"Lyn!" Fir chirped and flew into the dining room. He whistled happily when he found that Dylan had made a full recovery and no longer carried the pungent stench of alcohol on him.
"Fir." Dylan smiled and stretched out his arm to let the bird perch on it. However he let out a chirp and instead opted to nest on Dylan's fluffy hair. Fir happily made himself at home and messed up Dylan's hairdo to suit his needs. Dylan coughed and awkwardly placed his arm back down amidst the warm gazes of the Chens.
"Its name is Fir?" An asked with a smile.
"Yes. I named him after the Fir trees." Dylan replied.
"Its really beautiful." She praised. Fir whistled happily at the compliment, prompting An to giggle. "It's seems to be very smart."
Dylan smiled proudly, like a parent whose child was being praised. "He can understand what people are saying."
"My, what a clever bird." An exclaimed but didn't find it too surprising. After all, parrots exist.
"Is it okay to reveal so much?" Sherry whispered to Dylan in Divian.
He merely smiled and whispered back. "It's fine. They'll find out about Fir's strangeness sooner or later."
"Hey!" Fir chirped in protest. "I'm not weird!"
"Whatever you say." Dylan replied to Fir telepathically.
"Shall we eat?" An proposed, to which everyone enthusiastically started to dig into the food that An had cooked. It consisted of plain congee, a couple of side dishes and a small pot of soup. Every dish was fragrant and soft on the stomach. An was obviously taking Dylan into account when she cooked.
"Everything is so delicious, Aunty. Uncle is blessed to have married you." As usual, Dylan expressed his gratitude towards An and thanked her for the delicious food.
"Oh my, you make me blush." An bashfully responded.
"Why blush, honey? Everything he says is the truth." Ping unashamedly injected.
The couple looked each other passionately in the eye. They looked as if they would kiss at any given notice.
"Ahem. (Ma, Ba. There are other people here.)" Sherry interrupted.
Unfortunately, the two were already in their own world and didn't hear Sherry's pleas. They continued their flirtatious exchanges and forgot that Dylan and Sherry were even there.
"Sorry about that." Sherry apologised in Divian. "They become like that in the mornings."
"Its fine." Dylan laughed. "Its better to be affectionate. My father was an iceberg. He never displayed any emotions, so seeing your father like this is actually rather refreshing."
"…" Sherry didn't know what to say so she just continued to eat. Seeing her do so, Dylan also resumed. He tried to grab some side dishes with his spoon but would fail magnificently each time. The slippery dish kept evading his spoon and ran away each time.
Sherry restrained the laughter erupting within and grabbed the food with ease. The frustrated Dylan saw this and was exasperated. He secretly vowed to himself to learn how to use chopsticks with ease just like Sherry could.
"Thank you." Dylan thanked when Sherry placed the meat onto his spoon.
"No problem, anything for my 'friend'." Sherry smiled magnanimously and said.
'Friend.' Dylan frowned at the word. For some reason, Sherry had put a lot of emphasis on the word. It was as if she was drawing a line between them. She was pushing him away. Why? In the past, Sherry would just brush off his advances but she would never actively turn away from him. But now, it was like she was telling him to stay in his lane, dissuading him from any thoughts of being with her.
Dylan who had just realised he was being driven into the 'friendzone' felt a pang in his heart. Sure, he thought of Sherry as his best friend, but he also wanted to be more than just friends. He wanted to be her man, the one she loved. It hurt him to think that to her, he was a mere friend.
The hurt Dylan absentmindedly continued to eat and consulted Fir telepathically.
"Fir, Sherry's being strange." Dylan told him.
"Fir thinks so too. Yesterday night, after you went to sleep, she started to cry all of a sudden. But she wouldn't tell me why, she just kept crying." Fir revealed, sounding as if he had just remembered.
What? Dylan was so surprised he dropped his spoon. "Sherry, you cried yesterday?" He asked her in his mother tongue.
"Wh" Sherry was caught off guard and didn't know what to say. She glanced over at Fir and knew that he had dobbed her in. Fortunately, she knew that he was going to do so and didn't tell him the reason.
"What's wrong?" Dylan asked, his voice overflowing with concern. "Did something happen?"
Sherry shook her head, her eyes involuntarily tearing up at his kindness. "It's nothing. I'm okay now, really."
Dylan saw her watery eyes and wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? Did something happen on your shopping trip? Did someone make you cry? Just tell me and I'll teach the b*st*d a lesson!"
Sherry: The b*st*d's you, Dylan. Can you give yourself a lesson?
Sherry was going to give Dylan some kind of generic excuse when Ping's sappy voice interrupted. The flirting couple finally broke out of that passionate staring contest and was now telling each other how much they loved the other.
"Anyways, I'm okay now. Thanks for being worried about me, Dylan."
Dylan was unwilling to back down but seeing the strained and uncomfortable smile on Sherry's face, he reluctantly did so. "If you say so, but if there's anything you want to get off your chest, just know that I'm here for you."
"Mm, thanks." Sherry smiled and nodded. "You can also tell me anything."
'Especially about the hatred you harbour in your heart. Who inflicted such pain on you? Such that you resent even after leaving that world. But it's not like I'm much better. Even now, I can't think of that day without trembling.' Sherry thought to herself. 'I wonder if I, as a friend, would be able to absolve your hatred. Or is that the role for the special person in your heart?'
Dylan himself was also thinking deeply about Sherry. 'When will she trust me enough to tell me what's bothering her? It was so simple in the past when we were travelling together. Sherry and I, and occasionally...Matthias...We had no worries, no hate, no fear. We were just friends going on an adventure together. When had we grown so much? So much that we've become adults who conceal things just to maintain an equilibrium of the delicate balance of our relationship. I wish we could go back to back then, to the time when we were just hot headed and passionate youths. But the flow of time doesn't reverse for just anyone.'
Author: OMG, the last two paragraphs were so cringey. It's taking all I have to not delete it.
Reader, mockingly: 'The flow of time doesn't reverse for just anyone.'
Author: Gahhhh!!! Stop! It's so embarrassing!!!><
Reader: Time reversed for Sherry. She returned to the time she left.
Author: ...Well, she's not just anyone, she's the heroine. Duh...haha, that was foolish of you reader, to not think of that.
Reader:...
Author: (Breaks into cold sweat) And that's the end of the theater for today! BYE!