XG 146 - Grandmother, you were bitten by a zombie?

She was looking straight into his eyes as she confessed, so she saw how strongly his pupil shook. He was not an utterly dense person so he did not assume her words to be something else other than the intended meaning.

Before he could say anything, she spoke up first. "I'm not expecting a reply. I just want you to know that you could turn a person that dislikes you into someone that loves you. Not family love, not love between friends, but as a person that's interested in you romantically."

So be proud of it.

Standing up, she added another sentence. "Taking booster shots isn't cowardly. This isn't a competition and we are doing it for our survival. Going crazily depressed will help no one. It's just like a mental suicide."

"Xue Guo. I'm sorry."

Even if he did not elaborate, she knew what he was saying.

Her confession was rejected.

She could see from his expression that he was hesitating after hearing the confession. It was not a welcoming hesitation, but one of being troubled by it and unsure what to say without hurting her. Fortunately for them, Chen Yibo chose to be honest and rejected her without dragging it out, or even entertaining the idea to play around with her heart like a scumbag.

"Ask the beta testers of booster shots about their experience. Then consider whether a natural awakening is worth getting this much pain for."

"Xue Guo-"

"Thank you for your honesty. A note of reminder, don't be so nice to me. You have no obligation to do that or even be overly considerate of my feelings. Go eat something. Don't starve yourself for wallowing in something you could not control."

"... I'm sorry."

She was glad he did not persist with the issue and let her go. She had already found it hard to look at him after being rejected and it was already good enough that she could speak what she wanted to say before leaving without embarrassing herself further.

When she stepped out of his room, there was no one in the living room when she had expected at least Chen YiWen to stay behind. But she was grateful for it because she was not in the right state to control her expression well.

This was her first confession and first puppy love, but it was not destined to bloom. Sniffling, she reassured herself that there were plenty of females in this world that had been rejected and able to go on with their lives, finding another man that might be an even better match for them.

She could do so as well.

... As if!

If it was so easy to move on, she would have already demanded her heart to look away from Chen Yibo early on. It does sting her pride for falling in love with someone she does not have a good impression of and in one-sided competition for years.

In these four months, their relationship had gotten quite good that her view towards him changed, which made it easier to see his good sides. Including the fact that Chen Yibo was a guy that many women would want as their significant other.

Hey, that also means my taste is not bad!

Even with parents that have a phobia of expressing their love to their daughter, she still has a healthy amount of self-esteem and confidence. In school, she was one of the good-looking girls with a noticeable number of guys glancing at her more than once when she passed by. She could have gotten her first boyfriend if not because they were not up to her boyfriend's material standard.

Plus, she would not start a serious relationship with someone she was not even a friend with first.

It was Chen Yibo being the first guy that ever stir her heart this way, making her start longing for a relationship, and to her horror, developing a strange desire to monopoly him. It does hurt her heart to be rejected without him considering it twice before doing so, but she still has some confidence in swaying his heart in her direction once she put in more effort.

At least, her confidence in her success was higher compared to the other ladies in Musihada Laboratory that refused to give up after their confession was rejected. It shocked Wong Xue Guo with how many confessions Chen Yibo had rejected in their fourth month's stay here.

Thus, in the next few days, she strategically avoided him, letting the kind-hearted boy stew on his emotions. These days, he would definitely need a lot of alone time to think things through, and hopefully, dominated by her confession instead of the festering pain caused by his father.

Using Smoker as her spy, she knew that Chen Yibo finally changed his mind to use a booster shot.

During the same period, her grandmother finally called her again. She happened to be hiding in her room, considering whether to try the 'possession' on Mr Rabbit again and thus able to accept the call with speed.

"Grandmother!" Quickly sitting up from her sprawled-out pose on her bed, Wong Xue Guo greeted with delight, and also anxiousness.

She had been waiting for her parents' reply as well, but their family communication line in Zinnia country seems to be poor. The icon showed that her parents had read her latest message but there was no reply from them, likely being too busy with their business to respond to her. The excitement of waiting for their reply over her Awaken status had already mostly died out.

"Xiao Guo, where are you now?"

Xiao Guo = little fruit in chinese language

"Grandmother, I'm at Musihada Laboratory. Mother and father are in Zinnia country. Brother Chin Chun and I will be going there too after we settle some things here."

"Don't go to Zinnia. Stay where you are. I will go find you."

Wong Xue Guo paused. "Is there something you need from me?"

"Things at Zinnia should be settled by your mother alone. You have no relationship with them, so why show your face to them?"

Till now, Suzie Yap had not told her daughter anything about her background, especially when it comes to her history in Zinnia. Wong Xue Guo could only learn tiny bits of things from other people's conversations but Chin Chun was the most forthright.

It was basically a fight between a stepmother and a stepdaughter. Suzie Yap, formerly known as Suzanne Moretti, was the daughter of the first wife and was loved greatly by the father, also the Moretti clan's boss. She was even confirmed to be taking over the family, but her father died years before his retirement age.

As soon as that happened, the stepmother and her half-blood sister immediately took over the clan forcefully and constantly sent hired killers to kill the newly orphaned Suzanne Moretti.

Basically, no one expected the head would die even if they knew that being a mafia has a high risk of death. After all, the heir had barely passed the legal age and had not fully consolidated her authority. Many of her father's people were won over by her stepmother's honeyed promises that only she would know if she would fulfil them. With no choice, for her survival, she let go of the clan that no longer had any of her family members, went to another country and take her mother's family name.

It was also at that time that Suzie Yap met Charles Wong.

"Grandmother, Brother Chin Chun said my parents went there to follow the trail left by the mastermind behind the zombies. Won't they need more help if the mastermind had a large clan of mafia siding them? Father and Mother are going straight to their base after all."

"If they can't deal with it, they will ask for help. And help from you will be the last they will ever ask from. Be obedient and stay at the lab. I don't want to learn you had flown off when I arrived," her grandmother warned sternly.

Although her personal desire urged her to go to her parents, she also knew her strength was limited, especially when she did not know what else her shadow could do. She might even end up as a burden if her consciousness was once again stuck in another object.

Her godbrother would have to find other people to accompany him to Zinnia country.

"I will listen to Grandmother. Grandmother, are you still in Hosta country?"

"Hmm, now I'm leaving. From what you people say, I'm now an Awakened person."

"Awaken?" Wong Xue Guo's heartbeat slowed down. "Grandmother, you were bitten by a zombie?"