Anthony: A Fictional Narrative

Jian laid back on his beach chair, allowing the soothing sloshing of the sea to relax him. Sure there were other sounds as well: the loud music blasting from the stereo and the chatter from the men's chatter around him, but Jian had long since learned to separate sounds having lived in a house of nine from an early age. The past three days had been eventful, but manageable and not as frightening as he had initially led himself to believe. Darren, Ben, and Cyrus seemed to have at least settled some of their differences. It wasn't a perfect situation, but it wasn't the worst either. After the phone incident, Jian had called Anthony who had seemed somewhat reluctant to come over for some reason and instead got Min and Lin to deliver Ben's phone
Anthony had to grow up some time. Jian couldn't always be there to protect him and tell him what to do after all. It was a mantra he often repeated to himself whenever one of the people he loved got themselves into trouble. Jian's first instinct was always to shield them from the world, but that wasn't always what was the best thing to do, for the other person and for himself. He definitely didn't want to become a helicopter parent. He had seen enough of those types interning at a children's hospital.

What had his Auntie A said again? 'It's time to let them grow up on their own. Live for yourself now.' Live for himself? Jian hadn't had the heart to tell her that he didn't exactly know how to do that if he were being honest. He just didn't know what to do with himself when there was no one who needed him, but he was old enough to realize saying so would only make his family worry more for his well-being, so he had kept quiet and nodded his head
The kitchen was a dream come true. The appliances all stainless steel and pristine. And the laundry room! He had been too focused on cleaning the last time to notice much initially, but once he had taken a few minutes to gaze upon the huge, expansive caverns of the washer and dryers, Jian had nearly wept tears of joy. So many options... and they could fit so many loads! He almost hugged those gloriously made machines, but stopped himself since he didn't want to appear insane in front of strangers. Nonetheless.... he wanted them. So... so badly.

Jian quickly learned he loved being near the sea. When he was growing up, he had been far from the ocean and never wasted time going to the beach aside from short outings, but now that his room faced the shimmering stretch of blue and he was only an open window away from falling asleep to the sound of waves lapping against the sands and the smell of ocean air, Jian was a goner. If ever he one day accumulated enough money to purchase a house, he wanted to be by the