though the world is ending. And then Mama points at her chest, so April instinctively dodges. Since the person accepting this thing will be here at the party, she had worn it directly.
“And what country did that cheap-looking necklace come from? Whatever, it must have been bought at some strange antique shop. I just can’t stand you! Are you trying to do some voodoo? That style doesn’t fit young girls at all! I say, April, where’s the ruby necklace? The jewelry for this party tonight, didn’t I already match it properly and put it in your dresser?”
Mama, you really can’t tell the worth of this piece. If she knew that her daughter had gotten into a gunfight for it, she would surely faint on the spot.
“But I don’t like to wear stupid pink dresses! Besides if I wear a style like that, the excessive material will make me look even shorter. I’m already small enough, so I have to wear something with more personality!”
“God, what is this child saying… Why are you so uncute.”
April looks around carefully, and there are a few ‘heiresses’ staring directly at the Graves mother and daughter. They have elegant hats on their heads, wearing elegant dresses and even gloves. If they dressed like that in the desert, they’d get a sunstroke within three minutes.
“Everybody, good day—”
April waves her right hand smilingly, and her cousin[2]—the only blonde beauty in her family, the gorgeous Dianne Graves, looks at her uneasily.
She is straightforward, and gentle. She always takes April’s side too, it’s just too bad that she can’t help April in this situation.
“How I wish you would be more like Dianne. Look at her, so feminine and well-bred, and she can converse freely with the gentlemen too.”
“I can also talk with the men… No, I mean, I also frequently chat with the gentlemen, Mother.”
“That’s your biggest problem!”
Truth is, when she has too, April can act like a proper lady too! And she’d wear a dress so long she trips over the hem so many damn times. Not only can she attend a formal party properly, she can also talk right to the men’s hearts. And her specialty is beating those allegedly cultured men in an argument of words, but if they want to compare drinking skills she’s likewise unbeatable.
Thing is, if minors were discovered drinking in this state, they would be immediately arrested.
“Speaking of which, what are those things in your dresser? It’s practically the special corner for cowgirls and jungle explorers. Are you planning to marry to a German farm? Cowboys and whatnot, they’re only suited for games before six-years-old! Like Mama, I was looking for a husband by the time I was eighteen.”
Even if she mentioned her relationships with the opposite sex now, it wouldn’t work, would it.
“Oh, right, April, what did you get from the colleges you visited? If you don’t choose a school carefully…”
“Right, there’s a place in New York with a very unique antique professor…”
“God, a professor! Wouldn’t he be a bit too old?”
Mother doesn’t understand the meaning or purpose of ‘professor’.
“Listen to me closely, April, I’m begging you, please be as elegant and feminine as Dianne, and find a nice person to date, okay? And hurry, so your Papa and Mama don’t have to worry about you all the time. You should know that you are the Graves family’s precious only daughter, after all you inherited your Grandmother’s name.”
But, Mama…
April sighs, pretending not to have heard anything.
Including Mother, most of the family doesn’t know Grandmother’s true identity, and they have no idea how that heroine got enough money to start a large business. The only ones who know the truth about Hazel Graves’ identity after her marriage and childbirth, are probably Grandfather, Father, and the granddaughter, April.
And when Hazel Graves was on the verge of death, the only one present was April. Just thinking about the situation back then, she still feels a chill down her spine, and she even has recurring nightmares, dreaming about her grandmother being covered from head to toe in flames.
That happened when the newly acquired house was being renovated into an exhibition room.
That was the day she personally moved a few important things, things that the family rarely sees, into the house. April felt as though she heard a scream, and so she rushed upstairs. When she pushed open the door to the room her grandmother was in, she saw Hazel and the little coffin there surrounded in flames.
Her entire body covered in blue flames, Grandmother’s expression nevertheless showed not a bit of pain. Even though the flames had burned to the curtains and the carpet, April didn’t feel any heat at all, despite standing nearby. And suddenly she had a mysterious thought, that maybe those flames didn’t belong to this world.
In her dreams, Grandmother would definitely look at April sadly, shaking her head as she said,
‘Never ever touch it.’
