Disclaimer: I don't own 1/2 prince, i just love it.


I woke up on my comfy bed and took off the game helmet; a week has passed since I last spoke to my brother. I'm still really mad at him; right now I'm giving him the cold shoulder, and completely ignoring his existence. You may think that since I'm always speaking harshly and my façade is cold and expressionless, it wouldn't be much of a difference, but it is.

I opened my eyes and saw my brother who was not smiling at all but had a really hurt look "Alice…"he was waiting for my forgiveness, I didn't turn around to see him, and I didn't spoke to him as I passed by his side and changed my clothes before leaving for the kitchen. He followed behind. I sat in the chair and started to eat breakfast, while he tried to make me stop ignoring him. He was failing miserably when Shen entered through the door.

I looked at his unusually pale face "Are you ok?"

Shen gave me a sad smile back and didn't reply. He has been depressed lately; it seems that he was still trying to figure out, who the mysterious archer -that confessed having a thing for him- was. Obviously, he didn't find the girl at all... I'm not supposed to know his situation, so I can't act different than usual around him; not that I would have done it anyway, but it somehow makes me feel, maybe, a tiny little bit guilty.


My day at school went perfectly normal, but soon after arriving home I discovered no one was around. I didn't give it much importance, and went to work in my room, and started to do some exercise.

Soon after resuming my routine I got a shower; then I started going through some documents. Suddenly the door of my room was opened by my big brother. For an instant I thought this was some kind of tactic to make me stop ignoring him, however it was only until I saw his wobbling self trip. He was drunk! Not thinking it twice, I saved my progress, and closed every chat and webpage.

After finishing that, I went to him to help him stand up. Out of the door I found another drunkard, Shen. It seems that after I managed to depress them both, they went out to drink together to drawn their sorrows…I guess I will have to take care of them since even if this isn't my fault, I'm partly responsible for this situation.

Running out of my room, I went ahead to wake up a couple of male workers, to help me move the two heavy, grown up men. But before that I asked them, if they could help me to move another bed to my brother's room, so I could watch both of them.

After they put my brother in his bed and his friend in the other one, I thanked them with a polite bow, and asked them to keep the situation a secret from my father. They nodded in understanding, and left.

As soon as the employees were gone, Big brother and Shen, started to say a lot of nonsense's, and kept going for over two hours, however the really nasty part was when they started to throw up over and over. It was really a nightmare. At some point it got so bad, that I had no choice but to wake up the two workers again and forced them to come back.

I stayed behind to keep an eye on Shen, meanwhile the gardener and the butler helped me drag away my brother. The reason I was beside Shen instead of with my brother was, that they took him away to give him a shower, so they could clean his body from the puke he was covered with. Starting to feel, like I was going to puke myself due to the nasty smell, I opened the windows; and soon after that, I gave instructions to throw his sweaty puked shirt. When they finished changing brother's somewhat lifeless body, into some clean clothes, I was relieved.

Luckily Shen wasn't that much of a stinky mess. And since he wasn't covered in puke, we decided to let him like that; he should be able to shower himself as soon as he sobers up. Still, he was pretty drunk; I would dare say that he was the most troublesome one. On his own, he stood up suddenly several times; behaving like he was completely ok, but each time he got up, he ended up hitting the floor with his face; the worst part was, that he kept mumbling something under his breath...

I wouldn't be surprised if I receive many resignation letters in the morning. I lost count of how many times I needed help with the troublesome duo. The number of employees who went sleepless that night, for some reason or another, was way too many. In order not to overburden the first two (who were extremely tired by the third time I woke them up) I had to wake up other male employees, and even the female staff ended up mixed in the nightmare,getting startled, by the noises from the unfortunate ones going back and forth. And since they were awake I decided to get them to help me clean the floor, and walls, and clothes. I had my hand full already… How can only two guys make so much trouble?


The rays of the sun came into the room next morning, another perfectly sunny day; after barely sleeping, it was all the more anoying to see. I really, really hate this kind of weather. After complaining inwardly for a long time, I dragged my feet out of the room; and made my way to the kitchen, to make some chicken soup.

