No Time

Hm, maybe I went a little too far.

I didn't expect Little Blue to be so nice and hand over such key evidence to Calix.

Guess he's still a kid although he tries to act mature.

Calix was fuming and looked terrified but ready to fight.

Psh, it was fun but now seeing this reaction I didn't want to bully him any further.

"After that, do you still want to meet my Ge?"

The main point really. Did he still want to chase after my Ge?

"...Is he happy?"

"Yes. Very much so," I replied with a slight smile.

"Then I don't want to see him anymore."

Hm, how unexpected. I didn't expect him to be that mature and know how to give up properly.

He really had changed from a vengeful brat to a decent person.

"Then, do you want to stay?" I asked. I could let him stay. 

"I'm allowed to?" Calix asked with a confused look.

"Don't you not like me? I like your brother. Didn't you want to chase me out?"

"No, having fun is not disliking you. You're welcome to stay if you want, we've got more than enough space."

Calix seemed to consider it carefully.

Outside waiting was the harsh weather and environment, a harsh world overall.

Here in the base could be considered paradise.

"I want to stay."

"Good choice. Then do you want to keep your job? I can transfer you to another one."

I had expected that he would stay with his comrades that he so pitifully asked a psychic ability user for, but it turned out-

"Assign me another job! Please!"

-he immediately backed out of it.

He's become amusing, I even laughed.

"Then, I can see that Little Blue's taken a liking to you. Would you like to become a butler? He's getting ready to retire soon."

"Ok, I'll take it!"

We ended the conversation and I had guards send him back.

When I got home, the house felt empty.

Ge wasn't around, Xiao Lai was busy, Xiao Bing was somewhere with her boyfriend I guess.

I used to be overprotective of them.

But I realized that one day, we were all going to have our own families and would have to live our own lives.

I was mad at Xiao Bing before, but I didn't care much now.

She should make her own decisions and stick to it.

Through making bad choices and learning from them, you could grow as a person.

She was making her own money, was eating properly, and not having any problems, she was doing fine.

But with nobody home, it certainly felt lonely.

I made some tea for myself and sat down on the couch to destress.

Eh, there was someone outside the door.

Not my siblings... oh, it's Xia Jiayi.

"Ah? You're home early!"

"Mm, you're late."

"The lab found new results from a discarded petri dish! We were frantic trying to find out why it turned out so different when it wasn't showing any results a week ago."

"Good work. Have you had dinner yet?"

"Not yet, you?"

"I have, what do you want?"

"Ah, no need to trouble yourself, I'll make it myself."

"Ok."

Whew, it was nice having people around.

And I felt comfortable around Xia Jiayi thankfully. If it was some stranger or just an acquaintance, I'd have put on a front.

It really was nice seeing him around.

...huh?

"Hold this for me."

A bowl of noodles was placed into my hands.

Xia Jiayi made his way around and sat next to me.

He turned on the tv and scrolled through the channels.

He picked the show we attended and proceeded to start from the beginning.

After dropping the remote next to him, he took back the noodles and slurped them while watching episode 1.

"Is it that interesting? We were the ones to participate."

"You haven't watched it, right? The producers really edited the whole thing well! And I look so cool, I must've watched it at least 30 times."

"Hm, I'll watch with you."

I really hadn't watched the show before.

It turned out more fun than expected, and we discussed about what happened at a certain point or how that competitor was actually different than they looked.

"Ah remember that course? If not for the revival round, I would've been outed for sure!"

"Ugh, that guy grabbed my ankle and I fell at the last second! At least I'm in the top 3! Hahaha!"

"Huh, how come I've never noticed that before?! I've watched this 30 times!"

With the natural commentary beside me, I was laughing along pretty shortly.

But although the show was fun and it brought back memories, I couldn't help but focus on something else.

Xia Jiayi smiling looked really nice.

His laughter, although loud, wasn't annoying, it was nice too.

Subconsciously, I smiled while looking at him.

Although he wasn't family, I was really comfortable being around him.

I also wanted to take care of him as I did for my siblings, but it was a little different.

Hm, maybe it was something I didn't want but happened anyway.

Maybe I did like him.

But I wasn't going to let him know that.

Until I was sure he liked me.

Besides, I wanted to find out what kind of person he was.

I wasn't the type to do things before thinking through.

Xia Jiayi was hiding things from me.

If not, how could my trusted hackers and crackers fail at trying to find his background and history?

Sigh, maybe I was crazy.

I fell in love with a person I don't even know completely.

And how come so suddenly?

There were and are many great people around me.

I could've developed crushes on any one of them and then be somewhat assured.

Why'd I have to go and like this guy?

Just because I want to protect him?

Just because his actions are cute?

Well, it's already happened, might as well get closer and find out his secrets.

At the exact moment, because Xia Jiayi got too excited for the newest episode that the production team quickly edited today, his bowl spilled over.

"Ahh, I'm sorry! I'll clean it up!"

In the end, his efforts to clean made a bigger mess.

He looked flustered and instead of getting stains out, rubbed them in.

...It's no use, everything he does looks cute.

I was already beyond the point of no return.

Love was a terrible thing.