233: Chapter 233 Past Days

Sniff, sniff, sniff.

"What are you doing?"

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.

"Wait, what? Kate?" Li Ming took two steps back. "What are you doing?"

"You smell like Maria. It's very strong."

"Uh, yeah." A bit of cold sweat broke out on Li Ming's back.

"Wow, impressive. Did you manage to win her over?"

"Not exactly, we haven't reached that point yet," Li Ming explained. "If you really had to put it that way, it's still too early."

"I don't believe you." Kate stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Prove it to me."

"How am I supposed to prove something like that?!"

"Where did you go last night? How come neither you nor Maria were seen all night?"

The big fluffy one glared at him, looking like she wouldn't let it go. "Everyone was worried sick, and it turns out you two were just... fooling around somewhere?"

"I already told you, it's not like that..." Li Ming's voice trailed off. In a way, what she said was true, but it wasn't like it was his idea!

"Alright, just kidding." Kate shrugged. "Should I say you're really something? Maria actually got that close to you all of a sudden?"

"Actually, it was her who suddenly... um..." Li Ming paused for a moment. "I don't know why, but she just suddenly said she liked me... or something like that..."

"Oh-ho?" Kate circled him, then pushed him down onto the sofa. "How did you do it? You look so honest and reliable, but I never expected you to be such a smooth talker with girls?"

"I told you, I didn't..." Li Ming felt a toothache coming on.

"I don't believe it, I don't believe it! Prove it to me!"

"How am I supposed to prove that?!"

Kate gave him a light kick. "Hmm, good work."

"?"

Li Ming was stunned by the sudden change of topic.

"Maria is actually quite deep." Kate narrowed her eyes and slumped onto the other side of the sofa. "I don't really understand what the two of them are thinking... but seeing them like that, it makes me feel bad too."

"Maria has been doing information work for the past few months, while also having to handle environmental security. The pressure is huge, and it's the same for Elsa... yet I'm still just lying around in the garage."

"But Maria actually managed to win you over without saying a word? I really didn't expect that. Should I say that's typical of a Russian?"

"I don't think that has anything to do with being Russian..." Li Ming had a headache. "It feels more like it was caused by too much pressure."

"Something must have happened between you two that I don't know about, hmph." Kate puffed out her cheeks. "But I'm sure you don't want to tell me."

"..." Li Ming really didn't want to talk about it; some things were truly hard to put into words.

"But honestly, if it were me, I'd probably be proactive too, right?" For once, Kate didn't pick up her game console, instead staring blankly at the ceiling. "I've never met a boy like you before."

"Huh?"

"Elsa and Maria have always treated me like a child, but I did go to high school, alright?" Kate seemed to think of something funny. "Carrying debt, going to school, then attending a ridiculously expensive university where I didn't learn anything... I originally thought that was how my life would go."

She touched her short hair and casually took off her hair clip, throwing it aside. "Then the civil war started. My family fled all the way from South Carolina to Mississippi, and then I wandered alone to Pensacola... and finally met them."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Hmph, obviously it's because I see my former self in you."

"Huh?" Li Ming pointed at himself.

"To be precise, your face looks like that of a good boy who always listens to his mother." Kate turned to look at him. "If you wore glasses and shaved off that beard you haven't trimmed in ages, you'd look just like an ordinary college student."

"Uh..." What kind of college student is this badass?

"Ask your own heart, would you say it's true or not?"

…At least he used to be? Li Ming couldn't help but recall his past. Back then... he wasn't exactly obedient; to be precise, he just didn't want to keep trying...

His parents' expectations engulfed him like a tsunami. He couldn't see an end when he tried, which made him want to give up. The more he feared moving forward, the further he drifted from his goals.

It wasn't that he hadn't tried to communicate, but his subtle hints were ignored, and direct honesty only earned him labels of not trying hard enough, along with the anger and sarcasm of those disappointed in him.

…Until the feeling of despair completely washed over his head, and the immense water pressure crushed everything he was.

"Not quite, I was never a good kid." Li Ming shook his head. "I didn't like studying; I liked playing games and reading novels. I didn't like socializing either—people's hearts are too complicated."

"Then do you do drugs? Like to smoke and drink, form gangs, collect protection money in groups, and hang around the streets?"

"Uh... no."

"These things are normal in the United States. Of course, I didn't participate either. I was the one being forced to pay protection money."

"Uh..."

Thanks for the invite, but he hadn't been forced to pay protection money. Or rather, given his physique back in his student days, it was already pretty good that he hadn't been the one collecting it from others...

"Of course, you wouldn't understand these things..." Kate looked at his bewildered expression. "So, why did you come here?"

"It was a... trial." Li Ming closed his eyes and gave a truthful, yet ambiguous answer.

"A trial... how strange." Kate sighed. "Li Ming, I really don't understand you xia people. Why do you like being so flowery with your words?"

Li Ming shrugged. How would he know? He didn't feel anything about it anyway. Reopening his eyes, Li Ming spoke again, "Then what happened after? What happened after you arrived in Pensacola?"

"I was saved by them, then I joined them. That's all."

"...Alright."

So the story connected, even if it wasn't complete.

"Actually, I was pretty wild in the past, you know?"

"Hmm?"

Didn't she just say she was the one being forced to pay protection money?

"I mean, I liked doing things that didn't fit my status." Kate looked at him. "Just like being friends with them, just like me staying here right now... Actually, I could totally have hidden in a safe zone like everyone else..."

"But you still stepped up, didn't you?"

"I just wanted to be as capable as them..." Kate shook her head and looked at the abrams behind her.

There were a few more bullet marks on it.

"Thanks for saving me a few days ago," Kate said. "But I didn't expect you to be such an honest guy."

"Me? Honest?"

"Aren't you? But a blockhead like you... I really am interested in you... especially since you've helped us so much... really a lot."

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