To make things more annoying, I had to handle things to keep the employees for letting a word out of the whole incident, after some negotiation, I ended up giving all the staff the day off, as a compensation for last night; so even the chef wouldn't work today, meaning there was no breakfast today. Now that I think of it, when all of the workers wake up they won't have anything to eat… It's not like the exclusive-genius chef, my father hired, cooked for the people in the house. Most of those things were done by maids, but I gave them a paid vacation.

"Oh well, I guess I will make the food myself today" I muttered unhappily. Don't get me wrong I don't hate cooking, but doing so, for so many people, feeling like I hadn't slept for years, and being as mad as I am, isn't exactly thrilling.

After making the decision of cooking for everyone, I went shopping to buy the ingredients that we didn't have. I find myself hard to believe that, even if there is enough food to feed an army for a month, in my house, there wasn't all I needed to make normal food. Damn that chef and his stupid fancy food. Did I mention that I hate his food? The point is I have to buy some normal ingredients myself. Also since I was out, I took the chance to buy some medicine for their hangover. No one in my house has ever gotten drunk before, so it's natural that there was none.

I reached the house holding several heavy bags of food. Feeling a little bit less sleepy and in a better mood after breathing some air, I realized that it has being almost two years since I last cooked. Being that today, ended up being, some kind of private holiday in the Meng's household, and most workers were still sleeping, because they didn't get much rest last night; I could use the kitchen with neither interruptions, nor weird glances.

Cooking would be my hobby, if it weren't for the fact that I don't do it too often. According to my father, as a rich man's daughter, I'm not supposed to know how to cook; however I was taught by an old maid (who I always called Nanny) since I was little. She made sure I mastered all her recipes, and I had no choice but learning fast, she was always so lively despite being so old… It felt really lonely when she retired two years ago. Nanny considered that I should learn cooking diligently, because no matter what my father thinks, cooking is a must for a woman since the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I really miss her, and the food she did for me. Since she was gone the food never has a homemade feeling to it.

That I can cook it's not something I deliberately keep a secret; in fact, it's more of an open secret, but only the maids know about it. Nanny was the head of all the maids, and was respected and loved by all them. Before leaving she asked that, all my cooking activities so far should remain a secret. But even if they would never let out a word, I don't like cooking when they are around. They don't like me for being cold, and things get awkward, thus even if I could make my own meals daily, it's not something I usually do. Besides making a meal for only one person isn't any fun.

Having finished cooking a massive amount of food, I went to take a peek into my brother's room. They were awake by the time I did so. But they didn't seem to notice me out the door.

"My head is killing me" said Shen

"Tell me about it" Replied big brother

I knocked the door softly and they looked at me with sour-faces, while holding their heads.

I didn't turn on the lights; I read on the internet that, when you deal with people who drank too much, you should avoid making loud sounds and turning on the lights. I handed each one a hot plate of warm soup and a spoon, and left soon afterwards. I guess it's time I wake up the maids so they don't get their food cold. Then I'm sure they will take care of waking up the others.


meanwhile...

"The food today is really good, I never ate anything like this before" exclaimed Shen a little surprised.

"Our chef is in charge of making the food, but today it doesn't taste like usual" Lian added.

"Well, maybe some maid cooked instead"

"It makes sense; after all, I eat his food daily; I would have recognized it"

"You already have a chef, do you mind if I steal this maid of yours?" Shen asked seriously.

"No way, after finding who it is, I'll make her responsible for Alice's food, she barely eats any food, and when she does, she doesn't look like she likes it"

"Your sister doesn't look like she likes anything anyway, she is so unexpressive"

"She isn't like that, she can be really expressive!"

