Chapter 83 A Slow Encounter

The last couple of hours of work were hell for Lee Seng. He had to navigate the front and back of the shop with the thin hallways and working space. Even though his tail was made of pure white matter and it wasn't a problem when it came to Lee Seng putting on undergarments and pants weren't a problem. He found that his tail made a lot of problems in the shop.

Lee Seng knocked over things, ran into people, and created more messes than usual. Lee Seng groaned as he sat next to the huge window in the front and sipped at his lychee boba. The shop had slowed down enough and Alice told him to take a break. He set his boba down and stared at the sunset. The sky was orange and the sun was being directly blocked by another building.

'Today sucks.' Lee Seng thought as he grabbed his boba and took another sip. 'I'm accepted into the Academy because of the Creator and work is a pain in the ass. This tail is making me make more errors than usual.' Lee Seng closed his eyes and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, why're going here again?" A male voice asked.

"I told you, this is the place I used to go when I attended middle school," Manny's voice answered. Lee Seng opened his eyes as the front door rang the rattling bell. Manny and a couple of guys stepped in. They were all in casual clothes.

"Why did we have to go all the way to the Outskirts?" Another guy asked.

"I have to grab something for my Dad, Ty," Manny answered. Lee Seng watched them reach the counter as Rachel warmly greeted them.

"Hello, welcome to Alice's Boba Shop. What can I get for you boys today?" Rachel asked. The four boys hovered around the counter and looked at the menu.

"I'll take a large strawberry with tapioca pearls," Manny said. "Pick whatever you want, it's on me."

"Uhh, I'll take a regular mango with pearls," Ty ordered.

"Small lychee-mango mix, no pearls."

"Large milk tea with pearls."

"Will that be all?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Manny answered.

"Okay, your total is going to be 330 creds."

Manny paid and Rachel handed him his receipt. Manny took it from her, thanking her, and turned around. Lee Seng had found himself, somewhat, staring at them and trying to not make it look obvious.

"So, what happened to your old friend?" Ty asked. Manny started to shrug and say something when he spotted Lee Seng sitting at the front of the shop, staring at him.

"Oh," Manny said, surprised. He pointed at Lee Seng and quickly wandered over. Lee Seng fought the urge to stand up and wander away. He placed his boba on the table and turned to look outside again. "There you are, Lee. I tried looking for you, but I couldn't find you."

Manny stood closest to Lee Seng and his table while his friends stood in the back. They were all staring at him. Lee Seng's tail had swooped to the left and hovered off the ground a couple of inches. He moved his tail to a random beat in his head as he nodded at Manny.

"Mmm, I left as soon as my matches were done." Lee Seng partially lied.

"Your teammate said something about you vanishing. A-are you okay?" Manny asked.

"Hey, Manny, you gonna introduce us?" A guy asked. Manny turned and nodded. He motioned for his friends to come up. They all stood next to Manny and seemed to be around the same height as Manny.

"Ah, this is Lee Seng. He and I used to, uh... go to school together. Our parents knew each other so we spent a lot of time together." Manny introduced Lee Seng. Lee Seng awkwardly waved at Manny's friends. Lee Seng watched as their brains turned and registered the information, connecting it with whatever else and their eyes lighting up.

"Oh!" Ty exclaimed. "Lee Seng Chang, the Creator's son and your Father work together, right?"

"Yeah," Manny nodded. "And Lee, these are my friends. This one is Ty. That's Dean and the one at the end is Winston."

"Hello," the group said.

"Hey," Lee Seng greeted everyone.

"Alright, order 179 is ready." Rachel chimed. Manny and the guys turned around and Manny turned back.

"Oh, is it okay if we sit with you after we get our drinks?" Manny asked. Lee Seng hesitated for a bit and nodded.

"Sure," he answered. Manny nodded and turned to catch up to his buddies that were halfway to getting their drinks. The guys grabbed their drinks and wandered back over to Lee Seng. Lee Seng glanced at his watch and noticed only a couple of minutes had passed. He had too much time before he would go back to work. Alice was feeling too generous and told him he could sit for a while as the store was pretty much dead.

