Bangun tidur prosesnya lambat bagi Lex, dan butuh waktu lama sebelum kegroyohan hilang. Dengan kemauan besar dia membuka satu mata untuk melihat sekeliling. Dia tidak langsung mengenali tempat ini, yang memenuhi pikirannya yang masih setengah tidur dengan kebingungan. Tapi pelan-pelan, ingatannya kembali dan dia sadar dia ada di rumah orang tuanya.
Mata tunggalnya tertutup lagi dan hampir dua puluh menit kemudian dia membuka matanya lagi, menguap begitu melakukannya. Meski baru bangun, Lex merasa sangat lelah, sensasi yang jarang dirasakan sejak dia mulai berkultivasi. Dia terbentar di sana, saat roda gigi pikirannya pelan mulai berputar dan dia mulai bangun dengan benar.
Hal pertama yang disadarinya adalah ketukan hujan yang menenangkan. Dia melihat ke luar jendela dan melihat hujan. Kamarnya gelap, dan agak dingin, meski selimut menutupinya. Di latar belakang, Lex bisa mendengar suara televisi yang redup.
Anehnya sangat damai. Lex ingin terus berbaring, jadi dia melakukannya. Ingatannya kembali, dan dia ingat berbicara dengan kakaknya, Belle. Dia sama saja, dingin dan tanpa emosi tapi entah kenapa frustrasi sekaligus kakak perempuan yang diingatnya. Entah kenapa, itu memberinya ketenangan.
"Mary, apa kabar di Inn?" tanyanya dalam hati, tidak repot bangun.
"Pertandingan keempat sedang berlangsung, dan seharusnya berakhir dalam beberapa jam. Banyak tamu dari Bumi sudah kembali ke planet mereka, tapi selain itu tidak ada yang terlalu signifikan. Di level yang lebih relevan untukmu, temanmu Larry sudah pulih sepenuhnya. Cukup beruntung dia memenuhi syarat sebagai pengungsi, kalau tidak dia tidak bisa bayar Inn untuk tinggal di sana, semua asetnya di Bumi sudah disita. Dia bisa bayar beberapa hari pakai beberapa artefak yang kebetulan dibawanya saat tiba di Inn, tapi lalu dia bertemu Marlo yang bayar tinggal lama untuk Larry."
Lex mengangguk, catat mental untuk bertemu Larry segera dan tahu apa yang terjadi. Untuk sekarang, dia akhirnya bangun dari sofa dan tersandung di gelap untuk menyalakan lampu.
Hal pertama yang terlihat saat lampu menyala, di tangannya yang terulur, adalah kuku berwarna pink. Lex membeku ngeri. Dia pernah alami insiden seperti ini. Dia cepat lari ke kamar mandi melihat cermin dan menghela napas lega melihat wajahnya bersih. Dia paksa menggosok cat kuku itu, lalu keluar dan berteriak, "Ada orang di rumah?"
Tidak ada jawaban, dia berjalan ke arah suara televisi, dan menemukan adik perempuannya, Moon, menonton video dengan headphone di gelap.
"Hey," sapa Lex santai sambil menepuk headphone Moon.
"Hei hei hei aku lagi nonton," teriak Moon, tarik headphone kembali, tapi lalu berputar dan memandang Lex. Sepetik mereka hanya saling memandang, sebelum Moon akhirnya bilang, "Ada apa dengan pistol itu? Kamu kelelahan nonton video rap Amerika?"
Langit Lex langsung menepuk dahi.
"Sekarang berbahaya, buat perlindungan."
"Iya, pasti susah, cowok sendirian di kota besar Amerika. Bukan seperti tiga cewek tinggal bareng di London, aman banget di sini."
Bibir Lex bergerak, tapi pilih mengalihkan topik.
"Ibu bapak di mana?"
"Bangladesh."
"Bangladesh? Ngapain di Bangladesh? Bangladesh itu di mana?" Sekaget dia, seharusnya dia duga orang tuanya di negara lain. Tapi gimana dia cek kabar mereka? Minta Will kirim transport lagi?
"'Bangladesh di mana' dia tanya. Kamu pernah ke Bangladesh, bodoh. Kenapa tidak ingat? Kita telpon ibu bapak kemarin, setelah kamu tertidur, jadi tidak perlu pistol-pistolan ke ASIA TENGGARA, mereka baik-baik saja."
Lex agak lega, dan tersenyum ke adiknya. Dia tidak tanya bagaimana mereka bisa hubungi orang tua, Moon tidak akan bohong, yang penting mereka baik.
"Bicara soal itu, kemarin apa yang terjadi? Aku tidak ingat tidur."
"Aku nggak tau, kamu ada di sofa saat aku pulang."
"Lalu Liz dan Belle? Di rumah?"
"Belle pergi kerja, Liz pergi belanja. Soal itu, ikut aku."
