Mrs. Lu had the entire house in an uproar that morning; her one and only son, Luhan, was coming home after months away at university. She ran back and forth between the furthest ends of the grand house, instructing the help. Everything had to be perfect for her baby’s homecoming. She barked orders in her hoarse voice, a glass of red wine in one hand to calm her nerves, her pearls shaking with anxiety on her neck as her heels clicked and clacked across the marble floors and Persian rugs.

“Part those curtains! Let’s get a little light in the house, for goodness’ sake!”

“When was the last time the hardwood was waxed? Wax it again!”

“Can we please get someone to straighten out the books on that shelf?”

“I thought I said to put that vase in the foyer, not the living room!”

“My glass is empty… again!”

The woman looked up at the clock; it was ten minutes until 10 o’clock. He should be here anytime. Maids in light blue uniforms and butlers in grey suits rushed by on either side of her. She let out a deep breath and poured herself another glass of wine. One of the young maids approached her. 

“What about the cube collection, ma’am?” she asked, and the mistress of the house wrinkled her brows at the girl.

“What cube collection?” she said. The maid looked quizzically at her employer.

“Your son’s cube collection, ma’am,” she answered. “You had us move it to the basement.”

Mrs. Lu widened her eyes. “Get it,” she instructed the girl, and the maid her heel and ran to the basement. Mrs. Lu never really understood her son’s dedicated interest in his collection of Rubik cubes and every time he went away on extended periods of time, she had it moved to the basement. But if it wasn’t exactly where he’d left it when he got back home, he’d be upset. 

She looked back at the clock. Five minutes to go. She lifted the back of her wrist to her forehead and groaned.

“Oh, where is Luhan?” she asked the air.

“Are we having a party?” asked a voice behind her. She turned and jumped in surprise seeing Luhan standing right behind her.

“Luhan!” she yelled in surprise. “Oh, honey, when did get you here?”

Luhan smiled and dropped his bags by his side. 

“Just now,” he said, and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “You’ve got the help running like roaches in a lightning storm. Are we having company over?”

“Oh, hon, leave those,” his mother said when he reached for his bags again. Butlers showed up suddenly to pick them up. A maid came for his coat, and still more help rushed over to the car that brought him to unload the rest of his belongings. 

Luhan stretched a bit before heading over to the staircase and climbing them up to the second floor, where his bedroom was. His mother walked beside him, talking about how happy she was to have him back. The bellhops with his bags followed behind. The head maid stood at the top of the staircase to welcome him.

“Things just really aren’t the same without you here, my dear,” his mother said. “You know your dad is always working and while I’ve got my own philanthropy business going, it does get awfully lonely without you. And just in time to help me plan this year’s Benefit Gala, too.”

“Welcome back, sir,” the maid said when he reached the floor. Luhan laughed a little; he always found it a bit awkward when the help called him “sir”, seeing every single one of them was older than him by at least ten years. 

“Hi, Miss Im,” he said cheerfully. “How are you?”

“I am well, thank you,” the woman said, falling into step beside him. “I will show you to your room.”

“You know, I’ve lived here at least ten years,” Luhan said. “I think I know the way to my own room by now.”

“Oh, don’t be such a both, Luhan,” his mother said. “Let Miss Im do her job.”

“Did you have a safe journey, sir?” a butler asked as they passed by, and Luhan laughed.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” Luhan answered playfully. “To answer your question: no, I didn’t! I must have died at least three times on the way here, but luckily, I survived!”

One of the bellhops behind him laughed and Luhan slapped his shoulder good-naturedly. When they finally arrived at the double doors leading to his room, the bellhops stepped ahead of him to open them for Luhan. He stepped into the room with as much familiarity as anyone else, but he was surprised at how many maids and butlers were inside, arranging things and cleaning, still. Luhan’s mother stepped in front of him.

“What are you all doing?” she yelled, and the help looked up at her like deer in the headlights. “I told you he was coming at 10 and you were supposed to be finished by now!”

“No, that’s alright, Mom,” Luhan said, putting his hand on her shoulder and signaling the bellhops to bring his bags inside. “You guys finish up, don’t mind me.”

“This is embarrassing,” his mother said. “In front of my own son!”

“Mom, relax,” Luhan said, taking a bag from one of the butlers and taking it to his bed. “It’s less lonely this way.”

Luhan excused himself as he stepped behind a maid who was vacuuming his rug. Standing in the middle of the room, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and surveyed the place. He breathed in deep and savored the smell of home. The double doors opened once more and a butler holding a leash led in a grey Weimaraner.  

“Penn!” Luhan exclaimed, and his dog barked and tried to run toward him. Unable to hold the animal back anymore, the butler let go of its leash, and the grey dog ran directly into Luhan’s arm, attacking his face with kisses. Luhan smiled and tried to get his dog to stop his face. His mother scowled; she hated dogs, but it was Luhan’s idea and she couldn’t resist his little 8-year-old pout when he had begged for a puppy. 

Another butler appeared in the doorway with something that resembled a 4-foot-tall Big Ben clock over his shoulder.

“What is that?” his mother said. The butler looked at her with wide eyes.

“I don’t know, ma’am, but I found in the trunk of your son’s car.”

“Oh, that!” Luhan said, stepping away from the dog for a minute. “That…” he stepped over and petted the side panel of the tall…thing. 

