"Wow, kid, you're good at cooking," Li Xiang commented as Mei proudly brought her delicious masterpiece to the dinner table.
Mei beamed.
"This will, like, totally earn you popularity points," Li Xiang continued.
"Like a romance video game or something?" Mei asked curiously.
"First off, video games haven't been invented yet. Second off, yes, pretty much. Third off, what do you do with your time?"
Mei shot him a sulky glare.
Li Xiang suddenly glanced out the window. "Drat." He quickly shoved Mei under the table. "Stay there and be quiet. The psycho juniors are coming back."
"Won't they see me easily though?" Mei asked, looking at Li Xiang with trusting, innocent eyes.
"Oh, f- you're right. Do you have a tablecloth?"
"I found one in the drawer when I was cooking."
"Thank goodness! Man, this entire story is like a bunch of lucky coincidences. Quick, kid, get the table cloth out!"
Mei rushed out of the table and began to rummage through the drawer like crazy. Meanwhile, a pale-faced Li Xiang was staring out of the window tensley.
"I found it!" Mei suddenly proclaimed, proudly brandishing a red table cloth with blue embroidery.
"Re-set up the table with it!" Li Xiang ordered, "I'll distract them!"
"Okay!" Mei squeaked.
Li Xiang charged outside and immediately crashed into Ngai. Both the two brothers and a duck went flying. Luckily for Ngai and unluckily for Li Xiang, Ngai managed to keep hold of his paddle.
Ngai stood up, glaring at the out-of-breath Li Xiang on the ground while brandishing his paddle.
"What do you think you were doing?" Ngai thundered.
"Like, uh, I wanted to hug you!" