This is the first installment of INSIGHT’s ‘never-ending story’, a creative writing project where anyone can make a submission to continue the story.
“Straight.”
Sirius eyed his hand, a series of face cards that could easily destroy his opponent’s strategy, but instead he lay them face down on the table. “You win.”
He seemed incredulous, like a man who had been told to leave prison years before the end of his sentence. “Wait, really? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?” He sniffed and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his brown coat.
“Really,” Sirius replied, grabbing the spare card pile and mixing it with his own hand.
“Finally!” Laughter and smiles broke out across Emmett’s pudgy face, which then devolved into a fit of coughing. “Sorry,” he said in between each cough. “Been a while since I won. I suppose I’ll be having that money now.”
Sirius fished out his wallet and tossed a crisp 100 dollar bill. “I better still see that bill with you tomorrow.”
“Yes. Mhmm.” Emmett said, no doubt thinking about where to spend it the second he left here. He picked himself up, and the wicker chair beneath him groaned as he stood. “I’ll be off now.”
Sirius waved him goodbye, tugging at his sweat-soaked shirt collar. The heat was unbearable, which only made the sight of Emmett hobbling down the road wrapped in a thick down coat over a sweater over a shirt even more absurd. Even if he was sick.
Just as he was getting ready to leave the cafe, hefting his backpack over his shoulder, his phone buzzed, a clear box appearing at the bottom of the screen. Tapping it presented him with an emotionless wall of text:
Dear Mr Sirius Cheng,
We hope this email finds you well. We are Yip & Chan Solicitors, and are honoured to have been appointed as executors for your late relative Ms. Koo Hiu-ching, who passed away on 6/7/25. We are writing to inform you that you have been named as a beneficiary in Ms. Koo’s will, dated 14/3/24. Below are details regarding administration of the estate…
Sirius read on, confusion growing by the second. He didn’t know anyone by that name. Perhaps there had been a mistake. He slipped his phone into his pocket, before it buzzed again. This time it read ‘meeting cancelled’.
He sighed. Now he had a few hours of free time. Might as well go and see what this is all about.
A short train ride later, and Sirius found himself in front of a gleaming high rise, smothered by invisible traffic fumes. The air conditioning hit him like a second wind as he passed through the gold-plated revolving door, and as he walked past the luxuriously upholstered sofas and abstract art pieces to the reception, he felt strangely dizzy.
Sirius hadn’t been in the waiting room for long when a suited staff member with an officious air around him appeared. “Mr Cheng, yes? This way, please.”
They stepped into a drab, dimly lit lift and stood in awkward silence, unbroken even when they exited into a corridor lined with heavy metal doors. Stopping at one, the man pulled out a set of keys and unlocked it with a resounding clank.
“Call us when you’re done,” echoed the man’s voice in the cold, dry air. He turned immediately and walked back down the corridor.
The door itself was unremarkable. Upon the painted oak surface lay a trio of faded numbers, a whisper of past comings and goings. A part of Sirius wondered what had passed through this door in ages past. Another part told him to get on with it and get out of here, no matter how suspicious it seemed.
Sirius took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.
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