Lin's eyes slowly fluttered open. The lingering fear still froze his soul, but gradually he recovered.
While his vision stayed blurry for a few seconds, his hearing picked up so strange noises… The voices of two teenage girls, if he had to guess…
"Dammit, Thea! You ain't beating again! I won't let you… Hey, stop spamming! That's cheating!"
"What is it Lydia? How does it feel to lose! You might beat on the mat, but here I'm the Queen and will always leave you in the dirt!"
The boy's vision finally cleared. He laid at the edge of a long couch, with two girls sitting at its other end.
They both stared ahead towards the holo-screen, their faces showing clear signs of excitent and focus.
However, the shorter girl with auburn hair obviously looked more frustrated, while the blond-haired one fully enjoyed herself and kept insulting her friend.
Slowly, without making a noise, Lin tried standing up, but sothing felt different. He felt unnaturally weak, and his head hurt like hell. With a loud groan of pain, he fell back, while holding onto his head.
Both girls' eyes went to the boy, each showing concerned expressions. Still, Lin tried pushing past the pain and climb to his feet.
"Hey, calm down, kid. You aren't in any danger, so just take it easy. It seems this is the first ti you lost connection with your essence. The uncomfortable feeling will soon pass, and the headache also should disappear."
Lin eventually stopped trying to stand and instead laid back with an exhausted sigh. He closed his eyes for a mont, but they quickly snapped open when he felt a hand lift over his head.
The tall, blond-haired girl stood above him, with a glass of water in her hand. She moved it towards his lips, while smiling reassuringly.
"It's just water. You were out for nearly half a day, so I thought you might be thirsty… My na is Thea, and that charming girl is Lydia. We're tasked with taking care of you!"
The boy gulped down the water like his life depended on it. However, when he heard Thea's last sentence, he choked on it.
As a healthy teenager, his mind went to dirty places, and he couldn't help but glance at Thea's ample chest.
Since she bent forward, he could sowhat glance below the girl's shirt. Luckily, both Thea and Lydia wore sports bras, so Lin couldn't see much.
However, he saw a bit of cleavage, which was enough to cause his heart to beat faster, and for a strange tightness to appear in his pants.
Lin's face turned bright red, and he twisted his waist to hide his sha. He opened and closed his mouth a few tis, breathing heavily.
He could barely hear anything through the beating of his heart, which was actually saving him from further embarrassnt, since both girls were giggling at his excited reaction.
It took him a full minute to recover and calm himself down. In the anti, both girls went back to playing their fighting ga.
"Uh, if you don't mind asking, where am I exactly? And what happened? I rember passing out because of… I rember falling unconscious while fighting against that white-haired girl, but I can't recall anything else."
Thea didn't even glance towards the boy while answering, her eyes purely focused on beating Lydia again.
"You're in New Athens, more precisely on my family's property. Technically, you were kidnapped by Vicky, the white-haired girl… But don't think of yourself as a prisoner. You're our guest!"
Lin didn't seem to believe Thea's words, but he also didn't want to disagree with such a beautiful girl. So, instead, he glanced towards the holo-screen and watched the girls play for a few minutes in silence.
"Co on Lydia. Don't tell this is the best you've got! You truly suck at virtual fighting. Maybe we should change gas. Sothing up to your alley, like a losing simulator!"
Lydia cursed under her breath and began pressing the buttons at greater speed. However, with her stronger focus on the ga, she forgot about her own Ascended strength.
Suddenly, the controller burst into tal and plastic fragnts. On the screen Thea beat her once more, while dying from laughter.
"Another one! That's the fifth controller you broke… TODAY!"
While blushing from embarrassnt, she walked towards the nearby dressers. Lydia pulled open the top drawer, which was filled with controllers. She grabbed one, then hesitated with closing it, as a weird thought popped into her mind.
"Hey, Lin. Want to play? As Thea said, you're a guest, not a prisoner. We can play whatever gas you like."
The young boy turned his head in confusion. From Lydia's point of view, he looked even more scrawny and miserable. He pulled up his legs to his chest, and reached over with his thin, trembling arms.
"W-what are gas? I have never heard of those… Was pressing those buttons a ga? What are gas for? It looked strange. You pressed buttons, and the characters moved."
Both girls' heart ached after hearing Lin's words. They couldn't help but feel sorry for the little boy. He didn't just looked starved, but he also seed to skip his childhood entirely.
Even Lydia, an orphan, regularly played gas with other kids while growing up. But Lin looked srized by the holo-screen like he never seen one before.