“This is a giant, custom-made, Big Ben Pez candy dispenser,” he announced proudly. “I won it in a raffle. And it dispenses real candy! I just… don’t have the giant candy right now. Cool, right?”

Mrs. Lu turned her nose up at the item, but Luhan instructed the butler to leave it in the corner of the room. Maids began unpacking his suitcases and Luhan blushed whenever they came into contact with underwear. He’d been home just ten minutes, and already there was the usual flourish of a privileged life. He was glad to be back in something familiar.

“Sir,” said a small voice, and Luhan turned to see a maid holding a telephone. “Would you like to take your messages now?”

Luhan tilted his head, thinking. “Mmm… not right now. Ask me again in like twenty minutes or so… Actually, come here. Just let me hear the important ones; you marked them, right?”

The maid stepped forward with the phone and Luhan took it from her, pushing a few buttons before putting it to his ear. To his surprise there was only one message that was marked as really important, and it was from the Institute of Science. 

He listened to the message in full before taking the phone from his and asking for a bit of privacy. His mother was reluctant at first, but after some pushing, he was finally alone in the room. He dialed the number and waited to Sung Hwan to answer.

“Hello?” the man on the other end said.

“I got your message,” Luhan said. “You knew I was at university. Why didn’t you call me there?”

“Never occurred to me.”

“But this is important, isn’t it?” Luhan said. “I said I wanted to be informed as soon as you found something.”

“And I did try,” Sung Hwan said. “But you were at university, and for a young man like you, your education must surely come before all this.”

Luhan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Where is she, then?”

“Dead.”

Luhan widened his eyes. “Dead?” he said. “H-How? You killed her?”

“I didn’t,” Sung Hwan answered. “The sonar we built lured it to the shallows, but it was caught up by some fishermen on a barge. They killed it. Dead mermaid and some collateral damage regarding whales, but no matter, we have what we need: evidence. And you, you’ve got your money’s worth now, haven’t you? Didn’t you want to find them, too?”

Luhan pursed his lips. Yes, he had wanted to find them, but now he wasn’t so sure that his interests were so strong. He wanted to find them, not endanger them. 

“The whales,” Luhan said. “On the news. That was the sonar, too, wasn’t it? Your sonar scared them to the beaches.”

“Your sonar,” Sung Hwan said. “Your money paid for it.”

Luhan clenched his fists. “What else have you been doing with my money?”

Sung Hwan explained how his funding was now turned into prize money to be given to anyone who could provide further evidence of any kind that would help their research. 

“Does anyone else know about the sonar and the whales?” Luhan asked. “You told me it was harmless.”

“I said it was innovative.”

“Killing a mass population of whales isn’t innovation,” Luhan said. The young boy sighed. “Mr. Lee… I want to stop now.”

“What do you mean stop?” Sung Hwan asked, the venom in his voice growing thicker. “You cannot just stop. I cannot just stop. You’ve waded too far into the deep end, young man, and stopping just isn’t an option anymore.”

“I gave you the money that gave you your start,” Luhan said, matching the man’s tone. “I call the shots.”

“Well, then I am afraid you’ve run out of shots to call, boy,” the man answered. “Just what made you want to fund my search in the first place?”

Luhan bit down on his lip remembering his near-death experience almost one year ago. But it was now a distant memory that he didn’t think about very much. He started the search in an effort to prove that he wasn’t crazy, to prove that he wasn’t just a rich boy who sat around on yachts with shallow thoughts. It was a rebellion, a yearning for freedom. But as things unfolded these past few months, he realized that this was choking him more than it was letting go.

“I’m stopping now, Mr. Lee,” Luhan answered, instead. “The last few thousand I sent are my last. I’m not going to fund your department anymore.” There was a harsh pause on the other end for a while before the man spoke again.

“Your money is property of the Institute, now,” he answered. “It’s been promised to anyone who can reveal any information about my theory. I can’t return it to you.”

Luhan groaned. 

“Well, whatever you’ve done with my money,” Luhan said. “I hope it was spent on something more worthwhile than chasing folktales.”

Luhan hung up the phone and stared out the balcony for a long time, staring at the ocean. He was wondering what to do next. Now that he wasn’t searching for the girl who saved his life, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. With that quest put aside, there wasn’t much left that he thought to do. He looked around his room, taking in the sight of the vacuumed rug, his made-up bed, the polished mirrors, and the ocean view. For a second, he wondered if his mother had touched his Rubik cube collection (the 9x9 and the hexagon cubes were switched). 

Luhan sighed, supposing that maybe he wasn’t meant to be searching. Maybe this gilded cage was all he was really meant to have. And all his searching would never lead to discoveries. He longed to be free. He thought about his mother’s upcoming Benefit Gala, and he cringed at having to be subjected to another tacky, high-society party. 

At least his parents would let him invite his friends. It was a Benefit Gala after all, and no matter how many times Luhan told his parents that his friends weren’t homeless squatters, they always referred to them as the ones who would benefit by the donations. 

Luhan looked down at the phone, biting his lip. He lifted it and decided to make another call. If he was to invite the right people to the Gala, then there was really no time like the present. The other line rang twice before someone picked up.

“Hello?” Yixing said on the other side.

“Yixing,” Luhan said. “Is Jinyu there? Can I talk to her?”