"Right." Kryn said while being held in Chang Hua's arms.
"You heard the girl, to the right, horsy." Chang Hua said with a playful smile while sitting on Hai's shoulders and using only a simple black bikini.
"Right away~" Hai said while jumping towards the right and avoiding a sneak attack from Elena who was on Bing Qing's shoulders.
*SPLASH*
While running towards Hong Li-Wei who was on Stella's shoulders and was relentlessly kicking her, Hai suddenly felt his aunt leaning her breasts on his head.
He looked upwards and saw her smiling at him.
"Understood." He commented and turned to look forwards again.
Chang Hua smiled and stopped leaning her breasts on him.
"Air…" Kryn muttered.
"Oh, sorry sweet." Chang Hua smiled apologetically after almost suffocating Kryn in her embrace.
Meanwhile, Hai arrived near Hong Li-Wei who was still kicking Stella and the latter was cussing the former, he leaned forwards and Chang Hua stretched her arms holding Kryn in them.
Kryn also stretched her arms and swiftly took Hong Li-Wei's bandana.
"Wait." Hong Li-Wei and Stella said at the same time before looking at a smiling Kryn getting away from them.
"We just lost, didn't we?" Stella asked and Hong Li-Wei nodded before kicking her again.
Hai looked at Elena and Bing Qing coming towards them and smiled.
Chang Hua shared his reaction and positioned Kryn who was the one with the bandana, to be in an attacking stance.
Elena looked at her young master and then at Kryn before smiling.
Both of the teams clashed and water flew everywhere.
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A few hours later, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, but even so, the weather was still good at the mansion's grounds.
By now, Hai and the girls had already ended their little playing session so they could prepare for lunch and rest for a bit.
Right now, Hai had separated himself from the girls and was walking with Chang Hua through the mansion's hallways.
"So, what do you want to talk about, aunt?" He asked her, but he already had an idea about what it was.
"…" Chang Hua kept walking side by side with him and looked at him from the corner of her eyes.
Right now, she was feeling pretty complicated.
After hearing his thoughts, Chang Hua couldn't help but reminiscent of her past.
Everything she suffered at their hands…
Chang Hua's eyes darkened by a split second before coming back to normal.
Shaking her head, she threw those thoughts away. The past is the past and she is in the present now.
Looking back towards Hai, she noticed that he kept silent as to let her think.
The corners of her lips arced upwards and she ended up pinching his cheek.
"…" Hai raised an eyebrow and looked speechlessly at his aunt.
What has gotten over her?
However, he said nothing and kept walking until they arrived at a certain door.
She stopped pinching his cheeks and Hai pushed the door open.
Chang Hua turned to look inside the room and her mind froze.
It was a bathroom.
Looking inside, Chang Hua quickly snapped out of her daze when she felt herself being pushed inside by Hai.
"Wha- Wait, Hai!" She exclaimed in a slight panic, but was given no time as Hai closed the door behind them.
Turning towards him, she widened her eyes when she noticed that he was naked.
It seemed like Hai ejected his clothes off his body, because they were suddenly sent flying behind him while he calmly walked towards one stool.
Chang Hua looked at him absentmindedly for some seconds before snapping out of her daze.
"What are you doing, sweet?" She asked in a more mature tone in an attempt to get Hai to calm down.
"Paying what I owe." He said and picked up a soap and a shower.
"You coming?" He asked her while making some foam with the soap.
Chang Hua struggled for a brief second before relenting and going towards the stool.
She took her clothes off and sat on the stool next to Hai before also picked up a shower and a soap.
*SHAAAA*
Showering his hair, Hai closed his eyes for a moment before he started to shower his whole body while enjoying the cold water.
He kept his calm demeanor, but inwardly he was trying to calm his emotions.
While it was just during a game and she hadn't done it consciously, Stella's actions ended up triggering some of Hai's bad memories.
And although he isn't exactly traumatized, he prefers to not remember those memories as they were unpleasant, to say the last.
Chang Hua kept silent as she too, was immersed in her own thoughts.
She kept thinking about something that has been bugging her all those years and after years of struggling, she decided to finally deal with it.
*SIGH*
Sighing, Chang Hua turned to look towards Hai.
She appreciated the godly visage that is his body before opening her mouth.
As she was going to say something, her gaze unconsciously fell towards his hips.
Her mouth which was opening, opened even more and her chin nearly fell.
She stood there while looking at his weapon while gaping and with wide eyes.
"For someone so shy about our situation, you sure are straightforward with what you want." Hai commented while using a shampoo to wash his hair.
Chang Hua snapped out of her daze and blushed a bit, but didn't express anything besides it.
*SIGH*
Sighing again, Chang Hua stopped thinking about those things and looked seriously at Hai.
"We need to talk." She said.
Hai didn't stop washing his hair while he replied.
"Sure." He was already expecting it to come when she leaned on him back then.
Taking a deep breath, Chang Hua started to first get what was on her mind out.
"Hai, I can hear some of your thoughts." She stated and waited for his reaction.
Hai finished washing his hair and started to wash his body with soap.
"Oh, I know." He commented offhandedly.
"As expected." Chang Hua whispered with a bitter smile.
She had an inkling that he might have known about it, and now she confirmed her thoughts.
