Mrs. Gupta huffed as she straightened the porch chairs, wiping them down with a dirt cloth. Once she deemed it satisfactory she straightened up, grimacing as her back muscles groaned in protest. Despite her aching muscles she couldn’t help the happy smile breaking her face as she took a look around her new home. Her husband and she had been dreaming to have a house in the suburbs for so long, somewhere where there are still parks surrounding the small neighborhood and streets safe enough for her husband to teach their kid to ride a bicycle.

“Hi there, new neighbor!”

The enthusiastic greeting broke through her thoughts and Mrs. Gupta turned to see a middle-aged blonde woman, dressed in dark jeans and a blue polo shirt, casually leaning on the white picket fence of her front yard with a small smile.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you but I just want to introduce myself since we’re practically side-by-side neighbors!”

Mrs. Gupta straightened her sari as she quickly bounded down the small front yard, hoping that she wasn’t sweating too much from her previous house work.

“No, no, it’s no bother at all. I’m sorry, we’re the one who are supposed to go around the neighborhood to introduce ourselves but, you know, what with the moving in and all…”

The blonde woman waved off the excuse easily. “Oh, don’t worry about it, I understand. I just figured I’d introduce myself, and perhaps offers some help if you need any, like perhaps helping you settle down or showed you the best grocery stores around? I’m Louise Bergsten by the way, and I live just two houses down with my husband and daughter.”

Mrs. Gupta’s smile widened as she took the hand the other woman offered. “I’m Manish Gupta, it’s a pleasure to meet you. And about that offer, that would be wonderful, but I couldn’t impose on you like that.”

“Nonsense! You’d find soon enough that this neighborhood is quite close knit and we helped each other a lot.” Mrs. Bergsten nodded rapidly. “We’d do neighborhood barbecues every month and street fair once in a while and just popped in to each other’s houses often enough, we’re practically one big family here!”

Mrs. Gupta grinned, instantly liking her new acquaintance. She was a bit bold and perhaps talk too much, but she seemed to have good intention at heart.

“Also, you’d find that this neighborhood is quite an international community. You see that red house over there?” Mrs. Gupta followed the finger Mrs. Bergsten was pointing and nodded. “That’s the Kim’s, a Korean family with two adorable little girls. While this blue house just next to yours is the Christopoulos, a Greek family. We also have a Mexican family, a Russian one, and of course my husband and I myself are Swedish. Let me tell you, it makes an interesting barbecue event when we all get together and bring out our national cuisine.”

Mrs. Gupta listened with rapt attention. The real estate agency had mentioned that there are various nationalities living in this particular neighborhood, giving it an international flavor and it was one of the selling point that enticed her and her husband to finally bought the house, hoping that a home situation with varied cultural background will help their son to blend in, instead of being the only dark-skinned one like he was in his previous school.

“That sound wonderful! I’ll be sure to bring some of my special curry the next time we have some barbecue!”

Mrs. Bergsten chuckled and nodded. “That’d be great, I’d loved to have some curry-“

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Bergsten.”

Mrs. Gupta turned around to find a girl smiling at her neighbor. The girl looked like in her late teens, small in stature and dark ebony hair that is tied into a long ponytail. Her eyes were small but it twinkled with a joyful glint and was curved upward in a pleasing tilt. Her fair skin tone and small eyes told Mrs. Gupta the girl was Asian, possibly Chinese? Or perhaps Japanese or maybe Korean? Mrs. Gupta was never that good at guessing this kind of things, anyway.

The girl wasn’t that beautiful but her air in general was agreeable and the twinkle in her eyes inviting that Mrs. Gupta found herself smiling back at the girl in the knee-length dark skirt and red blouse.

“Hello, Yuan. You’re home early.”

The girl, or Yuan judging by what Mrs. Bergsten called her, nodded. “Yeah, the newspaper club’s meeting finish early today.” She turned to Mrs. Gupta and bowed slightly with a wide smile. “Hello, you must be our new neighbor. I’m Li Yuan, from the house at the end of the street. Nice to meet you.”

Mrs. Gupta smiled at the girl, feeling happier by the minute to find that all her neighbors seemed to be friendly people. “Hello, dear, I’m Mrs. Gupta; it’s nice to meet you too.”

