InterGalaxia (On Hold)

1.12

"Yang-Yang, let Mama look at you!" Mama Lei took Lei Yang's hands and guided him to stand up, he complied. Mama Lei smiled brightly with unmistakable pride glowing on her face. "Dear, look how handsome my Yang-Yang has grown to be, thanks to no small effort on my part" Mama Lei gloated to her husband as if she was the sole reason he grew up good looking. No doubt she was part of the reason, the other part is because of Papa Lei and a magic pill. Papa Lei rolled his eyes and patted Lei Yang's shoulder in acknowledgement. Papa Lei had never been a man of many words, even when Lei Yang was young. You could say that Papa Lei was a man with a golden mouth; every time he did speak, it was words of advice that shaped Lei Yang and Lei Chu into better human beings when they were growing up but they took it for granted that he never really spoke, so they have forgotten the words when they were caught up in their own selfishness. Lei Chu gave her brother a seething look and stormed off to her room.

 The room was actually shared by both siblings when they growing up but when Lei Yang started attending school in the city, he moved into the dorms so Lei Chu has been living in the room on her own for a couple of years now. Lei Chu could have gone to University fresh out of school when she graduated two years ago but she wanted to pull together enough funds from her jobs so that she had financial security for when she moves out. 

This is where this new storyline differs from the original plot. Lei Chu was supposed to go to University two years ago but is only going now.

 Having decided that she has pooled together enough money, Lei Chu came to pick up her boxes and break the news to her parents. As her room was her private zone and due to busy schedules, the Lei couple had no idea until now that their daughter had any plans to go to University and move out too. They were proud that she wanted to continue on with further studies but they were conflicted as they couldn't understand why Lei Chu wanted to attend a school in the city instead of one close to home. That's when they started arguing, only to be interrupted by Lei Yang's entrance. The Lei couple sat down with a cup of tea each and narrated the chain of events to their youngest child, hoping that he could use their close ages to appeal to Lei Chu to attend a University close to home. Lei Yang played with the tea bag tag that hung over the edge of the mug and looked at the worried Lei couple seated across from him.

 "Mama, Papa, I think Lei Chu has made the right decision for her future. The universities downtown have a high attendance rate for slum kids but a low educational status. That's because the slum kids aren't expected to have excellent educational backgrounds, these universities satisfy these types of criteria for this type of area as the slum kids only attend so that it looks good on their resumes when they apply for job opportunities. However, if you want to get out of the slums and learn something that will actually benefit you in getting a semi-respectable job, you need to go to a second-rate or first-rate university and they're located uptown or in the CBD. Sister is smart, she needs a place that can cater to her smarts, the same applies to me. That's why I will be taking a scholarship at one of the first-rate universities in the CBD, King's University" Lei Yang chose to also break the news of his choice of school while they were on the subject. The Lei couple looked devastated, they lost both their children to the lure of higher education in the city. Sighing, they gave in. "Alright, go help your sister pack" Mama Lei waved him off, clearly still upset. Finishing his tea off, Lei Yang threw the tea bag in the bin and rinsed the cup in the sink. Setting it on the side to be properly washed, Lei Yang entered his sister's room. 

The room was decorated to appeal to the interests of the inhabitants, the right side of the room was painted daisy yellow and the other half painted mint green. The colours clashed in an ugly, messy line on the wall so posters and stickers were pasted over the dividing line to hide it but it just proceeded to emphasise it. On the yellow half of the room was a king single, the wooden bed frame littered with large stickers of flowers, some half peeling off over the years. The light pink duvet had a little white cat playing with a blue ball of yarn featured on it, the tan fluffy blanket folded at the bottom of the bed half covering the design. On the green side of the room was another king single with a metallic frame, a white duvet with blue and red overlapping squares neatly tucked on the mattress. There was a multitude of different shaped pillows: one of the aliens from the Space Invaders arcade game, a mango, a banana in sunglasses and what looks like a character from something he wasn't too sure about, probably something unique to this world. Everywhere between the beds was boxes; some half full, some full and taped closed and labelled and empty boxes that were flattened, ready to be made up when needed. Stepping around the mess, Lei Yang took a seat on his bed, the frame creaking under his weight. 

Lei Chu ignored Lei Yang as if he was air, she was concentrating on packing her books off of the shelf, the dust swirling up in the air. Organising a pile to keep and a pile to give away, Lei Chu had emptied away from the first shelf. She lifted up the furniture polish and sprayed. Using an old tee of Lei Yang's, Lei Chu wiped away the caked dust off the shelf, returning the once mahogany shelf back to its former glory. Lei Yang picked up the alien pillow and bent a leg up on the bed, he put the pillow on his raised knee and rested his cheek on the pillow. "Where are you going to Uni?" he broke up the silence. Lei Chu paused for a moment, fiddling with the book in her hands. "Stelis," she murmured before getting back to packing. Lei Yang nodded his head. Patting his jacket pockets, Lei Yang pulled out a credit card. Throwing the card until precisely landed on the open pages of the book in Lei Chu's hand, Lei Yang stood up and patted imaginary dust off his ass and hands. "That's all I'm going to help you. After that runs out, you're on your own" he coldly stated before leaving the room, quietly closing the door on his way out. Biding the Lei couple goodbye, Lei Yang ordered a Zuxi to pick him up. 

Leaving in the Zuxi, Lei Yang sat in the backseat with his elbow leaning on the windowsill, his chin in his palm. Xiao Gou questioned him in through the communication line. [Host, I don't know why you gave Lei Chu the money. Isn't that the same as giving her an opportunity that could just be thrown back in your face?]. Lei Yang smirked, [Xiao Gou, that money isn't an opportunity; it's a noose].