The Art Of War.

12.Time Relapse.

•DAVID•





The boat, or rather big ship left the coast of HangZhou nearly an hour ago. And David stood at the edge, leaning against the cool metal railings as he watched the land he grew up in disappear along with the bodies of his family. Qin didn't believe he was Chinese. But he really was. And China will always be his home.
General Tang had told them that they were going to settle in America.

The last place any of them wanted to go to.
But since Qin had discovered that the people of America don't actually know about the war, they figured it would be safe. For now.

One of General Tang's greatest spy soldiers, David's job, once they reached America, was to get a job with the government.

But from what they had newly learned, the government had no clue too. They were just following blindly.
The only one that knew, was Joseph Worthy. A name he was sure he had heard of before.
Even more familiar was the name of Damien Carter's son, Sean Carter.

Izzy was sure too. Just that none of them know why.

They were born in China, in Beijing, the capitol.

But at the age of 9, their parents went through a divorce and their father got a hold of them. According to the law.

But in a tragic turn of events, after living in Orlando, Florida for about 2 years, their father had a heart stroke and died, giving their mother full custody.

David had never really remembered America.
But a few names were still clear in his head.
He was pretty sure Sean Carter was one of them.
Even if he didn't really know him.

He sighed, ruffling his hands through his unkempt hair.

He remembered his mother.
She was Chinese and she couldn't speak a word of English.

Her education level wasn't very high.

But David and Izzy had respected her so much, unlike their alcoholic drunkard father.
Their mother was always sober. Never in her life had she taken a sip of alcohol. And she had always taught her children to do the same.

But she suffered the same fate as her ex-husband.

She died.

Though the reasons of her death were unclear, David had always wondered about the real reason why.
He knew that she would never commit suicide.
And it also didn't look like a homicide.

Their mother was a great woman who touched others hearts every where she went.

No one in the right mind would want to kill her.

But even so, David couldn't help but doubt it.

He remembered all the sleepless nights he had after his mother left him alone to care for Izzy. He remembered all the tears.

He had cried for about a week after her death, and he even rejected taking care of his younger sister, sad that his mother's last thoughts was worrying about Izzy. And not him.

But David was only a young age of 12 when she left. And he hadn't had time to mature.

Now taking care of his sister was his top priority, even surpassing 'taking care of my friends' which was a solid number 3. Number 2 was very selfishly, 'staying alive'.

He looked over at Qin, which he was forced to share a bunker with.

Although there were two beds, one of them was ruined with moulds and dust and even a few rats in it.

And there was no way they were going to share a bed.

So being the gentlemen he was, David let Qin sleep in the only bed left, which was the top bunker.

He agreed to sleep on the floor, on the condition that Qin did not step on him.

General Tang had given them a clear explanation on what to do when they reached their destination. And he also estimated the journey to take around 2 weeks.

Two weeks with Qin in a room. This is torture. He thought.

Qin hadn't spoken a word since they left China. And David found it weird. She would usually be complaining and questioning. Especially towards Tze Xian.

"You've been quiet." He said suddenly, causing Qin to pause from whatever the hell she was doing with the laptop screen and look up at him.

"Yeah." She finally said, sighing and slumping back towards the wooden frame. "I had a lot to think about."

"I guess so." He shrugged. He had a lot to think about too. "So."

Qin stared at him. "So."

"You and Tze Xian don't get along?" He asked. Personally, he thought they were very fitting together. But they seem to not think about it that way. Tze Xian was clearly with WeiTing. Even if they both hadn't said anything to each other. Yet.
David remembered his first crush. At the age of 12, all he saw was her. Her name was Rui. And David spent 20% of his school hours stealing secret glances at what she was doing.
But she disappeared one day for mysterious reasons that he did not know. And he stopped chasing her, knowing it was useless.

"No." Qin shook her head lightly, and laughed a little, finding the question silly and redundant. "It's obvious isn't it?"

Lost in thought, David had forgotten his question to Qin. And he laughed. "Yup. It is. But I don't get why. You're both pretty into mechanics and engineering I guess. And the way you argue makes you seem like best friends."

Qin choked on the water she was drinking and went into a huge coughing fit, covering her mouth. She stared at David in disbelief. "I don't know what world you live in, David. But in this world, I'm never going to be friends with Tze Xian."

David shrugged. "I don't know. Just asking."

Qin rolled her eyes and went back to work, letting the whole room fall back into the awkward silence state it was in.

She might not realize it, but she's exactly like Tze Xian. David thought. They both can't hold a conversation.

Desperate for someone to talk to, David persisted. "Are you and Lu Er together?" It was an awkward question in every way. But it was the only thing that came into David's mind in that moment.

"Nope." She said simply, eyes glued to the screen, hands furiously flying through the keyboard. "Why?"

"You guys seem close." David said.

Qin shrugged. She didn't seem eager to continue talking, way to occupied with her screen. She was giving the conversation only a fraction of her attention. Everything else was focused on the screen.

"Can you please stop that?" David finally asked when Qin appeared to make no attempt in talking to him. "You have like, 2 weeks on board and you've been in front of the screen all day! You even missed lunch. Nobody misses lunch." He said.

