Chapter 22 Better Community Housing Center ( Lotus) (Joy)
2months pass
The air inside the Better Community Housing Center felt warmer than usual not from heat, but history. Lotus and Joy sat across from Mr. Emerson, the director who had known them since they were teens who was friend with lotus Grandfather father Charles. The sunlight spilled across the polished hardwood floors of the conference room, catching the framed photos of past neighborhood events, each one marked by laughter, transformation, and the slow but steady work of rebuilding.
“I still remember when you two came in here trying to start a tutoring group with nothing but a notebook and an old Dell laptop,” Mr. Emerson chuckled, leaning back in his creaky chair. “Now look at this place. New programs, expanded gardens, grant funding through the roof and it’s all because of you two.”
Lotus smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Her mahogany skin glowed against the beige walls, and her almond brown eyes flicked to the binder in her hands. “We just wanted the neighborhood to have what we didn’t growing up with.”
Joy added, “And we became the women we needed back then. You believed in us when we were still figuring out who we were.”
Mr. Emerson stood and handed them two thick manila folders. “That’s why I’m nominating you both to join the board. Officially. You’re already leading the work might as well have the titles to match.”
Before either woman could respond, the door opened, and two men stepped in.
“Ah,” Mr. Emerson said. “Perfect timing. Ladies, meet Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei. They’re long-time board patrons, though they prefer to stay out of the spotlight.”
The two older Japanese men nodded respectfully. Mr. Wu was slender, with deep lines marking his serene face. He wore a charcoal suit with an understated elegance. Mr. Rei, shorter and stockier, had a dignified presence, groomed to perfection, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back.
Joy leaned toward Lotus and whispered, “They look like they own five secret businesses and a tea shop that only opens on lunar eclipses.”
Lotus stifled a giggle. “Be nice.”
The meeting began, but Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei observed more than they spoke until the discussion turned to safety. Lotus pulled out a proposal.
“We’ve had a spike in break-ins, and more abandon buildings is turning into drugs traps houses that’s now attracting addicts, and criminal activity in the last three months. Activity’s ramping up after dark. We want to launch a neighborhood watch initiative partner with local businesses, schools, and apartment complexes.”
Joy handed out the packets, each with color-coded graphs and detailed crime heat maps. “We also want to fund motion lights and increase block patrols. But here’s the kickerwe’ve linked a few of the names in the incident reports to a local crew rumored to be tied to a new mafia ring forming in Trenton.”
One name, in particular, made the room go still.
Lotus’s hands tightened around her binder, the edges digging into her palms.
“My stepdad,” she said quietly. “He’s one of them. Even after all these years… he’s still poisoning this city.”
A long silence followed.
Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei exchanged a glance wordless, sharp, and weighted with understanding.
“That is… deeply concerning,” Mr. Rei said finally, his tone careful but deliberate. “We have resources we can deploy. Connections. Consider this a priority.”
Something in the room shifted after that does not fear, but focus. The tension dissolved, replaced by an unspoken resolve.
From then on, the rest of the meeting flowed effortlessly punctuated by laughter, thoughtful debate, and a genuine exchange of ideas. Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei spoke more freely than they ever did within the walls of the House Chāruzu. Their usual guarded authority softened into curiosity, even warmth.
The energy here was nothing like the boardroom back at the House of Charuzu. There, power was currency. Here, it was collaboration.
Every voice mattered. Every suggestion was heard. What they built in that room wasn’t just strategy, it was community. For once, everyone was pulling in the same direction, united by something bigger than profit or pride.
And for a fleeting moment, Lotus felt it the rare, unfamiliar peace of belonging somewhere that didn’t demand her armor.
After the meeting, Mr. Wu and Mr. Rei walked out with Mr. Emerson, observing the changes to the community center and the surrounding neighborhood. They were surprised by the changes, which almost resembled a pleasant neighborhood rather than the urban struggle of the third ward that it had been before their arrival in the neighborhood as foreigners trying to make a difference.
In the thick of the 1960s, when redlining was law in all but name and landlords turned away ethnic families without so much as a glance, there was one man who stood against the current Charles Wintlen, Joy and Lotus’s grandfather a veteran and bounty hunter by trade, with a reputation that kept most trouble at bay in East Hamilton, Charles owned a modest duplex and