Moon bangun dan cepat bawa Lex ke dapur. Dia keluarkan panci dari kulkas dan taruh di kompor lalu panaskan.
"Liz buatkan sup buatmu dan Belle tinggalkan beberapa pesan."
Dia ambil kertas dari saku dan baca.
"Pekerjaan baruku banyak keamanannya jadi bilangin si bodoh jangan khawatir, dan dia harus cepat balik ke New York karena salah satu teman ibu bapak di Bangladesh sudah ajarin mereka terlalu banyak soal kawin paksa dan mereka mulai cari calon untuk Lex..." di titik itu Moon tertawa terbahak-bahak dan jatuhkan kertasnya.
Bibir Lex bergerak sambil lihat adiknya tertawa padanya. Dia paham Belle dengan cukup baik, meski dia tidak pernah bilang terang-terangan, dia pasti mengerti Lex harus lewat cara tidak biasa untuk cek mereka dan mau menjamin mereka baik. Cukup baik, sekarang dia tahu mereka baik dia bisa balik ke Inn urus hal di sana. Terus, dia tidak perlu balik New York dan bisa langsung ke Inn dari London. Tapi karena sudah di sini, dia habiskan waktu dulu sebelum pergi.
Dia ambil beberapa mangkok dan siapkan meja, dan ngobrol santai dengan Moon. Dia tanya soal sekolah dan hidup di sini, dan soal... cowok yang mungkin disukainya. Kalau Moon hanya sebut nama selebriti Lex diam-diam lega. Kalau dia benar-benar suka seseorang dia akan bilang. Meski jarak usia besar, mereka dekat dan Moon tidak bisa simpan rahasia dari Lex - sejauh yang dia tahu. Kalau dia benar-benar tertarik sama seseorang, dia mau peran kakak keren yang okay, tapi diam-diam itu menstreskan.
Mereka berbagi cerita lama, dan akhirnya topik kultivasi muncul lagi. Moon jelasin beberapa orang dari kerjaan baru Belle datang dan bilang soal kultivasi dan tes mereka. Kelihatannya mereka semua punya cacat genetik yang bikin mereka tidak bisa berkultivasi. Lex punya sedikit keraguan, tapi dia kubur dalam hati. Bukan berarti dia tidak punya rahasia sendiri, dan suatu hari kalau level Inn cukup tinggi buat obati segala penyakit, dia akan bawa keluarganya ke Inn. Jadi sampai hari itu, dia pilih percaya kata adiknya.
Jam berlalu, Mary beri tahu pertandingan keempat sudah berakhir. Liz akhirnya pulang, tapi Belle tidak muncul. Tiga bersaudara habiskan waktu lagi, ngobrol dan mengolok-olok satu sama lain. Liz tunjukin modifikasi yang dia buat di Heavy Harley. Malam itu dia cat pistol Lex bukan wajahnya, jadi ada kupu-kupu unggu di gagang pistolnya.
Akhirnya, saat malam sudah larut, Lex putus saatnya pergi. Sekarang sudah cek keluarganya, dia bisa fokus ke Inn tanpa khawatir. Apalagi, kalau dia khawatir, dia bisa cek diam-diam karena dia tidak rencana keluar London.
Setelah pamitan panjang lebar, Lex akhirnya pergi. Dia bilang akan cek mereka dari waktu ke waktu, tapi kedua adiknya sudah berhenti perhatian saat dia lewat pintu.
Tidak tau harus bereaksi apa ke saudaranya, Lex terus jalan. Setelah jalan sebentar, senyumnya pelan jadi cemberut. Sebagai kultivator pemula, instingnya tajam, dan seberapa pun dia mau abaikan, dia merasa kuat ada yang tidak beres. Dia instingktif mengabaikan keluarganya, seolah tidak ada yang mencurigakan tentang mereka, tapi tidak bisa tahu apa itu.
Dia mau tanya Mary apa yang terjadi di Inn saat dua pria mendekat dan berhenti di depannya.
Pikiran Lex klik, seolah mengerti ini yang diperingatkan instingnya, dan tangannya melayang di pegangan pistol, siap ditarik kapan saja.
"Bisa bantu?" tanya Lex, nada sedikit agresif. Bahkan bodoh tidak akan harap niat baik dari orang asing acak malam ini.
"Halo, nama saya Ben, saya kerja di INTERPOL," kata salah satu pria, dan keluarkan tanda pengenal untuk Lex. Sekilas tanda pengenal itu asli, tapi Lex tidak cara tau pasti.
"Kami menyelidiki kasus terhubung organisasi terror dan punya alasan percaya Anda berkontak dengan karakter mencurigakan. Kenal pria ini?"
Ben tunjukkan foto Larry di HP-nya ke Lex, dan meski berusaha hati-hati, Lex tidak bisa menahan keterkejutan melihat foto temannya.
