64 SECOND GALAXY

His drive took him through a route he rarely travelled, due to the past year of necessary solitary solace. He and Jason used to have meals at his parents' house as regularly as they could. Jason's parents had passed before university, leaving him money and his inheritance from his late grandfather's will. The immediate Xiao family had become Jason's family, and during Xiao Zhan's recovery period, as much as he needed his parents and missed his mother's coddling, he could not handle visiting when the wounds were raw and festering.

Tonight, he did want and need his parents' presence. The lights outside the Xiao mansion were always brightly lit, the gates opening at sight of his vehicle. The female guard was a few years older than him, trained in Krav Maga and had pastel pink hair. She waved as he went by.