"Andrea, I'm home"

"Oh, where are Beatrice and Harvey?"

​​

"...I got called to the Headmaster's office"

Andrea was relaxing on the sofa before Van arrived. But as soon as she heard Van's last words, she quickly got up from the sofa and ran towards him.

"What did they say!? Are they expelling you because of what happened!?", Andrea grabbed Van's wrist, "I will come with you to help and explain the situation!"

"No, no", Van quickly shook his head, "It's already resolved. They… decided to put me in community service for now"

Hearing Van's words, Andrea could not help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Van then looked around inside the house, and to his surprise, the house seemed to be back to normal. When he left earlier this morning, there was still a lot to be done, but now, everything was back to the way it was.

No, one could say that it is now even better than before.

"...What happened?", Van asked.

"Oh, Sarah came by", Andrea slightly chuckled.

"Again?", Van squinted his eyes, "We shouldn't be accepting too much from Sarah, she's already helped us too much"

"It's alright, it's alright", Andrea waved her hand, "This is a loan. Sarah expects you to become a famous Explorer one day and will be able to pay her back, twofold if you wanted to, she said".

"Hm…", Van squinted furrowed his eyebrows. He was totally not convinced of the reason that Andrea gave. But since they can't really return what Sarah gave them, he just shrugged and accepted it.

"We will be eating out this time, by the way", Andrea said as she lightly stretched her back, "I didn't have time to cook since we fixed the house"

With Andrea stretching her back, Van could not help but notice the two red marks on Andrea's neck.

"Andrea… I think you're still not fully healed", Van said as he stared at the two red marks.

"Hm?"

"Your neck...", Van pointed, "You have a wound on your neck"

Realizing what Van was pointed at, Andrea's face quickly turned red as she quickly covered her neck. "L… let me just get dressed so we could go to the market now!", she said.

"No… I really think you're still not--"

"It's fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"I… It's nothing!", she stuttered before running to her room.

It only took a few minutes for Andrea to get changed. They have been in the neighborhood for a while, but this would be the very first time that Van would be stepping inside the market.

Van, however, didn't really think much of it. Instead, he squinted his eyes as he kept staring at the mark on Andrea's neck. She seemed to be adamant in hiding it.

Something was going on here, he thought.

...Very suspicious.

***

"Oh, a rare sight to see you here at night!"

"I'm taking my brother out for dinner, Lana"

"Oho, is this him? I thought you said he's a student from the Academy?"

Lana, one of the vendors from the market, could not help but look at Van with her eyes squinted, "Why does he look so small?"

"He's already 16", Andrea chuckled.

"Really?", Lana blinked her eyes a couple of times, "Ara… such a cute boy, isn't he?"

"...", Van's eyes could not help but twitch. This woman is dangerous, he thought. She reminded him of the Portal Boss back in the Relic Graveyard.

"Well, see you tomorrow!", Lana waved her hand, "Bring him during the mornings so that everyone could meet him"

"Will do!", Andrea bid her farewell as they continued to walk through the market. Van could not help but be in awe as everyone seemed to know and greet Andrea whenever they pass someone by.

"This is where I work at", Andrea pointed towards the bakery, "The owner is a very kind person, although she's a bit talkative so we should probably go before she sees us", she said as she pulled Van away and hurried her steps.

The two continued to walk 5 more minutes before they reached an area where a lot of people were crowding. Van's ears were suddenly filled with the noise of people murmuring and talking to each other.

"Serve the food on table 4!"

"Where's the shrimp dumpling for table 12!?"

"Hm…", Van's eyes could not keep up with the waiters that were serving food left and right without even taking a pause for a single millisecond. Such a master to their craft, Van thought as he watched a waiter holding 8 plates on his arms.

This was perhaps the closest Van has ever seen a restaurant. Back when he was still in the Relic Graveyard, whenever he passed by a canteen or a small restaurant, the owners quickly shoo him away.

"...The restaurant seems to be full, Andrea", he then said as he looked at the long line of people.

"Nonsense…", Andrea let out a scoff as she shook her head, "Ah Sahm!", she then shouted.

"Oh, Andrea!", a server quickly approached them as soon as Andrea called, "What you doing here? Here to eat?"

"Hm", Andrea nodded, "I'm here with my brother"

"Aha, no problem. I give you table!", Ah Sahm happily bowed as he beckoned the two to follow him.

The people that were in line could not help but voice out their complaints as they saw Andrea and Van enter the restaurant.

"Ah, shut the f*cking up! Eat somewhere else if you complain too much!", Ah Sahm waved his tray as shouted at the people in line.

"...", Van could not help but be surprised. Was this really how restaurants treat their customers? If so, why do people eat here?

"Everyone seems to know you here, Andrea", Van finally let out his thoughts.

"Of course", Andrea laughed, "Everyone knows everyone here. You should probably go out from time to time", she said before sitting at a table that was personally prepared for them by Ah Sahm.

He then handed both of them a menu before leaving for the kitchen. But halfway through, he saw the menu in his hand and realized that he gave the wrong menu.

He returned to Andrea's table and was about to give them the English menu instead, but before he could do so…

"This Peking roast duck is a bit too expensive. Don't you think so, Andrea?", Van spoke.

"!!!"

"E… Evans?"

"...What?"

"You…

...you can speak Chinese?"

Van spoke in mandarin.