(Chapter 33) Some Reminiscing

"This isn't good enough, try again." A young Astrid heard the same words again.

But she didn't react in any way, all she did was redo the questions her father asked her to do. That was her relationship with her father, he gave her missions, she would complete them. They lived in quiet harmony.

Her mother watched over her to make sure she didn't cheat, not that she would dare. Her mother was expressionless, as was her father. Lastly, the young Astrid was also expressionless.

This family was far from normal, the father and mother were internationally known scientists that had made advancements in knowledge of the human brain. They theorized a way to tap into 100% of the brainpower available to humans.

This was obviously a massive thing for humanity, if more humans could use their brains more effectively, then wouldn't the earth create more geniuses? And by that, the world would advance quicker in technology.

But that wasn't all they had theorized, they both worked on the ability to use 100% of the human muscle capacity at all times. After finding success, they also planned to create a way for a human to use more than 150% of their muscle capacity...

The human they tested these theories on, was Astrid. She passed rigorous testing from a young age, being able to be adopted by the family, so they could complete more testing on her.

Astrid completed her test and sat still, as her mother read the results. "Satisfactory, go back into your room." She spoke in an emotionless tone, as Astrid stood up and left as ordered.

Her life would be monotonous and horrendous in many people's eyes, but in her's. She knew no different, she grew up in the labs under her mother and father, she had no emotions. She lived to be experimented on, she thought it was perfectly normal...

.......

Astrid took a look at the nighttime scenes around her house. She emotionlessly eyed the stars, as she closed her eyes and walked back to the mansion.

Opening the door, Astrid was met with her father and mother sitting, waiting for her with smiling faces.

"Is something wrong?" Mrs. Tuhs asked lightly, her daughter hadn't acted like that before. And she was perpetually worried.

Astrid shook her head. "I was just thinking." She spoke softly, as the ice from her eyes slowly thawed.

Mrs. Tuhs smiled, "Come, how about feeling your mother's stomach for a while?" She asked gently, hoping to find something to cheer her daughter up.

Astrid froze. "C-Can I?" She stuttered slightly, she didn't know anything about human anatomy after all...

Mrs. Tuhs chuckled, "Of course! Look, your father is as well. You won't hurt me." Astrid was compelled by her mother's warm and inviting smile.

So Astrid took a seat beside her mother and shakily placed her hand on her mother's stomach. She was quiet for a while. But then frowned suddenly.

"I can't feel anything." Astrid spoke in a mythed tone, was she doing something wrong?

Her parents both giggled at her words, their daughter was so intelligent, but she also was just a child...

"The baby isn't old enough yet, wait a couple of months and you might feel something." Mr. Tuhs spoke as he ruffled his daughter's hair. His fatherly love clearly showing in his eyes.

Astrid looked down at her mother's stomach, she then blinked and stood back up. "I'll be going to bed then." She spoke softly, as a small smile appeared on her face.

Her parents both said goodnight and let Astrid go to sleep, they were quite pleased with themselves seeing their daughter's mood change for the better so quickly.

.......

As the months passed by, it was now close to the final exams for the year. Astrid had declined both of Mr. Dihl's offers to go into an English competition, and to skip years.

All of the students in her year were slightly stressed out for the end of the year. Since this year was the last year before school became incredibly important.

They all ignored Astrid, who was quietly sleeping in the corner of the classroom, she never did panic for exams. She had no reason to, and she knew that passing her exams this year would be incredibly simple.

In extension, Winoa, Francesca and Leone all had no reason to worry about their studies. Winoa had been tutored since young and lived in the same house as a genius. Francesca had been training under Mrs. Tuhs for almost half a year now, so she had access to Astrid's genius brain as well.

As for Leone, his older brother was able to tutor him in anything he needed help with, also his family was very supportive of him.

Francesca had been sent under an entertainment agency to further her career, still training under Mrs. Tuhs, she had learned a lot. And she had changed both physically and mentally.

She had become much more serious about work, she learned to separate her work and personal life with help of her manager and Mrs. Tuhs, while she also became harder working for what she wanted in life.

Physically, she had experienced a growth spurt, especially in her feminine areas. At the start of the year she looked quite lanky and almost like a boy. But now she had grown some curves and was slightly taller, she was model material no matter how you looked at it.

Winoa had grown taller and became more mature, while staying quite cheery on the outside, she had also become more serious when not at school...

The reason? She had started to assist Astrid in some work she was doing, at first she didn't have much idea of what she was doing. But with help from Astrid and Mr. Tuhs, Winoa was also capable of running a business, and was also being trained in etiquette.

"Alright, the lesson is over. Remember what I told you today, next week will be extremely important, I want to see everybody in Monday morning." Mr. Dihl let everyone leave early, as he saw Astrid revive herself after he finished speaking.

In his mind, he felt like he hadn't helped Astrid that much. She never was bullied, since she was protected by the entire school because of her grades. And the other students slowly became interested in her. All she did in lessons were sleep and do work, she barely spoke. So the other students just didn't see the fun in bullying her anymore.

Astrid walked out of the classroom and went over to where her friends were. The three girls all went into the same car, while Leone had gone biking home.

Leone had also changed, he had matured physically, but nothing more than that.

.......

"Welcome home. Francesca your stuff is set up for you. Winoa your mother wanted to see you, she should be in the dining room right now." Mrs. Tuhs greeted the three and sent the others on their way. Leaving Astrid with her.

Astrid sat down beside her mother and started her routine, she would always eat snacks after coming home. Since she started to jog in the gym she was constantly hungry. So she started to need to eat more and more.

While in recent months she also spent more time with her mother, more accurately would be with her new sibling.

She hadn't gone to any of the checkups her mother went to since she was always at school. But she knew her mother and baby were doing well. With the care of her father, it would be expected.

Her mother's stomach was now extremely noticeable, her pregnancy was relatively smooth apart from some bad morning sickness at the start, but she had no issues since then.

Mrs. Tuhs enjoyed the quiet company of her daughter recently, knowing her daughter was slowly becoming excited for the baby, she couldn't help but smile widely when seeing her daughter staring at her stomach.

Astrid often held onto her mother's stomach, trying to see a reaction from inside. She had a smile on her face whenever she was at home most of the time, as her eyes exuded warmness.