"Seperti yang kuragukan," kata Ben lihat reaksi Lex. Lalu dia putar video Lex keluar dari apartemen Larry dan tanya, "Ini kamu?"
Bukan menjawab, Lex tanya, "Ini soal apa?"
"Larry Dershaw warga terlindung, terafiliasi dengan berbagai orang dan organisasi berpengaruh. Tak lama setelah kunjunganmu," Ben menunjuk video Lex keluar gedung, "kami percaya ada upaya pembunuhan terhadap Larry, setelah itu dia hilang. Kami butuh bawa Anda untuk dimintai keterangan."
[0)??? Lex tiba-tiba tidak tau harus respons apa. Memang fakta Larry muncul di Inn, luka dan berdarah tak lama setelah kunjungan Lex, tapi Lex belum sempat tanya apa yang terjadi. Agen ini kelihatannya asli, kalau begitu dia harus kooperasi, kan?
Di kejauhan, seorang pria mengamati interaksi menggunakan kacamata pengaman.
"Kabarkan klien kita hanya bisa tahan target beberapa jam, setelah itu kita harus lepaskan. Kalau dia mau tangkap target sendiri, dia harus lakukan sendiri," kata pria itu lewat telepon.
"Dimengerti. Sementara itu, cari tahu dia tau apa soal anak Larry. Interogasi proper sebelum kita tangkap dia mungkin membantu."
Waking up was a slow process for Lex, and it was taking a while for his grogginess to clear. Using immense will power he opened a single eye to look around. He did not immediately recognize the place, which filled his still half asleep mind with confusion. But slowly, his memories returned and realized he was in his parents house.
His single eye shut again and it was nearly twenty minutes later that he opened his eyes again, yawning as soon as he did. Despite just waking up, Lex felt incredibly tired, a sensation he hardly felt since he started cultivating. He lay there for a while longer, as the gears of his mind slowly started to turn and he started properly waking up.
The first thing he noticed was the comforting beating of rain drops. He looked outside the window and saw rain. The room that he was in was dark, and slightly chilly, despite the blanket that covered him. Somewhere else, in the background, Lex could hear the muffled noise of a television.
It was strangely peaceful. Lex wanted to continue laying there, so he did. His memories came back to him, and he remembered talking to his elder sister, Belle. She was the same, cold and emotionless yet somehow frustrated at the same time elder sister that he remembered. Somehow, that filled him with relief.
“Mary, what’s going on at the Inn?” he asked in his mind, not bothering to get up.
“The fourth match is going on, and should end in a few hours. A lot of guests from Earth have returned to their planet, but other than that, nothing majorly significant. On a level more relevant to you, your friend Larry has fully recovered. It was quite fortunate that he qualified as a refugee, otherwise he would not have been able to pay the Inn to stay there, all his assets on Earth have been seized. He was able to pay for a few days using some artifacts that he happened to have when he arrived at the Inn, but then he ran into Marlo who’s paid for a long stay on Larry’s behalf.”
Lex nodded, taking a mental note to meet up with Larry soon and find out what happened. For now, he finally got up from his sofa and stumbled in the dark to turn on the lights.
The first thing he saw when the lights came on, on his outstretched hand, were pink nails. Lex froze in horror. He had experienced incidents like this before. He quickly ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw there was nothing on his face. He forcefully scraped the polish off his nails, before exiting and yelling, “is anyone home?”
Upon receiving no reply, he walked towards the sound of the television, and found his youngest sister, Moon, watching a video with headphones on in the dark. .
“Hey,” Lex casually greeted her as he flicked her headphones off.
“Hey hey hey I’m watching something,” she yelled, quickly pulling her headphones back, but then turned and looked at Lex. She paused her video and turned to look at her brother. For a moment they only looked at one another, before Moon finally said, “What’s up with the gun? You been watching too many American rap videos?”
Lex immediately facepalmed.
“It’s dangerous these days, it’s for protection.”
“Yeah, must be tough, a lone boy living in the big city in America. Not at all like three girls living together in London, pretty safe here.”
Lex’s lips twitched, but chose to divert the subject.
“Where are mom and dad?”
“Bangladesh.”
“Bangladesh? What are they doing in Bangladesh? Where even is Bangladesh?” As startled as he was, he should have expected his parents to be off in some other country. But how was he supposed to check up on them? Ask Will again for another transport?
“‘Where is Bangladesh’ he asks. You’ve been to Bangladesh, idiot. How can you not remember? We talked to mom and dad yesterday, after you dozed off, so no need to go gunslinging off to SOUTH ASIA, they’re perfectly fine.”
Lex relaxed a little, and smiled at his sister. He didn’t bother asking how they were able to contact their parents, Moon wouldn’t lie to him, all that mattered was that they were fine.
“Speaking of which, what happened yesterday? I don’t remember going to sleep.”
