"I asked if you were interested in my daughter."
After Meiya repeated her lines, Alex shyly looked to the side as he couldn't give her an answer.
"I'm just kidding, Alex... You aren't taking it seriously, are you?."
As Meiya moved a little closer to Alex, his face blushed even harder as he was seriously considering it.
Check out m_vl_em_p_yr stories
"Of course, I know it was joking. Luqing is old enough to be my mom."
"Alex! I can hear you! Did you just call me old?" Katherine yelled from the kitchen.
"No, Mom! You're forever twenty-one."
Seeing Katherine didn't say anything back, Alex let out a small sigh of relief.
"Miss Meiya, I'm going to meditate for a bit."
"Go for it."
As Alex closed his eyes and relaxed his body, Meiya moved even closer to examine him.
Looking up, she noticed a slight blush on his face that still hadn't gone away yet.
His skin looked even more pale than his sisters, despite seeing him going under the sun several times before.
It was almost as if his face was sculptured to be perfect, only to be ruined by the deadpan face he usually puts up.
"Where are all his muscles?" Meiya wondered after seeing his arms look even more flimsy than Sophia's.
After looking through most of his body, she came up with a conclusion in her head.
"Alex probably hasn't hit puberty yet... Explains why his voice is so high pitched."
Just as Meiya was about to move back to her seat, a metal drop from the kitchen suddenly appeared.
Within seconds, Alex exited his meditation state, opening his eyes only to see Meiya standing right before him.
The two were just inches away as she quickly moved back to her side of the sofa.
"Alex, have you hit puberty yet?" Meiya asked calmly, as if nothing happened.
"I... I just started it."
"That's good... You should eat more meat. Your body is growing."
Alex nodded as the two sat in silence, with neither side wanting to speak up.
Only when Sophia and Mary were both out of the shower did the awkwardness disappear.
---
At the dinner table...
As the six of them sat in their seats, Katherine and Meiya once again started chattering back and forth.
But this time, Alex could feel the two of them were trying to bring it in a certain direction.
All of them were either Katherine's descriptions of how she grew up alongside Luqing or Meiya's experiences with Luqing as a toddler.
"Mom, I'm full!"
"Me too!"
"I give up. Your defense is too good." Alex complimented as he sat down on the floor in exhaustion.
Luqing didn't say anything as she sat down next to him, waiting for him to finish with the break.
"Hey Luqing, you feel a lot different than when I first met you."
Seeing Luqing not speaking up, Alex kept on rambling on as he thought back to the past.
"I remember you were willing to show us around the city and chat with us, but now you're always so quiet.
It's almost like a completely different person... All the energy and smile is drained away."
"Do I really look like that?" Luqing asked, her face seemingly a little concerned.
"Yes... Ever since the funeral, your warm smile had completely disappeared.
Now it's just like me, a flat face that barely has any emotions when they see someone."
Luqing seemingly had taken Alex's word to heart as her face finally changed back to her old smile.
"Does this look better?" Luqing quietly asked.
Alex quickly nodded before getting back up with his sword and taking a few steps back.
"Okay, I'm fully rested now... How about you attack this time, and I'll try to defend it?"
"Are you sure?"
Alex remained still as he raised his sword, indicating he was going for a defense practice this time.
"Sorry if I hurt you."
As soon as Luqing finished talking, she immediately dashed forward with a fast slash.
This time, Alex was able to see it and block it. But her next slash came much faster than he expected.
He was immediately forced to move to the side to dodge it, but with another slash coming, he took another step back.
With more and more steps back to avoid dodging the stab, his reflection was nowhere near enough.
Not to mention, he could feel she was going easy on him, as each slash felt even softer than her defense earlier.
Up against the wall, Alex made one last deflection before a wooden sword was pointed right at his chest.
"I lost again... How do you move your sword so fast?" Alex curiously asked as she lowered her sword.
"You just have to go with the flow... You're holding your sword too tight. Here, let me teach you."
As Luqing dropped her sword to help Alex hold his sword correctly, Alex couldn't help but notice something right before his eyes.
Her new clothes awakened something inside him, especially as her shirt had a small gap on top to let him see her exact size.
"Alex, relax your arm. You don't have to be so tense."
"Oh, sorry."
As Alex shifted his attention back to the sword in hand, he was surprised to notice how loosely she was making him hold his sword.
It was almost as if he was using a whip instead of a sword as she helped him swing his arms down directly.
"Can you feel it going much faster?"
"Yeah, but isn't it too soft to swing like this?" Alex raised his concern as he swung his arm again.
"Usually, you can make it up with your Qi. But since you don't have Qi, you can think of this as more of a self-defense."