26 Car bonding

"Hey Ling Qin let's go already. If we don't leave now we might miss the bus" said Blake one of Ling Qin's friend

"You can go ahead without me." He replied. "My dad is coming to pick me up today so I won't be taking the bus."

Just after saying that Ling Qin saw Ling Xiao exiting his car not too far from where he was.

"Look he is here already" Ling Qin said to Blake while pointing at his dad.

"Whoa that's your dad?!" Blake asked astonished.

"Ya what about it?" Ling Qin asked puzzled.

"He looks so cool and manly!!"Blake gushed

"What does your dad do? How does he look so cool. How is he so built?I can feel his aura all the way from here . And why haven't I seen him before. If my dad was that cool I would have totally brought him out to show off a bit, how come you keep your dad hidden."

"Stop exaggerating"Ling Qin replied

"I'm not ! Seriously your dad looks so cool and mighty, I'm not joking with you alright. If my dad was half as cool as yours I would be so satisfied that I would offer up all of my snacks up as an offering of thanks."

Thinking of Blake's father with the beer belly , missing hair and messy dress, Ling Xiao's favourability in Ling Qins' mind rose again. Seems that all that exercise dad does is worth something.

"Well I've gotta go" Ling Qin said to Blake as he stood up to head out. "Oh right, my dad is in the army, so if you also want your dad to be as dashing as mine get him to join too. A little exercise and jogging can work too" he said giving Blake a backhand wave

Blake"..." Thinking of his dad who loved munching down on food all the time , Blake knew that it was totally impossible. 'Hah guess I'm stuck with him then.' he breathed out heavily

"Dad" Ling Qin shouted once he got close enough to the car. He walked to the front passenger seat once he was done

"Hey kid. How was school?" Ling Xiao greeted back as he climbed back into his seat.

"It was ok" Ling Qin shrugged as he got comfortable.

"Hmm you should enjoy it more, after all you've only got less than two weeks before it disappears." Ling Xiao started the car and backed out of the school gate.

"I guess but there's nothing to enjoy anyway. "Ling Qin said not really caring much about it. He had already stopped schooling for a few years before, another time wouldn't make much of a difference to him.

"So where am I going?" Ling Xiao asked Ling Qin.

"The warehouse is at 243 Blubber street. It's not far from here just a few streets down." Ling Qin pointed out

Ling Xiao was shocked by how near the place was. He thought it would take some time to reach. "What made you choose there?" He asked genuinely curious.

"When I chose it,I chose a place that was relatively close by so that I would not have any trouble moving from home to there without raising mom's suspicion. Plus my classmate lives down there so mom wouldn't be suspicious if I went down there. I could just say that I was visiting a classmate." He responded. In fact not only will she not be suspicious she would probably be mad with joy. It's not like Ling Qin was oblivious to his mom's worry about how he was so closed of and had little to no friends, he had gone to the doctors with her before after all.

"Alright then" Ling Xiao said before he turned the car to head there. "That was quite smart of you." He finished

" Thanks after living with you for four years it's quite normal that I would have picked up some skills. Plus my intelligence was never low to begin with" Ling Qin snorted turning his head the other way

"Of course your intelligence was always on point. You are my son after all." Ling Xiao praised the kid a bit with a lite teasing in his voice. Ruffling this little chicks feathers always made him happy for some reason.

"Hmf!"

"Right there is a lunchbox in the back with a few sandwiches, you can have some if your hungry." Ling Xiao said to him

"Mmm" Ling Qin hummed turning around to grab the lunchbox from the backseat.

While he was eating Ling Qin finally remembered to ask his dad about what was bothering him.

Ling Qin "Dad ?"

Ling Xiao :"Ya kiddo? "

"How come you... How come you accepted everything I said so easily yesterday."After being silent for a second he continued "I've been thinking about it a lot today and the more I think about it the more perplexed I get. Your reaction yesterday..it was as if what I said was totally normal, like me being reborn and the coming of the apocalypse was just a normal thing that occurs on daily basis. That's not a normal reaction and no matter how calm you usually are you shouldn't have reacted so calmly"

"Well I was surprised actually" Ling Xiao said responding only after what seemed to be a minute.

Ling Qin:"You were?? Didn't seem like it though" he whispered

"Of course I was! No one would be calm knowing that their kid was reborn, even the ones with the greatest mental fortitude would take some time to adjust and digest all that.

The only reason why I accepted it so quickly was because I myself am reborn."Ling Xiao said in a matter of fact way as if he did not just drop a bomb himself.