"Are you sure you didn't imagine it? I have known her for years and I never saw her showing any emotion, I think that, there are only two logical explanations; either she was born with something broken or she is made of stone"

"I may have agreed with that not too long" Lian paused "but the other day, when I saw her crying, I could see how fragile she was"

"You mean last week… when I found you hugging her in her room? I saw her and she looked like always, I was convinced that you were being nonsensical when you said she needed you. But I realized, something should have happen, for you, to change the date of a mayor conference so you could go home early"

"But she got really mad at me afterwards"

"Speaking of which, what did you do to make her mad. She should be used to your complex already, and yet she is so angry even I can tell"

"I was just worried, that she was late and went to pick her up at her school…"

"So you did do something, it must have been something pretty big, I have to admit, that it's the first time I noticed that she has a bad temper. How can she still be so mad after a week?"


*Knock knock knock*

"I came to take away the dishes" I announced, before I picked up the plates and the spoons, entering the room once again, with two cups of coffee and some medicine, handling it to them. I saw as they gulped it down before leaving again, to put the plates in the dish-washer.

"Today's coffee tastes awesome too" Lian smiled "How unexpected"

Shen looked at his best friend and being dead serious he declared "I will snatch away the girl who made this no matter what"

"Hey, you can't do that"

"You sure can't" I agreed from the door "If you manage to bring her with you, things would get really troublesome"

The two friends looked in my direction a bit startled. They were surprised that I interrupted their conversation, and making such a weird statement to boot.

"Why?" they managed to ask after a while.

Not feeling like telling my brother that I was the one who cooked for them, so I could save me a possible annoyingly happy reaction, I replied "No reason in particular" not giving the matter much importance "But she wouldn't want to go with you" I added.

Big brother looked at me with confusion, but Shen, who felt insulted by my statement, asked me angrily "What's wrong with me? I don't remember causing trouble for anyone in the staff"

When Shen looked at me fiercely I widened my eyes a little for a brief moment. Shen didn't remember about last night! And probably my brother didn't either.

All of a sudden, Shen widened his eyes too, and turned to look at my big brother 'Her face moved! I didn't imagine it, right?' was written all over his face. My brother also had a lost expression. Now I'm sure he doesn't remember anything about last night either… just how much did they drink?

Seeing Shen's face full of disbelief, I started to feel extremely pissed. Talk about an overreaction. I only made a little gesture; he is getting a tad too shocked. I might be a little inexpressive, but it's not like can't have expressions, how rude!

I didn't say a word for a while, and I have the impression that they were talking about something, but I wasn't paying attention. I was in a daze; the little gesture made me pissed, that plus the fact that I was already in a bad mood, made me remember the recent in-game event with Shen, and that made me go from pissed, to extremely angry. Turning around on my heels, I laid my eyes upon Shen, and gave him a cold look, a really freezing one, before I left hastily.


"Did I just manage to offend your sister?" Shen was really dumbfounded "What did I do to make her mad?"

"I don't know..." Lian said totally dumbfounded "I seriously doubt that my sister would get pissed at us for discussing about work matters"

"You are right, I didn't say anything insulting, and I wasn't even talking to her" Shen complained… "Your little sister sure is weird"

"She might be weird, but I don't think she would get mad for not reason all of a sudden"

Some time passed and then Shen gasped in realization "maybe it's over the maid issue; she probably is friends with the one I wanted to take away with me"

"I don't think so; Alice has never been on friendly terms with anyone on the staff"

"How mysterious, then, why did she get mad? I don't get it…" Shen's words started getting smaller when he finally realized that I was by the door. He then kept quiet for a while before a "Since when have you been listening?" slipped through his lips.

"Your little sister sure is weird" I repeated, and then looked at him, slightly amused. To think that something Starlight would say came out of Shen's mouth. How interesting, my bad mood disappeared somewhere, for a brief moment before a worrisome thing came to mind. I forgot to let her know that I wasn't going to get in game last night, I totally forgot, I should have given her a call! To think, that I went so far as to ask her for her cell number and I totally forgot about it, I'm soooooo doomed.

Feeling totally depressed I handled a piece of chocolate pie to each of them, and then sat in a chair staring at the slice of the pie I made; that I brought to eat, but was now on my lap.

"Are you planning to stay?" Big brother asked me a bit surprised. Didn't he care that I was so depressed? I changed my mood two times in five seconds… Oh right, I forgot that my emotions don't usually show in my face, so he couldn't have noticed.

