Chapter 2

4:30 pm

After more than thirteen hours of drive from New York

[Zavian's Point of View]

"Hey, mom?"

She took her gaze off the view outside her window. "Yes?"

"Was Wisconsin a random pick? Or is there a reason behind it?" I asked her.

Catching a glimpse of a small smile on her face, she scoffed. "It's a random pick."

I smirked suspiciously. "Uh-huh. Sure. Okay."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"I didn't say that you weren't." I chuckled.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes at me.

I decided to keep quiet and focus on the road.

After a minute or two, "Okay, fine. There is a reason."

Hah! She gave in. The silence trick still works.

"Yeah? And what reason would that be, mom?"

Mom took a deep breath before saying, "My highschool best friend lives there. At least, the last time I checked. I missed her. I missed how she always finds a way for me to forget my problems."

Mom didn't have that many friends as I know.

"Does she know that you're coming?" I questioned.

"Hmm... No..." Mom pouted.

"Why not?"

"Her phone number changed from before so, I couldn't text her. I also couldn't find her social media account." She shrugged.

"Oh..."

"Yeah..."

"We still have at least two more hours of the drive so, why don't you look for any apartments that we can stay in for the next months, huh?" I suggested mom.

"Sure." She opened her phone and started searching for apartments.

After 2 hours

"Is this it?" I drive slowly past a blue house.

"No, a little much further." Mom searched for the house numbers.

"What was the house color?"

She answered, "Gray and white."

"Oh! That must be-"

"That's it! Right there, Zavy! Right there!" Her voice squeaked while pointing at one of the houses ahead.

"Alright, alright." I parked the car in front of the house then looked at mom. She's grinning like a kid. It's so heart-warming to see that my mom is so happy with her fresh start.

It would be a hundred times more lovely to see my siblings have a fresh start as well.

"Are you ready to see the inside?" Mom questioned me.

Smilingly, I said, "Sure."

We both got out of my car and walked to the front door.

"Okay, close your eyes."

Obeying her order, I heard the sound of the keys rattling and the door in front of us opening.

"Step in now." Mom told me. "And... Open your eyes!"

I looked around the living room I was standing in.

Gray, brown, and white. Nice theme. No doubt that our house in New York City was much larger than this apartment. Also, I have no doubts that this house is more of my type.

Mom inhaled the lavender scent of the house. Exhaling a sigh, she asked then, "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I already feel at home." I smiled brightly at her.

"I'm glad you liked it. And that you feel at home already. But you know what would make this house more, uh, homey?" She started strolling around.

"What?"

"Your siblings." She replied, looking down on her fidgeting hands.

"Yeah. Pretty sure that Rou will fill this house with her music if she was here."

Mom chuckled.

"We'll take them here someday, right, mom?"

"Yes... Someday." She smiled faintly.

"For now, give me a tour of this apartment that you chose so by the time that my siblings are here, I can be the one who gives them a tour." I embraced my mom's small figure.

"Why not? Am I right?" Mom smiled, and I nodded. "So this is a one-story house, well, apartment. One living room, one kitchen, and three bedrooms."

"Oh, okay. I'll have this room then." I walked inside the room at the end of the hallway.

"That's the master's bedroom." Mom stated.

"Oof. I guess it's yours then."

"Oh, no, sweetie. You can have it." She insisted.

"You deserve it, mom. You can have it." I smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "I'll go get our luggage. You can start unpacking while I will get some dinner for us. That good?"

"Yeah. I'll have Chinese noodles and dumplings."

"Yes, ma'am." I saluted and went out of the house. Before driving out for food, I placed both of our luggage inside the house as said.

"Good evening, sir." A waiter greeted. "How may I help you?"

"Uh, one order of Shrimp dumpling and Beef chow mein then two orders of Chicken noodle soup to go. Please." I answered.

She scribbled my orders in her small paper, then smiled, "Coming right up, sir. Please sit down while you wait for a few minutes." I took a seat on the single tables and waited for my food to get ready.

After some time, she gave me my order. After paying the bill, I went out of the restaurant.

As I was placing the bag of Chinese food, a big blue logo caught my sight. "Simone's Sorbets." I closed the car door and walked down the street to the ice cream shop. "Mom would love some ice cream for dessert."

"Good day, young man!" A tall man, with bronze skin and grey-ish hair, at the counter greeted me. "What can I get for you?"

"Good day to you too, sir." I smiled back at him. "Two tubs of mint, chocolate chip ice cream. Uh, please."

"Anything else?" He asked.

"That's all. Thank you."

He shortly stared at me, squinting his eyes. "You're new in this town, aren't you?"

"Umm... Yeah." I nodded.

"Welcome, young man. Have a seat. Let me give you something to boost the welcoming spirit." He chuckled. Filling a cup with ice cream, he told a helper to get my two ice cream tubs from the pantry.

"Here you go." The man gave me a cup full of ice cream. "It's in the house." He patted my back.

"Thank you. Er- I'm Zavian." I told him.

"Well, nice to meet you, Zavian. I'm Simone. Owner of the Simone's Sorbets." He took my hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too..." I suddenly trailed off.

A girl customer came into the shop. Wait, she's not just a girl. She's a lady. A very fair lady, I must say.

The girl had golden blonde hair, bright blue eyes, milk-like white skin, and a small figure like mom. She is more than just pretty. Her beauty is breathtaking.

"Earth to Zavian." Simone snapped his fingers in front of me.

"H-huh?" I shifted my gaze to Simone.

"She's pretty, isn't she?" He smirked.

"Yeah." My smile grew bigger and bigger as I laid my eyes on the girl again.

"Well, you better stop piercing your gaze on her before his brother comes." He stood up from the chair across me. "C!" He called someone.

The girl looked at Simone and smiled at him.

C? That's her name? Her nickname, I guess. But what does it stand for?

Before the girl could walk to him, He held up a bag. "Here's your Ice cream, Zavian. Have a nice day."

I took the bag and paid for it. "Thanks, Simone."

"No problem."

Making my way towards the exit, I took one last glance at the girl when we walked past each other.

She truly is a beau.

I exited the Ice cream shop and drove straight to my new home.