"Have a good night, Mai!" Priscilla, the bus driver, yells as I run down the steps of the bus. I wave goodbye to Priscilla, watching the doors close behind me. The yellow school bus disappears around the corner and I pick up my pace, running up the hill to go home.

After Maê divorced, we found a secure community close to a prestigious high school and a middle school with a strong special ed program for my little brother. The three-bedroom condo we live in is nicer than what we're used to. It has a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, a private gym, and a recreational room where kids could play board games and lose track of time on the new PlayStation 25. As nice as everything is, I know me and my family don't fit in. Of all the tenants living here, how many are Asian? I'm lucky if I meet at least one other Thai person.

I run up the steps to Apartment B-88, ringing the doorbell. I hear soft footsteps trudging on the carpet; the ground creaking with every step. Suddenly, the sound stops and a faint shadow is cast from the bottom of the door.

"Lamai, is that you?" Yai asks, despite being able to see me through the door's peephole. Her eyesight isn't the greatest, so it doesn't bother me.

"Yes, I'm back from school," I reply, waiting impatiently as I try to keep winter’s icy embrace from penetrating my skin. My breath appears as a puff of smoke. Although it’s February, the weather has yet to warm up. The cherry tree branches lack their usually vibrant pink-edged white flowers, while the needles of the pine trees have fallen to the ground. It’s quiet, with no birds or woodland critters in sight. Leaves once green now have turned to a dull brown and dark orange. The wind blows fiercely, whistling its discontent on the breeze.

It’s four in the afternoon, which means I have an hour and a half before Maê returns home from work. Before school ended, my best friend, Yumi, mentioned a new VRMMORPG game they planned to release tomorrow. I had saved enough money from my part-time job. If I wanted to get the game, I would have to persuade Yai to take me before my mom could influence her decision. 

"Could you let me in? It’s cold out here," I say, shoving my hands deeper into my coat pockets to wrap my hands around the pocket warmers.

The lock clicks and the door swings open. I'm greeted by my grandmother's exuberant grin. She has her bifocals resting low on the ridge of her nose, like she just read something. She has her same bright red lipstick on, including curly hair extensions that look like a dead poodle. Her hair is blacker than usual, and the potent scent of chemical dye wafts through once she closes the door behind me. My gaze wanders to her hair and I notice it's wet. She must have dyed it again… Maê won't be happy when she gets home.

I hear my little brother, Ari, laughing in the bedroom, likely from a new Spongebob game. He has played that game damn near one hundred times, and every time, enjoyed it more than the previous run. Maê didn't like it when we played too many games because she worried it would affect our schoolwork. It's different for Ari because he's autistic. She often says how she regrets not giving him half the things she's given me. Though I think it's because he's her favorite. What did I get to be proud of? A set of IB classes I need to take to improve my chances of getting into a good college, hours of Taekwondo on Saturdays, and concert and marching band. It's a lifestyle that forces me to turn to games for comfort. At least in the gaming world, I could forget about my worries for a few hours.

"How was school?" Yai asks, already rushing around the corner into the kitchen. I take my shoes off and slip my feet into slippers, following her. I'm instantly hit with the delicious fumes of her signature teriyaki chicken. My favorite. "Are you hungry? I made some food for Ariyanuntaka earlier. I can heat it up if you'd like."

My stomach rumbles and I know it's a lost battle. "Maybe just one plate," I answer, while thinking if I ate fast enough, I would still have enough time to learn more about the new game.

She pulls a white ceramic plate from one cupboard and opens the rice cooker. Heat floods the surrounding space as she scoops two generous dollops of rice onto my plate. Next, she turns to the pot that held the main course. She lifts the lid and the mouthwatering aroma of soy sauce fills my nose.

Chicken drumsticks and hard-boiled eggs float in a dark brown liquid, having soaked up the juicy sauce. Yai picks up a pair of tongs and places two drumsticks next to my rice. I know it's cooked to perfection because the meat sloughs off just from her gripping it. She places a hard-boiled egg on the cutting board to slice it in half before adding it to my plate. The rice has already started to turn brown from the sauce. All thoughts about the new VRMMORPG leave my mind and I forget about the urgency in talking to her before Maê gets home.