Not knowing what to feel anymore, I looked up at him with half open eyes "I don't have anything better to do" I was feeling totally drained. I sighed and put a piece of pie in my mouth, before I started chewing it. My sigh didn't go unnoticed, and soon the silence in the room was so thick that you could hear a pin drop.

I guess I better forgive my brother, if he gets drunk again, and I forget logging in once more, I might have to deal with the GM's wrath… I might as well forget all about playing Second Life again, if that were to happen. A moment after finishing the little food in my mouth I turned to look at Shen "Can you go shower or something? I have to speak with my brother for a moment"

Happy to leave the heavy atmosphere, he nodded, and, with the dessert still in his hand he left the room.

As soon as Shen was out of sight I started "Big brother" but then I paused, looking at him jolt at my serious tone. I closed my eyes and in a solemn tone I finished "I'm sorry"

"Huh?" Big brother seemed to be puzzled. And I can understand why, I was refusing to look at him five minutes ago.

"I'm apologizing" you usually say 'I'm sorry for that right?' I'm so not used to apologizing.

"But why? I was the one who made you mad" he stared at me with wariness "You didn't even accept my apologies, and now you… are apologizing yourself?"

"Indeed, I also think that you are the one to blame; but even if you deserve that, I keep ignoring you, I'm apologizing" I was obviously not sorry at all.

Big brother didn't know what to say in return of my sincere words, and I saw his jaw dropping. Was I a bit too harsh? I quickly amended "I should have been more mature" well not really, I just felt a bit bad because I was the one who triggered his outburst… But doing it in the school…Damn, I still want to punch him. I should be punching him really hard, ambushing me at school wasn't the only reason anymore; he deserves a beating for making so much trouble while being drunk. Geeze yesterday was even more awful than what happened at school last week. Big brother, you better be glad I'm letting you go, even if I'm not doing it, for your sake.

I was too immersed thinking how happy I would be if I could plumber him to the ground, and didn't realize that he looked at me with a helpless look "It's not about being mature, you make people worry" he said, bringing me back to reality.

What an unexpected thing to hear in this situation; but then again, I'm getting that a lot lately from certain someone "I know" I replied shortly.

"You know?" he asked me with disbelief.

I nodded "I hear it quite often" and my friend isn't the only one who does so, there is also the president of my company and my two hacking mentors that are like brothers to me….

"You talk to people?" My brother interrupted my thinking; he seemed to be really surprised at my words "I thought you were always alone"

How rude, of course I talk to people "What kind of person doesn't talk to people?" most of them are people I don't know in person, and I have almost no friends, but I have many connections in the stock market, and in many online casinos, I have all kinds of online teachers; but above all that I have at least a thousand coworkers and underlings, including about twenty trustworthy office workers who are under my direct command… granted that I'm in disguise, and under an alias when we are together, so they don't know me as Alice… I see, so that's why my brother think I'm always alone. But I can't be open about the people I interact with, after all my two hacking mentors who I convinced to join the company went really pale after they met me, and the president of the company was about to faint; if I told my brother all he might as well die from the shock.

My brother was still lost for words when my cell started ringing. I took it out of my pocket, flicked it open and started replying several work related text messages. What a big blunder, I also forgot to send the documents; I have to finish them before the deadline. I'm really fast typing so it didn't take me long replying all my worried underlings for the unprecedented dely. In a couple of minutes I finished with it, and put the phone back where I took it.

"Sorry, you were saying?" I looked at him once again.

He looked baffled "What happened to your other phone?" it was his first time seeing my work device, no wonder he didn't recognize it.

I took it out my second phone out of my pocket "You mean this one?"

I don't know why, he started to look as his headache was returning "Why do you have two phones?"

What kind of question was that? "Because I do?" I rose an eyebrow.

"How?" he asked not making much sense.

"Having two phones these days is normal" I pointed out "Do you find it that weird, that I bought a second one?" I don't really get what's so surprising about it, but I felt that this pointless conversation was getting too long "Do you have any other stupid question?" I said icily, wanting to drop the matter.

