If people hear about the aliens, they mostly show their concerns towards this mysterious and interesting issue. They often ask for more information, even fake news, for fun. Sadly, after my brother tortured me with his scary questions, my reaction was alone two words with a dumbfounded face showing how helpless I am.

“Sorry, what?”

I hear a motorbike from the door at the same time I reply to him. It’s familiar to the point I definitely know who is coming without looking through the glass window. My mother.

Even though it’s earlier than I thought, my mother may have done her work at my aunt’s home and is now parking her motorbike in the front yard. Then I put aside what I heard from Long to go out of the room. Aliens? What are they? Are they edible? Surely they can’t be used as food, but my mother will bring back to me some bánh ú (beng u) for me.

Is there anything more important than my favorite dish my aunt has promised to send me before? No, of course. It’s a pity that I nearly forgot about them. Nothing will surpass the dreamy sweet of the sticky rice and…

“Holy crap! You actually heard nothing about the aliens, did you?” And, yeah, this idiot interrupts me with his damn loud voice that my old phone can’t stop but makes it louder.

I was startled. My phone almost falls down to the ground. But that’s not what I’m going to say.

Feeling something abnormal in my back, I swallow a little saliva before turning back, looking at the bed. My little brother has already woken up because of the loud voice, and he must have been startled, like me. Nah, that brat absolutely startled him! I can see his both eyes, which are full of tears at an incredible speed and now looking back at me. My eyes open wide in shock and I’m running back without hesitation, as fast as I can, to the bed to appease him.

“No, no, buddy, no, stop, don’t…” 

“WAAH…” And I fail.

My fire of anger flares up right after that. I grasp the phone, seeing that the screen is still in the ‘calling’ situation. Well, look, this loaded man doesn’t care about the call charges! Fine, I won’t have to spend my money.

“Long.” I take a deep breath, and when he is about to ask me something, all the bad words I have collected just simply ‘explode’ with the highest and loudest tone I can use, “You brat! Wash your neck carefully since I’ll take a forty-feet-long sword to finish your miserable life! We’re done! That’s it!”

“But the aliens…”

“There are no fuckin’ aliens in this world! Get it? F*ck!” I am not an impolite man actually, but this brat has successfully broken all my limits. The aliens are now included as well. My anger, which has been burning up because of some dunderhead, is now causing me a heart attack because of this brat again. I finish the call, throw the phone to the bed, and start pleasing my crying brother.

F*ck, again. Why the hell does that loaded brat call me when my mother is home? Why? Did I provoke him or something?

“Okay, okay, it’s fine, dear, don’t cry… That brat is bad, right? I have already chased him away. Did you see that? Okay sweetheart, don’t cry…”

“Waah… a-alien… b-brother, aliens…” Damn. He is sobbing now!!!

“No, no, sweetheart, there are no aliens… It’s me who needs to…” cry now.

But I have no time to say that. I am no different from a criminal who hides his crime in despair, and the inevitable result is, like in movies, the police appear behind me without a sound and…

“Nguyệt Anh.”

Damn.

DAMN!!!

An hour after being criticized by my mother, I park my bike near a restaurant named Genvere, the newly opened luxurious location where we hold the farewell party for Long. Of course, we poor students who do not even have enough money to buy candy are not the ones paying the bills, especially in such a high-priced restaurant. We don’t intend to throw all our precious money in this ‘black hole’ as well, because, look, even the blue ceramic vase over there is surely more expensive than our monthly pocket money.

So how, or who, let us come and enjoy this luxury?

All my innocent classmates have called me to join the big party here, emphasizing over three times that it was too incredible, and they would never imagine that the guy who wore the tattered clothes was actually a loaded individual. They think that Long is the one who takes responsibility for their expenses, but why don’t they put their mind farther? This brat is stingy to the point he can wear torn clothes without feeling ashamed, so how can he be the honored one?

How?

It’s me who cries in the dark to make everything free, okay?

“Lobster? Abalone? Then what the hell is that? Kobe beef? What the…” Holding the fragile heart and looking at all the dishes brought to the table in the private room, I nearly vomited a blood puddle to express my desperate emotion. My eyes turn into the blind ones, seeing nothing but the black color, with the mouth trembling to say, “It’s impossible. Exactly. They can’t eat all that living money this way. It must be wrong in some ways…”

Next to me, the manager of the restaurant seems to fear that my unhealthy body can get fainted anytime. Her anxious look moves back and forth, finally stopping at my trembling hand holding the door. She said, “It is costly, but you’ll get the right to manage this restaurant after the boss’ departure, right, Nguyệt Anh?”

Hearing that, I can’t hold back but shake like a leaf in the autumn.

“I give up, okay? Please give my money back to me and I’ll disappear, I swear…”

“Nah, Nguyệt Anh, you’re the only shareholder here. Boss will leave soon and we can’t leave this restaurant uncontrolled. You know that, right?” She smiles as if I am telling jokes.

“I am voluntary. Please, I can’t. I am just a highschool student…”

“You’re graduated, kid.” The manager looks at her wristwatch, patting my shoulder before leaving with a sweet smile. “I have to go now. All the expenses are just around fifteen million Dong. Don’t worry, they have not spent your income at all. So keep working. And remember that next month is your first meeting.”

F*ck.

Fifteen million Dong is over six hundred and fifty dollars, lady. What the hell is ‘just around’? My father is an adult, a math teacher and his monthly income is not enough for this meal, okay? If I knew that all my miserable classmates would choose those dishes, damn, I would let them eat earthworms for sure! F*ck all those money wasters.  

Oh, maybe I should bring some food back to my mother? She must have never eaten a lobster before. Not knowing that her son is this restaurant's shareholder is one thing, but eating nothing expensive here is another different one.

Reasoning that, I ran into the private dining room at the highest speed. “Hey hey, let the lobster down! Mine now, dude!”

It's my second identity, the one putting money and working to maintain Genvere's business.