A small cough was heard from besides Yuan and they all turned to see a young tanned boy with a mop of dark brown hair, half-lidded eyes that looks sleepy and a sheepish grin.

“Oh, I’m sorry! This is Jongin; he’s in the same club as me and we were assigned to do a story together.”

The boy bowed slightly and Mrs. Gupta inclined her head. But to her confusion Mrs. Bergsten didn’t acknowledge the greeting; instead the other woman was eying the boy, something that looked like wary apprehension passing briefly in her eyes.

“Well, we should get going. It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Gupta. Bye, Mrs. Bergsten.”

With that Yuan waved and pulled the boy away, pointing to the white house at the end of the street. Mrs. Gupta observed silently as Mrs. Bergsten kept her gaze on the boy, eyes narrowing in thin slits before heaving a heavy sigh. Finally she couldn’t hold back her curiosity and decided to just ask.

“…….is something wrong?”

Mrs. Bergsten snapped her head around so fast, as if she forgot that she wasn’t alone. When her gaze found Mrs. Gupta’s she quickly strode closer and gripped her arms tightly.

“I forgot to ask, but do you have a son?”

“W-what?”

“A son. Do you have any?”

She wouldn’t admit it but Mrs. Gupta began to feel afraid of this woman who was gripping her so tight and looking at her with almost a pleading desperation.

“I-I do. He’s still at school now, though.”

Mrs. Bergsten’s shoulder slumped in obvious relief, before it tensed up again. “How old is he?”

Mrs. Gupta really didn’t get where this conversation is going but she figured she’d better answer. “He’s going to be ten next October.”

Mrs. Bergsten blinked, before releasing a huff of breath and taking a step back, something that was mirrored by Mrs. Gupta immediately once the other woman released her grip, wondering internally whether she had mistakenly moved into a cuckoo neighborhood.

The other woman noticed how Mrs. Gupta rubbed her arms up and down and grinned sheepishly. “I’m so sorry for startling you. Believe me, I’m not crazy or anything like that. Just that a family having a son is quite of an important matter in this neighborhood.”

It was Mrs. Gupta’s turn now to blink in confusion. “What? What do you mean-“

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU??”

Mrs. Gupta jumped up in surprise, looking around to find the source of the noise and finding it from the white house down at the end of the street. In front of it she could see Yuan, hands on her hips as she glared at the three young men in front of her. Besides her Mrs. Gupta could see her friend, Jongin if she was not mistaken, seemed to tremble in fear. No surprise there, not with the way the three young men were glaring at the poor boy as if they want to kill him.

A tap on her shoulder turned her around again and Mrs. Gupta’s eyes widened when she saw Mrs. Bergsten casually pulling a pair of earplugs from her jean’s pocket.

The other woman caught her staring and grinned. “A word of advice. When you live in this neighborhood, better invest in some good earplugs.”

“W-what? Why?”

“Ssh. You’ll see soon.” She pointed towards the white house and Mrs. Gupta turned her attention back to where the three young men were still glaring down at Yuan’s friend.

“Gēge, will you please just lighten up? He’s just a friend from my club.”

“Friend? Friend who wants to date you, that is!”

“What is your intention with our sister?!”

“W-what..? I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t planning anything. I w-was just going to work with Yuan on our story.”

“Lies! You’re just trying to get into our sister’s pants, weren’t you?”

“What? NO!”

“Admit it!”

“Gēge, stop it! This is embarassing!”

“We’ll get you for trying to take advantage of our sister!”

“SPARTAAAAAAA…!!”

“HELPPPPPPP!!”

Mrs. Gupta clutched the fence, almost not believing the scene happening in front of her. There he was, that Jongin boy running away, looking as if the hounds of hell was behind him. She didn’t blame him, not when there were three young men running after him. The one in the front had his hands reached out in front of him in a clawing gesture, as if he’d want nothing else than to wring Jongin’s neck. The boy behind him was twirling a long wooden staff over his head all the while still yelling ‘Spartaaaa..” The one taking the rear was brandishing a…

Mrs. Gupta narrowed her eyes. Is that…..a metal baseball bat?!

Her eyes followed as the three men chased the poor boy well after she couldn’t see them anymore, though Jongin’s terrified scream can still be heard. Blinking rapidly with her heart beating fast, there was only one thing in her mind.

