Zelaive was sleeping in her room and her mother called her loudly to eat.
"Zelaive, come down to eat. You still have school later. Next time, I won't wake you up."
Zelaive's alarm clock kept ringing, kring kring. When she looked at her clock, it was 8:24 AM, and her classes started at 10:00 AM.
"I don't want to get up. I'm still sleepy. I guess it's okay if I skip school for a day."
Zelaive continued sleeping. Footsteps were heard ascending the stairs—her younger sister, Marisse.
"Older Brother wake up! You'll be late!"
Zelaive just pulled the blanket over his head, pretending not to hear.
Marisse got annoyed. She took a running leap and jumped on her brother.
"Aghhhh!"
"Didn't you say you have an exam today?"
Zelaive winced in pain from the impact on his stomach. He was jolted awake by his sister's words about the exam.
"Oh yeah, we have an exam today!"
Zelaive immediately got up, causing Marisse to fall. He rushed downstairs and met Jazel, his stepsister, who was the same age. Zelaive looked at Jazel, who was already dressed.
"You didn't wake me up, Jazel!" she said angrily.
"Even if I woke you up, I wouldn't get anywhere with someone as lazy as you. You're lazy even when it comes to waking up! I've woken you up countless times before. You even threw a pillow at me the last time I woke you up!"
Zelaive remembered that Jazel always used to wake her up when it was time for school, back when they were still new as a siblings, Jazel woke him up every day, but he ignored her and threw a pillow to him. Jazel got angry and couldn't take it anymore.
"Ugh, I don't care anymore. You deal with your own life."
Then, Jazel threw a book from the table at him.
"I remember you threw a book at me the last time you woke me up. That was about a year ago, so it's okay. Even if you wake me up, I'll forget everything that happened. I'll accept even your annoying voice."
Jazel just looked at Zelaive, ignoring him. She went downstairs, said goodbye to Zelaive's mother, and left. Zelaive was stunned because Jazel ignored him.
Zelaive remained dazed until he got to school. His friend, Kent Raven, approached him.
"Hey, man, you've been spacing out. Are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking that our exam might be difficult."
But actually, he was still dazed because Jazel ignored him earlier.
"You still care about your exam even though you were 20 minutes late for our first one, HAHAHA," he said jokingly.
"I just woke up late. That's why"
Kent whispered,
"You're always waking up late."
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing."
The exam ended, and as Zelaive was going home, he saw Jazel walking alone, carrying flowers, with a sad expression.
"Going home?"
Zelaive asked Jazel about what she'd put in her bag, even though he'd already seen it was a flower.
"What was that you put in your bag?"
Jazel just glared and walked away.
"This girl is so irritating! I didn't do anything to her," Zelaive muttered angrily to himself.
Why did she have to hide the flower from me? I know Jazel. It's impossible for her to have a boyfriend, or to accept flowers from boys who like her. Even though she's popular at school, it's impossible for any boy to get close to her. She's always so solitary and gives anyone who approaches her a dirty look. I really don't know why she's like that. We met a year ago, but I still don't really know her. I'm with her at home every day, but I still don't know what goes on in her head.
Zelaive and Jazel's First Meeting:
July 7 2023 Friday
Their mother called Marisse and Zelaive, looking like she had something important to say; her face was visibly nervous.
"Zelaive, Marisse, I have something to tell you."
Zelaive responded as if he already knew what his mother wanted to say.
"You want to get remarried?"
His mother was shocked that Zelaive had guessed correctly.
"Wait, how did you know?"
Surprised, Zelaive spat out the water he was drinking.
Wait, so that's really why? I was just kidding, he thought.
"It's okay with me if you get remarried. I'm not sure about Marisse, though."
"It's okay with me too. I wouldn't be angry if you want to remarry. We never really bonded with our real father, so there's no reason for me to object. He was trash anyway; he left us after you gave birth and never came back."
Silence fell after Marisse spoke. Marisse noticed the silence and tried to lighten the mood.
"If I ever see that Vince Mazerch, I'm going to punch him in the face!"
She said it jokingly, but the mood didn't change. The Henzu family remained silent. Marisse panicked because her mother and brother weren't saying anything. Then Zelaive stood up and also spoke jokingly.
(Vince Mazerch is Zelaive and Marisse's father.)
"I'm going to kick Vince Mazerch in the butt if I ever see him!"
Their mother smiled at their words. Zelaive and Marisse saw this and laughed too, because of their mother's smile.
July 9, 2023, Sunday
Zelaive took the train to their family dinner with his mother's partner.
Zelaive noticed a wallet under the sleeping man next to him.
I'll just leave it alone. I'm not sure if it's his.
He still picked it up and placed it next to the sleeping man, then stood up to leave.
I'll just put it next to him. He'll get it if it's actually his.
A woman approached, intending to wake the sleeping man. Seeing he was sleeping soundly, she put the wallet in her bag.
Zelaive saw this and thought to himself,
That's why I really don't like kind people.
Zelaive got off the train and heard someone running. Someone grabbed his bag, causing him to stop.
"Wait! Why didn't you give him back the wallet? You just left it next to him. What if someone else sees it and tries to steal it?"
Zelaive turned around, and it was the woman who had put the wallet in the sleeping man's bag.
"And why did you put it his bag? Don't you think that might not be hers?"
The woman replied,
"I was going to wake him up if the wallet was his, but…"
"But what? Because he was sleeping soundly, you didn't wake him? I just put the wallet next to him so he'd notice it quickly when he woke up. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"But there's still a possibility that someone else with bad intentions could take the wallet while he's asleep."
Zelaive answered,
"There's also a possibility that it's not his."
The woman, overcome with guilt that the wallet might not belong to the man, was about to go back to the train when it suddenly departed.
"Tsk. annoying train."
Zelaive saw this, and as he watched, the woman glared at him, approached, and stared at him.
"I did something wrong, didn't I?"
Zelaive spoke, his voice trembling, unable to look at the woman.
"I did something wrong too, so I don't think you should ask me if what you did was right."
The woman saw that Zelaive was scared of him, so he quickly apologized.
"Sorry for my behavior earlier."
The woman bowed and left.