✓ COME OUT & PLAY ━ dong sicheng

🍭 . . chapter eleven.

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[ i forgot to say this is set in 2026 now you know ]

already having their desired ice cream cones in their hands, the trio decided to take a short break on an unoccupied bench. suji was sandwiched between sicheng and jace, her pointing to things that amused her within the park's premises every once in a while and them matching her level of excitement.

halfway through her gushing over how the clouds looked like animals if you looked closer, jace's phone vibrated in his pocket. upon picking it up and seeing how the contact 'bestie ♥' was the one requesting for a video call, he nudged the kid.

"your mother's calling."

they all diverted their attentions from the sky to his phone.

when their video cameras were finally fully loaded, the woman was there, a blanket covering her up until the middle area her neck (her right arm not included in the scope). she was still slightly stretching said arm which was holding the phone the moment they picked up.

the fact that chia just woke up from a presumably long nap was noticeable. from her puffy eyes, to the bed marks on her chin, to how awfully disheveled her short black hair was. one thing that stood out though was skin was still spotless (if you exclude the large eyebags and that one barely visible scar on her jaw) even without the daily light makeup she wears while going out.

"bestie, you okay? you look so haggard."

"i'm 31, give me a break," she said, her voice's post-sleep husk holding an uncanny resemblance to those wise old men with white beards in classic movies. "where's my daughter?"

jace rolled his eyes. he noticed how, since her 30th birthday, she always used her age as an excuse, even in moments when it barely made sense. she wasn't even that old.

biggest stage of boomerification, as he'd like to call.

"mom!"

upon receiving the device, she put it too close to her face, their first few seconds virtually facing each other spent with her speaking nonsense. chia laughed at the cute ridiculousness, uttering a lengthened hi.

"where are you and dad?"

"we're in japan. your dad's working," she was repeatedly raised her eyebrows for her eyes' tiredness to subside as she continued, "and i'm at your grandma's place. we'll bring you here next time, yeah? how about you, where are you?"

"uncles brought me to the park."

the couple snorted at getting called 'uncles'. it felt unfitting to them, probably because their ideas of uncles were middle-aged men with hideous amounts of facial hair while only wearing undershirts and worn out basketball shorts at all times.

"are you having fun?"

she pouted. "mom, before that, i have something to ask."

"hmmm?"

suji leaned her face even closer to the phone, treating whatever she was about to say as so-called top secret information.

"what does for fuck's sake mean?" the girl questions, her voice progressing into husher tones word after word. "but i'm scared because they told me if i say it out loud monsters will come for me. is it true? what does it really mean?"

chia wanted to yell.

at this point, there were limited yet unthinkable solutions. she certainly cannot make her child unlearn that very word. allowing her to say it on a regular basis would damage her purity, but telling her it's a bad word would probably only tempt her to say it more.

"oh, babe, that's . . that's something you can only say to your uncles jace and sicheng." chia was thankful that she was getting her convinced. "if you say it to others, the monsters will really come."

"oh no."

as if she wasn't frightened about the thought of existing in the same time with monsters that were ought to get her seconds ago, suji's mood was flipped upside down, her beginning to ramble about random things she found striking with a rapid pace.

the topics ranged from how huihui kept clinging to her, asking for tummy rubs ever since she began staying at them two's place, to her 'dreamy unicorn princess' ice cream they went through hell to find, and to jace's oh-so romantic bedtime stories last night. the mother could only nod and smile in admiration towards how hyped she was to happily rant, muttering a few 'ooh's and 'wow's every now and then.

"mm, that's all? okay, pass the phone to jace now please. see you soon, baby. love you. enjoy yourself."

the quick shift of phone holders came with a quick shift of expressions. without hesitating even one bit, she gave her bestie a death glare the moment his face took over her screen.

"goddammit, jace, what are you teaching her?"

"i only used that phrase once around her. i didn't know your kid is a quick learner."

like the inner stressed woman in her early thirties she was portraying, chia helplessly sighed, feeling the need to change the topic. "anyways, we'll take her back tomorrow, okay? let's talk about the time through text."

"tomorrow?"

after the realization that time had passed too quickly and they've barely done anything that could be deemed a golden memory with a kid he was finally letting loose with, he spaced out, eyes not anymore having his phone screen as a focal point.

"anything wrong?" she checked in, weirded out by his sudden lowness of mood.

"n-no, so i'll end the call now. bye, bestie!"

"wait, do you not want to tell m—"

there and then, jace ended the call. he called it giving his best friend a taste of her own medicine, considering how she was usually the one to drop calls with no regards to what the other party was still saying.

breathing out and putting his phone back, the very man stood up, extending his hand towards a confused suji for her to hold.

"let's have more fun?"

her eyes lit up.

"yes! for fuck's sake!"

"i—"

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