What kind of crazy neighborhood has she moved into?!

“It’s not so bad, you know.”

Mrs. Gupta jumped up in surprise, letting out a squeak. She almost forgot Mrs. Bergsten was still there. “W-what do you mean? What’s not so bad? You don’t mean those three lunatics we just saw??”

The other woman had the gall to just grin and Mrs. Gupta has a sinking suspicion that this kind of thing is a common occurrence in this neighborhood.

“Those three are Yuan’s brothers. They’re the Chinese family from that house down the street.”

There were a million things Mrs. Gupta want to ask, but the first thing that came out was, “I thought Chinese families usually only have one kid?”

Mrs. Bergsten shrugged. “The Li family is a special case. Yuan and Yifan are the family’s biological children; they’re twins, you know. While Luhan is the son of the father’s sister, and when the parents died the Li decided to adopt him.” Mrs. Bergsten frowned then. “I’m not too sure about the youngest; I heard that he was a foster child before he came to the Li but now Tao was adopted into the family too.”

Mrs. Gupta’s mouth was hung open. She didn’t know what to say to the information just given to her, her mind still replaying the scene where the three mentioned boys were chasing that poor boy away. Just when she decided she should slowly back away and run back into the house to leave this whole madness behind, Mrs. Bergsten looked over her shoulder and waved.

“Oh, there they are now. Hello, boys.”

With much trepidation did Mrs. Gupta turned around, gulping when the three young men – lunatics! her mind supplied – were standing in front of her house.

Mrs. Bergsten shook her head fondly. “Chasing off another suitor of your sister, boys? I thought he was just her friend from school?”

The shorter one among the three grinned. “Well, that’s what they all say, but you can’t be too careful these days, right Mrs. Bergsten?”

“Oh boys, sometimes you can be too much. Ah, I forgot.”

Mrs. Bergsten turned to Mrs. Gupta, who immediately shook her head imperceptibly, hoping that the other woman would get her meaning. No, no, she did not want to be introduced to these lunatic young men, not even if her life depends on it! In the back of her mind she wondered whether it was too late to beg her husband to sell the house and move somewhere safer, like the ghetto or something.

“This is our new neighbor, Mrs. Gupta.”

Obviously Mrs. Bergsten was no mind reader and now was just smiling genially, beckoning the boys closer. Mrs. Gupta braced herself for the inevitable.

“Oh, hello! Welcome to our neighborhood!”

The shortest one among the boys, the one with pale fair skin moved forward, offering a handshake along with a small nod. He had dyed light brown hair, with wide innocent eyes and a baby face that gave him an innocent little boy vibe and Mrs. Gupta would’ve thought him as a cute young man, almost too pretty to be a guy even, if not for the fact that his left hand was brandishing a metal bat.

On closer look, she noticed that the silver bat was speckled with spots of brown.

Mrs. Gupta gulped. Is that……blood?

The cute boy just grinned widely and shook her hand up and down vigorously. “I’m Li Luhan, the oldest son of the Li family. That’s our house there, the white one.”

Mrs. Gupta wanted to roll her eyes. There’s no way anyone would miss the house where three lunatic boys lived!

“These are my younger brothers, Yifan and Tao.”

The tallest one among the boys stepped forward, the one with dyed honey-blond hair. He had thick eyebrows and a stern gaze, which strangely reminds Mrs. Gupta of that game her son likes to play, the one with red grumpy looking birds and had to resist the temptation to pull out a catapult and swung little pink piglets at the boy. A wide smile broke his face and showed off his gums though, giving him a much friendlier image. 

“Hello, Mrs. Gupta. I’m Yifan, it’s nice to meet you.”

Mrs. Bergsten nudged her. “Yifan here is Yuan’s twin.”

“Ah, you’ve met my sister? Yeah, we’re twins; I’m the older one, though.”

Mrs. Gupta wondered how those two can be twins, she saw no resemblance between them. Yuan looked like a generally happy person while this boy gave off a rather intimidating aura, though it didn’t look like it at the moment with the way his gummy smile was still painted on his face. But she didn’t forget that this boy was the one who seemed eager to choke poor Jongin’s neck and she sneakily looked down to the boy’s giant hands, shivering internally.

“This is our youngest, Tao. Tao, come on and introduce yourself.”