She sets the food at the table and hands me a spoon and fork. With how tender the meat is, I don't need a knife. I fill my spoon with a bit of rice, a bit of egg, and a strip of chicken. When I take my first bite, a sweet and salty flavor explodes in my mouth. The meat practically melts and I find myself searching for more. Even the hard-boiled egg has a soft texture that satisfies me when I eat it without the other elements of the dish.

Within thirty minutes, I finish my meal. "My compliments to the chef," I say, as though I'm a customer dining in an exclusive restaurant to humor her.

She chuckles and says, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll put the leftovers in the fridge. You can eat it tomorrow." She leans in to whisper, "Unless Ari eats it all before you get to it again. That boy is a bottomless pit! I don't know where he puts all that food. It's amazing. He never stops eating and yet we still can't get him to gain weight."

"Fast metabolism runs in the family, Yai. Look at you, Maê, and I." I head to my bedroom, peeking my head in the room Ari shares with Maê. He munches on raw mushrooms, peeling it away layer by layer with the front of his teeth. "I'm going to get started on homework. If you need anything, just knock."

"Don't study too hard. Remember to take breaks," she replies, already settling into the green couch in the living room with a quarter-filled container of purple sweet rice to watch the latest episode of her Thai soap opera. I watch her scoop up a generous helping and sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the colored rice. Shivers run down my spine as she takes her first bite and I take that as my cue to close my bedroom door before I lose my dinner.

I empty the contents of my backpack onto my bed before throwing it onto the floor. My room isn't anything fancy. A single queen-sized bed rests against the wall at ground level. Faded purple sheets cover the mattress, and it sits on the floor without a box spring or a headboard. It doesn't bother me because I still have my desk. But I'm not planning to do homework right away.

I slide into the chair at my desk, rousing my desktop computer from its slumber by gently nudging the mouse and entering my password. It opens up a Firefox browser with multiple tabs, most of which are YouTube videos of Korean and Chinese drama soundtracks. The last song I listened to is sung by Nantida Kaewbuasai, a family favorite. A day doesn't go by when a song written by Nantida or Tom Rainbow isn't blasting in someone's room.

A new tab opens and I type in the keywords 'MYTHIC KINGDOMS' and 'VRMMORPG.' It leads me to an official website with a background filled with ethereal shades of blue and purple. A goddess with luxuriously long hair holds a bright orb of white light above a tall staircase. Lines of text fade into view at the bottom of the screen, capturing my attention: 

The Goddesses of Light beseech you to save their Mythic Kingdom.
Only one will reign victorious and keep the darkness at bay.

Unlike most games, this one doesn't include a preview of gameplay, so I don't know what to expect. Instead, there are one-line testimonies from beta testers, praising the game's intuitive gameplay, one hundred and fifty floors of intricately crafted worlds based on myths and legends around the worlds, thrilling and challenging bosses, and incredibly smart NPCs who behave as though they are people in the real world. AI technology isn't unheard of. There have been recent advancements, but I'd never heard of a video game spending so much money to apply it to all the NPCs. The developers must have all the money in the world.

I scroll further down and see an instructional video for the new VR headset, the SoulDive. As I watch the long tutorial, my eyes nearly bulge out of my skull in surprise when I see they're giving it out for free to promote Mythic Kingdoms, as it's the first game to utilize new technology. It wouldn't be easy to convince Maê to get me another VR headset, but with it being free, how could she refuse? She never turned down free stuff. It saved her the time of having to bargain with the seller and she couldn’t hold it against me for wasting my money.

The next thing I search for is the cost of the game. It's fifty bucks, a meager amount for the gaming experience they offer. It's not enough to put a dent in my savings. All I need is a ride to the nearest game store. There's sure to be a long line.

I hurry out of my bedroom and find Yai, who has just finished an episode of her five hundred episode drama. "Yai?" I tentatively ask to get her attention.

"Oh? Did you finish your homework already?" she replies, setting her empty container on the coffee table. "Are you hungry again? I'll fix you a bowl."

