"Your shots are dying."
Gabbi's warning brought Wen out of his thoughts. "Hm?" Looking up from the espresso machine, Wen looked at Gabbi with blank eyes.
"Oh, thanks," Wen thanked as he snapped out of his daze. Tilting his head down, Wen quickly poured the shots into an empty cup and finished making a latte that had been requested by a client.
"Something happen?" Gabbi inquired as she gave Wen the next order.
Thoughts of Kean asking about Yywren just hours before flashed through Wen's mind before he shook his head and denied, "No, nothing out of the ordinary."
"You sure?" Gabbi checked as she completed the transaction with the latest customer.
"Mm," Wen confirmed, taking the cup and starting the espresso shots for the lavender latte before grabbing the coconut milk from the fridge next to his station.
"Okay, well, if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here to hear you out. I can't promise to offer good advice or anything, but if you just need to unload, well...I'll be here."
Wen smiled at Gabbi's offer and nodded his head in thanks as three customers entered the café. "I'll keep that in mind," Wen said as he gestured to the new clients. Gabbi shot Wen an encouraging smile before turning to assist the customers.
"What's this I'm hearing?" A sing-song voice floated to be beside Wen as Mel joined the brown-haired at the hot bar. Mel smiled up at Wen as she asked, "Having trouble with your nemesis again?"
Mel's accuracy shocked Wen, but he brushed it off with a playful scoff. "What? Nahhh. What made you think that?"
Mel squinted her eyes as she studied her co-worker. Mel, Gabbi, Eddie, and Wen all being students were naturally close and often shared stories of their personal lives during downtimes at the café. So, Wen's co-workers had somewhat of an idea about Wen's life and his battle with the basketball jock at his school.
And anytime Wen was feeling down or spacing out, the others could guess it was either family worries or issues with his arch nemesis, the jock. So, Mel asked about Wen's trouble with Kean should not have shocked him as much as it did. But because it was accurate, Wen became more flustered than he would have been should Mel have been wrong in her assumption.
"Oh! I bet it is!" Reading through Wen's disguised reaction, Mel clapped her hands once as she called Wen's bluff. "So, what happened? Is it because he found out you're a xaiyon?"
Again, Mel's accuracy impressed Wen, and he ended up confessing. "Sort of...he...asked about someone...so..."
"The someone that started the bad blood between you and him?"
"...Mm," Wen confirmed with a nod. Wen had not opened up to his co-workers regarding Yywren and the whole situation that had happened two years ago, but Mel could still guess the cause of Wen's distress by placing together the pieces of what Wen had told them.
A moment of awkward silence settled between the four employees until Mel chirped, "Well! I don't really know what's going on, but I hope you can get things worked out."
Wen smiled at Mel's kindness. "Thanks."
Eddie, who had been manning the cold bar where the smoothies and frappes were made, walked over to Wen once he had delivered a smoothie to the 'pick up' counter. "Wanna hang out after our shifts are done?"
Eddie was a senior in high school and had already taken the college entrance exam, so he had lots of free time. Even so, he rarely asked Wen to hang out with him as the two mostly kept a professional relationship. But, seeing as Wen was feeling down, Eddie extended an invitation for the first time.
Wen's heart felt light at the invite, but he politely declined. "Thanks, man, but I gotta head home right after this."
"Okay, chill. We can always hang another time," Eddie offered before returning to his station.
The support from his co-workers helped Wen remain focused on his work and temporarily shove the thoughts about Kean to the side as he finished his shift. After closing down the café, Wen said bye to Mel, Gabbi, and Eddie before heading out of the warm, artsy district and returning home. His walk was quiet and cool, but he enjoyed the silence and break from the rush of life.
The silence was quickly broken, though, when he walked into the apartment he shared with his family. Laughter and warmth filled the small apartment, and it smelled like someone was cooking. Hanna, Wen's youngest sister, ran up to him as he closed and locked the door and hugged his thigh.
"Wenni's home!" Hanna smiled up at her brother as he bent down to pick her up after setting his duffle bag beside the apartment's door.
At Hanna's announcement, Wen's mother came out from around the half-wall that separated the living room from the small kitchen. "How was the meeting?" Lisa inquired as she brought her son's bag from in front of the door and set it on a low bookshelf that sat against the front wall.
