Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Funny," came the soft voice from the woman hanging off of the Old Master of the Liu Family. "I don't recall inviting her into the house."

I looked at the woman in front of me, the air of superiority seeping from her very pores. "You don't want me inside your house?" I asked, my head tilted. A wide smile appeared on my face. "Perfect, because I don't want you in mine."  Looking at the boys around me, my smile stayed perfectly in place.  "I'll just go back outside and relax. You can deal with the shit here." Moving to turn around, I had forgotten that I was still trapped in Wang Chao's arms and he was not willing to let me go.

Dropping my shoulders in defeat, I shut my mouth and waited for the guys to sort things out.

"You know, Wu Bai Hee, I don't remember this being your home," said Liu Yu Zeng, completely catching my attention. That was Wu Bai Hee? Like the same Wu Bai Hee that was engaged to Liu Wei, Wu Bai Hee?  Then why was she hanging off of the Old Master like a bunny at the Playboy mansion?

Confused beyond all belief, I tilted my head back and looked at Wang Chao.  'Wu Bai Hee?!' I mouthed and he just nodded my head. Taking a second, I quickly got over my disbelief. If she wanted to trade in Liu Wei for his grandfather then that was up to her.  I stood by my statement about no kink shaming.

Once again, she let out a high pitched squeal and looked at the old man she was holding on to, shaking her arms in protest and in return, shaking the Old Master. And the boys thought I was childish, I scoffed. Maybe I would have to keep her around to remind the boys how much better I was than her.

"We don't need to do that. We know how perfect you are," said Wang Chao, rummaging around in my head.

"As long as you are aware. Now, are we going inside any time soon?" I asked, looking around.  It was almost 5:00 pm and the cake from earlier was not doing much to keep me full. I wanted dinner, and to sit down… and a shower.  What I did not want was to keep standing here throwing insults back and forth.

Where was a zombie when you needed one? And keep in mind, I said one… not a horde, I just wanted some form of entertainment that didn't make me feel like I was losing brain cells with every passing minute.

Liu Wei huffed out a sigh, like he was giving up, and started to walk up the stairs toward the front door. "Come on, Sweetheart, let's get you sitting down. You just woke up an hour ago and must still be tired."

The obnoxious woman that had quickly let go of the Old Master when Liu Wei went up the stairs, let out the fakest laugh I had ever heard. The high pitch twitter she let out literally gave me goosebumps. How could Liu Yu Zeng put up with her this long without trying to kill her?

Swinging my head over to the man in question, he looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "It was hard," he said and Chen Zi Han nodded his head in agreement.  What the fuck! Was everyone a spirit user now?!?

"Nope," said Wang Chao with a sigh… "You still have an expressive face."

"Hey!" I cried in protest, "It's not my fault for what my facing is saying while she was talking."

The three men chucked and looked back to the mansion entrance to watch the drama unfold.

Sometime within the minutes that we were talking amongst ourselves, Wu Bai Hee had managed to get an octopus grip on Liu Wei's arm and was refusing to let go.  It was kind of funny to watch this 6'5 large man trying (unsuccessfully) to break out of her grasp. I would not be surprised if her feet were hanging off the ground with how high Liu Wei was holding the arm she was gripping.

I chuckled, willing to lend him a hand… but not an arm… I didn't want her hanging off anyone else that way. "Awe, thanks WeiWei," I croon, wiggling out of Wang Chao's arms and ascending the stairs. "You are so good at looking after me."

The high pitch squeal that the other woman let out made me want to laugh. "What? Did you think you were his Sweetheart?" I said as I pushed past the men that still had their guns pointed at me and stepped inside the mansion. "Bless your heart," I finished, blowing her a kiss.

Ignoring the chaos going on around me, I walked into the foyer and quickly found a room off to the side with couches and chairs.  The gothic/modern mansion had an open-concept main floor (ish) that I found myself admiring.  I say ish because the kitchen was still closed off… or at least nowhere to be seen.

And the fact that I am looking for the kitchen because that was typically where the supplies were, has nothing to do with anything… I promise.

I sat down in the middle of a couch and waited for the rest of the people to come in. Wang Chao was right, I should figure out the details before freaking out over where we were going next. The Old Master and the Octopus might not even want to leave…

But then… would Liu Wei stay with them?

I shook my head at all the thoughts scrambling through it.  One step at a time… and if Step One was not coming into play, then as a famous Queen once said back in my world: "Let them eat cake!"  I thought about which dessert I wanted as first, the Old Master entered the living room, followed by Liu Wei and Wu Bai Hee, and finally, the rest of the guys. 

Deciding that key lime crumble was the order of the moment, I took it out along with a glass of water and put it on the coffee table in front of me. The water… not the key lime crumble… that was firmly in my hands. Just as I was about to take a bite of the graham cracker crust, tart lime filling, and streusel topping, I heard a chuckle coming from behind me.  Seeing that Wang Chao was on my right and Liu Wei (who successfully managed to remove the Octopus) was on my left, I tilted my head back to see who was laughing behind me.

I would give him credit… Chen Zi Han quickly erased the smile from his face, but there was nothing that he could do about the twinkle in his eyes. I glared at the man and took a giant bite of paradise right in front of him. Slowly chewing, I turned my attention back to the Old Master and Wu Bai Hee… a.k.a the Octopus.

I smirked when I saw their attention on me as much as my attention was on them.  Taking another big bite of my dessert, I slowly gave them a big smile. "Can I help you?"

"You do realize that it is the epitome of rudeness to eat in a house that is not your own unless invited to by the owner, right?" came the snarky voice of the octopus.

Looking over to Liu Wei, I asked, "Can I eat this in your house?" I took his grunt as approval and took my third bite. I stared down at my plate for a second and realized that this dessert was disappearing too fast. Oh well… I guess that was why I had 59 others.  What? I believe in stockpiling my food. Hardly my fault… it's a side effect of already living through this apocalypse thing once before.

"There," I said to the manner police, "I have permission from the owner of the house to eat. Is it okay now?" I asked as I took my fourth and final bite of key lime crumble.  Refusing to lick the plate in front of the Octopus, I simply vanished it back into my space to save the crumbs for later.  Taking a quick sip of my water, I looked around the room. "Now what?"

"Now, we take them home," said Liu Wei, taking my hand in his and slowly rubbing the top of it.

"I caught that the first time you said it," I snapped pulling back my hands with a roll of my eyes.  If he thinks rubbing my hand will make me less stressed or angry, he had another thing coming. The only cure for stress or anger was desserts and he did not have a supply of his own so he was S.O.L. "What home?"

Liu Wei froze when I asked him that question and I realized that just like me, he had no idea.  Liu Wei turned to look at Liu Yu Zeng who was standing just behind him and beside Chen Zi Han.  Why those two weren't sitting, I had no idea, but I was not about to ask. 

Liu Yu Zeng simply shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in his grandfathers' direction. Wait… the old man was supposed to decide where we were going?!? Were they insane?!? Couldn't we just kill the two of them and be done with everything?