Chapter 7: Kitty Love

After giving the last order of the meal to its assigned customer, Feng Qin let out a relieved sigh and he turned towards the counter where his mom was manning, together with a couple other employees, and went towards her and said, "Hey mom, dad said that I'm done for the day."

Sheng Li cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "What? Why would he–oh wait," her eyes widened, having realized her husband's reason for dismissing their son early, "I almost forgot. There's something your father and I have to tell you, and it's important."

"Couldn't you guys wait till we closed?" Feng Qin said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We will, but we're dismissing you early because you need to properly rest your muscles and relax your mind. And don't you disagree with me here, because we know that you didn't take a rest after your training and immediately went here, and that you had another reason for helping us here." Sheng Li narrowed her eyes and glared at her son sternly.

She was right, not only did her son want to help them in their job but he also wanted to train his nimbleness, communication skills, and eavesdropping skills. The last two might seem pointless to most people at first, but the smart and quick witted ones would quickly understand that these skills are very valuable to have when they travel around the continent. With great communication, one can easily gain the trust of others and receive their help in one way or another. While, with eavesdropping, one could someday hear someone talking privately about some lost treasure or a lost inherence of some powerful spirit master, or even hear about something that some very influential and rich people don't want others spreading any of their dirty secrets. These were survival skills.

Being stared at the fierce red eyes of his mother, Feng Qin gulped and put his hands up, took a step back and wryly smiled, "Alright, alright. I'll be at the employee's rest area for the time being then."

"Good. Now go, I don't want the customers thinking that we have lazy waiters." Sheng Li nodded and waved her hand towards him, shooing him off.

Feng Qin shook his head and went to rest in the "employee only" area of the restaurant, in the corner near the kitchen and is surrounded by intricate wooden fences, where there was only a single round table and a crescent long sofa around it with red leather: made from the skin of a ten year old Flamingo Cow, that produces constant moderate heat and is rather soft; which makes it super comfy. A luxurious rest area just for employees.

One of the mottos of the Feng family restaurant, reward your staff right and they'll work harder. It's one of the reasons why their restaurant has started booming over the past five years, with others like their food quality getting better, furniture refurbished, and the homey atmosphere that can lift anyone's mood.

As he sat down, feeling the soft and comfortable leather sofa, he couldn't help but let out a soft groan and let his body sink further into the heavenly pillow-like leather, he muttered, "Best. Chair. Ever. Mom's right, I really needed this break..."

Buying this couch was his parents best decision they have ever made, well next to him of course.

...If his goal doesn't work out, he'll just settle into succeeding the family restaurant and live a normal life. Become the owner of Feng Family Restaurant.

'It's not like the life of a spirit master is any different, except for having abilities beyond normal humans, their existence doesn't seem to be beyond of a human.' Feng Qin thought as he furrowed his brows with a serious expression. 'A spirit master, what really separates a spirit master from a normal human?'

He tilted his head back over the top of the sofa, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling for a brief moment before he raised his right hand up, 'Anyone would say that it's the clear difference of strength and power. Any one-ringed Spirit Master, no matter the age, could take on a couple of physically built adults. The reason for that is the martial spirit and spirit ring; no normal human could ever replicate spirit abilities and much less fight their enhanced body without a scratch.'

'Strength. In the world of spirit masters, the one with the most power speaks the loudest. The path of a spirit master could bring me to the top of the world and have almost everything in my grasp–becoming a formidable spirit master, but I know it's an impossible dream to accomplish. Though, if it were you...' He closed his eyes and he saw the image of a familiar face. The corner of his lips curled up, feeling happy and bitter at the same time.

'Meng Liu, out of everyone I've known in this kingdom, you're the only one I think of as my best friend and good brother in all but blood. If there's anyone I'd feel confident of, and be happy, to reach the peak and change the era of the world of spirit masters, it'd be you. I just know, you would leave your mark in history till the end of time.'

Feng Qin let out a despondent sigh, he lowered his right arm and his hand covered his face, 'While for me, my future and drive for the dream you've encouraged me to follow, is slowly fading into black...'

