Lili was waiting with Dylan and Dragon's minibus at the airport. She had to force herself to behave as if nothing had happened. She put a smile on her face and waited outside the bus.
When the doors opened for like the fiftieth time, she saw Lei heading out first. Lili ran to him and hugged him.
"I'm so sorry. It's my fault." Her act failed. She was too honest to act. And she felt terribly deep down. Lei patted her head and looked into her eyes.
"It's not your fault. Without you, we wouldn't even be there in the first place. We are a team and you are part of us." He kissed her cheek.
"Let's continue this talk after we get home," he said. They boarded the bus and went on the way. It wasn't lively as usual, but sadly quiet.
When they arrived home, they went directly to the main house. The whole team had bedrooms there and there was a living room to talk in. He let them unpack first and have some lunch first. No one uttered a word.
"Let's go talk." He led them to the living room, where he stood before a whiteboard.
"Who thinks it's his fault that we lost?" Everyone, even Lili, raised a hand, except Chao and Lei.
"Shameless brothers," she uttered, and everyone laughed lightly. At least she lightened up the atmosphere.
"Why did we lose?" Lei asked. And Lili spoke without hesitation at the same time as Hongjie did.
"Because of me," both of them said, Hongjie and Lili.
"And why do you think that?" he asked the second time.
"I killed the entire team?" Hongjie muttered, but Lili shook her head.
"I made a weapon, was hacked, so the weapon got sold, then I had to forge a new one, but it was too slow and sent it to Hongjie without proper instructions and he had no chance to get familiar with it." Others were staring at her. Yitian was the first to speak.
"Then why do you think it was your fault? It was just bad luck and the hacker's fault." Lili thought about it for a second. Bad luck. Huh. That was.
"I should have been quicker. Hongjie would have time to customize the skill toolbar and wouldn't make the mistake." She thought it was completely her fault.
"I talked to Dylan," Lei said quietly, looking right at her.
"You were quick. Coolheaded. You had almost no panic attacks. You bought materials with your gold and spent almost an hour collecting materials. Then you manage to forge god-level staff without any mistake or fault in it. What else could you do better?" Lili straightened her back. When you say it like that, she did what she could.
"And you? You didn't panic either. You had 30 seconds to get familiar with a completely new and powerful healing weapon. We were winning because you maintained our team's HP high enough. And I saw the skills' icons. I would have messed it up sooner. There are too many similar spells. So, what could you do better?" Hongjie lifted his head. Lili could not help herself but admire Lei. He knew how to speak.
"It's true, this was an irreparable error. But what can we do to prevent this?" Lili wanted to say something but the way Lei looked at her prevented doing so. She wanted to eat the humble pie again. She'd better shut up.
"Why are we planning the team's strategies? What's the meaning of a team? Did we lose because of one person? Did we lose because we were not strong enough? Or because we were slacking off instead of training?" He paused…
"I will give you time to think this up till one o'clock. Depending on what you give me as an answer, I will allow you to go with us to Disneyland." He was prepared to go when Chao spoke up.
"We did nothing wrong. But we won't go to Disneyland voluntarily. We will stay here and train more… Does everyone agree with me?" Well, they looked like they half disagreed, but they still nodded and agreed. Lei nodded too and left. Lili was prepared to go after him when she heard a low whisper.
"Don't worry. He will take us because this is what he wanted to hear. It was a trap," the gang leader Chao spoke up. And Lili laughed and went after Lei.
"You will take them, right?" she asked, and snuggled into his arms.
"Yeah, I always planned to take them. I just wanted them to think a bit. What happened yesterday was a misfortune, but not their fault. Not yours either. You all did what you could in that situation." He leaned his chin on her head and hugged her.
"Oh, and Dylan… You know about his skills?" Lili asked and felt like Lei nodded.
"That's why I hired him, or so I was told by Chao. There are things in the game he can take care of instead of me. I'm good with numbers, but quick hands are not my cup of tea, or so I was told by Yitian." They both laughed, remembering his accidental suicide the last time he played with her.
"I promised him a free day for what he did." Lei smiled when she looked up at his face. Such a handsome smile.
"You behave like a lady boss already, huh? I know. He told me. And I agreed. Don't worry about that." He flashed her one more smile.
"I love this, you know…" Lili shared her thoughts honestly.
"What?" Lei asked, a bit confused.
"That smile of yours. Because of it, I fell in love with you at first sight. I became obsessed with your smile. And wanted to make you smile more." Lei laughed when Lili answered.
"Believe me. I was more surprised by that smile than you. And guys who were there were making fun of me that day so much. But, well, no one ever had a head in my crotch the first time we met." She slapped his shoulder lightly.
"Don't laugh at me. I was so embarrassed." And she still was when she remembered that day. Lei kissed her deeply.
"Let's play games in the bedroom before telling our kids that they are allowed to go to Disneyland." Lili laughed aloud.
"What do you want to make dad happy?" Lei smirked and scooped Lili into a princess hug.
"Mmm, sounds like a good idea," he said, smirking, and took her upstairs to their room. Good thing she was on pills or she would have a baby soon. He was insatiable.