*ding dong*

"They're here. That's quite fast."

The two were expecting that they would have to wait a few hours before they would arrive as they might have something else to do.

Hurriedly preparing themselves, the two of them went to answer the door.

Max gulped as he followed behind his sister. It wasn't that he's afraid, it was only because he was thinking about what if they decided to distance themselves from them.

This was the first time someone knew they were Awakeneds and he didn't know what to expect.

Would they treat them as strangers? Would they cut their relationship with them? Or, would they treat them the same way?

"Hey! we're here again."

*hugs*

Max closed the door as Yu'er and Layla hugged each other. His mind was racing as he stood there, watching them interact.

He looked as both their smiles slowly disappear, turning into a solemn expression.

Lydia stood beside him all along, and the same with Max, she was just as nervous inside.

Not just the two of them, Yu'er and Layla have the same fears, that their relationship would be affected as they knew Awakeneds were rarely close to each other.

"Let's go upstairs. To my room."

As the atmosphere got silent, not having more to say to each other, Yu'er moved their attention somewhere else.

They followed as Max guided them upstairs, straight to their room. The designs of the room were made for a girl that it never came to their mind Max and his sister were sleeping in the same room.

Max thought, worst case, he can show his messy room in the basement. Silence enveloped the whole room as no one knows where to start.

"Okay."

One person broke the silence as she couldn't stand it anymore; it was Yu'er. In her mind, she assumed that after they got inside, Layla or Lydia would start asking them questions.

'So they aren't going to say anything? I actually thought they would bombard us with questions.'

Realising that they were being affected by all of this the same way as them, Yu'er regained her confidence.

'If I do this normally, then we might even be closer as we don't need to hide anything to each other anymore.'

As three pairs of eyes looked intently at her, she correctly organized her words, starting,

"Let's talk about all of this then. We're all fine with it, right?"

*nod*

*nod*

*nod*

"Max told me everything that happened, but there were a few things I'm confused about."

"First, who is this Xiao Ming? Why don't I know him?"

Yu'er laid her eyes on Layla, wanting to hear her explanation. When Max was telling her about the things that happened at the party, it was one of the questions that she couldn't get out of her mind.

Layla, on the other hand, was expecting her to ask this question. It was because there was a good reason for it. She wasn't able to hide her smile as she remembered why Yu'er never knew about Xiao Ming.

"Remember what happened in our first year at high school? When a senior tried to molest one of your friends?"

"You beat him up so bad that he was traumatized. Every day, he would do anything he can to hide from you. A lot of people watched it as you beat him too much that he screamed for his parents in pain."

"I'm not sure about it, but I think you also threatened that if he told anyone that it's you who did it, you would do something to him. I'm not sure what though."

"The principal even tried to hold you accountable for it, but he spouted all sorts of lies like falling down the stairs, and people beat him up after school just so that you won't be punished for it."

"In the end, the principal wasn't able to do anything as there was no physical evidence that shows it's you who did it, and the victim himself said that it wasn't you."

"The guy only stayed for a year before switching to another school as he didn't want to continue his life hiding from you every day."

"Xiao Ming was one of that guy's friend. So that explains everything. Why Xiao Ming didn't do anything about it."

"He probably did something. He might have sent people for you, but since you're an Awakened, they weren't able to do anything."

"As it was him who sent them, he knows first hand that you aren't someone he can deal with so he never bothered you at school, treating you like an untouchable existence."

"Most people at school also know that they better keep their distance from you as rumors of your doings still exist. They call you the girl with a fiery personality. Never offend her, or you will have to switch school."

Yu'er's lips twitched as she heard what Layla said. Everything she said was right, and her being attacked really happened, but she never cared about weak people attacking her, so she didn't bother finding who it was.

"If Xiao Ming knew you were Max's sister, he probably wouldn't even try anything with him."

Max and Lydia looked at Yu'er in astonishment. They never heard that rumor as it was mostly circulated among the guys and Max wasn't close to any of them.

Looking at Layla holding back from laughing, Max and Lydia, who was staring at her weirdly, she coughed to cover her embarrassment.

"Then onto the next subject, why did Xiao Ming pick on my brother?"

Not that she was having second thoughts, Yu'er would surely get revenge, but she still wanted to know how did all this start so she can be sure that it was really Xiao Ming that aimed for Max, not someone else behind him.

"Max said that they never knew each other and that was the first time they've met. If he was really avoiding me, why would he try something with my brother?"

"That's contradictory to what he wanted to achieve. Let's say that he didn't know that Max was my little brother as not a lot of people at school knows about it because we barely spoke at school."

"Even in that scenario, there's still no explanation why he will send someone to attack Max. Maybe the attack isn't directed at him? What do you think?"

Yu'er turned towards Layla, but she never got any reply as Layla herself doesn't know why all that happened.

"No, I think it was because of Max and my sister."

Everyone stared at Lydia as she faintly voiced out her thoughts. She had always been the most reserved one in the room, but that doesn't mean she wasn't paying attention.

It was the opposite. Even though she was mostly silent, Lydia has been very attentive of her surroundings, habitually liked to watch others from afar.

From her observation, she had enough reason to conclude that it was because of Max that they were attacked.

Although it was a bit petty, but since it was Xiao Ming they were talking about, Lydia thought that she might just be right about this.

Adding all her experiences dealing with Xiao Ming and knowing how he reacts with these kinds of situation, further supported her conclusion.

"Because he might have felt humiliated that time. First, it was when Max talked back condescendingly at him. And second, maybe he was jealous when my big sister sided with him."

"He probably felt that he should let Max know his place so that he would stay away from Layla. That's why he sent people for us."

Layla wanted to hit her head somewhere for not thinking about it. It was a stupid reason, but this was Xiao Ming, and his head doesn't process things normally.