The rest of the car ride passed by without hassle. I just yapped about random things with Auntie Yue until we arrived at her place, a small condo near the office buildings by the edge of the suburbs where my parents lived.
...And I STILL needed to learn where that was exactly.
I'd remembered that we were in California now. Hard not to when there were palm trees around.
...But like, why was there a pine tree in our backyard?
...Probably a dad thing. He probably found the one house with the pine tree, thought it symbolized endurance in unthinkable odds, and bought the house.
Yue grabbed my left hand with her right. Then she reached around to adjust my backpack before smiling and said, "Come on. You still scared of elevators?" She led me through the sliding doors and then towards an elevator.
I blinked and said, "Not really?"
I got over that fear after working as an attorney in high-rise buildings for a few years.
Yue grinned. "Good. Because Auntie lives on the top floor, so you'll have to get used to it."
"Eh?! Really?"
I was genuinely surprised.
Aunt Yue made that much money? Enough to afford a fancy penthouse condo suite?
Yue laughed and said, "Auntie's fancy~" She walked me into the elevator and held me close. "Don't worry. Your mommy and daddy might not be able to get you good gifts, but Auntie will spoil you rotten, Fatty."
I looked at her, genuinely baffled.
As I did, I wracked my brain to try and pull up what few memories I could of my original childhood memories.
And then slowly, I started connecting more dots.
Mysterious gifts that 'Santa' had given when I was in elementary school. The game consoles and complete book sets I asked for on Christmas, always fulfilled somehow.
I'd thought it was just my parents scrounging up what they could. Especially since Christmas was always like that.
But with the context of how I saw we lived, the fact that Mom and Dad were both working just to make ends meet...
'Right. There was no way it was them at the time.'
This whole time, Auntie Yue had been the one making sure I could live a normal childhood life. Or normalish.
And I remembered that in my past life I'd always been frustrated with her and didn't really get along. At least, when I was a kid.
I didn't remember much, but I DID remember missing my mom a lot. And probably yelling at Auntie Yue because of that.
...Ah. Now I felt guilty.
"H-Hey!" Yue knelt down and then reached out to brush my eyes. "What are you crying for?"
I blinked and realized that I'd started crying. I sniffed and shook my head. "S-Sorry, Auntie. I'm just..."
Sad? Guilty? Regretful that I never knew how much you cared? That I made things hard for you when you were probably going through hard things too?
"...Happy."
...Yeah. Happy.
That was the best way to describe what I was feeling now.
Happy that I had a chance to fix- No, do this over.
Another chance with an aunt who loved me this much.
I pulled her in for a tight hug.
Yue tensed. Then she relaxed and hugged me back. "Stupid kid." She sniffed and said, "Now you're making me cry too. Dammit... Ah, fuck. I'm not supposed to curse around you." She let out a wet laugh and said, "No telling your parents. Promise?"
I wiped my eyes and held out my pinky. "Pinky promise."
Yue smiled and shook my pinky. Then she wiped her own eyes and said, "Come on, Fatty. You probably want some real food, right? I'll make you proper Cantonese food, not that bland white person stuff they feed you at school."
I blinked. "...You can cook?"
Yue pulled my cheek. "Excuse you! Your Auntie's a superstar, you know? I can do everything!"
"Owowow..."
Yue laughed and then led me inside the penthouse suite properly.
As she did, I took a look around. And as I did, there wasn't a need for me to fake my awe.
Now, it wasn't a suite in Los Angeles or the big city like that. But it was still a nice suite.
We were up on like the twentieth floor or something and had a clear view of the business district as well as the suburbs. And I could LITERALLY see my house from here.
...Which was weird. I had NO sense of the geography around here.
But anyway.
Auntie Yue was definitely loaded. I saw brandname clothes, handbags, and more all around. There were also a few awards on the wall from wushu competitions, just like she said.
But more than that, I saw stacks on stacks of scripts laying all around. Commercials, tv shows, movies... and a lot of familiar titles too. Stuff like Fight Club, the Matrix... Rush Hour 2-
Wait.
I blinked and pointed at it. "Is that Jackie Chan?"
"Hm?" Yue paused in the middle of setting down her car keys and purse. "Oh yeah. It looked fun. They said they were looking for someone to play the bad guy and they needed someone who could fight. But I don't know if it's worth it. I mean, Rush Hour is silly, you know?" She paused. "Wait, you know who Jackie Chan is?"
I nodded. "Of course! Drunken Master and Meals on Wheels!"
Yue blinked. "...Right. Forgot, your dad's a kung fu fanatic. But yeah." She walked over to pick up the script. "Did you want to see Auntie act a bit? Here." She cleared her throat and then settled into the role of the Triad Enforcer hunting down the main leads.
And she was GOOD.
Not just because she fit the role due to her wushu training, but my aunt was a GENUINE good actress.
...Which confirmed exactly how she ended up the way she did in the future.
But not if I had a say in it.
Yue finished rehearsing the script and smiled. "What do you think?"
I quickly walked over and grabbed her hand. "Auntie. This one. Practice this one."
Yue was startled. But then she smirked and ruffled my hair. "You rascal. You just want me to do this so you can meet Jackie Chan, don't you?"
I froze. Then I quickly thought about it.
Meeting Jackie Chan...
You know.
With the way I was training. With the things I KNEW about training... And the fact that Jackie Chan had a stunt training team...
"See?" Yue chuckled. "You just want to meet the kung fu star. But you can't even speak Cantonese, silly."
I puffed my cheeks out reflexively, my child body reacting before I could. "I can learn!"
Yue pinched my cheeks and said, "Fine. Let's make a deal." She smiled and said, "If you can hold a conversation with me in Cantonese, I'll try to audition for the role."
My eyes lit up.
I might be rusty with Cantonese since I mostly used Mandarin and English in the future. But I definitely knew enough to carry a conversation.
"Deal!"