“I dunno, you were on the couch when I got home.”
“What about Liz and Belle? Are they home?”
“Belle went out to work, Liz went out to do groceries. Speaking of which, follow me.”
Moon got up and quickly led Lex to the kitchen. She pulled a pot out of the fridge and put it on the stove and started to heat it.
“Liz made you soup and Belle left a few messages for you.”
She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and read off of it.
“My new job has a lot of security so tell that idiot not to worry, and that he should quickly go back to New York because one of mom and dads friends in Bangladesh has taught them way too much about arranged marriage and they’ve started looking at girls for Lex…” at that point Moon burst into laughter and dropped the paper.
Lex’s lips twitched as he watched his sister laugh at him. He understood Belle well enough, though she never said things up front, she must have understood that Lex had to go through unusual means to come and check up on them and wanted to assure him they were alright. It was well enough, now that he knew they were alright he could return to the Inn to take care of things there. To top it all off, he didn’t really need to return to New York and could go to the Inn directly from London. But since he was here, he might as well spend some time before he left.
He pulled out a couple of bowls and laid a table, and caught up with Moon. He asked her about school and life here, and about any… boys she might be interested in. When Moon only took the names of various celebrities Lex secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If she was really interested in someone she would tell him. Despite their large gap in age, they were close to one another and Moon was incapable of keeping secrets from him – as far as he knew. If she really was interested in someone, he wanted to play the role of the cool brother who was okay with it, but secretly it stressed him out.
They exchanged stories for a long time, and eventually the topic of cultivation came up once again. Moon explained how some people from Belle’s new work came and told them about cultivation and tested them out. Apparently all of them shared a genetic defect that made them unable to cultivate. Lex had a few doubts, but he buried them deep in his heart. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have secrets of his own, and one day when he raised the level of the Inn high enough where he could treat any kind of malady, he would bring his family to the Inn. So until that day came, he would choose to believe his sister’s words.
The hours passed, and Mary let him know that the forth game had ended. Liz finally came home, but Belle never showed up. The three siblings spent more time together, chatting and making fun of one another. Liz showed him the changes she had made to the Heavy Harley. Last night she decided to paint his gun instead of his face, and so a purple butterfly was painted on the handle of his gun.
Eventually, when it was getting late at night, Lex decided it was time for him to leave. Now that he had checked up on his family, he could focus on the Inn without any worries. Not to mention, even if he did get worried, he could secretly check up on them since he was not planning on leaving London.
After a long, drawn out goodbye, Lex finally left. He told them he would check up on them from time to time, but both his sisters had already stopped paying attention to him as he crossed the door.
Unsure of how to react to his siblings, Lex simply continued walking. After walking a short distance, his smile slowly turned into a frown. As a fledgling cultivator, his instincts had sharpened, and as much as he wanted to ignore it, he had a strong feeling something was wrong. He instinctively overlooked his family, as if there could be nothing suspicious about them, but could not figure out what it was.
He was about to ask Mary what was happening at the Inn when two men walked up in front of him and stopped.
Lex’s mind clicked, as if understanding that this is what his instincts were warning him about, and his hand hovered over the handle of his gun, ready to reach for it at a moment’s notice.
“Can I help you?” Lex asked, his tone slightly aggressive. Even an idiot would not expect friendly intentions from random strangers so late at night.
“Hello, my name is Ben, I work for INTERPOL,” one of the men said, and pulled out a badge for Lex to see. At a glance the badge looked real, but Lex had no way of knowing for sure.
“We’re conducting an investigation connected to terrorist organization and have reason to believe you have been in contact with some suspicious characters. Tell me, do you recognize this man?”
Ben flashed Lex a picture of Larry on his phone, and despite trying to be cautious, Lex could not help being startled at seeing his friend’s picture.
“I suspected as much,” Ben said upon seeing Lex’s reaction. He then played a video of Lex walking out of Larys apartment building and asked, “Is that you?”
Instead of answering, Lex asked, “What is this about?”
“Larry Dershaw is a protected citizen, affiliated with various influential people and organizations. Shortly after your visit,” Ben pointed at the video of Lex walking out of the building, “we believe there was an assassination attempt on Larry, after which he disappeared. We need to bring you in for questioning.”
[0)??? Lex suddenly did not know how to respond. It was indeed a fact that Larry had shown up at the Inn, wounded and bloody shortly after his visit, but Lex had not had an opportunity to ask him yet what had happened. These agents seemed to be real, in which case he should cooperate, right?
In the distance, a man was watching the interaction using a pair of binoculars.
“Tell the client we can only hold the target for a few hours, after which we’ll have to let him go. If he wants to get his hands on the target, he’ll have to do it himself,” the man said on a phone call.
“Understood. In the meantime, find out what he knows about the Larry kid. A proper interrogation before we get our hands on him might be helpful.”
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