"Yeah, these oldies are so boring!" Jing said, already munching onto another pastry. "Everyone feels like a snake. Or a cunning fox!"
Hai smacked on his head. "At least swallow first! Anyway, these people were useful in their own right. Whatever, I had already manipulated long back to stand on my side~"
Jinhai's certain inscrutable gaze locked at him with questions which he didn't ask out in the open. Yet they hung in the air for a long moment.
"Aish, my son staring at me like that feels like my dear wife's passionate gaze! Ditto carbon copy!"
"Eww. Dad, control your emotions," Jing said with disdain. "You sound creepy."
"These are my heartfelt feelings! Don't look at me with disgust, brat!" He glared. "Anyway, we should head out and distribute these pastries. Oh, oh, then let's go to my office! The boardroom is so boring," he pouted.
The view from Liu Hai's office was the one that Jinhai had seen many times in the past. As he stood before the tall floor-to-ceiling glass windows. he gazed at the outside world and sky that stretched beyond the horizon. The entire business complex spread before him as if he stood at the peak like a king.
"Ooo where are the video game CDs!" Jing threw himself on the fluffy couch. "It must be over there."
Hai grimaced at his second son. "Not an ounce of refined dignity in that boy…"
He then glanced at his other son, who did exhibit a refined dignity.
"Hehe, it feels awesome standing here, isn't it? This is my favorite place. It feels like…you are at the top of everything. The world feels so small and not so scary anymore, right?"
Jinhai's eye darted over to his side in silence, watching him mesmerized with the beautiful expanse of the world outside.
"Mhm," he looked back at the roads, filled with cars driving across to the other side of the city.
"Is work going well?"
"Work? Pah! Work is work. It goes as it goes."
"No trouble at all?"
"Nope~"
"You look a little tired."
"Why don't you ask your mother if I am really tired or not~"
He didn't respond much.
"I see."
Hai chuckled. "What are you thinking so deeply?"
Jinhai stared at the clear sky. "Nothing. Just that..I am still not too old enough for you to talk to me."
"Talk? I am talking to you."
"No, you aren't."
He took a moment's pause, then smiled. "I told you, didn't I? I like to be the cool Dad."
"You are annoying though," Jing exclaimed from the back.
Hai gritted his teeth. "Quiet, brat! You focus on your video games. And don't mess with my beautiful couch!"
"Boooo!" He stuck out his tongue.
Hai patted Jinhai on his shoulders. "Hoho, don't worry so much! Everything is going well. You will be a good CEO one day. Oh, but mind you - you will still have to earn your place working from the bottom."
Jinhai shrugged.
That confidence…Yeah I like it!
Just then, Jinhai's phone buzzed and he took a look at the message, which was none other than Huian's birthday wishes.
'Jinhai, don't you dare say that you won't have a grand celebration or I will go on a hunger strike, I tell you! You know very well that I am not kidding. You won't escape anywhere this time, got it!'
"Ooohh, your girlfriend's passionate birthday wishes, hoho!" Hai winked with a teasing glint and nudged at his elbow with a grin.
"She is not my girlfriend."
"When will you have one?"
"I don't know."
"You disappoint me, Jinhai," Hai shook his head with a sigh, "Not even a single scandal under your belt. How boring that is!"
"You should stop eating so much popcorn. On that note, you should help me in getting Grandma off my back for marrying Huian."
"Duh, isn't it why I am telling you to find a girlfriend yourself?"
He threw a blank look. "I don't know who she is. Is she carrying a signboard somewhere I am missing to see?"
Hai burst into a hearty laughter. "You won't need a signboard, son. You will meet her one day and sense it all on your own. You would have already fallen hard before you know it. Love makes your heart go crazy, loud and wild. But it strikes you at the quietest moment, and you won't even see it coming."
Jinhai observed the glimmer of love in his eyes. "...I envy you so much. I don't know if I will meet someone like that. I don't feel that interested in love."
"That's because you haven't met her yet. Once you do, you will automatically stand on my side, dear," he beamed. "Then you just get her pregnant and make her your wife. Easy peasy~"
"..."
"Hey! Don't give me that judgmental look! This is your father sharing his gold-worth experience with you. It's the shortest, quickest and the most effective way to marry the love of your life," he harrumphed.
"Is that what you did?"
"Why do you think my marriage anniversary is nine months before your birthday?"
"...I shouldn't have asked," he then turned to Jing. "Let's leave, Jing."
"Okay!" Jing shut the game immediately and hopped onto his feet.
The brothers decided to take a walk along the complex before heading to the car.
"Bro, Dad is not alright, isn't he? Those oldies are trying to oust him out, aren't they?" Jing hummed, his fingers crossed behind his head.
Jinhai glanced at his brother.
"Hmph! I will be thirteen soon, okay? I am old now and I understand a lot!" His nostrils flared.
He smiled and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, you are smart. That's for sure."
"Hehe~"
"Hey, don't run around like that!" Echoed a voice from afar.
Jinhai asked, "Are you hungry? Shall we head somewhere to eat?"
Jing shone. "Yes, yes! I wanna have a birthday treat from you! Fanciest one~ Bro is rich with pocket money~"
"Come back, Yukito! I told you not to run around, didn't I?"
A young girl's shoulder barely grazed against Jinhai's arm as she zapped past him. He stopped in his tracks.
Jing turned and blinked twice. "Bro, what's up? Why did you stop?"
Jinhai turned just enough to notice a teenage girl chasing after her brothers - twins, judging by their identical frames.
He turned back, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I just thought I smelled something…sweet."
