Reality vs Dream

"So uh… sorry about that." Han Jing scratched the back of his head as he led Chan Lee into their house. It was a good thing that it was decently clean and there he saw that his younger sister was on the couch.

She looked up from a book and raised a brow at them, "Did you trick a girl into coming to our home? I'm telling mom."

Han Jing shot a look at his little sister and cleared his throat, "That's my little sister, Jinjing—you can ignore her and take a seat." He pulled out a seat for her at their dinner table. She smiled sheepishly at him and took a seat, mouthing a small word of thanks. "You're welcome, because this is mother's invited guest, Jinjing." 

The girl simply resumed reading her textbook.

At least she was more studious than him, he glanced at Chan Lee and whipped a smile. "But it's not like I don't want you here. Actually let me set up the dishes." He ended up taking out plates, bowls and their utensils and placing it around the table. Four sets. One for him, Chan Lee, his mother and younger sister.

His father wasn't going to drop by anytime soon anyway.

He felt his phone vibrate and he immediately checked his phone:

[ Races: Online Time: Han the [ Human ] will have classes in 1 hour and fifty-eight minutes ]

"Crap."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, excuse me—potty mouth, er I have something that came up." Han Jing scratched his cheek.

Chan Lee looked up at him, a curious look in his eyes. "Do you work late at night?" It was a very general question but it felt kind of flattering that she asked him, the only problem was—

Lie or tell the truth.

It didn't really look that good to admit that he was staying at his parents and without any kind of work at that. What kind of impression would that leave him?

"Not really, I have an arrangement with my friends on an online game—I can't miss it or they'll kill me." He replied with a sheepish laugh, deciding on the truth but not exactly revealing that he was jobless. Actually, now that he thought of it… what would happen if he didn't log in at the game at the prescribed time?

A shudder ran down his spine.

There wasn't going to be any kind of punishment now, would it? Wait, he could also play on the normal [ Mobile ] version instead of the [ Full-Reign Mode ]. He'd risk getting scolded by his mother—it was the first day of classes after all. 

"Ah that's nice." She responded with a smile. "I'm usually more into movies and television series… What game do you play? Maybe I can try it."

Han Jing blinked and waved at her, "Nah. You wouldn't like it… it might not really be your thing."

"Ah I see, I still could try but oh well—I'm better off studying than flunking anyway." She smiled a bit awkwardly.

Between the two of them, it seemed like she was the one who was putting more effort into knowing him and he was simply a bumbling idiot. Maybe it was because she wasn't from here, that was the reason why she was eager to form relationships. He smiled a bit and sat down opposite her, "So, Chan Lee, what are you taking up as your major?"

"Ah I'm taking an Environmental Engineering course—it's related to minimizing pollution and waste in cities and other places." She answered with a shine in her eyes. "I think it's quite necessary in our society, especially because we tend to be populated."

Han Jing blinked and found himself smiling, "You have a good heart, that's really cool—and probably smart too. Engineering has a lot of math related subjects."

"Tell me about it, I'm kind of… well math is not my best subject." She rested her head on their table, she tilted her head to look up to him. "What did you take?" The young woman looked cute that way.

"Oh, I um… I followed my father's request to take Computer Science." Request was one way to phrase it alright. Han Jing shrugged, "I mean it's a cool course I guess… and you know, technology and programming."

"Huh, woah. You're smarter than you look."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"Oh my bad." She sat up and scratched her cheek, "I couldn't imagine… well now that you mention it, most people who work at computers all day prefer to wear something comfortable huh?"

He looked down at his clothes, these were his decent ones, the ones he used to find a job today at that—did they really look cozy? "I mean yeah, unless you work at the office. My father always wears those uncomfortable suits and shoes." Anyhow, where was his mother? They needed to eat dinner and for her and Chan Lee to talk so he could stop engaging in awkward small talk.

"Ah, so you're taking after your father."

"...I wouldn't exactly say that. I want to do my own thing."

Her lips quirked into a smile as she gazed at him, "That's quite amazing, what would you like to do, Han Jing?"

What did he want? He looked at her for a moment and scratched his cheek. "You. I mean, it seems like you know what you want in life and I kind of envy that. I personally… don't know yet, but most people around our age tend to not know, you know?"

He wondered if he was making sense—she was staring at him with an intent expression. Until Chan Lee finally nodded after a moment after and flashed him a smile, "I get that, I don't really know what I'm doing myself, if moving here was a good direction. But I guess we're supposed to discover it along the way. But if you don't know what to do, why not shoot for the stars? Dream big I guess."

"I'm actually a little bit… that's a good perspective." Han Jing nodded. It may be a little sad of him to admit his own perspective on such things. To dream a little too big would lead to such aspirations to being crushed. He felt a bit older and grim at that moment and so he scratched his cheek, "My mom's taking too long isn't she—are you hungry now?"