Feng Qin was tired, he was sick of it all. Walking down his road to reach the peak of the spirit master world with a mediocre talent and an unknown martial spirit with unknown capabilities. It was to be expected really, despite his wits and drive to become stronger; he still has a pre-teen mentality: being impulsive, easily misunderstand others, get into accidents or fights, take risks or make dangerous choices, and take interest in something or someone before getting bored and lose interest.

Just like any child his age he wants to live out his life more, experience everything there is for him available before he becomes an adult and settles down to start a family before finally dying to old age.

But that path is only for the normal humans or low ranked spirit masters at rank 20 below.

As Feng Qin was lost in thought, his eyes subconsciously landed towards the girl named Zhu Zhuqing, still eating her meal with a slight curve of her lips. It was really hard to tell if she was expressing any emotions, especially since she wasn't really showing that much of an expression except looking bored or indifferent whilst eating.

Feng Qin's face flustered slightly as he continued to stare curiously at Zhu Zhuqing through the holes of the wooden fence with blinking eyes and a small dopey smile.

During this moment, he felt his chest tightened and couldn't understand why his heart started beating erratically–as if he was doing an intense workout.

That girl, isn't like any other girl he knows of in his entire life. Not only because of the awkward moment of them exchanging names, completely different to the usual interactions he'd have with girls he'd talked to before, or the clear fact that she wasn't from around this kingdom as he practically knew every kid his age and he would've heard about a girl that's so...gifted.

Feng Qin instinctively felt an unusual feeling coming from the girl that was attracting him, and it wasn't just physical. It was something much deeper than that.

Was he finally stepping into the realm of spring? Experience one of every teen's obstacles in their lifetime before stepping into adulthood? One that brings them a multitude of emotions mainly elation, happiness, and even exhilaration but can also leave them bitter, angry, and metaphorically speaking a– broken heart.

Basically, love.

But Feng Qin wasn't fairly sure. This was the first time he'd ever experienced this sort of feeling, and he had never heard anyone mention something like this happening when they fell in love with someone. He heard from his father that he felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw mom, with other older men saying that they experienced the same or their little snakes evolved into a large dragon. Whatever that last one meant...

'Should I go talk to her again?' He thought, still indecisive, but as he thinks more of it; he really didn't have anything interesting to talk to her about without her feeling annoyed or weirded out by him, or worse, be humiliated.

So ultimately, as he didn't have a thick enough face to endure any possible worst scenarios, he'll just reluctantly stay in the corner of the restaurant, subconsciously relaxing in the soft leather sofa while trying to stay awake, and watched as Zhu Zhuqing finished her meal and turned to leave the restaurant.

Feng Qin kept watching her, his face blank but inwardly he was panicking.

Because this was it. She was leaving, never to be seen again.

'This is good.' Feng Qin thought as he closed his eyes. 'Chasing after my goal in life dosen't let me have the time to make friends, much less get a lover. Even if she were to become my friend with the possibility of becoming more, I know that we wouldn't be able to spend much time together if I'm not abandoning this goal of mine. And this is without the possibility of her having some kind of childhood sweetheart or fiance of some kind. I'd just be doing this for nothing.'

"Should I just let her go...?" He muttered out unconsciously, biting his lower lip out of frustration of his doubts.

He thought of it some more... And he opened his eyes as he came to remember something an old man he once served here gave him an advice. He didn't know whether it was the appreciation for the food or he was just feeling chatty.

'You only live once. Young man, do you know what's scary when you're old? It's not my death. I've already face it several times during my mercenary days and came to accept my mortality. Which is why I'm also not angry or bitter at the deaths of my loved ones, though I am sad. The most scariest thing when you're old, are your regrets: the things you could've done differently; the choices you could've chosen; the things you took for granted, and many more. Even I have regrets and let me tell you, it is much more painful than my illnesses.' The old man, smiled sadly at him. 'Because when you regretted something, you can never change it.'

"..." Feng Qin clenched his fists.

....

"Zhu Zhuqing!"

Zhu Zhuqing was just a few feet away from the door of the restaurant, and was about to continue her way to her hotel then continue her journey to a certain location, when she suddenly heard her name being called from behind.

