The Zayden's (1)

Back on Planet Gaia, Cynthia had finished her breakfast of 3 pancakes covered in fresh fruits like blueberries and blackberries. There were also a couple of strawberries. She also had a glass of fruit smoothie, made from an assortment of non-berry fruits.

This berrylicious breakfast made Cynthia feel dissatisfied, she's someone who doesn't mind berry's in her pastries but this breakfast was overdone with them.

At least she could taste the watermelon and mangos in it. She preferred these tropical fruits over everything else.

Although their stomach was overloaded with hearty pancakes and a fruity beverage, Cynthia still wanted more. Yesterday's exercise really strained her body.

After getting her fill of sweet calories, Cynthia sat down and did her mana training 8 times before she felt that her regular daily limit had been met.

She took a shower in the classy bathroom of her hospital suite and changed into a pair of black jeans and a plain white t-shirt that was delivered from her home last night.

She then covered herself in a black, puffy jacket and wore a pair of white sneakers. It was already 1:30-PM, she was supposed to be discharged at noon but who would tell the hospital owner's daughter to leave.

[ Below is the current mana amount and quality of the user.

Mana Amount: 161 > 174.3 CSU

Mana Quality: Grade 1 ]

Before exiting the hospital in a car, she looked at her mana once more and could feel herself growing at a significant rate. Only yesterday, she was at 143 CSU. The ride back to the state was uneventful as Cynthia spent the whole time going through her social media accounts.

She looked at the pictures and other posts her friends back from her original city, Dormin City, were making.

They seemed to have the same unchanging lives where they spent their time playing around with each other.

"They are only in the second year anyways. I was playing around at that time too," said Cynthia as she saw all this in nostalgia. In the last timeline, she had also wasted her first two years having fun after school.

She was smart enough and had enough time to go out and eat, shop or just chill with Natsumi. They weren't dumb and weren't poor either. It allowed them a certain degree of freedom but that changed in their third year.

It is usually when reality hits most of the knowledgeable kids harder as they realize that the next two years of school would be most stressful for them.

They had to make sure their grades are the best they can take them to, all so they could get into a college that doesn't disappoint their parents or themselves.

"At least I don't have though go through all of those mental changes this time around." Cynthia sighed in relief as she had already gone through the stress of her teenage years and knew she could pass her academic life without trouble. She wasn't a University professor for nothing after all.

"I should go see mother later. I hope she hasn't found out about yesterday." She made up her mind to check in on her mother and see if she could prevent the scary lady from knowing what happened yesterday.

She wouldn't mind it though as her mother would only scold her for a bit before showering her in whatever love she could give with her frail body.

ZWOOM!

The luxury sedan was made on the last rev before it parked itself in from of the manor doors. A middle-aged servant opened the doors for Cynthia as she continued to stare at her phone.

She made an appreciative nod towards the man and then walked into the grand living room. There was a 300-inch flat-screen TV on the wall that was surrounded by a set of luxury couches. They are a mild burgundy in color to complement the hordes of red wine that are stored in the cellar.

There is also a table in which laid packets of delicious chips and cookies along with all sorts of juices. Lilly was sitting was lazily laying on the center couch as she munched on some popcorn.

She was currently wearing a comfortable black hoodie and sweatpants while watching some sort of romantic drama.

Cynthia had a faint grin when she saw and decided to run up to her sister and then leaned down on the back of the couch. She ruffled the little one's hair and enjoyed the feeling of bliss that the silky golden hair.

"HEY!" Lilly shouted in protest as she tried to slap Cynthia's hand away. It was a pathetic attempt that didn't work.

Cynthia isn't someone who could sneak up to Lilly and her presence was noticed by the little one the moment she entered through the front. It was just that she was too engrossed in the plot of this drama to give her attention to other things.

It's one of few nonviolent pastimes when she's at home. Cynthia chuckled at Lilly's weak struggles and took this chance to continue her harassment. She hopped into the couch and then hugged the soft girl while tackling her at the sides of the stomach.

"Hehehehe...stop!" Lilliana laughed as it tickled quite a bit and this made Cynthia even more amused. She felt extra motivated to tease her younger sibling but gave up.

Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that she recognized the actress onscreen.

In this drama, a beautiful woman with an evil look was breaking into a prison where she fought against multiple guards and defeated these armed men with her superpowers. She then got near a certain person's prison cell.

"If you had only broken my heart, I would have forgiven you," she said while bending the prison bars with her bare hands in walking in.

"Why did you also have to break Yuna's heart? You know that I treated her like my own sister. You know that I would never forgive someone who hurts her." she continued while looking at a man with a saddened face.

Her deep blue eyes stared into the man's soul as her blue hair floated ominously down her back. She looked to be genuinely distraught with deep anguish being displayed on her beautiful face.

"I was given a choice by someone and I chose to do what I believed was best for her." the man sitting on the prison bed said as he calmly whipped back her black hair. He looks back at the woman without fear.

Only calmness seems to exist in his eyes as well as a hidden sense of allure. There was something mysterious about the ook he gave the woman with his weak smile.

