1 Better

"And so the daring hero escaped the jungle without a single scratch on his body. He asks, who would like to be a hero like me?"

Quang reads, with a book in her hands belonging to her 6 year old little brother Leo, who was sitting on his bed and listening to the story.

"And...what happens next?" he asked impatiently. Quang gives a mocking smile and closes the book. "That's it. The story ended." she said.

Leo frowned and folded his little arms.

"I know you're lying Quang. It's not over I know. Mom used to read this story for me all the time." he said.

"If you know it then why do you want me to read it for you?" she asked as she put the book away on the small shelf above his bed. Leo rolled his eyes and got comfortable under his blankets.

"Whatever, I'm getting sleepy anyway." he said as he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Quang gave a small chuckle and stood up. She bent down and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight bro. See you next week." she said. Leo's eyes flew open and he quickly sat up on his bed. He grabbed Quang's wrist and gave her his cutest face. "You're not leaving again are you? You promised you would stay until my birthday." he said with a soft voice.

Quang's smile slowly died down and she bent down and caressed his cheek.

"I know Leo. Things are just... not going well for me at the moment. I still have to look for a job and look for a place to stay." she said.

She tried her best to see Leo as much as she could during these few months. He was involved in a big car accident on his way to visit her at her friend's house. He has been hospitalized for weeks and was lucky to have survived. Quang's heart broke the minute she heard that her sweet little brother got hurt because he wanted to see her so badly.

Their mother died from an illness three years ago and her step father didn't take her death well. He started drinking a lot and Quang was afraid that his drinking would affect her and her brother, so she decided to take him to live with their aunt Selena. There wasn't enough room and food for extra mouths to feed, so Quang decided to leave her brother and go stay with her friend.

Leo's condition seemed to be improving, but she still worries that he would repeat the same mistake again and try to go visit her when he gets better. Since then, Quang and their aunt were the only family he had since their father didn't bother to visit them.

"Why don't you stay Quang? I'm very lonely here and our cousins are too busy to play or read me my favorite stories. " he said.

Quang kissed his forehead once more. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes but she didn't want to cry in front of her little brother.

"Don't worry. Things will get better soon and we'll live together. I'll read your story books every night and play with you as much as you want. Okay?" she said with a comforting smile.

She then tucked him in and walked towards the door. "Goodnight Leo. Get some rest." she said and Leo closed his eyes soon after.

She sighed and quietly closed the door behind her after looking at his sweet sleeping face once more.

"Things will get better." she quietly said to herself.

She walked down the stairs to meet aunt Selena downstairs, who was preparing food in the kitchen.

"Is he asleep?" aunt Selena asked without looking away from the stove.

Quang nodded and walked up to her. She reached out and placed her hand on her shoulder with a smile.

"Thanks for taking care of Leo aunt. I promise I'll make things work." She said. Her aunt looked at her with a smile. "It's fine dear. I enjoy having my nephew around and I understand your situation. It's hard for a 19 year old such as yourself to have such responsibility on taking care of your brother." She removed Quang's hand from her shoulder and removed the strands of black hair from her face.

"Thank you aunt." Quang gave her aunt a tight hug before pulling away. Her aunt nodded before Quang walked out the door.