The boy was shorter than Yifan though much taller than Luhan, with black midnight hair, a much tanned skin than his brothers and an almost equally dark eyebags. He shuffled his feet nervously with a small smile, looking shy and the complete opposite of when he was twirling that wooden staff minutes ago.

“Hello, I’m Tao. I hope you’d like it here, Mrs. Gupta.”

His voice was soft and gentle and Mrs. Gupta wondered how a soft voice like that can yelled out a battle cry like he did a few minutes ago with undeniably blood lusting fervor. Mrs. Gupta shuddered and just concentrating on not yanking her hand back and run screaming into her house.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Mrs. Gupta. We better get back home, but I’m sure we’ll see you around.”

With genial waves the three boys departed and walked calmly back to their house, where Mrs. Gupta could see Yuan still standing in front of. Even from this distance she could hear the girl’s voice.

“Dammit, gēge! Why did you do that?!”

“Language, Yuan!”

“Oh what, you have the nerve to reprimand me for my language when you just scared off my friend, Yifan?”

“It’s Yifan gēge; I’m older than you!”

“Only by three minutes!”

“Still older!”

“That boy deserves it and you know it, jiějiě!”

“How, Tao? He just walked me home because we both were planning to do our project together!”

"Yeah well, he should know better than to try to get close to you!”

“Being assigned for the story with me wasn’t even his choice, Luhan gēge; it was decided by the paper’s editor!

“And I bet he’d somehow bribe that editor so he’ll be paired with you."

“Wha…… UGH! You know what, I hate you three!”

The slam of the door was loud enough that Mrs. Gupta jumped hearing it even from that distance. She watched warily as the three boys looked at each other before bursting into the house and quiet descended upon the neighborhood once more.

She turned frantic eyes towards her new neighbors. “W-what…..that… those boys…..what the hell just happened?!”

Mrs. Bergsten patted her shoulder in sympathy. “I know it’s quite a lot to take, especially the first time seeing it. Trust me; you’ll get used to it soon enough.”

“What…used…..you mean these kind of things happens a lot?!”

Mrs. Bergsten chuckled. “Oh, if I have a penny every time I see that happens….”

Now Mrs. Gupta really wondered if it’s too late to move again. With dismay she realized that they’ve already sign the contract weeks ago and now have mortgage on the house.

“The Li boys are harmless enough, you know; quite the bunch of polite, friendly boys actually. Just that they can be overprotective over their sister.”

At the deadpanned look Mrs. Gupta sent her Mrs. Bersgten just shrugged. “Okay, they can be too over protective, bordering on crazy, over their sister. Hence why I asked whether you have a son or not. If you do, and he’s in Yuan’s age range, you can be sure that the brothers will be breathing down his neck. I swear, the Zhang boy is probably the only one they let get close to her, and that’s only because they’ve known the Zhang family all their life.”

Mrs. Bergsten dusted off her jeans and gave a small wave. “Well, I better let you get back to your work. Remember, you can always call me if you need help; I’d round up the other people to give a hand too.”

Mrs. Gupta was still rooted on her spot, calculating rapidly in her mind whether it would be too expensive if they cancelled the mortgage on this house. They could make it financial-wise, she thought. Just that she have to persuade her husband to sell their car, making sure her son get a scholarship for college because there’ll be no college fund once her plan fell through and for the family to live off instant noodles for….oh, maybe the next ten years?

“Oh, don’t forget!” Mrs. Gupta’s thought was broken by Mrs. Bergsten’s shrill cry. “Invest in a good earplug! Trust me, your ears and sanity will thank you for it.” With a last knowing wink the other woman walked away and Mrs. Gupta was left wondering what kind of crazy world she has been into.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Little Soumith Gupta had the surprise of his short-ten-years-of life when he came home from school and his mother descended on him as if she hasn’t seen him for years, even though the truth was she just saw him only this morning. She then proceeded to drown him in little kisses all over his face, mumbling over and over of how much she loves him and that she promise she would let him date whoever he wants to when the time comes, as long as it’s not a Chinese girl with three crazy brothers and that he should never befriended said crazy brothers.

Soumith didn’t know what to do make of it, but he gladly promised anything his mother ask, especially when she supplied him with his favorite snacks of bhajji and let him watch all the TV that he wants.