Chapter 7

Yi and Jin had boarded a high-speed train along with their animal companion Kai, which lied on the floor in front of their feet resting. Yi held on her hands her smartphone showing the display to Jin as he observed Yi using the tracking app he had mentioned to Yi back as they needed it.

"They're in Shangquiu right now," Jin mentioned pointing at the phone symbol on Yi's smartphone. "That's the station we stop in about 90 minutes. If we're lucky, we manage to catch them up"

"I don't know, if we're going to manage this, Jin. They could when we arrive, board another train and be miles away from us again" Yi mentioned making the Chinese boy groan annoyed.

"How are we going to cross their way?" Jin questioned the friend. "This line here is the only one going to the west direction and it's the fastest one"

"I know what you mean, but we gotta be anticipate everything. We will always be many hours away from each other, no matter, which way we pick"

"Right" The boy agreed. "At least we've got your smartphone to seek for directions…...and watch over Peng,"

"We will find him,"

"I don't doubt that" Yi added making Jin smile a little. Yi placed her phone back inside the pocket of her shorts, then leaned back on the seat glancing across the cabin at the digital indicator, which showed the current velocity the train was going at the moment. Jin admired Yi as she was looking across the cabin, then he rolled his eyes down thinking about something, then he gazed back at the teenage girl.

"Thank you for coming on this trip with me" Jin added, then Yi looked at the friend gazing normally at him. "It's good to have someone that could help me out with this case"

"No problem" Yi answered. "That's what friends are for"

"Yeah…..uhm about that...well" Jin began while passing his hand behind his neck rubbing it feeling slightly tensed. "I've been thinking…..last time at the roof, I've thought about the past, how we were before, the way I acted towards you, how we both had changed over the time"

"Yeah"

"I've been wondering….if it wasn't for that trip with Everest, we would have never reconciled. I would still be the same selfish idiot I was before and I would probably still be taking lots of girls on a date and well…..It was rude from my side"

"At least you're not the same as you were at that time. You have changed for the better, just like me" Yi mentioned earning a nod from the raven-haired boy.

"Yeah I mean Imagine me at med school still picking up many other girls on dates as I did back in high school?" Jin scoffed watching Yi hold her hand in front of her mouth chuckling a little.

"I can imagine them being worse as some of the girls you dated and slapped you on the face for you having found another girl right after them"

"I don't really wanna know, what they would do to me. Honestly, on that part of my life, I wasn't even realizing what type of a douche I had become. That trip really did well to me"

"The same to me" Yi added. "Also if you didn't talk to me at that time as my violin had broken and you came to see me I wouldn't have figured out, how I was avoiding contact with my family" Yi mentioned dropping her head down looking at the dog, that was napping.

"You were on a hard phase of your life Yi. Not everybody knows how to deal with that type of situation" Jin explained to the girl as he placed his hand on her shoulder for console. "Mostly if he was one of the important persons in your life"

"Yeah, it took me a while to surpass it" Yi mentioned and the friend nodded in confirmation.

"It didn't matter how long it took you thought" Jin added earning a nod from Yi, then looked at Jin's hand still on her shoulder, afterward he wide his eyes believing she felt bad about it and took it away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to molest you with this"

"No it's alright Jin, I…..just forget how it felt like"

"Uh alright" Jin responded a little unsure at the girl's comment, soon he jumped in surprise as the dog under them raised his head to gaze at Yi with a hangdog look making her smile a little. Kai swung his tail slapping Jin on his leg, making him shake his head in a playful manner and watched the dog put his legs on Yi's lap to sniff her face, making her laugh and he started to lick her face, which forced Yi into more laughing.

"Hey no please stop this" Yi asked while Jin sat beside her seeing the girl now happy, then the boy caressed the dog on his back and it lied his head down on Yi's lap while moving the tail back and forth.

Inside a restaurant, Dave sat along with Peng in front of a table for two looking at the menu card.

"I'm going to pick Kung Pao Chicken for lunch" The raven-haired man affirmed placing his menu card down looking at the child Peng, which was still looking at his menu.

"I'm not sure. Jiaozi and Huntun are delicious. The Spring rolls are great too, but they don't fry them here according to the card. And even the sweet-sour pork meat looks yummy," Peng enunciated indecisive about the menus he had encountered on the card.

"Don't you have a favorite out of them?" Dave questioned the boy, that was glancing at the adult.

