Chapter 17

Lily continued to cause trouble for a while, but Jason settled me inside the office and said, "Don't come out, she's just crazy."

"Do you like her, Uncle?" I stared at him and asked.

"That's none of your business."

"Why isn't it my business?" I asked back.

"Who are you to me? It's your own business to mind your own affairs as a child. Leave the adults' affairs alone," he said helplessly.

"I've grown up, so is it my business then?" I asked him seriously.

He looked at me and didn't answer.

"Uncle?" I called him softly.

"Stop it."

He didn't say anything, and I felt uncomfortable and confused. Almost instinctively, I tiptoed and tried to kiss him.

But before I could even reach him, he picked me up and said, "What are you doing?"

Realizing what I was doing, my heart started beating fast.

"I... I... didn't do anything."

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"What are you doing?" He stared at me fiercely.

"I don't know," I replied.

"If you can't handle the responsibility, then don't do it. Don't think that just because you're a child, you can do whatever you want," he said, throwing down those words, irritably lighting up a cigarette before leaving and closing the door behind him.