The Genius | #1✓ [SAMPLE]

Chapter 9

"It's the motherboard I was telling you about," Ben chirped excitedly, showing Ji-Hun the computer motherboard as he pointed at parts here and there.

I looked away from them, deciding to wander about the workshop. We were at Ben's dad's tech repair store. It was closed for the day and Mr. Maxwell had allowed us to take a look inside as long as Ben was there to watch over us.

"I like working with PCs, they're easier to work with than Mac Books," Ben rattled on, his voice becoming fainter as I wandered away from them. I stopped in front of a phone display case, glancing at the phones that sat there idly. The workshop was large, having various sections for different electronics and gadgets. It was a family business that Ben was eventually going to inherit someday.

A sigh left my lips in boredom. I wasn't a tech enthusiast, and I just wished we would just skip to playing video games or watching a movie.

"Ben," I turned to find Ben's sister, Chloe yelling as she popped her head in through the entrance door. She looked about the place before her eyes landed on Ben who was at the far end with Ji-Hun.

"Ben," she said again, a small frown forming on her face as she walked into the workshop. I watched her march all the way to Ben, pinching him on his lower back through his thin shirt to get his attention.

"Ouch!" he complained, turning sharply to toss a death glare at his sister. "What do you want?"

Chloe didn't pay attention to his tone; she just pinched the side of her afro as she muttered inaudible insults under her breath before speaking up. "Mum said I should ask if your friends are staying over for dinner."

"No," Ji-Hun answered on Ben's behalf As he shook his head. Chloe then turned to me, and I repeated the same answer.

"Okay then," she muttered, nodding at our responses before making to leave the room. "And you need a new set of ears Ben," she said, pausing at the door before walking out and slamming it behind her dramatically.

"I swear to God that I actually hate my siblings," Ben groaned, throwing his hands over his head back in frustration. Ji-Hun laughed as Ben turned back to the table with the dismantled laptop. Ben was the firstborn of three kids and he was the only boy. He was older than both his sisters by less than three years. Chloe was his immediate younger sister and was only a year younger than him. 'She terrorized his everyday life' was a big understatement.

After a little while, we headed to Ben's room for a video game marathon, switching from game disk to disk as we munched on junk food.

"Come on!" Ben groaned when my character knocked him out. "We weren't even ten minutes into the game."

I shrugged, putting my controller aside. I looked up to find Ji-Hun watching the screen although the game was already over. He'd opted out from playing this round since it was a two-player game and had just decided to just watch.

"Can you pass me the Cheetos?" Ben asked as Ji-Hun muttered a small agreement, tossing the open bag of Cheetos that had been sitting at the edge of the bed towards Ben. Ben caught the bag, but that didn't prevent the orange chips from flying out the bag to places including his face.

"Dude!"

"I'm sorry," Ji-Hun quickly said in defense as he tried to contain his laughter. The sight of Ben trying to fish out the Cheetos that had slipped into his shirt through his collar didn't help much.

I smiled seeing as I was too tired to laugh. My eyes hurt from looking at the screen for too long.

"What time is it?" Ji-Hun asked as he rolled on Ben's bed, not directing his question to anyone in particular. I let myself look at his sprawled figure for a while, my gaze wandering to his now exposed belly due to his shirt rolling up a bit at the side. I turned away, mentally scolding myself for doing that before looking at my wristwatch for the time.