There was an awkward silence now; the Master was just sulking.
Stella was cooking, in a hurry, mumbling in Spanish, and furious about this new action plan that no one informed her about, and the brand new problems in her boss's life!
She thought about him now. It had been some time since she last saw Master Wangji, but he hadn't changed much, just his hair looked awful now. They were indeed so very different, the two brothers! So very different from their parents too!
She thought about them: one could say they were almost opposites. But if one knew them well, like she did, it was inevitable to detect some innate, undefined similarities too, in their manner, in their movements, in their feelings, attitudes. Estella could not quite express it, but there were times when the reaction she'd be expecting from Master Lan would be shown to her by Master Wangji, and vice versa. And sometime Master Lan sounded so much like Master Wangji that it was eerie to observe it, to witness it! It was as if they were twins, the two halves of one whole.
It was weird.
Now those two boys at her table were somehow like that too. They were as different as day and night, but she could sense the profound connection between them, the understanding between them. They were somehow in synch, just like... Well, just like Master Lan and Master Jiang were.
Poor Master Jiang! It seemed, trouble found him, no matter where he went!
She sighed.
Too many boys to take care of, to worry about, and to cook for! At least that Brent chico was totally unproblematic.
Estella kept on cooking, now falling into a daydream where her own sons, and all her masters were just like Brent – adoring her cooking, and following her orders, to the tee!
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~~
At the same time, miles from there, Lan Xichen and Brent were sitting in an extremely stinky diner by the side of the road that led to the highway ring, on the opposite side of town. The coffee they were sipping on was abominable, and yet, Lan Huan was diligently drinking it distractedly, as if all his tongue's taste buds were long dead and gone.
Of course,nothing on earth could be further from the truth.
"I don't want to go back home." – he realized bitterly. – "Because... who's in that big, dead house? My love isn't there any more... Who is...? Who is he...?"