"Pork buns are my favorite food, but I don't find it on the list" Peng answered, then Dave checked his own menu card and looked back at Peng.

"Did you check the other side?" The man asked, then Peng opened the menu card and looked bewildered as he realized there were actually two additional pages on his menu card.

"Oh…..Thanks" Peng responded a little embarrassed and found the meal he had asked about. "Hey, I never tried baozi with minced meat" Peng mentioned interested at one of the variations he saw on the card.

"That's cool, maybe I'm gonna try that out too" Dave decided as he was on the same site as Peng watching the menus. "Or no I'm going to take these ones with red bean filling. That's very sweet you know"

"My stomach doesn't take beans very well"

"Okay well, then it's probably the best, if you take the one with minced meat or the pork meat variant"

"Yeah, I'm gonna do that" Peng mentioned moving to the next page then squealed as he saw the list of the drinks. "They've got Shooga Cola!"

"That's great, but don't yell it out around. We're in a restaurant" Dave warned the boy, which nodded at the adult.

"I'm sorry Dave"

"It's alright, I'm just pointing it out" The raven-haired man implied making the boy smile.

The waiter appeared by their table with a smartphone looking at the two males.

"Good day. Have you two already choose anything from the menu?"

"Yes," Dave answered. "I would like to order Kung Pao Chicken"

"And to drink?"

"Lemonade"

"Alright," The man replied noticing on the smartphone the order. "What about you, young man?"

"Baozi with minced meat filling and Shooga Cola" Peng answered so the waiter could add it to the order list of their table.

"Thank you for your order," The waiter said leaving their table walking to the next one, leaving the two guys alone. Behind Dave passed another waiter bringing a menu card to a brown-dressed person, which was reading a magazine, which had on the front cover an image of Mr. Burnish standing in front of his new enclosure for endangered, rare animals. The person behind the magazine raised her head slowly glancing over it seeing Peng talk to the adult.

"I'd like to become a basketball superstar when I get older" Peng confessed the adult. "If I don't make it becoming one, I might want to look for something with animals;"

"You still have a few years in front of you, until you have a better idea. Becoming a basketball star…..If you really work hard on your skills and show them off at the entrance examination, you got good chances" Dave avowed the boy, which nodded at the explanation of the man, then noted behind him a woman with blue eyes glancing over the magazine, then hide it behind it, making Peng tilt his head afterward he saw Mr. Burnish on the front cover.

"Hey, it's Mr. Burnish on that magazine cover" Peng pointed at the magazine, then Dave looked behind him to see the person holding the magazine closer to herself.

"Oh yeah, three weeks ago before his death he was interviewed. He showed a few pictures from the interior of the Burnish Industries and talked meeting three special kids, which of course were you and you two friends"

"Really?" Peng asked interested.

"Yes. He didn't mention your names thought. Maybe it had something to do with Everest, right?"

"I don't know, but I remember Jin having lied to his mom about having taken us to Beijing to the school he has chosen. Probably in case, our parents would watch the interview on TV, they would have questioned us about it,"

"Yeah well it could also be a coincidence, there are many people with the same name" Dave mentioned earning a nod from the boy.

A waitress showed up carrying a plate with the drinks for Peng and Dave, then poured them into their glass and placed each bottle in front of them, then continued her way.

"Dave, do you think we will see Everest, when we arrive up at the mountain?" The child questioned as he saw the man taking a sip from his drink. Dave placed the glass down, pondering about the boy's question.

"That's a good question. He does know how you look like and you don't seem to have changed a lot. I believe if he sees you, he's gonna recognize you"

"It would be so amazing if I could see him again. See how he's doing right now"

"Maybe we're going to get lucky up there and meet him again" Dave mentioned watching Peng smile excited at the thought of seeing his furry friend Everest again.

Behind the table, the woman stared at the two listening to their conversation, then furrowed her eyebrows in a determined way and sank her head down making tapping sounds on a smartphone revealing a red-colored straight hair.

"Can I take your order ma'am?" A waiter asked standing beside the person behind the magazine.

"Dim Sum" The woman answered holding her eyes at Peng and Dave.

"And to drink?"

"Water will just do it fine" The woman answered a little grumpy.

"Still or sparkling?" The waiter asked again making the woman roll her eyes.

"Still" She answered then the waiter left the woman back, which kept her eyes on the two raven-haired men.