Without a word, Lydia grabbed another controller and moved back towards the couch. She held one out to Lin while smiling kindly.
The young boy took it, while blushing and glancing away. The two girls glanced at each other and as their eyes t, a giggle escaped their lips, which further reddened Lin's face.
Lydia sat next to Lin and began showing the buttons on the controller. Lin paid attention, like his life depended on it. However, the cute girl's closeness scrambled his mind a bit, so Lydia needed to explain a few tis before the boy finally learned it.
While they discussed the ga's controls, Thea went to the fridge and grabbed a few snacks and drinks. Lin's eyes looked confused while Thea poured chips into a bowl, like he saw nothing similar before.
Thea, upon seeing the curiosity in Lin's eyes, grabbed the bowl and held it before the young boy.
"Co on, Lin. Try it! I promise you won't regret it! It's very tasty!"
Lin's stomach rumbled in hunger. With a trembling hand, he reached out and brought a single chip to his mouth.
His dark blue eyes went wide as the amazing taste spread in his mouth. Like a ferocious, starved beast, he pounced on the bowl of chips and began devouring it.
Both girls watched with stunned expressions as Lin ate himself full, devouring the snacks Thea brought out.
"Well, I guess he didn't just look malnourished. He might've actually been starving… Uh, Lin… When was the last ti you ate?"
The boy glanced at the girls with a raised eyebrow, his face full of confusion. However, after a few seconds of pondering, he seed to recall sothing, and he answered Lydia's question with a prideful grin.
"I was born as a Transcended. My mother always told that Transcended can survive without eating, so eventually I stopped asking for food. It was really uncomfortable and even painful, but after suffering for years It beca better, since my craving entirely disappeared!"
Lin's grin quickly broke, as he saw the girls' expression turn horrified. Lydia especially turned furious, but sohow Lin could tell she wasn't aiming her anger at him.
"Uh… Did I say sothing wrong?… Why do you look so appalled?"
Before the young boy could've reacted, Thea jumped on him. She pulled the terrified kid into a tight hug, while crying from her overwhelming empathy.
"I'm so sorry you had to suffer through all that! I promise you can eat however much you want while living here! Lydia write to the maids! Ask them for the best food we've got!… Today, Lin will eat himself until nothing else fits inside him!"
His face turned red from Thea's prolonged hug, but strangely, his trembling stopped and all his fear disappeared. He even felt comfortable and safe in Thea's arms.
Soon, tears began rolling down his cheeks as he sobbed. This feeling, this warmth in his chest, this sense of safety, people caring about him… This was all new to Lin…
Xinya never hugged him or particularly cared about him. Her eyes were always full of sadness and regret while watching him. She tried to hide it, but Lin always felt unwanted. That's why he tried proving how useful he's, but his mother continued to ignore him.
However, now feeling the warmth seep from Thea's body into his very soul, he finally began to understand what he has been missing throughout his entire life.
"Is this?… Is this how it feels like to be loved? To be cared for?… This ache in my heart. This warmth in my chest. This brightness in my mind. This growing sensation in my soul… Is this joy?"
The young boy mumbled under his breath, which further worsened Thea's empathetic pain. Slowly, Lin's hands moved around the tall girl's waist, and he continued crying on his shoulder.
Lydia typed a while longer, then joined her friend and hugged the boy from the other side. His sobs increased in volu, but after a while, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Thea… Lydia… Do you want to be my friends?… I never had friends before…"
The girls just giggled, which caused Lin's expression to fall. He pulled away from them and watched them with depressed eyes.
However, their laughter wasn't the rejection he believed. Instead, Thea ruffled his hair once more, which brought Lin's dark blue eyes to et with her own bright silver ones.
"Don't ask dumb questions, Lin. We're already your friends!"
The depression gradually left his eyes as Thea's words reached his heart. Tears began moving down his cheeks once again, but this ti, a wide grin appeared as well.
Suddenly, he jumped at the girls and pulled both of them into a tight hug. After a few seconds, he even laughed at the overwhelming joy he felt!
They stayed like that, comforting Lin until the maids began arriving. Dozens of pulleys full of freshly made food. Their sll alone could chase away any depression, while their taste could possibly resurrect the dead!
After the maids left, the three teenager attacked the food with unmatched ferocity. Like wolves devouring a freshly caught deer, they left nothing but bones behind!
When nothing remained, or at least they couldn't eat anything anymore. They all fell asleep on the couch, while the holo-screen showed so weird animated tv-show with a bunch of naked won and one naked man… Another historical product…
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