Chapter 10

The next morning, Zhen woke up earlier than usual.  He didn't sleep well last night. Sometimes, he can hear someone shouting at him angrily and cursing at him, startling him awake.

He can already imagine his miserable fate.

'Maybe I'll just have to prepare' he thought to himself

He sighed and stretched his body before getting up.

The sun is yet to rise and so is his lazy cousin who had his whole body spread throughout the bed

"You have the bed today" he silently scolded him before spanking his butt

Zhen decided to take a walk outside for a while before getting ready for school. He silently opened the door and sneaked out, making sure that his Aunt wouldn't be startled awake by the noise.

he turned to his left and checked the street.

The street was not at all empty, vendors who usually wake up before sun rise to aell steamed and sweet sticky rice cakes, were already on the streets, sometimes cars can be seen passing by here and there

He yawned and started jogging towards one of the vendors. The vendor was an old woman, her hair ,sprinkled with white hair strand was tied up in a loose bun

She smiled at Zhen  , "Young man, would you like to buy some of my rice cakes? It's really cold In the morning and these hot rice cakes will surely warm your stomach!" 

"How much?"

"Only five pesos for a handsome man like you"

Zhen nodded and reached for his pocket. Soon, a frown formed on his face. "I.. I don't think I have enough money" he nervously smiled at the old woman

"Oh? It's just five pesos" the woman insisted making him more uncomfortable and embarrassed. He was about to reject the vendor when a hand reached out to one of the rice cakes

Zhen's mind went bank,he felt something warm on his palm, looking down he noticed that his once empty hands were now gripping two rice cakes wrap in banana leaves. Only then did he realized that the guy who approached had actually shamelessly stolen these rice cakes and gave it to him!

As if seeing through him, the guy reached out to his pocket and took out a wallet. He calmly paid for what he took before turning to Zhen who was still looking down on the rice cakes

The man sighed making Zhen raise his head up to meet with his brown monolid eyes. Zhen instinctively took a step backward, his hand slowly letting go of the rice cakes.

The guy took two steps forward in response and was fast enough to support Zhen's hand before the rice cakes could even fall

"Jade" Zhen muttered, his eyes were wide with bewilderment but for Jade, his widened Phoenix eyes with his mouth slightly open is unexpectedly stunning making his heart beat fast and his breathing heavy. He managed to calm himself down after much difficulty and at the same time, Zhen managed to snatch his hands back.

"What are you doing here?" Zhen could only say, after regaining his composure. Jade was about to answer when Zhen suddenly interrupted him,   " I'm sorry for the burden" Zhen said before running away.

Jade was stunned for a while before he apologized to the vendor and rushed to chase Zhen but the little guy was nowhere to be found

He signed in defeat and turned to leave. As he turned around ,he seemed to hear someone sigh but paid no attention to it and continued walking back to his friend's house.

He arrived at the house, a few miles away and entered the house.

"Why didn't you lock the gate?" He ask his friend.

"Well I decided to wait for you instead" Said his friend, his hooded eyes appearing to be somewhat captivating, stared intently into Jade's icy ones

" Let's go" He said before closing the gate behind him

" Is that your friend?" Asked the guy

"Mn"

The guy nodded before locking the gate. "This early morning, why would he go out to walk on the street, did you plan to meet each other or something? " he paused and glanced at Jade's back before continuing "But he seem to be shocked by you"  The guy shrugged his shoulders

"How did you know? Nevermind. We just happened to meet"said Jade,

"I think I should go home now"  he added

"What? Why don't you stay here for a while? My mom would want to set you off to school" His friend said sarcastically. Jade turned to him and shot a complicated look

"My brother is not the type to set off to school alone. If I don't monitor him, he might not want to go to school or worse" he couldn't help but scratch his head. His friend chuckled and patted his broad shoulders.

"Fine then I'll do the rest. Anyway, you had already finished most of the preparations " Said the guy before entering the house.

Zhen entered their house, shut the door and leaned against it, his heart was beating rapidly and his forehead  drenched with sweat from running. He sighed and tried to calm himself down

"This is too absurd" he scolded himself , feeling more ashamed than before. Zhen struggled to stand up with his tired feet but before he could even fully stand, the door to his left suddenly opened. His heart skipped a beat and he immediately lost his balance

"Ouch! Hohoho" he silently hissed

"What are you doing here?" Ian asked, his hands on his waist and his face was gloomy

"  I went to buy you some rice cakes"Zhen replied as quickly as possible , his face was complicated as he reached out for the rice cakes only to realize that he only had one rice cake left

"What happened? Did I ate the other one?" As he thought of it, he heard his stomach rumble

"Forget it, I'm not hungry" Ian who noticed that something was wrong, affirmed before climbing up the stairs

Zhen was about to sigh in defeat when all of a sudden, Ian's stomach also started to rumble loud enough for the both of them to hear.

Ian immediately paused in embarrassment. For a second, he wanted to turn around and shout at his Cousin but he didn't want to admit his stubbornness. Zhen understood that his stubborn cousin didn't want to loose his face so he anxiously coughed twice and stood up

"You can have this" Zhen offered but Ian immediately growled,

"You think we're that broke? If I want some, I'll definitely buy one or two or more!''

Zhen couldn't help but smile at his stupid cousin.

" okay, okay. I'll have this then"

"Who said you can have that?" Ian crossed his hands through his chest

"We will buy a new one" Upon hearing this, Zhen's expression was ugly and complicated

"No" he shook his head in panic and handed the rice cake to Ian saying "Eat—eat it. I'll... I'll cook more food for us come.. Come"

"Wait, can you even cook?"