"GIVE ME THE MONEY!"

I was abruptly woken up at 2 am by the sound of arguing.

"YOU DON'T NEED IT ANYWAY, OLD LADY!" I could recognize the owner of the voice...my sister.

"Please, sweetie. This is our payment for this month." I heard my mom say, trying to convince her nicely.

I quickly got out of my bed and went to the living room area where the argument was taking place. "What's going on?! Yoyo, why are you fighting with mom?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," she screamed at me as she turned her attention back to the wallet being pulled by both my mom and by her. "GIVE IT TO ME!"

Kate and Fala rush out of their room in shock. "What's going on?" signed Fala.

"STOP! Yoyo, stop right now," I demanded as I pulled the wallet out from their hands. "We've been through this. Sit down and tell mom and I why you need this amount of money." I hold up the $200 in cash.

Yoyo scoffs and starts to stomp away but I pull her arm back. "Where are you going? You can't just walk off after you threw a tantrum. This was not how you were raised! Where did your obediance and manners go?!" I look at her, angry and disappointed.

"What do you know? You are always in the bakery! You don't understand my generation! You never let me go to parties or anything!" she angrily replies with a sassy look on her face.

"Yes. I'm always at the bakery. Do you know why? I have to help support the family and raise you guys! Why aren't you appreciative at all? Why won't you help us out by being obedient? Although we never let you go to parties, you sneak out anyway. Do you know why we don't let you go to parties? Because you leave in a y outfit and always come back drunk and reek of cigarettes!" I look at her, waiting for her to yell back.

She scoffs. "Whatever," she says as she flips her hair and exits the apartment.

I sigh. What has she turned into? Mom turns to me and pats my back, knowing the stress I've been having lately to pay the bills and deal with Yoyo.

Kate comes over to me and asks, "Do you want me to go get her?"

"No," I reply, "The more we tell her not to do something, the more she will do it."

Mom stands up, "I'll go make you guys some soup," she walks to the kitchen and starts heating up our leftover soup.

Kate tries to convince me, "But what if she goes to hangout with those gangster kids again?"

"We can't control who she hangs out with no matter how much we restrict her," I respond.

"I don't want her to go out smoking and drinking again. She always comes home drunk with a bunch of guys taking her home," Kate worriedly says. 

I sigh. "Maybe...maybe she needs to get into some real trouble before she can realize what's good for her."

Fala comes over to comfort me. "I'm fine," I tell her.

"Do you need help with anything?"

"No, but thank you, Fala," I respond, smiling.

"Here comes the soup!" My mom carries a tray with 4 bowls of hot egg drop soup.

"Thank you, mom!" We all say.

As we start eating the delicious steaming bowl of soup, Kevin arrives home.

He fake smiles at us, trying to hide the distress that's been creeping up on him. "Hey everyone," he greets.

"Let me get you a bowl of soup," my mom says, standing up.

Kevin puts his hands on her shoulders and advises her to sit down again, "I'll get it later. Anyway, why are you guys up so late?"

I sigh, keeping quiet. Kevin has been stressing out so much lately, the last thing I want to do is cause him to have family issues on his shoulders.

Kate starts to speak up, "Kko (brother in cantonese), it's because---"

"Kate," I cut her off, sternly. I look at her in the eye, trying to convince her not to tell him.

"Why? He needs to know too!" Kate replies, hot-headedly.

I strongly exhale, "You know he's stressing out lately. We can handle these matters ourselves."

"What are you guys talking about? Someone--Fala, tell me," Kevin commands.

"Basically, Yoyo tried to take cash from mom and Yi Fei-je (Je is sister in cantonese) caught her so she got mad and stormed off..." Fala signed.

"WHAT?! How dare that little girl?!"

Kevin is a very nice person but his temper is very short, especially when it involves family or harming other people.

I sigh. "Kko, don't worry about it. I can deal with her. Don't stress out about it too much, it'll affect your work."

"Where is that girl right now?" He angrily asks, huffing and puffing.

Kate answers, "Don't know. She just left."

Kevin sits down on the couch, "Sorry, guys, I haven't been helping you guys out as much..."

"Don't apologize! It's not big deal. We understand your situation," I try to tell him.

Afterwards, I head to my room to get some sleep.

I fall asleep quite quickly knowing that I'll only get around an additional 2 hours of sleep before I get ready to start my day at the bakery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry this (as well as the next few chapters) is short compared to chapters 4+! Starting chapter 4, every chapter will be at the very least 1,200 words :) This one was just an intro to the story so I can start the plot on the next chapter. Please give feedback in the comments!