"Who is this someone?" asked the woman as she looked behind her for a second She could hear that the prison backup guards were coming.

"I won't tell you myself." said the man in a cryptic tone. This response caused the woman to frown. She took a dagger made from green metal and stabbed it deep into the guy's heart without hesitation. She then ran away and disappeared after fighting another small wave of guards.

The entire scene made Cynthia want more of this show even though this was only part of the first 5 minutes of the first episode. She felt the script and the acting especially made this entire thing quite compelling. the fighting was also well choreographed.

'Damn, her acting skills have always been those good. No wonder she has won actress of the year for 5 years straight in her country. ' commented Cynthia in her head.

After the scene was over, Lilly looked over to her sister who was looking at the same screen as her. She smiled and hugged Cynthia back for earlier. She attempted to tickle her in revenge for earlier but Cynthia made no laughs.

"Are you not ticklish here?" she asked.

"Yeah. We have more than enough time to find our tickle spots, just like this." Cynthia responded and then slipped her hands into Lilly's armpits and started to tickle her.

This caused Lilly to laugh hysterically again. Cynthia only stopped 20 seconds later. After the two had their fun Lilly showed her concern for her elder sister. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah, the fatigue is all gone. I just feel a bit weaker than usual, that's all." Cynthia did feel a bit weaker than usual but the doctors said that was normal after completely depleting all your mana.

She would be like this for another 2 days or so. It was all good as long as her body was fed with lots of nutrition and calories.

"Lilly told her this as well as she had once faced a similar situation when she was younger and had overtrained herself. Her master had scolded her seriously that day and told her that a sliver off many should always be left in your body no matter what. If not, your body starts to feel out of place.

'So, what do you think of the show so far?" Lilly wanted to know what Cynthia felt about the drama even though it had just started. She wanted to see if they had similar tastes.

"Romances aren't really my thing but the acting is great. The beginning also has lots of room for mystery. Not bad."

"Hehehe, that my favorite actress, Milia Cromwell. She perfectly plays every character and has never failed in any of the diverse roles she has played. My favorite is when she played the dancer in..." Lilly showed her appreciation towards the actress by ranting about the lady's pasts works.

Internally, Cynthia feels kind of boring listening to this but feigns a smile and shows interest for Lilly's sake. She already knows all of this.

Milia Cromwell is a beautiful actress's stage name and the name before marriage. Her current name isn't publicly known. It is Millia Fonterra. The mother of Ryan Fonterra and two other children.

She doesn't look like that at all and still has the appearance of a fresh and energetic young woman in her early twenties.

"There was also that one time she played a minister in a palace drama...oh sh*t. I forgot the Zayden's are here. they are currently in the study with mom and dad. You should go." Lilly got rid of her ranting and came to her senses and reminded her sister of what was going on.

"Alright then, wait for me here, we're gonna watch this together. There will be severe consequences if you continue without me." Cynthia threatened before getting up and tossing her coat onto the coach.

She walked towards the study unhurriedly after she saw Lilly nod and take out her phone to kill time.

When she walked through the halls and reached the private meeting room in the house, she knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

The door opened as head butler Gordon greeted her with his stern face. "Good afternoon young miss, are you feeling better now." He sounded strangely amiable.

"Yes, uncle Gordon. Much better now." All the children in the house call the head butler uncle as a form of respect since he helped a lot to raise Antoine, Oswin, and Lilly. She didn't get her time with him but choose to show the same respect everyone else did.

The butler then nodded and showed a rare smile. He gestured for her to proceed towards a small table in the middle that had her father and Alison were seated in. In front of them were two other somewhat aged people. Behind these two, there is another older man who wears a different kind of butler outfit.

It isn't that hard for Cynthia to recognize these folks, the parents of Derek Zayden. Alec and Dorthy Zayden, are the major shareholders of Zayden Pharmaceuticals whose headquarters is in Navas City.

They aren't as diverse as Duketh Industries but are damn good at what they do. As the 5th largest pharmaceutical company in the country, they are in no way less influential than the Dukeths. They also have a couple of family members in prominent government positions.

All eyes had turned to face Cynthia who had just walked in, they watched as she sat down quietly in a chair next to Alison.

'It looks like things are quite serious this time.' Inside, Cynthia was growing as he could feel the atmosphere was quite stifling. Both sides seemed to be at quite the odds. She could feel the animosity radiating from the Zayden couple as the man had made her senses sharper to other's emotions.

While their emotions were coming to her like a raging bull, she couldn't feel anything from her father and Alison. This caused her to be much more worried as she realized that they might have a way to conceal their emotions from others' super senses.

"The Duketh's power probably runs deeper than I imagined," she told herself. The Zayden's are superpowered but aren't capable of hiding their hate, compared to the family, they probably didn't have the same level of heritage. That made her feel both safe and more apprehensive at the same time.

"How did they even agree to engage Lilly with people like them?" she questioned inside.

"Cynthia, would you like to tell these folks why you injured Derek?" asked Alison. She would be leading this conversation as she could feel that Alexander isn't in a good mood.