His mouth dropped for some reason. My poor big brother, it seems he doesn't have common sense. I looked at him feeling slightly worried, I guess that I should keep an eye on him. Oh well, I have an appointment, and since he didn't look like he was going to ask anything else, I stood up "Well, since we made up, I will be taking my leave" I waved a hand at him going away.

However In my way out I almost bumped into Shen who was wearing a very loose shirt and some pajama pants. With the sweet yet manly smell he was giving off and his wet long hair that was slightly messy, he actually looks so sexy, it's a good thing I know him so well; if this was our first meeting I would have fallen for him. How can girls leave him alone with his looks? That's really a wonder...

I was daze out for a moment, but was brought back to reality when my phone rang again, Uncle Long is calling for me, I better leave. I was about to leave the mansion when I saw a maid going around the house, with casual clothes… I almost forgot! I walked back to big brother's room to warn the two drunkards "Don't bother the employees, I gave them the day free"

"But today isn't a holiday" big brother looked confused, and then Shen stood up suddenly "You are right, we should be going to the office"

At this I stepped into the room "I forbid you to leave the house with a hangover and those dark circles under your eyes" I walked in Shen's direction and pushed him down to the bed "I called a sick leave for both of you"

After being forced in the bed by me, he got pissed; looking at me in a full rage "Our job doesn't concern you, you should stay out of this, after all we are the ones who have to deal with the consequences… It's none of your business"

"None of my business?" I mumbled

*bang* I punched the wall with all my strength making it crack, how dare he say that, and why is my brother just sitting there like a statue? After annoying me to no end, after chasing me in-game, after making me look after them all night, after I dealt with the workers in the house, and ended up making food for everyone, I even went shopping, and made sure that my father wouldn't hear a word from this.

Now I was royally pissed "Do as you please then" I said getting my arm back to a normal position "I will be taking my leave" my face was perfectly cold when I looked at them, not showing any expression. Then I walked away. Let's see how you handle it; I won't protect you from here on. I won't even explain the situation with the staff, for you, go ahead, and deal with it by yourselves.

While I was getting out I heard Shen's panicked voice "Lian are you ok? What happened?" and I turned my head to look back as a reflex. Shen shook my big brother, but he remained all stiff. I wonder why… he couldn't have been able to see the shadow in my eyes. Was he still in shock that people nowadays carried around more than one phone? I guess maybe it's some sort of generational gap; oh well, that's not important right now. I can't keep losing my time here. The messages didn't specify why I must attend personally, but I since it's really rare for me to be summoned, I guess it should be something important. Not turning back I grabbed my purse, a bag with change of clothes, and left the house.


.


AN: This was supposed to come out on Friday, but I have a party then, and i have an appointment tomorrow... If I have the sudden urge to post another chapter this week I will do so... but i hightly doubt it.

The first time I wrote this chapter I made Alice show much more emotion, and wrote a lot about Starlight, Nanny, Alice's childhood, the first meeting with big brother, and Shen. I will probably write all that again, but I think all of it needs a lot of polishing. i guess i should re-write the second part of the POV after this :(

Next chapter we will Alice with her step family… or so I call them, but they are people close to her in the office, there are 3 people so far that know her as Alice in there; I don't plan to make more people there who know about it. Just in case the two hacking mentors will become her big brother, and her big sister. And the uncle she got a call from was the president of the company. None of them know about Darkness, or Shen, or Lian. Alice keeps both of her family life, and her secret working life entirely apart. In fact she is unnecessarily secretive, and this one of the reasons she makes other people worry.

Other aspect that makes other's worry is her lack of common sense. How could she be so dense? I would also be shocked if my non-talkative sister, who I have never seen with anyone; beside the guy who almost raped her years ago; Happened to befriend random people, and have two cell-phones all of a sudden. And there she goes, thinking it was a generational gap. If I weren't the one writing about her, I, would be worried about her well being too.

I guess, I'm left flying solo again, have I been dumped? oh well. Until the next one. And don't forget the review (^v^)