She turned around and she was immediately surprised to see the waiter, that had served her meal, advancing towards her with a nervous expression.

'Why is he going towards me? Did I forget something?' Zhu Zhuqing thought, tilting her head in confusion, already coming to the most logical reason for the boy heading towards her; she then subtly checked her pockets and found nothing missing, so why?

She recalled his name to be Feng Qin, a common courtesy after she introduced herself to him, though she only told him her name.

She didn't really give much thought to telling him her name, call it a whim or appreciation for the delicacy the meal he served her.

Facing him with her perpetually indifferent expression, she asked, "Is there a problem?"

Feng Qin stopped just a foot away from her, the doors to the restaurant closed behind him, inwardly gathering his courage, he asked, "Will you hang out with me?"

Zhu Zhuqing blinked her eyes and snapped, her face flustered.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to hang out with you, as a friend!" Feng Qin said once again and hurriedly added the last bit, not wanting her to think that he wanted to go out with her intimately, yet.

Zhu Zhuqing narrowed her eyes at him warily, resting her left hand on her hip, she responded, "So, what do you mean exactly?"

"I want you, to be my friend. Plain and simple. Though, I'm going to be honest here." Feng Qin let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't have a lot of friends, scratch that, I have no friends. My one and only best friend has gone to Balak Kingdom, chasing after his dream, so I don't have anyone to hang out with."

"I find you interesting: in terms of looks and air of mystery around you. You are the first girl that I have ever met that makes me feel this way." Zhu Zhuqing's face turned even more red, completely shattering her indifferent expression.

She snapped out of her daze, coughing into his fist, she turned to the side as she couldn't stare into his sincere and honest eyes, she felt shy.

"I-That's-! We just met..." She stuttered, completely feeling embarrassed. This was the first time in her entire life she'd been talked to like this by a boy around her age, except for a certain someone a long time ago, especially someone who looked like he held no ill motive against her.

She fervently shook her head and said, "No, what I mean is that–I have a boyfriend, fiance really."

Feng Qin was frozen in shock and disbelief for a moment, her words kept repeating inside his head. But he soon snapped out of his daze and let out a bitter chuckle, he firmly faced her with a wry smile. "I expected it, but it was still a let down."

"Wait, you expected? Nevermind. So I'm–"

"But this isn't about wanting to date you or me wanting to be your lover." He let out a huff. "As I said, I wanna be your friend."

"...Why?" Zhu Zhuqing couldn't understand.

"Because I'm curious, bored, and I feel like I'm going to regret not doing this for the rest of my life; plus, I want to get to know you more," Feng Qin playfully grinned. "as a friend, that is."

"..." Zhu Zhuqing was dumbfounded.

.....

Ring.

Sheng Li turned her head towards the doors of her restaurant and saw her one and only beloved child walking in with a dazed expression.

She wasn't the only one to notice her son's sudden behavior, most of her customers and staff were curiously looking at him.

Feng Qin finally stopped in front of their employees only resting table area and snapped back to reality.

Worried, Sheng Li went towards her son and asked, "Hey, Xiao Qin, what's wrong? I saw you chasing that girl earlier, did she reject you or something?"

"...She has a fiance mom."

"Oh." Oof, Sheng Li inwardly winced just like most of the patrons and staff that had been listening in. Yeah, there was no chance for Feng Qin. It was alright for anyone to pursue someone, even when they have a lover, but that was only if they didn't have a ring tied to them. It was a sign of eternal love between the two partners, just like herself and her husband.

Letting out a sigh, she said, "Don't worry son, there's still a lot of fish in the sea. How about I introduce you to someone tomorrow?"

"...Can't."

"Why not?"

"...Because I'm hanging out with someone tomorrow."

"And that someone is?" Sheng Li and everyone else in the restaurant was curious.

"Zhu Zhuqing."

"Who–?"

"The girl I just talked to."

"..." There was only silence.

'A-An affair?!'

....

Power stones...Comments....PATRÉON!

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Currently at chapter 10 in Pa-treon with 11 being released tomorrow