Qin sighed and rolled her eyes, turning off the power with great reluctance. "What?" She asked, her voice monotonous and plain.

"You and Lu Er." Said David.

"What about us? We're not together, as I said." Qin replied hastily.

"You're pretty close to him."

"Well, we're best friends." She said.

"Oh." David said. "That explains a lot."

"Yeah." Qin said. "Izzy's your sister?"

David smiled. I got her talking. "Yep. She's younger."

"Must be nice to have a sibling." Qin said.

"It's okay. I mean it's, well, fine. Sometimes we argue. Sometimes we fight." David said. "But at the end of the day, we're still siblings. And we'll love each other. Because our sibling is our parent's child. So whatever they do to us, we'll still love them."

Qin nodded, staring at the ground, as if she was waiting for David to continue. As if.

"Izzy and I fight sometimes. But no matter what, I can't change the fact that she's my sister." He said, looking at Qin. He couldn't quite make out the expression on her face. It was so different than the usual intimidating smirk. Like she was deep in thought.

"I used to have a brother." Qin said suddenly. "But he grew up and disowned me."

David's eyes widened. He didn't expect anything like this coming out from Qin.

"Me and my brother were orphans." Qin continued. "I never knew my parents. But my brother had always been there. Through thick or thin, he was always with me, like the father I never had. He was a great friend, and the only family member I had. Although he was about ten years older, he still loved to play with me. And I always enjoyed his company. Every time I got bullied in school, he would destroy his good-boy reputation just to bully the bully who bullied me." Qin chuckled a little at the over usage of the word 'bully'. "We didn't have any proper meals but we were happy with the bread and soup we had. When my brother reached 15, he went to work in a factory to earn some money to buy a small house. He didn't earn enough. But it was still sufficient for renting an apartment somewhere in SongJiang. Life was extremely difficult. But my brother never gave up on raising me. When he brought home a broken computer one day, he thought that he could use it as an oven. Because the generators don't do anything but give out heat. But out of curiosity, 7 year old me fixed it and made it work again. My brother was impressed and he started bringing back loads of destroyed computers after that. And I fixed all of them. That's when I realized my passion for all this. I would use the computers to get information all the time. And when my brother almost got fired in the factory, I hacked into their system to increase his pay instead. It was my brother, who got me interested in I.T. I don't know how i managed to do so many things with a computer at the age of 7, but from then on, they were my life. My brother was proud. He told me that I would do amazing things when I grew up. He always praised me and made me feel like I have a complete family." Qin closed her eyes.

"But things started to change. My brother started spending loads of time outside. I wasn't sure if he was working or not. But he came home pretty late. And even worse, he forgotten about me. He would leave me aside like I was invisible. I didn't even get meals sometimes. Things started to change. And from then on, I knew they would never be the same. I tried getting my brother back, doing things to impress him, telling him stories. But he still ignored me like I meant nothing to him. Maybe I did mean nothing. I don't know. But when I remembered the times when he was always there, I feel confused. I was still a kid and I didn't understand anything. And one day, he came home with a woman. She wasn't Chinese. She had blonde hair. An American, I guess. I was happy. Because the woman could talk to him and make him happy. I felt that he was back. But when the woman left, he was became grumpy again. And he ignored me. The woman came everyday after that. And she never failed to make him smile. But once she leaves, the pattern continues, and he's back to being ignorant. I didn't understand anything. But I went with it, not having a clue on what's going on."

"But I never gave up on trying to have him back. Because I remembered that he never gave up on me. But one day, he came home really angry. The woman was beside him, crying and crying. He stormed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife raised it at her. I covered my eyes. But I could still hear screams. I hid in the corner the whole time. I was very scared. But he didn't come to comfort me. Instead, he walked towards me and-" Qin cut herself off, hesitant to say the next part. "He raised his knife. He raised his knife at me."

"After that, he walked out, leaving the body of the woman in the rented apartment. And he also left me and all my computers. He walked out that day, and never came back."

The room was silent. Qin lay on her bunker bed, staring into space. And David simply stood there, shocked beyond words.

"Qin?" David asked, and she snapped her head towards him, looking deep into his eyes. And David realized that he , for once, had her full attention, intense and vague all at once. "I'm sorry."

Qin laughed, much to David's surprise. "It's sort of funny right? A man of many mysteries." She said, sighing. "I hope he died a horrible death during the war. The Americans probably couldn't stand his face. Or he might still be there I guess, still be in China, waiting for the nuke to kill him."

David stared at Qin. He always thought that Qin was a bitch involuntarily. But she was only a cranky brat because she had so much to deal with. Not just her past. But everything else. The pressure of having to complete things on the computer. And the graveness of the situation they were in. David was sure Qin wasn't this way before the war. Before everyone expects her to be the one doing everything on the computer. Before the only things she had were taken away from her. David had to deal with pressure too. But he didn't show it the way Qin did. He released all his stress by crying softly at night. Not very manly, but the options were very few. David had the pressure from everyone too. The pressure to be able to protect everyone and stay alive at the same time. The incident at the Data Centre had added into the pressure he already had. Everyone expects him to be the one who steps up and saves people. The one who is the hero. But in the Data Centre he had failed that one thing very miserably. And everyone expects him to not do that again. Qin hadn't told anyone actually. And David knew the real reason why. She could have ran to Tang and complained about his unprofessional soldier. But she didn't. Because as selfish and bitchy Qin was, she had expectations too. She knew how it feels like to be the one carrying all the burden. To fail your only task. And David realized that Qin actually had a heart. And as impossible as it seems, it was very true.