I have indeed inherited the Graves’ house and Hazel Graves’ belongings, but that’s not all. Although the contents of the will never mentioned it, April understands deep in her heart, that the things her grandmother gave her can’t be expressed in simply numbers.
Mother reaches out her hand to touch her daughter’s not-long, not-short hair, sighing again deeply. How she wished this daughter of hers could cut a bob or get a perm, or pile her hair on top of her head elegantly like other girls would.
“Look at your hair, it’s so dry. And April, it’s only been a week, so how did you get so dark… Speaking of which, why is there a weird smell on you… Like an odor of dust… or mould.”
Crap! Mama, sorry. Although it wasn’t easy for me to find time to shower, I didn’t have time to wash my hair.
“April, what kind of college did you visit? And what is this worn-out hair ornament? Don’t you have quite a few perfectly luxurious…”
The naggy voice becomes a scream. Turns out there’s an eight-legged animal, around five centimeters in full length, crawling on her white silk gloves.
“Oh my god--! It’s a spider! There’s a spider! There’s a poisonous spider on my hand!”
“Calm down, Mama, it’s not poisonous, it’s just a normal spider. See, it’s the type that builds their webs in sewers or abandoned houses…”
“Why would that kind of thing be living in your hair?”
“Hey, that’s a mean thing to say. It’s not living in my hair!”
Dianne, who was nearby, runs over. She wants to calm the storm over here before it becomes a commotion.
“Aunty, get a grip on yourself. It’s okay, there were always a lot of spiders in the trees in the yard. Here, do you want to rest a little over there? There’s great circulation near the balcony, it’s really comfortable there.”
She carefully leads her aunt to the chair for a seat, and then deliberately runs back through the crowd. She’s not here to scold April for arguing with her mother, but to console her. This cousin of hers, two years older, is a perfectly kind person, so much so it gets on April’s nerves sometimes.
“April, don’t feel too bad about it.”
She thinks to herself, ‘Who’s feeling bad!’
“Actually I was really mischievous too when I was young, and I was scolded by my mother too when I got cobwebs in my hair once. Aunty was surely just a little shocked, I think she’s not upset with you.”
The dark gold hair curling inwards, the slightly puffed up pale red cheeks, and those deep blue eyes twinkling with wisdom and compassion. There’s nothing at all in common between Dianne and her, and no one can imagine that they are cousins, because Dianne’s personality is kind as a saint. She never refutes anyone’s personality, and was never heard saying anything bad about anything.
Dianne Graves is everyone’s ideal woman. All the men in the country are falling over themselves to propose to her, but unfortunately she’s already taken.
As for her partner, he’s almost like a storybook character. If he wore puffy long pants and a hat with a feather, he would be Prince Charming incarnate. He would come fetch her every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings in his sky blue car, and would send her home at precisely ten in the night, earning him the nickname of Mr Punctuality.
The Harvard Prince and the academy’s ideal woman. How on earth did such a terrifying couple get together?
“Although Aunty said so already, if you ask me I still think you should choose your college carefully.”
If you had to find a fault with Dianne Graves, it would be that she always mistakes April as her young and helpless cousin. Every year April feels like telling her, ‘Dianne, can you please see the real me?’
“You should learn the things you want to do, or want to learn, and I’m sure Aunty will understand. Although my power is limited, but I will support you. If there’s anything I can help with, just tell me! Oh, right, April, did you hear about the Civil War movie?”
Dianne holds her hand tightly like an older sister, and desperately tries to look for a happier topic of conversation. Seeing her cousin frowning wordlessly, she probably misunderstood that she’s still very dejected.
“I heard that the set is huge. Shall we visit it together? Maybe we can even see some of the actors! Right, also, next month I plan on going to Europe, if you’re free do you want to come along? Eh… April, this is so pretty… I keep thinking… the color scheme is so unique…”
Dianne, who was talking non-stop, suddenly sounds ineligible, as though drunk. April notices something off, but before she can turn away, her cousin’s hand is already wrapped around the striped amber jewelry.
“You can’t!”
“Ah…”
“Dianne?”