"No, not yet." I fiddle my thumbs behind my back nervously, my heart pounding in my ears. I know she'll say yes and yet I'm nervous, like I need to convince her why I need to buy Mythic Kingdoms. "Could you take me to the store tomorrow? There's a new game coming out and it's supposed to include a world similar to Thailand."

"That's nice. Of course I'll take you." She ruffles my hair. "What time would you like to go?"

The door swings open suddenly, and my mom appears around the corner. She begins talking in Thai to my grandmother, not realizing I'm also standing here. My gaze flickers to the clock. It's a couple of minutes past six. Six already? I didn't realize it had gotten that late already.

Everyone always says I take after my mother. She has short black hair, styled as a fashionable bob. Where her hair is naturally straight, mine consists of long, tight coils of curls, pressed flat thanks to the many straightening treatments she takes me to do every six months or so. It helps me save time on my hair and keeps unwanted strangers from reaching out and touching my hair out of curiosity. I inherited her full red lips, high cheekbones, upturned eyes, and warm brown irises, and yet we have completely distinct personalities.

I'm envious of her outgoing, playful nature because I'm an extreme introvert. New and unfamiliar situations frighten me, and new and unfamiliar people terrify me more. She enjoys going to happy hours with friends and meeting new people, whereas I don't like to stray too far from my bedroom. Aside from Yumi, the only friends I have are the people I met online and I've never seen their faces before. All I know is we are people with similar interests with the identical desire to remain in their bedroom, playing a game, where everyone accepts us.

Maê and Yai exchange a few more words in Thai and Maê's tone becomes harsher as the conversation goes on. She stares at me speculatively before asking, "Where are you making Yai take you tomorrow?"

Oh boy. I’m in for it. "To the game store, Maê. There's a new game that I want to try and they're giving out free SoulDive headsets for free!" She opens her mouth to argue, but I continue, hoping my reasons will be enough for her to understand and agree. "It's for a good cause! The game provides a learning experience about other cultures and helps provide companies with feedback to progress our technology."

Maê raises a hand to stop me. She sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "Why do you need to learn about other cultures, Mai? You should focus on becoming fluent in Thai. Yai passed the language down to me and it's my job to pass it down to you so you can pass it down to your children. We may be in America, but it's important for us to not forget our heritage."

Here we go again... "That's different. You grew up in Thailand. You were surrounded by people who spoke the language. How can I practice Thai if no one else speaks it here?"

She opens her eyes and crosses her arms. "You have Yai."

"Yai isn't fluent in English! How can I learn Thai if I have nothing to compare it to?" I fire back, stepping closer to her to show I won't back down.

She takes it as a challenge and squares up to me. For a moment, I worry if she'll slap me for disrespecting her. "If you diligently studied the language, you wouldn't be asking that question."

Yai chuckles nervously and separates us. "How about we make a deal? I'll take Mai to get the new game she wants and we will work on improving her Thai. By this time next year, she'll be at the intermediate level." Maê begins to disagree, but Yai isn't having it. They continue their conversation in Thai. Maê raises her voice, but Yai remains calm. 

The argument persists for a few more minutes before Maê finally says, "You can play the game, but you must keep your grades up."

Enthusiasm fills me, and I struggle to contain my happiness. I send all my excitement to my hands, clapping them together exuberantly. "Thank you, Maê! I'm already ahead of the rest of the class, so you don't have to worry! You won't regret this."

"It better stay that way. We didn't immigrate to this country, so you could play games. Don't lose sight of your goals, Lamai. You're our family's hope for redemption."

Talk about pressure. I roll my eyes as she stalks into the bedroom, where Ari is still playing his game. She kisses the top of his head and says, "Hey bud, did you have a good day today?" If only she treated me the same, the thought passes through my mind as jealousy rears its ugly head.

"Don't worry too much about what your mother says," Yai says, trying to reassure me with a side hug. Her embrace is warm enough to let some of my envy dissipate, but the frustration remains. Why couldn't Maê act more loving to me like she did with Ari? "She only wants the best for you. We'll get your game in the morning, so get some rest."

At least I'll always have you in my corner, Yai.