A minute has passed. And the room was still silent. Neither of them had said a word. But David didn't care anymore. He turned off the lights and went to sleep, hearing Qin's shallow breathing in the silent night.






















***




•TZE XIAN•









"We'll dock the ship at Chesapeake Bay, where our spy base is. And then we'll head off towards Arlington VA the very next day, because it's close to the capitol. Our spy base did a few research and now we know that Joseph Worthy's son, Alex and his daughter, Stella goes to school there." General Tang said, looking at Qin and Tze Xian. "Alex is 16. And Stella is his twin. Qin, I want you to get as close as you can to Alex. And Tze Xian, you do the same to Stella. And when you're close enough for...sleepovers, you go to their father's room and reprogram the computer to steal all it's data. But give it back and leave no clues. You two are perfect for the job because you're both at a very high engineering level and I'm sure you can do it."

Qin smirked, the same boastful smirk she always did. And Tze Xian simply smiled, happy to get the job.

"So you're clear what your job is?" Tang asked.

"Yep." Qin replied. "Our job is to flirt."

Lu Er couldn't help but laugh.

"Whatever you call it." Tang sighed. "Just do it for China."

"Alrighty." Tze Xian said. "We'll report to you once we...get them."

"But what if they're already in a relationship?" Qin asked.

"Break them up." Tang said, shaking his head. "This is important."

"Can't we just be friends?" Asked Qin.

"No." Tang said finally, after thinking a while. "Would a boy let a girl sleep in his room? A girl that is just his friend?"

Qin coughed and coughed, looking at David. They shared a bunk. And she looked back at Tang, shifting her gaze between them until the general got the hint.

He rolled his eyes at how immature the computer genius is. "You had no choice, Qin." He said. "Just do as I say."

"Fine." She said.

"Then all is well." Tang said before leaving.

Qin and Tze Xian watched as General Tang left. The ship had loads of people, including a few children. They were playing a ball game and chasing each other so care-freely. And with smiles on their faces.

The children don't care about the war. They're children after all. Children just want to play. And have fun. He stared at them. Two girls and three little boys, throwing the ball around and laughing happily. It made him feel less stressful, yet deep down he envied them greatly. They had a chance to play at least, before everything goes downhill. They had their fun. But Tze Xian never had fun. So here I am, staring at five children. The childhood I was ripped away from.

Life had always been hard for Tze Xian. Being the son of the village mechanic, he spent all his time helping his father, covered in burnt out fuel and breathing in carbon monoxide. His father never earned a lot of money. But he was the family's sole bread winner. And Tze Xian was his family's only son, the one that should make everyone proud. Tze Xian never had a chance to play. Unlike the other children, he fixed cars and motorbikes everyday.

He sighed, sitting on the floor as he watched the kids play.

Qin raised her eyebrows skeptically, and said, "What's your problem?" But before Tze Xian had the chance to glare at her, she quickly shook her head and said,"Forget it, I don't want to know anyways."

Tze Xian stared at her in the corner of his eyes. "You're a bitch, you know that?" He said.

Qin didn't even flinch, smirking at Tze Xian. "I know."

"Just leave me alone." He said.

"Jealous of little kids?" She taunted.

"I'm not in the mood for an argument, Qin. Just go. Make fun of me later." He said.

"You never had a chance to play like them. That's why you're sad." Qin said, and Tze Xian wanted nothing more to wipe her arrogant smirk off her ugly yet flawless face. How could she know so much?

"No." He said simply, trying not to give away. He couldn't let Qin know he was sad. She would make fun of him for the rest of his life.

"You think you're the only one that have hardships." Qin pressed on, wanting to make Tze Xian feel angrier. "You think you're the only person that didn't have a childhood. That's why you're jealous of those kids."

"Don't go that far." Tze Xian said, his eyes were cold and his expression darkened. "Don't, Qin."

"You think you're the only one who worked really hard for a living when everyone else played as a kid." Qin said, smiling even more. "You think that you're the only one deprived of your childhood."

"I said, don't." He glared at the girl. Her name should be in the Big Book of Vulgar.

"But you're wrong." She said. And Tze Xian looked up at her, seeing her let out a dark laugh before strutting away from him.

Her last words left him in great confusion. And he leaned back as thoughts flooded his mind. And as he watched the children for a while longer, Qin's words made more and more sense. He always thought that he was the only one. He heard about WeiTing's past. How she enjoyed her life, wore a clean uniform to school, had a dog, had a room, had a cellphone, had a big house. But people like WeiTing were only 2% of the whole population. And Tze Xian realized that Qin was right.




" But you're wrong. "











***