Haven Online

As the delectable aroma of the cooked pork belly wafted throughout the kitchen, Xinya stomach gurgled in anticipation. But he could only hold back the desire to fill his gullet with the mouthwatering food that was just in reach.

Knowing that he had to wait until the rice was finished, he stared at the steamer with expectation. While doing so he recalled an idiom that really fits how he was feeling right now. If he was remembering right, the idiom was 'a watched pot never boils.' 

This meant that time seems to move more slowly when someone is anticipating something. To him, those words never rang more true, than they did at this exact moment.

Even if he wasn't watching a boiling pot, but a rice cooker instead, those words felt very accurate. While the ten minutes he had to wait for the rice to finish, felt as though it was slowing to a crawl, Xinya inevitably started berating himself.

If only he had prepared the rice first before doing anything else, then he could have been eating right now. Since the smell of the pork belly was testing his patience, he decided to kill time by checking out the game auction site with his phone.

A couple of days ago, which equated to weeks in Haven Online, he put 25 gold coins up for auction. He had meant to check if they had sold the last time he had logged out but forgot all about it. 

Usually he would have gotten a notification inside of the game, telling him that money had been deposited into his bank account. However, since he didn't think he would need it at this point in time, it completely slipped his mind to turn on that feature. 

So to find out if his coins had indeed sold, he would have to check the site for himself manually. While he was logging into his account on the coin auction site, he made a note to himself to turn on the automatic notification feature as soon as he logged back into the game.

Checking his account's dashboard, he was happy to see that his coins had sold, and he was now $2,500 richer. Since he didn't have automatic transferring on he needed to send the money into his bank himself. 

After pressing the transfer button, only a couple of seconds passed before he got a message from his bank saying the money had arrived. Logging onto his bank account, he saw that he now had $36,400.

Furrowing his brows, Xinya felt as though that amount seemed a bit low. He could have sworn that he had more money than that. Clicking on the tab that would show him his purchases, he realized that it was correct. 

From buying the VR pod and all of it's amenities to paying Wei six months of rent, and buying the upgraded wheelchair he only had $33,900 left out of the $100,000 he had started with. Adding the $2,500 that was just transferred in, $36,400 was his current balance.

An ironic smile appeared on his face as he reflected on his past. This would have been a lot of money to him back then when he was living in the slums, but now it was just barely a drop in a bucket. 

Especially once the six months were over and he would have to start paying $100 monthly medical fee, and the $200 a week for a case of nutrient solution. There was also the fact that he needed enough to move to the elite area of the city.

At first, he wanted to move there, so that he, Wei, and her mother could live somewhere nice. However, even though he said he didn't want revenge on his father, he did want to show him that even if he was crippled he could live well without his help. 

As Xinya began to dwell on that prospect some more, the rice cooker suddenly beeped, clearing away any other thoughts besides eating. Putting his phone away, Xinya shouted, calling Wei to come and eat, before grabbing a couple of dishes, and making their plates.

~

"This is delicious Xinya," Wei gushed between bites. "What is it called?"

After swallowing down a bite of the succulent tasting meat he made, Xinya replied, "It's called Hui Guo Rou. It's one of those Szechuan pork dishes."

"Well it's delicious, I can't wait to brag about it Melting Snow," Wei told him gleefully.

Chuckling, Xinya asked, "Why do you like antagonizing that poor boy so much?"

"Poor boy my butt," Wei huffed, rolling her eyes at Xinya's words. "He gives as much as he takes." 

"That is true, the boy can be a little stinker to you when he wants to be," he tells her with a smile, putting another bite of the scrumptious food into his mouth.

Bobbing her head vigorously up and down, Wei said, "I know right! But even if he is a brat to me sometimes, I will miss him when I leave."

"Now that you brought it up," Xinya started pausing in the midst of taking another bite of food. "When are you and Wandering Sound going to depart from Arkala?"

"To be honest, I want us to go as soon as he and I have everything sorted out in the town," Wei announced in a quiet voice.

She didn't want Xinya to think that she was in a rush to leave, but like pulling off a bandaid she wanted to leave quickly. If she didn't she might be tempted to stay with Xinya and Melting Snow longer, and probably be drawn into another adventure. No matter how much she would like that, she had to go and get stronger.

Xinya, who had already guessed that it would be like this, showed no disappointment on his face, and told her, "That's fine, but I will not allow you to leave together without a proper goodbye party." 

"A goodbye party?" Wei asks in bewilderment. 

"Yes, a goodbye party," Xinya begins with a smirk. "Well more like a goodbye picnic, but we will say it's a party."

With a thankful smile, Wei said, "Alright, I will be looking forward to it, plus I still have to say farewell to Snow boy properly anyway.

Smiling at each other the two friends continued to talk about random things as they ate, before going back to their rooms to log back into the game.