In that moment all the blood drains from her face, and her hands droop to her sides. Powerlessly, she falls to the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.
“Crap! What to do? Dianne, pull yourself together!”
April tries to catch her frantically, but Dianne’s helpless body is heavier than she imagined, and so April sits onto the ground, trying to test her cousin’s breathing. Although her face is as white as paper, and her lips have turned greenish-purple, at least she still has a faint breath.
On the other hand, the striped amber shining red-brown, trying to absorb some more young female life force, is still calling out to its prey. Even though Dianne Graves has lost consciousness, she still lifts her slender fingers in her bid to touch the gem.
“You can’t!”
The people around, who were minding their own business earlier, notice the commotion and start gathering. In no time at all the girls are surrounded by curious onlookers, and receive many curious gazes.
“Can someone please call the doctor, or the ambulance?”
Deciding that no one was going to help, April uses all her strength to lift up her cousin. Right now all she can do is rely on her own strength to slowly move her cousin to a place she can lie down and rest.
“Please, can you help me call the doctor?”
“Just let her lie down like that.”
“Eh?”
April suddenly hears someone talking to her and lifts her head, only to see a uniquely-dressed gentleman weaving through the crowd and walking towards her.
“You can’t lift her with your strength alone, you might even hurt your back instead! Whatever happens, you should just let her lie down where she is. Don’t worry, unconscious people won’t complain about the bounciness of the bed.”
In the hall where everyone is dressed extravagantly, only he is wearing mud-stained leather boots. Not only are those outdated stripes completely out of place in this event, he’s even wearing a panama hat.
He should be in the middle of a long journey. That’s what he looks like in April’s eyes.
The man squats down and takes Dianne’s wrist, checking her pulse with the second hand on his watch. And then he opens her eyelids, and touches her neck, upon confirming her pulse, he lifts the helm of his hat. His black hair is mixed with a pinch of white, but those black eyes behind his sunglasses and he skin on his face look very young. He should be younger than Papa or Mama, probably around thirty approaching forty.
“Don’t worry, she’s fine. There’s nothing to be concerned about, it should be just a slight case of anemia.”
“Who are you?”
Perhaps there’s too much distrust in the question, because he smiles bitterly behind the oval lenses,
“Do you think I’m a suspicious character? I’m a doctor, and I was already practicing when you were born.”
When he smiles, there are wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. The reason he looks younger than his actual age, is probably because of that messy fringe. For a doctor, his manner of speaking isn’t that authoritative either, and besides, there’s a hard-to-place accent.
“Can anyone help this lady onto the bed? Just in case, it’s best to call her primary doctor over for a check-up, we must never let her family worry about her. And then, April…”
Before she can ask him how he knew her name, the doctor’s hand is already reaching out for the striped amber jewelry. Whatever, since it only absorbs ‘the life force of pure innocent young girls’, it wouldn’t affect him.
“You have a special eye for these things.”
“It’s none of your business!”
April turns around and takes the gem, which had darkened again, from the doctor’s hands, and then slowly stands up to give her spot over to Dianne’s boyfriend, who had come over to fuss over her.
“I’m very grateful to you for treating my cousin. But everything else, should have nothing to do with you. And there’s no reason for an outsider like you to interrupt.”
But the man looks like he wants to whistle out loud.
“I see, now I finally understand why Hazel made you her heir.”
“What does that mean?”
He said Grandmother’s name and the job she never revealed to outsiders, so April has no choice but to subtly prepare herself.
“Who are you? Are you Grandma’s friend?”
“He is Hazel’s friend, April.”
She turns around, following that familiar voice, and finds the man she had met several times before smiling the way he always did.
“That’s the item I wanted, right?”
“That’s right, Bob.”
Everyone calls him by that nickname, no one calls his last name. Truth is he does have a last name passed down from his ancestors, but aside from signing contracts, that long line of words has no meaning at all to him.
Most people call him Bob, and this man, known to a certain number of people as the ‘Maou’, had been standing there since a while ago, one hand on his walking stick with a friendly expression.
References
1. Nickname for Massachusetts
2. The word here in Chinese is ‘older female cousin from my father’s side’.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login