"How's the new team?"
JiaJia asked as they were sitting comfortably watching television in the living room while enjoying their late night snack.
"Not bad. They're having their first tournament at the end of this month."
WenWen said as he stole the crackers from Yaya's hand. Yaya could only glare at WenWen's face. Unable to do anything because the crackers were basically bought with WenWen's money.
"I was more nervous than they were. I still remember our first tournament that ended with a "boom!" disaster."
Yaya said while biting into his crackers with disappointment. XiangXiang nodded in agreement. Who would forget it. How they both fell flat on the floor. Maybe even the judges wouldn't forget it. Not only was the pain still there, the shame still lingered. Yaya and XiangXiang's faces turned sour. And no one was dare to laugh at the two of them. Because everyone could also feel their disappointment.
"But you're fine now. So they must be fine too. Trust them. After all, they and we are different."
JiaJia said calmly. To him, their destinies are different. If SOAR wins this time, it is their right. And for Flexx, they lost not because they are not worthy, but because God has determined that their paths are at different crossroads.
"Uh, do you two want to come see their performance?"
Yaya asked with excitement. Even though he felt competitive, he was still amazed by his junior's talent. He himself was involved in their development, so indirectly their success was his success too.
"We'll see how things go. If we have free time, we'll both definitely come."
JiaJia replied. He was starting to look forward to witnessing the talents of the new students he had never met.
"It's late. Go to sleep everyone. JiaJia..."
XinXin's voice was firm. He stood up quickly. Patted JiaJia's shoulder gently before walking towards his room. JiaJia nodded. He also stood up.
"Clean all this up before going to bed."
JiaJia said before walking away. The others looked at each other. Started looking for who would be the victim to clean up all that.
"You do.."
Yaya said mischievously before trying to run away. But unfortunately, YuanYuan's hand quickly caught his leg.
Yaya almost fell. Luckily WenWen managed to catch him. before he fell to the floor.
"Arghhhh..."
Yaya shouted in displeasure. He gave YuanYuan a sharp glare. YuanYuan just smiled. He was not even touched by Yaya's glare.
"Don't try to run away. We'll do it together."
YuanYuan said. LinLin gave Yaya a broom to sweep up the leftover snacks that were scattered on the floor. Reluctantly, Yaya had to agree. With a sour face, he took the broom from LinLin's hand.
"Sweep well if you want to go to bed early"
LinLin warned Yaya. He knew Yaya would play with the broom and cleaning time would take longer.
JiaJia laid down on the bed. His mind was wandering somewhere.
"What are you thinking?"
XinXin asked curiously. JiaJia's face looked like he was thinking about the world's problems.
Silence. JiaJia was still thinking about the future. About his big dreams. XinXin's question only passed through his ears but not his mind. This really made XinXin's patience, which was as thin as tissue, fly apart.
"Haaa...!"
XinXin let out a heavy sigh. JiaJia turned around after hearing a heavy and long sigh from XinXin. Stared deeply into XinXin's sour face. "Oh. he's angry"
"Sorry. I was thinking about how to open my company. What did you just say?"
JiaJia said softly. He didn't want XinXin's anger to continue for too long. For some reason, JiaJia could feel that XinXin's emotions weren't very stable in recent months. He got angry easily even over small things.
"Company? What company?"
XinXin asked in a soft tone. His anger had subsided a little there.
"Entertainment Company. Like I told you before. I want to bring Flexx and many other young people who want to develop their talents on the world stage."
JiaJia smiled proudly. Start imagining about the future. About Flexx and maybe even SOAR.
"Don't worry. I know you can do it. And I will always be there for you to make your dreams come true."
XinXin said as he jumped onto JiaJia's bed.
"Wooo...be careful. Don't let my bed collapse."
JiaJia spoke in shock as his hand held XinXin. Afraid that XinXin will fall off the bed.
XinXin gave JiaJia his sweet, mischievous smile. Seeing JiaJia so caring about him truly made him happy.
"Let's go to sleep."
Quickly XinXin lay down next to JiaJia.
"Hey. Sleep in your own bed."
JiaJia pushed XinXin off the bed. XinXin just remained as still as a log. His eyes were tightly closed while he snored.
"Haaaa... okay. You sleep here and I'll sleep in your bed"
Before JiaJia could even crawl to the next bed, XinXin had already hugged him tightly.
"Let's sleep together. It's warmer this way."
XinXin's voice was soft as he tightened him arms around JiaJia's slender waist.
"Haaaa... okay. Just for tonight."
JiaJia gave in to XinXin's urging and lay back down on his bed. "It's really warm like this." JiaJia's lips unconsciously formed a beautiful smile.
"Is everything okay?"
JiaJia asked suddenly. He wanted to know what had been troubling XinXin for the past few months. What had made XinXin's emotions unstable. If possible, he wanted to ease XinXin's burden. He wanted XinXin to keep smiling.
"Nothing. Why?"
XinXin asked again as he adjusted his bed. He wanted JiaJia to be comfortable lying next to him.
"No. I feel like you've been different these past few months. Did I do anything to make you angry?"
JiaJia said as he turned his body to face XinXin. He stared deeply into XinXin's face. Making sure the man wasn't lying to him.
XinXin was silent. Also stared at JiaJia's face deeply. The face looked worried. XinXin smiled.
"I'm fine and you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that the lecturer gave me a lot of work. I'm just a little tired. But, thank you for worrying about me."
JiaJia was silent. "A lot of work? You're only studying culinary arts, not medicine or law. What's a lot of work?" JiaJia muttered to himself.
XinXin pulled JiaJia's body close to him. From the expression on JiaJia's face, he could tell that JiaJia was starting to think about what he had said.
"Don't think about it anymore. Let's go to sleep."
XinXin closed his eyes as he hugged JiaJia tightly. The warmth of JiaJia's body really made him comfortable.
JiaJia just agreed. Closing his eyes while listening to XinXin's every heartbeat in his ears like a lullaby. JiaJia smiled. It felt so peaceful.