Chapter 19: (Testing reflexes)
Inside the car was silent for some time until Li Wen broke the silence.
"I'm sorry for breaking your window",
She had said and Xu Jin scoffed.
"It took you a week to say that", Xu Jin said.
"Well be glad I did ",
Li Wen said and Xu Jin shrugged.
"Apology accepted ",
He said and Li Wen was quiet for a while again.
"Also, tell Xu Yun I didn't mean to react the way I did earlier, I just had a lot on my mind", she said.
"How did you know they're my brothers, did Xiao Yanran tell you that as well? ", Xu Jin asked and she creased her brows.
"Well aside the obvious resemblance, I saw the three of you together last night, but how do you know Xiao Yanran?", she asked.
"I'm a friend to her home tutor ",
He said and there was silence in the car again.
"So, why you broke my window and acted all crazy the first time, was it also because you had a lot on your mind", Xu Jin asked.
"No, that's just me on every normal day",
Li Wen said and Xu Jin rolled his eyes.
"You're really crazy", he said.
"That sounds like a complement",
She said and Xu Jin scoffed before stopping the car.
"We're here",
Xu Jin said and Li Wen looked through the window realizing they had arrived at cloud creek.
"At least help me take it out of the boot", she said.
"No, go do it yourself ",
He said and Li Wen eyed him.
"You're so not a gentleman ",
she said before stepping out of the car.
Xu Jin tapped on the button again and the trunk opened. Li Wen struggled again to get the bike out of the boot and when she finally did, Xu Jin without wasting a second had the boot closed and drove off surprising Li Wen.
She tiredly dragged the bike through the neighborhood and finally getting into her yard, she parked her bike at a corner and tiredly walked to the porch, whining the door open and collapsed on the couch in the living room completely exhausted.
She had intended to just lay there and doze off when her eyes landed on the box on the middle table. It was the Titan Core zombie slaughter video game she had gotten Xiao Yanran for her birthday, why was it suddenly back here.
"Mum",
Li Wen called and few minutes later her mother came out from the passage.
"Li Wen dear, you're back", her mother said.
"Mum, how did this get here?", Li Wen asked pointing at the box.
"Oh Xiao Yanran brought that some minutes ago, she said I should give it back to you",
her mother said and seeing the saddened expression on Li Wen's face she got worried.
"Is there a problem dear, did you two have a fight?",
her mother asked but Li Wen didn't reply and rushed out of the yard.
Rushing into Xiao Yanran's yard, she hurried to the porch knocking on the door and it was opened by Xiao Yanran's mother but the woman immediately frowned seeing it was Li Wen. Her parents seemed to dislike anyone close to Xiao Yanran in anyways.
"Good evening ma, uhm is Yanran around?", Li Wen asked.
"She went for tutoring",
Xiao Yanran's mother said sternly and shut the door closed immediately.
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Lei Zhang and Xiao Yanran were seated at the dinen as usual as Lei Zhang explained statistics to her but soon realized she hadn't been paying attention.
"Yanran",
he called her but she still seemed absent minded.
"Xiao Yanran!",
he called her name more sternly and louder making her jolt back to reality.
"You seem distracted", Lei Zhang said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?",
she said and Lei Zhang heaved a sigh closing the textbook.
"What's wrong?",
he asked and she exhaled.
"Nothing, I just, had an argument with my best friend", Xiao Yanran said sadly.
"That's why you feel so down?", Lei Zhang asked.
"Well don't you have a best friend?", Xiao Yanran asked.
"Yes, since childhood, we argue all the time and still make up all the time",
he said opening the textbook again and flipping through the pages finding the part he had stopped.
"Well it's easier for guys to quarrel and make up than girls, especially since you two had been besties since childhood, we've only been besties for three years now and sincerely I don't want us to grow apart, perhaps I'll just say I'm sorry ", she said.
"That word isn't easy to say, but if it's someone you care about, it'll be fine",
Lei Zhang said then something seemed to click in his mind.
"Yanran, I wanted to ask, why didn't you celebrate your birthday with your family but with your neighbor ?",
Lei Zhang asked and Xiao Yanran paused for some while before scratching her nape.
"Uhm, my parents are really busy people and my elder sister stays at Central Shanghai cause she's interning at Titan Core games so I couldn't celebrate with them"
Xiao Yanran said and Lei Zhang could get both lies and truth in what she said.
"Alright then, back to studying ",
Lei Zhang said starting from the beginning in his explanation of statistics.
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Xu Jin tiredly shut the car door walking to the porch exhausted of the day's work.
He walked up the porch, twisting the door handle and opening it but the moment he stepped in, he almost came face to face with a flying slipper, luckily he ducked on time and it smacked unto the door behind him.
He froze as his eyes slowly turned to the floor to look at the left flip-flop still wobbling from the impact then turned back to the living room seeing Xu yun and Xu Jun in the middle of what looks like a karate match combined with a dance battle.
Xu Jun holding a broom like a samurai sword and Xu Yun with a cookery pot on his head for a helmet.
"What!, what in the name of sanity is happening here?",
Xu Jin yelled and they stopped whatever it was they were doing immediately turning to him.
"Big bro, you're back", Xu Jun said.
"Why do the both of you look like you just came out of a cartoon chaos movie?", Xu Jin asked.
"W, w, we were just testing reflexes ",
Xu Yun said taking the pot off his head.
"yeah, he said if he could dodge my attack, he'd get the last slice of pizza",
Xu Jun said also dropping the broom.
"So your bright idea was to throw a slipper at mach three speed",
Xu Jin said and they just stood there scratching their napes awkwardly.
"Gosh, sometimes I feel like moving out",
Xu Jin said tiredly walking towards the stairs to his room but paused then turned back.
"Xu Yun, your schoolmate Li Wen told me to pass down her apologies to you",
Xu Jin said then continued his steps up.
The moment he disappeared, Xu Jun hurriedly reached for the last slice of pizza on the middle table but Xu Yun grabbed it first, hurriedly running up the stairs as Xu Jun chased after him. T.B.C