No Time

From what my dad told me yesterday, I knew that the chief had found himself a boyfriend.

And that the chief's older brother, an ex-idol, married a man and even had a lovely daughter.

Also, I think the youngest Shui family member ran away to live with her boyfriend.

I hadn't heard anything about Lai Ge's preferences or dating life.

My thought was that he just didn't have the time or maybe wasn't interested in the time being.

I didn't expect any of the shocking news I heard from him today.

To my knowledge, he had a crush.

And that crush rejected Lai Ge.

I thought girls liked his type.

The slightly unruly, free spirit-like type. A mix of rebelliousness and charm.

So I was pretty surprised to hear that he was rejected.

Then the next news was that the crush had turned into a zombie.

And was being researched outside the research center.

That meant it had to be specially taken care of, contained by a strong ability user.

There was also a high chance of the zombie being aggressive or having an ability.

These zombies were dangerous, and I wouldn't be able to take care of them on my own.

His crush was probably a poor human who turned into a strong zombie.

It couldn't be someone from our base. Everyone was immune to being turned into a zombie.

Thinking of that, it's been years since the base welcomed its residents.

Did that mean Lai Ge's crush was someone he knew years ago or an outsider?

That must have been hard for him to bear.

Also, it was really sappy but romantic of him to say that green hair was his favorite.

Even though, the person in question was gay.

I didn't have anything against his sexual preference.

As anyone could have children, lots of parents had let go of their previous scorn for all types of relationships.

Of course, some didn't like it, but with the chief's older brother marrying a man himself, it was hard for them to speak out. It caused less unrest and less work for the government workers so that was nice.

And as soon as the news gets out about the chief getting a boyfriend, they would have to hide their intentions away even more covertly.

Now that I knew, I thought to myself.

'Does he like Shane or Andrei?'

My information-seeking self wanted to know, or as young master little blue called it my "gossip radar" was going off.

He seemed to have found out my intentions.

"Don't look at me like that. I don't like either of them that way."

Disappointment washed over me.

"You sure like gossip. But sorry to say this, I don't like anybody right now."

That works! There were girls interested in Lai Ge at the school he worked at. If this got out, they'd be grateful for the grapevine.

"Don't spread this around. I'm not interested in dating either."

Bummer. Such a good piece of information was ruined.

The doorbell rang and Shane ran to go get the door.

"Food's here, let's eat!" he cheerfully shouted after paying the delivery man money and tip.

I didn't get many chances to eat junk food, so today's hamburger was especially delicious.

The cheesy pizza slices shared were really good too.

Mom would probably say that I was making myself unhealthy.

Her nagging face came up in my mind and I smiled.

It was hard to see Mom's face except for dinnertime.

And these days with new discoveries after more discoveries, she was busier than ever.

Dad was busy too, so I was alone most of the time.

They didn't have time to nag me anymore.

Kind of sad, but at least they were working hard in jobs they liked.

I wonder what I would be.

Maybe a journalist?

Maybe a secretary like Dad? I was already into that role for Little Blue, it seemed like a good job.

"Hey, what're you dazing off for? Finish eating, we're going to walk around after."

I sat up straight indicating I was paying attention now.

Shane ruffled my hair and said, "He's a kid, be nice."

Andrei seemed to nod but noted, "Are you sticking up for him because he called you Ge?"

"You found me out! But still, be nice Shui Lai, isn't he, your brother's secretary's son?"

"True that. And he's supposed to introduce me to a girl too."

"A girl? I thought you were gay!"

"Don't get me wrong, she can revert time back on stuff. I'm not interested in girls."

"Woah, cool ability. If I ever break stuff, I'll look for her then!"

After the older boys finished joking around, we got jackets or coats on and headed outside.

It was a slightly chilly night, but we were warm under our outerwear.

We walked around, talking, eating street stall foods.

The night was still young, and it felt like youth.

Haha, I felt old even though I wasn't.

For Shane and Andrei, they didn't treat me like a kid. More like a friend or a younger brother. 

It felt like I've known these people all my life. It was that comfortable to be around them now.

But they weren't really my friends, they were Lai Ge's friends.

At this moment, although I was happy and laughing, I felt something else.

Jealousy and guilt.

I wanted to be their friend, wanted to fit in, but was I even qualified?

They were all powerful, older although not by too much, and looked up to by those who remembered their deeds for the base.

If I was the same age, would I be able to fit in and play with them like this every day?

No, it might be worse in that case because I may be even more underqualified even at the same age, always comparing myself to them and then becoming self-loathing and jealous.

"Jing Shao."

I looked up to see Lai Ge waiting.

"What're you dazing off for again? They've gone ahead to go see a snail race. There's a prize for the person who guesses the time of the slowest or fastest snail. "

"Sorry, Lai Ge."

"Nothing to be sorry about. I do wonder what's going on in your head though."

"Just something... Hey, Lai Ge. Do you think I can be friends with the others?"

"Is that what you were worried about?"

Lai Ge grinned and laughed at me.

"Hahaha, how adorable! Now don't pout at me, this really is too cute. You don't even have to be worried. They consider you a friend already. Shane and Andrei set boundaries against strangers or people they don't trust. They treat you so comfortably, just do the same."

Hmph.

I wasn't pouting.

"How could I have thought before that you were a calculating sly kid? You're such an adorable kid! Hahahaha!"

Lai Ge was having a great laugh and I couldn't stand it anymore.

I kicked him and shouted, "Stop laughing! I'm not adorable!"

"Pft. Sure you aren't. Hahahahahaha!"

Urgh.

How could I have ever thought he was cool! Clearly, he was just a jerk who made fun of me!

...But still, he was nice.

Is this what big brothers are like?

Then I really do wish Lai Ge was my big brother.