Manny and the three guys pulled seats from around and turned them to face Lee Seng. Lee Seng moved the table over and motioned for them to surround it. He turned his chair to point at them, back at the window.

"So," Winston began. "You two know each other because of your Dads?"

"Mmmhm," Lee Seng nodded.

"So does that mean you two are close?" Dean asked. Lee Seng stopped drinking and stared off into space for a bit.

"Oh, uh, that's kinda--" Manny began to make an excuse when Lee Seng set his drink down and snapped out of his flashing thoughts.

"Not really." Lee Seng interjected. Manny and his friends turned to look at Lee Seng. Lee Seng grabbed his drink and finished it and set it down. "We aren't close anymore."

"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to--" Dean started when Lee Seng waved his hands.

"It's fine," Lee Seng interjected, again. "You didn't know." Lee Seng stood up and grabbed his cup. "I'll leave you guys to enjoy your drinks. Thanks for stopping by." Lee Seng waved and moved towards the garbage. He threw his drink in and made his way towards the counter. He passed the counter and wandered into the back, passing the kitchen and going to the locker room.

"Don't mind him," Manny awkwardly chuckled as he turned back to face his friends. "He's uncomfortable with me still."

"Oh, I didn't think it was that bad. I thought you guys would at least--" Dean said in a low, quiet voice as Winston smacked his head.

"Shhh." Winston said as his narrow eyes looked at Dean.

"I-It's fine, Win. Don't worry about it. It's my fault for what happened anyways..." Manny lowered his head and stared at his drink.

"I thought you two and Sara were super close then." Ty leaned his head into his arm, tilting it to look at Manny. "Was it really that bad?" Manny slowly nodded.

Images of him and Sara standing across from Lee Seng filled his mind. The unwanted memory that plagued him by staying, continued to play.

"We all wanted to go to the Academy together but that Summer... It was the worst Summer for Lee... Everything changed after he came back. He became colder. He began to push people away. Sara and I couldn't even do anything about it. Not even his best friends from his middle school. When he developed no powers from the Biohuman serum, everyone was forced away." Manny quietly recalled.

He let out a deep sigh and grabbed his drink and took a long sip. His mind flashed to the Creator but he stopped himself from recalling it. Recalling the reason why Lee Seng became the way he did. Manny squeezed the empty boba cup and loudly slammed it onto the table.

Dean, Ty and Winston stared at their friend. Manny's face seemed clearly upset but the three of them knew better. Ty patted Manny's back and nodded at the others.

"We should grab the thing your dad wanted us to grab and head back to the Academy. It's gonna be really late if we wait around any longer." Ty said.

"Y-yeah, you're right," Manny agreed. He grabbed his cup and stood up. "Let's go." The four tossed their drinks away and stepped out of the shop. Ty wrapped his arm around Manny and guided him away from the shop.

'I can't even think about it without getting upset,' Manny thought. 'If he ever finds out, won't he hate me even more?'

The four made it down the block and to a street light. They waited patiently at the crosswalk, waiting for the okay to walk. Winston and Dean casually began to talk about school work they didn't want to do. Manny allowed their complaining to fill his head. It would be better this way. He didn't want to deal with the past.

"Manny!" Winston shouted.

"Y-yeah?" Manny looked up. Ty was glancing at him while Dean and Winston were already in the road.

"Can I drive?" Winston asked.

"Oh, I should probably--" Ty pulled Manny forward which made him bow downwards towards the ground.

"C'mon, let's not delay." Ty said. Manny pulled away from Ty's wrapped arm and jogged forward to catch up to Dean and Winston.

"Can I? We can just map it. You seem like you got a lot on your mind." Winston continued. The four reached the other side and turned right towards a set of parked cars off the side of the road.

"I'll drive since it's my car." Ty said. "I know where it is since Manny's taking me there more than enough times."

"Oh okay. As long as Manny doesn't drive. I think he should take it easy." Winston ended.