"THEY ALL ADORED ME FOR BEING ONE OF THE YOUNGEST kids there, and I felt like I was finally in the right habitat for myself. I felt loved by all the students, professors, and the people above. All of my efforts paid off and for once I was praised for all the skills I had. I also made lots of friends, and met my best friends there. The people there understood me and my mind, and helped me grow both mentally and professionally. Not to mention that all of my mentors were the top of the top. It was hard, of course, but I managed to get all top grades in all of my years there, until I graduated in first place in all of my subjects. It's very amazing."
"You finished college at 19, right?" A nod. "What about your two masters degrees?"
"As I study for both of them at the same time, I finished both last year, before I came back to the UK."
She tilted her head, "Oh? I thought you lived abroad."
"I did. For eight years. But I came back last year. However, I don't live in London, all the memories I have here in this city are too much for me to stay. So, I live in Birmingham, near my grandparents and my best friends. It's better there, and I have an identity of my own, instead of living in the Van den Hoek family's shadow. I also live alone and I'm able to do all I want because I'm away from my parents."
Giggling amused, she took a sip of her wine, "You really are an outstanding young Lady, Freya. How old are you now?"
"I turned 24 years old last month."
She seemed surprised, "Oh, really? I don't think any of your family members mentioned."
I scoffed, "Of course, not. They all forgot about it. My parents only called me a week afterwards to tell me that I had to come to this hellhole because their boss," I side-looked Choi Jung-won, "told them that all the family had to be here. And because the power generators and the solar panels I build for the villa got destroyed in the storm a while ago."
Choi Da-hee seemed surprised, seeing how she widened her eyes. "When is your birthday?"
"November 22nd."
"You build the power generators and the solar panels?" Choi Dong-hyuk, Jung-won's uncle, exclaimed.
I nodded. "Yes. Those are some of the perks of having a degree in electrical engineering. My family doesn't need to pay for energy to the state, since I made those for them. With the 30 solar panels in the rooftop, the 7 power generators get charged and store all the solar energy. That way they don't have to worry about a blackout in the city. And, I made those myself, and I'm the only one who can fix them if there's a problem like what happened in the storm, because the system on them was created by me, and only I am able to understand it."
He seemed very hooked up on that, "How big is one?"
"Each power generator is of the size of the truck that's parked on the garage. You saw it, right?" The man nodded excitedly. "So, you got it."
"You are like Tony Stark!"
"She even build an AI!" Dean exclaimed and I gave him a deadly gaze, but he ignored it. "It's called Dove and it's really awesome. I've never seen something like that!"
Aaron gasped and turned his gaze to me, "Wait, is it true? I thought the kids were just joking."
"They told me too," Cameron added. "Wasn't it a lie?"
"What lie, dumbass?" Grandpa Christian yelled at him, making Cam flinch. "Both me and your other grandparents all have Dove at home. So does Chase and Flower. If you had been a better brother to your sister she would have presented you with one as well. But she didn't."
"Christian is right," grandpa Matthew intervened. "Dove controls all the electronics in our houses back in Birmingham, and are really a power house. She even has a set personality and talks to us. Ice princess did her best."
Grandma Alice came to my defense too, "Yes. She's amazing, and extremely talented. She has lots of prototypes programmed with an artificial intelligence at her home, but Dove is still the best. It's so successful that she even made a tattoo for it."
Marie and I both choked on our wine. "Grandma, for God's sake, can you stop talking about that tattoo?" I said through greeted teeth. "I'm not in the mood to talk about it."
She rolled her eyes, "But she only let Flower and the flings see it. I asked and she doesn't show it to me. Can you believe it?" Why is she like this?
Choi Jung-won choked on his drink when he heard that, "Flings? How despicable."
"How is that despicable?"
He gave me a disgusted look, "How? Are you serious? You are engaged and you still have flings?" My parents both chocked when they heard that.
"ENGAGED?" Mom yelled.
"Where the fuck did you get that from?" I ignored her.
Jung-won arched his eyebrows, "That day, on the lake house. Your fiancée came from the house calling you dear and even kissing you. Both wearing rings. And that because seconds before you were crying because of someone else. That's extremely despicable. You have absolutely no sense of loyalty."
Oh, no. I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. You have no idea how much I laughed while everyone was dead silent. I laughed so much that I had tears in my eyes.
"Why are you laughing? You have no sense?"
Is he still talking? I stopped laughing abruptly, and glared at him coldly, "If you hadn't left so quickly in that bipolar crisis of yours, you would have seen who Chase's fiancée is."
He arched his eyebrows, confused, "Excuse me?"
I showed him my ring, "Dude, this isn't an engagement ring. Our rings didn't even fucking match, and you just freaked out. Chase is my best boy-friend, while his actual fiancée, who came out of the lake house a second after you stormed out of there, is Flower, my best girl-friend. They are engaged to each other, not to me. I have never dated, how the hell would I be engaged? And they both call me dear normally, there's nothing wrong with that. Oh, and Chase kissed me in the forehead, not in the damn mouth. So, I don't know how this get to that stupid conclusion!"