"Whaa cough cough" Ling Qin chocked on his sandwich.

"Easy there Ling Xiao said reaching for the water bottle "Here drink up'' he said handing the water to Ling Qin, patting him on the back a couple of times once the water was taken from his hand .

"You ok there Qinqin" Ling Xiao asked a little worried. Maybe I should have waited until he was done eating before telling him he thought to himself as he drove to the side of the road and parked the car. "Hey you alright?"

"I'm...cough.. fine, I'm fine" Ling Qin replied calming down

Ling Qin :"What did you just say?!"

Ling Xiao:"I said that I was reborn, what did you not hear me? Then why did you start chocking then"

Ling Qin "You're  reborn.. YOU'RE REBORN!" He said finally registering what he just heard.

"What ? Did I not tell you yesterday?" Ling Xiao asked a little teasingly

"No of course you didn't. Would I be this shocked if you had told me" Ling Qin retorted

Ling Xiao:"oh my bad then,seems I forgot to mention it yesterday. Guess I was probably shocked learning that you were reborn yesterday so it slipped my mind"

"It just slipped your mind huh" Ling Qin gritted his teeth

Ling Qin was quiet for a while " guess that makes sense... wait is that why you came for us this time. Did you come back earlier so that you could save mom from dieing early."

"No I came back around the same time in my previous life" Ling Xiao said after a few minutes of silence

"What no you only came close to two years after the apocalypse. Around this time I didn't even know you existed" Ling Qin hastily denied. How could he not know whether his dad had shown up in his previous life. If he had,would he have resented him for quite a while in his last life. His dad only showed up two years later. He was sure of it!

"Mhm true. I did show up two years into the apocalypse in your last life...but in my previous life I came into your lives around the same time as this life and also got married to your mom and we lived happily together for half year before the apocalypse began. As for after..."Ling Xiao became quiet and his expression painful as if he was recalling a painful memory. "As for after.. you and your mom died two years later due to an accident." He finished heavily.

"Mom And I died..?" Ling Qin said confused . Clearly things were not like that in his previous life but his dad also had no reason to lie about this and did not seem to be lying. So why is the past different? Could it be...

"Are we from different worlds? Ling Qin exclaimed as if having figured it out. That could be the only possible reason why our past lives are so different. But even though it's different it does not seem to be too different, well at least the future does not seem to have changed with the only difference being who lived the longest during the apocalypse. Similar worlds, similar past and similar future with only a slight deviation this could only be...

"Parallel worlds" Ling Xiao finished for him. "I've also thought about it yesterday when you told me about your past life. It can only mean that the two worlds are parallel. The only thing I can't be sure of is whether I've been reborn again in my original world or yours."He said.

"Thats crazy!Who knew that all those novels had some use to them after all" Ling Qin said

"It is but not to mind blowing. After all we have been reborn! What's more shocking then that. Not to mention that we once lived through a zombie apocalypse which during this time is still considered a fantasy."

"Ya ! Now that you say it like that it does not seem as mind boggling." Ling Qin sighed in amazement once he really came to realize what an amazing life he had as an almost nine year old soul.

"Well it doesn't really matter to me" Ling Xiao said to Ling Qin as he started the car and went back on the road driving towards the warehouse.

"What doesn't matter?" Ling Qin asked looking at his father.

"In this life and in the last, in my world or yours, you have always been my Ling Xiao's child! Both in the past and in the future! No world hopping is gonna change that!" Ling Xiao said firmly.

Hearing those words Ling Qin could feel warmth rising from within him. His dad's words had put his mind at ease. Honestly his heart was a little shaken when he thought of the fact that they came from different worlds so his dad might not be the original even though he was his father but those words calmed his turbulent heart. So what if they were from different pasts, Ling Xiao was still his father and he was still Ling Qin, Ling Xiao's son both now and then. So what if the past was altered a bit. It was still the same body and same soul either way . What more did he need . That was good enough for him already after all he had already lost his father once when he died so how could he throw to this away just because of some trivial things.

"Mhm and you will also always be my dad" Ling Qin responded in a low voice but just enough for Ling Xiao to hear him.

"Haha that's my good Qinqin" Ling Xiao laughed reaching out one of his hands to slight ruffle the boys hair.

"Agg not my hair"Ling Qin cried out trying to seat off his dad's hand.

Ling Xiao: "what I'm just giving it a little styling"

"Hmmf" Ling Qin glared at his dad trying to fix his hair

"Haha cute!"Ling Xiao guffled

The rest of the ride to the warehouse was filled with playful banter between the father and son.