XG 143 - Do I need to 'die' before my father finally looks at me?
"Do you need my help with anything?" Chen Yibo suddenly thought.
"No. We have enough hands for now. But you haven't had a good rest lately." Chen YiWen rubbed Chen Yibo's head, messing up his sweaty hair. It was getting long and would need to be trimmed again.
Wong Xue Guo grabbed the towel that was moving all over her face. "I can do it myself."
"Get enough rest." Letting go of the towel, Chin Chun stood up and straightened his clothing. "I still have something that needs my attention."
"Sorry for the trouble," Wong Xue Guo apologized.
"You are my Godsister. It's only right for me to be concerned about your wellbeing." Chin Chun smiled. "I will look forward to what extent your ability could do."
From what he had seen, Chin Chun already figured out Wong Xue Guo's ability was not as simple as shadow manipulation.
"Me too. Thank you for coming, elder brother." Smiling with her pale face, Wong Xue Guo truly looks like a pitiable damsel.
After Chin Chun left with Chen YiWen, Chen Yibo helped Wong Xue Guo into her room and let Nana help her to change into her pyjamas. After that was done, Nana and Smoker went to find some food since Wong Xue Guo said she was hungry. The mess from the fallen pineapple can also need to be dealt with.
"I must have frightened you quite a bit today," Wong Xue Guo laughed lightly.
"Can you call me whenever you want to test your ability?"
Wong Xue Guo was surprised at his request. "You are that scared? Alright, I will have you watch whenever I use my ability."
The tightness around his eyebrow loosens. "I apologize for being difficult."
"... I actually like that," Wong Xue Guo admitted, her gaze unable to look straight. Currently, in her weak state filled with languid, she found her mouth was rather honest but made no effort to zip her mouth shut.
Nana came back with plain onigiri with only seaweed wrap as its companion. As they were in Crocus country where many citizens prefer eating rice, they found more rice and noodles.
They could also expect there would be more vegetables and fruits compared to meat in the coming menu contributed by a beta volunteer of the booster shot method. He had the ability to create water that could boost the growth of plants. He quickly became the gardeners' favourite child. But the only disadvantage was he could only produce 600ml every twelve hours.
Despite the limit, it could still shorten their production time, much to the food department's joy.
After she finished eating three onigiris, she forced Chen Yibo to eat the rest. "Do you think I didn't notice you are still hungry? Men have higher metabolism so you should have more appetite than I do."
Yet Chen Yibo always eats the same portion as hers. Did he not think his action would indirectly mock her for having an appetite like a guy?
Not wanting to upset her, not that he knew he already did, Chen Yibo obediently finished the rest of the rice ball.
The three onigiris helped her regain some of her energy, but her head still felt rather heavy. With a night of good sleep, it should disappear, so she did not protest and let Chen Yibo watch her get onto the bed.
"Are you going to start activating your gene tomorrow? I want to watch."
"Okay. I will come to get you tomorrow."
"Promise?"
Chen Yibo lightly chuckled at her tiny yawn at the end of her sentence. He does not remember he had ever broken any word he gave for her to question him twice. "I promise. I will take my leave now."
Not bothering to be polite, she bid him a brief farewell. She sleeps without remembering if she ever dreamed, except for the feeling of drowning. It was scary, yet also not. That feeling continued to plague her until she woke up.
Nana was the first person she saw when she stepped out of her room. "Are you well rested? Please wait for a while. Smoker had gone to fetch some food."
Wong Xue Guo nodded. "Smoker must be upset that you had to spend the night with me."
Nana paused for a second. "Two nights."
"Pardon?" Wong Xue Guo must have heard wrongly.
"You have slept for three days and two nights. If you are not breathing, Mr Chin would have thought you are dead. The doctor confirmed you are just sleeping, your brain activity is normal and no one is allowed to wake you up."
No one really thought it was out of the ordinary, as Wong Xue Guo had just completely activated her Alpha gene, and even tested her ability. Plus, she even got a severe headache from it, and it was not outrageous to say she had exceeded her limit and needed to recuperate.
There were many cases of humans sleeping for days due to over-exhaustion, hence her case was not alarming yet.
A group of people speculated that the side effects of activating the Alpha gene must have finally hit her. But those symptoms never appeared on Wong Xue Guo, debunking that fact. Wong Xue Guo's special case had many people grow jealous over it.
"Two days..." It was really the longest she had ever slept. But she did feel much better and energized. "How is Yibo? Did he completely awaken his gene?"
She does not expect him to wait for her to wake up but it was a little sad that she had missed his session.
"Things with Chen Yibo do not look good," Nana said.
Sitting on his bed in his dark bedroom, Chen Yibo rested his back on the cold wall. It was approaching evening and there was hardly any sunlight left. It was time to switch on the light, but he did not turn it on, much less pay attention to his surroundings.
Staring up at the ceiling, his eyes were unfocused, haunted by old memories and unable to be freed.
Foolishly, he assumed he could withstand Woojin's ability just because Wong Xue Guo could. He had naively believed that she could bear Woojin's ability because of her special constitution, which might have nothing to do with her mental strength to withstand emotional attacks. There was also the bubbly Mina's case, the first person that fully activated her gene with Woojin's ability.
Only after he experienced Woojin's ability himself did he realize how he might have underestimated Wong Xue Guo and Mina's mental strength.
It was obvious from the report that Wong Xue Guo's special constitution involved her physical health, with no idea of what else would be different about her. But when he recalled that she had a poor complexion during the process of activation, he had to believe that she was the same as the rest, needing to withstand the emotional attacks. Even if her special constitution helped her, it would only help her a little.
The guilt and the sense of shame haunted him for treating Wong Xue Guo as someone weaker than him, both physically and mentally. In the years he had known her, he had seen her average scores, politely indifferent towards social relationships but vulnerable when it comes to her parents' matters.
Like an arrogant, self-inflating person behind his kind mask, he had always competed with her and deemed himself to be the victor. Because of this, he was willing to be generous when it comes to her and even lent a hand to protect her.
All of this was just to satisfy his own vanity.
It was all for the purpose of portraying to the rest of the world that he was a good child, obedient and sensible, without letting his father worry about him. Unlike his neighbour of the same age, without strengths or behaviour that her parents could be proud of.
Yet why did her parents finally willing to look at her? Do I need to 'die' before my father finally looks at me?
His IQ was not as high as his elder brother's, but why would his father keep on comparing them even knowing that fact? Why would his father not look at him for who he was? Why would he not develop his strength instead of scorning his weakness?
He was tired of his failure in figuring out what was in his father's mind, yet still abused himself to continue trying.