CHAMPION | NCT

o24

C H A P T E R
T W E N T Y - F O U R

I was a child again, hiding under a blanket, reciting the mathematical equations that I read on a book that Sicheng's Mom gave me.

She gave me a pencil. And a normal-sized spiral notebook. I didn't use it though, well at least not for math equations.

I drew a satellite within an orbit. I called it Planet Dream-On-You're-Stuck-In-This-City-Forever. I drew another one, overwriting the previously drawn bar graph with an even larger satellite. I called it 872-3. Not for any geographical reasons though, but simply because it's the password to the washroom. Sicheng's Mom was always so strict and paranoid; she ended up providing locks for each rooms. Well, now that I talked about the washroom then I guess I'll name the next planet that I'd draw Planet Toilet. Because, well, aside from it resembling a toilet, it also looked like a black hole. And we all know that the spiral within it was similar when you're flushing a damn toilet.

I chuckled by myself, finding entertainment at my very own self-admitted bad and terrible humor. Oh, poor me. If Sicheng were here, he'd probably say it was funny even though I was pretty sure it wasn't.

That's when I found out, that little kids find everything funny. Even though they named a planet with a very lame name.

_______

I was a teenage girl again, and teenage girls rarely find anything funny.

Not when your stepmom just got rid of your gloves. Not when you're tearing up over a boy who won't look at you during dinner.

It was humiliating. I begged for attention and I never did that, certainly not for this reason.

He's like a physical embodiment of water. It's there, but you can't grasp hold of it. He was just a bedraggle.

After my stepmom got rid of my gloves, I had no idea how to idea my scars anymore. This was definitely worse than the virus, because it was a label. An articulation that I was marked upon. A proof that I can't be weak, or secretive, or hiding. My stepmom gave me a laptop and made me watch videos about the biological system of human beings. She said what good does my face bring when my knowledge isn't enough. Witty people were more intimidating than attractive ones, she said.

If brain and beauty were merged together, they'll form a dangerous pair.

That's partly true maybe. But I wasn't studying for their sake, it's mine.

One day, I would use this knowledge against them.

One day, I need not to cower on the corner or cut my hair short just for a guy to notice me.

Heavens.

I felt heat spreading across my cheeks as the memory dipped in. It's humiliating. The memory of myself combing my hair behind my ears flashed in my mind, including the moment when I passed by him just so he can see my dress. However, he never spared glance at anything besides his plate. The son of the Ruler won't ever notice me.

But what was I sent here for?

I focused back on the laptop's screen, studying intensely the charts and diagrams that were being showed.