"Well, ignoring the fact that you are strangely calm about such a surprising fact, there is also…"
"You want to know about what happened, I presume." He cut her off while opening his left eye and giving side-glance to her.
Chang Hua only nodded.
*SIGH*
Hai let out a slight sigh, before start talking.
"You know that something like that isn't something I would talk about, right?" As much as Hai loves his aunt, his past is something which he would like to avoid talking about for now.
Although he is trying to change, this step is a tad too big for him to take right now.
"How about you just briefly comment on it, and I do the same with mine?" Chang Hua proposed to him.
Hai thought about it for a moment.
Truth to be told, he has always known that his aunt wasn't normal, but in the literal sense. She has shown several times different points of view and opinions about things which nobody else would think of and even some other stranger things.
Although Hai never tried to pry on this, he has always been curious as to what was her past, as he knows for sure that it is nothing normal.
After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to try it.
If it is to just comment and not expose everything, then maybe he can do it.
It can also be seen as some sort of training for when the moment where he tells them everything comes.
"Okay, I agree with this suggestion." He said and finished spreading foam around his body.
Then, he picked a shower and started to wash the foam off his body.
*SHAA*
Chang Hua also kept washing her body while thinking about what to tell him.
"…" Both stood silent while thinking what to tell each other without exposing too much of their past which both didn't want to tell now.
Hai suddenly raised his eyebrows as he got an idea of what to say.
"I know what to say already, do you want more time to think about yours?" He asked her while confirming that he was now without any foam. Then, he got up from the stool and went towards the bathtub.
Chang Hua kept washing her body until she also finished this process, before she also followed him inside.
Hai arrived at the bathtub and saw that it was big, probably as big as his room back at his previous mansion.
The water was emitting some steam due to its temperature, but to Hai, it was indifferent either something was cold or hot.
He entered the bathtub and leaned on the walls before closing his eyes.
Chang Hua also entered and stood relatively close to Hai while enjoying the comfortable feeling of the water.
After some time, Hai decided to start talking.
"Once upon a time, there was a man." He said like it was someone else, but he knew that nobody would believe that it was someone other than himself.
Chang Hua opened her eyes and looked directly at his face.
"This man had money, but he wasn't rich. He had power, but was weak. He had a goal, but not the means. He was an unfortunate man."
Chang Hua got a gist about what he was talking about, but said nothing and let him continue.
"Then, one day, this man's reality crumbled down." Hai opened his eyes and stared at the thin fog that was formed by the steam.
"He was forced to act like he wouldn't act; do what he wouldn't do and say what he wouldn't say. He was forced to be someone else against his own will."
Until here, Chang Hua understood everything he said as he had already said somethings about the plot and such to her, and as her situation was anything but normal, it was easy to believe in his.
"And then, the world said it would be one way, and that way was said to be." He commented with a slight smile.
Chang Hua raised an eyebrow when she noticed that he purposedly made this line more enigmatic than what it needed to be.
"If it wasn't, then it would be forced to be, by any means." After saying it, Hai fell silent.
He was inwardly praising himself for this time, he was the one who gave the mysterious words to someone else, and not the one receiving them and burning his braincells to understand their meaning.
"…" Chang Hua said nothing and kept brooding over his words.
Although she can't understand some parts, she got most of it.
'Somehow, he was forced to act like that and he couldn't go against it. If he went, he would be punished or something along those lines, huh.' She concluded after thinking for a bit.
Chang Hua looked at Hai and didn't express any pity. Those who go through hell, don't need pity, they deserve acknowledgement and respect.
After being silent for some time, she bent her knees and brought them towards her chest. She hugged her knees with her arms and took a deep breath.
"Once upon a time, in a far way place, there was a little girl." Since he went like telling a tale, Chang Hua decided to follow his example.
Hai looked at her with his usual slight smile on his face.
"This little girl was just like any other, a pure child with a dream. She was sadly an orphan and hence, had no one to support her dream." Her tone got nostalgic, but Hai also noticed sadness hidden underneath this nostalgy.
"The little girl eventually grew up and then, unlike other adults, she maintained her dream alive." Chang Hua commented this part in a slight mocking tone.
Hai said nothing and let her continue.
Although her situation seems sad, he also didn't express any signs of pity.
Pity sometimes, isn't mercy.
It is poison.
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A/N: Hello there, I hope you are having a wonderful day!
So, what do you guys think about this chapter? For those who are worried about this novel becoming a slice of life, don't worry. I'm doing this because I didn't want just battles and pressure to develop the main cast, but it wouldn't be this slice of life for much long. I know that this can get boring, so I'll be doing a mixture of slice of life and action. Also, don't worry because I won't make those big backstory chapters that goes on for 20 chapters; just like Hai, Chang Hua is only going to comment on hers, so the next chapter isn't going to be a backstory one, but will contain some tid bits of hers.
Comment what you thought about this chapter. If you liked it or not, I want to read your opinions and interact more with you guys.
Another thing: Please give your feedbacks. I want to know what you guys think, if there are things that could be better or if I could have done something in a simpler manner. If you could also leave a review, that would help me to understand what you think about the novel in general, so it would be really helpful.
Also, join our Discord community, there you can interact with other readers or with me in case you have questions or ideas about/ for the novel.
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That is all for today, thank you all for reading! 🍷😎