Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Picking Up Aaron Lynch Together
Grandpa Lynch’s condition, Julian Zimmerman had heard of it, but he didn’t expect it to be this serious.
Ever since she returned home, Thea Lynch hadn’t heard her grandpa mention her brother; this was the first time.
"Big brother will be back in a few days."
Amidst the silence, Ian Preston’s voice was somewhat abrupt.
Hearing this, Grandpa Lynch looked over at him, seeming to take a moment to recognize him, "Is what Little Ian said true?"
"Yes, I just spoke to him on the phone a couple of nights ago."
"He’s something, isn’t he? Didn’t even give me a call."
"It was too late; there’s a time difference, and you were already resting."
"I see," Grandpa Lynch said, "Is Aaron doing well?"
"Big brother is doing fine, and he asked you not to worry too much about him."
"That’s good, that’s good." Grandpa Lynch smiled, "As long as he’s okay. It’s been quite a while since he called me; I was a bit worried about him."
Mentioning Aaron, Grandpa Lynch seemed to open the floodgates, saying intermittently, "I even dreamed of him yesterday, asking me to take him east to buy sweet pastry. This kid doesn’t think of any good food, insists on having sweet pastry."
"Fortunately, this kid is coming back soon. When the time comes, Thea... remember to buy sweet pastry for your brother and go to his workplace to pick him up early. Remember to drive there to avoid traffic; he’s impatient, so he won’t nag you."
Thea stood frozen in place, looking at her grandpa helplessly.
She opened her mouth, but it took a while before she could make a sound. Ian sat beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing, as he said, "Don’t worry, we’ll all go to pick up big brother together."
"We’ll definitely bring big brother home."
Ian’s words indeed had an effect. With his assurance, the old man was naturally at ease.
Soon, grandpa left, leaving only the few of them, and the atmosphere dropped to an all-time low.
Each with their own thoughts, no one spoke up.
Julian Zimmerman, sitting next to them, remained silent for two seconds before proactively asking, "Remember to keep next Saturday free. We’ll go see big brother."
"Okay." Ian’s eyes were as dark as the night, looking at Thea with no change in expression.
The few of them naturally had no issues with this, especially Thea.
Feeling his gaze linger on her face, Thea timely responded, "Okay. Set a specific time, I’m fine with anything."
Her second brother fondly ruffled her hair, a smile spreading in his eyes, "Then we’ll set out early on Saturday."
"How about seven o’clock? Let’s go separately for now, so we don’t get held up. We’ll meet at the entrance then."
"Alright," Silas Cheney also had no objections, "I’ll stay at the courtyard with the old man these days, and I’ll head over alone then. Sean Bell and second brother can share a car. Thea can stay with third brother."
If their three groups were to set out together, it would definitely cause delays.
The three of them came from entirely different directions, and being Saturday, Coronet was in a tourism peak period, getting stuck in traffic would be even more annoying.
That night, leaving the courtyard, as soon as Thea got in the car, she interrupted Ian’s actions, stopping him.
He removed his hand from the steering wheel and turned his head.
After a brief stare, Thea got straight to the point, "Didn’t grandpa say brother wants to have sweet pastry? If you’re not busy, can you take me to the east and check it out now?"
Grandpa said east, but Thea had no idea where exactly.
So she planned to look for it now, and then bring it to her brother when they went to see him on Saturday.
After a pause, Thea asked again, "Do you know where it might be, third brother?"
"Is there some kind of pastry shop or something like that in the east?"
Sweet pastry, that’s a broad range. She wasn’t sure if it was the traditional ones from a pastry shop or the more modern crispy pastries.
She could only rely on Ian, hoping to get some answers from him.
Because of the significant age gap between her and her brother, Ian, while younger than her brother, wasn’t too far behind, so they played together when they were kids.
Maybe, Ian really knew.
This difficult task was handed to Ian, and he didn’t rush to answer. He lowered his eyes and carefully recalled for a while before slowly speaking:
"I have a vague direction, but I’m not sure."
He said, "Let’s go over and check first."
"Okay." Thea nodded like a pecking chick.
If Ian couldn’t find it, she would try to ask second brother.
If that didn’t work, she would turn to her aunt.
Ian silently started the engine, and the car slowly moved out. It only picked up speed after leaving the courtyard.
"I originally thought it might be a small shop near one of brother’s previous schools. But come to think of it, none of brother’s schools seem to have been in the east."
With the exception of transferring to Westmere halfway through high school, and Silas growing up in Kingsford, although different grades, they all attended the same schools from kindergarten to high school.
So, Ian was technically her senior in school. However, they had never officially shared the same frame at school.
Thea had only seen Ian’s photo and introduction on the bulletin board.
Ian’s grades had always been at the top. Among her several brothers, the best academic performers were Ian and Julian Zimmerman, with both being evenly matched, though one excelled in science and the other in arts.
Her big brother lingered around the top ten, while Silas and Sean Bell were above average.
Silas, at the time, wasn’t focused on academics. Being the grandson of Old Master Cheney and the only descendant of The Cheney Family, Old Master Cheney had high expectations of him. Because of this, Silas rebelled during middle and high school, neglecting his studies.
As for Sean Bell... he was actually smart, sharing similar grades with her in childhood.
Only a year apart, their names often appeared together on the school’s honor list.
Later in high school, Sean Bell remained in the upper middle tier because he consciously slacked off. He never answered the big questions in exams, considering them a waste of time and tiring for his hand.
He could have been recommended for early college admission, but he missed the chance due to his own antics.
Despite this, Sean Bell’s performance in the college entrance exams remained stable. However, Thea suspected he was deliberately underperforming.
In the end, he barely made it into a political and legal university, nearly missing the mark.
At the time, when Grandpa Bell checked Sean’s college entrance exam results, his blood pressure shot up, nearly causing him to faint.
"The east should be near the sports complex brother used to frequent. Let’s head over and take a look."
Ian wasn’t entirely sure, "But, that’s probably the only place brother would go frequently in that area."
"There’s a street nearby that did have some small shops. But it’s been so long, I’m not sure if they’re still there."
Aaron started learning boxing and taekwondo as a child and occasionally played badminton. From a young age, he learned to be independent, often going to the complex on his own after school or during holidays for lessons.
Ian still remembered tagging along once or twice, but that was over a decade ago. Back then, it seemed Thea wasn’t even born yet.