"It went well, I think," Wen replied as he walked toward the kitchen where the delicious aromas were drifting from. What met Wen caused his jaw to drop. Lay was cooking with the aid of the middle child, Emmi. Hearing Wen enter the kitchen, Lay looked back and smiled at his friend while Emmi ran to hug her brother.
"Lay...!" Wen's heart broke when he saw the bruise surrounding Lay's eye and the gashes on his brow and lips. Handing Hana to his mother, Wen rushed to his friend. "What happened?"
Lay assured Wen he was alright as his friend fretted over his abrasions. Lisa had done her best to clean the wounds with their small first aid kit, and Emmi had helped put the princess-themed band-aids over the cuts.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Wen inquired when Lay continued to deny that he was in pain. After Lay confidently nodded his head, Wen gave a sigh before carefully asking, "Did...your uncle....?"
Lay lowered his eyes as he responded, "He found out that I attended the xaiyon meeting yesterday and the evaluation today..."
"I told him he can stay with us until you two go off to Azari," Lisa said as she walked up to the two boys. "I'm very proud of you...of both of you."
Wen had yet to bring up his intentions of joining a varsity team to his mother, but he assumed Lay had eased her into the matter when he explained why he had shown up at her front door. Lisa looked at her son with pride, love, and worry. Joining a varsity team was no easy thing, and it could be dangerous. But, if that was the path her son had decided to take, Lisa was prepared to support him however she could.
Also, hearing that Wen could be accumulating debt until he managed to join a varsity team worried Lisa, but she was determined to help him to the best of her abilities. She was already working two jobs, and her son was currently working, but if she managed to pick up another job, she believed she could help pay Wen's tuition partially so that he would not have too much debt by the time he managed to join a v-team.
Wen smiled at his mother affectionately and tilted his head in thanks before quietly joining Lay in preparing a late-night dinner. When everything was ready, the family set the small table stationed in front of the couch and sat on the floor to enjoy their home-cooked meal.
"Mm, Lay, this is delicious!" Lisa exclaimed as she took a bite of the noodle dish. "Never mind Azari, you can stay here as long as you like!" Lisa's offer spurred a round of laughs and light-hearted smiles.
Although Lay did not verbally reply to Wen's mother, his smile and teary eyes at her joke told Lisa all she needed to know. After he had lost his father and his mother remarried, Lay had not known familial affection since he had moved in to live with his uncle and aunt. Seeing Lay's expression made Lisa determined to love the boy as much as she could while he was with her.
After dinner, Lay and Emmi did the dishes and cleaned the table while Lisa put Hanna to bed and Lay inflated the air-up mattress. Having a one-bedroom apartment, Wen usually slept on the sofa while his mother and sisters slept in the room. But, now that they had added a new member to their family, the air mattress was dug out of the closet and activated.
"Are you sure?" Lay inquired as he accepted the blanket and pillow from Wen. "The mattress would be more comfortable..." Lay pushed up his glasses as he looked from the mattress to the worn-out couch.
"Mm, I'm sure," Wen replied. "I've been sleeping on the sofa for as long as I can remember. Frankly, it would be weird to switch to the mattress, now."
Uncomfortable with sleeping on the air mattress while Wen slept on the couch but aware that once Wen set his mind to something, there was no changing it, Lay tilted his head in thanks before setting up shop on the mattress.
"Do you think..." Wen began when he and Lay had been lying in silence for a few moments, "We'll be successful? As xaiyons, I mean."
Lay was silent as he pondered Wen's question. "If we work hard, we'll be successful in whatever we do...I think," he responded quietly.
"You think so?"
"Mm." Lay's response was short but confident. And Wen felt the determination and resolve in that one sound. Encouraged by Lay's confidence in both Wen and himself, Wen had a small smile on his lips as he closed his eyes and waited for the morning to come.
And so, the next eight months passed with Lay living with Wen and his family and the two boys finishing their time at Daeshin High School. Living with Wen's family was some of the happiest days of Lay's past five years of life, and Wen thoroughly enjoyed having his friend stay with him. Seeing Lay's content expressions every morning as they headed to school was the highlight of Wen's days.
After Wen's encounter with Kean following the evaluation, the jock had left Wen alone and rarely showed up around the two boys. Wen cherished these quiet eight months because he knew his life was about to change drastically. Once he completed this academic year at Dashin High, he would be hurled into the world of the xaiyon and would be seeing Kean every day.
And just like that, it was Wen's next-to-last day at Daeshin High where he found himself standing face-to-face with the person he dreaded encountering the most.