The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

34: A White Lie

"Argh!" I groaned quietly, banging my head on the window of the bus. I needed to wash my head clean of Zhuo Zhi. I was not going to start crushing on him. I looked up and saw that my bus stop was nearing, so I got up and alighted, walking the rest of the way back home.

I remembered how Zhuo Zhi had seemed hurt to think of Zhuo Yu. The worry in his eyes had been evident enough for me. I sighed woefully. They must have been really, really close before. I might have helped Zhuo Zhi to forget his problems temporarily today, but that didn't mean it would be solved.

I thought back to my own siblingship with Si Yang. Ever since a few days ago when he had lectured me about my safety on the school grounds, we had avoided each other almost completely. When I bumped into him at school, we'd just act normally-- like non-siblings. On the usual occasion at home, we would have our few rare hours of sibling-bonding moments. Now, we would avoid each other, having our dinner at separate times, spending most of our time in our rooms, Si Yang leaving for school earlier than I did to minimise interaction. Neither of us wanted to speak to each other.

I sighed, pushing the stray hair out of my face. I didn't want this to continue. I hated being the one to bow down first, but one of us had to break the ice. I decided to put down my dignity just this once. The moment Si Yang comes back, I was going to talk to him.

♡♡♡

I heard door clang open and I instantly put my pen down, taking my eyes off my worksheet and standing up from my chair. I speed-walked from the dining room to the front door, just to find Si Yang holding a large plastic bag with a box inside it. He looked in my direction as he saw me approaching. "Yue En, hold this--"

"We need to talk, Si Yang," I stated firmly, folding my arms. "Since--"

"Help me put this down in the dining room and we can talk later," Si Yang argued, thrusting the plastic bag at me.

I had to catch it in my arms before it fell to the ground. But after I regained my balance, I lifted my head to see Si Yang rushing towards his room. "Mu Si Yang!" I hollered, losing my patience. All I had wanted was to settle our issue and stop the cold war between us, yet he still didn't want to cooperate with me. I was on the edge of calling off the whole reconciliation.

I heard Si Yang breathe in deeply, his shoulder heaving once, before he turned around to face me, his face evident with annoyance. "What, Yue En--?"

"Oh, so you're asking me that now?" I yelled. I realised that I was sounding too harsh and impatient, so I closed my eyes for three seconds, trying to cool down before I began again in a quieter tone, "Si Yang, we have to talk to each other again. As much as I don't want to speak about the issue, you're still my brother and we live in the same house. So will you spare some time to at least talk about what happened last week!" I said the last few words in a breathless shout. God, that feels so good to get off my chest.

I held in a nervous breath as I waited for Si Yang's reaction. I sighed with relief as I watched Si Yang break into a small smile. "Yue En, I've been wanting to talk to you soon too," Si Yang admitted, nodding. I was about to move towards my brother to give him a hug when he held out a palm to stop me. "We can talk later. I have a stomachache, and... uhh..."

Initially pleased and comforted by his reaction, now I was surprised and giggled as I saw him dash into the bathroom connected to his room and slam the door shut in a hurry. What a way to ruin the mood, Si Yang.

I shook my head, still grinning as I peered into the plastic bag that he had shoved into my hands. The box was labelled with a logo consisting of two Chinese characters that translated into 'Xing Long'. Si Yang must have brought some of Xing Long's restaurant's roasted geese home. I brought the bag into the living room, placing the box on the dining table. I cleared my homework off the table and brought the cutlery out from the kitchen as Si Yang entered the dining room, his hands fumbling with the flaps of the takeaway box as he opened it. "So," he started.

"So?" I prompted, opening the lid of the container of warm white rice. I used my spoon to scoop some rice into my bowl as I waited for Si Yang to speak.

I heard him sigh. "I know I shouldn't have dragged you aside to speak with you that day. And I understand if you think I was being too overprotective of you,"

I smiled a little, my chopsticks attacking the roasted geese as I began to apologise on my own part. "It was kind of my fault too because I hadn't told you anything about what had happened to me. But I lied because I don't want you to worry too much about me. You know?"

Si Yang took a sip of his glass of water. "I get it, but you know... we shouldn't hide this sort of thing from each other,"

"It was a white lie," I admitted, nibbling on a piece of roasted geese. Even its enjoyable taste couldn't mask the guilt I felt. "Okay, but I promise that I would tell you about these things in the future if it ever happens. Which I hope that it never will,"

"Please let it never happen," Si Yang muttered through a mouthful of rice.

"But you have to stop putting these 'overprotective measures' on me. I'm old enough to take care of myself,"

Si Yang sighed. "Okay. I'll let you have your freedom, but only if we can have enough trust between each other to tell us anything wrong,"

"Deal," I grinned, holding my hand out to shake. This was always our method of settling the arguments between each other. We would admit our faults and opinions, and at the end of our discussion, we would apologise. Si Yang chuckled at this but still shook my hand like we did as kids.

"I'm sorry," we both apologised together, smiling. I laughed, finally happy that we managed to solve our argument.

"But what about the tennis team?" I asked the question that had been bugging me for a while. "Won't they suspect why you dragged me away that day?"

Si Yang avoided my eyes sheepishly. "I told them that you were my friend and that you needed to be lectured. I think I scared them off with my bad mood,"

I shook my head in exasperation as I shoved more rice and roasted meat down my mouth, deciding not to dwell on the topic any longer.

♡♡♡

That night, while I was busy packing my bag, I heard a notification bell ring from my phone. I put my file down and switched on my phone to see the notification on the lock screen.

Zhuo Zhi:
Goodnight :)

I subconsciously smiled at his text message, typing back a reply.

Yue En:
Go to sleep already, Senior.
Nights.

Zhuo Zhi didn't respond, so I didn't know if he had read my text and left it, or he just didn't read it. Either way, I sighed, plugging my charger into my phone.

I thought he had said exchanging IDs was for 'in case I got into any trouble'.

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~ Snowy ♡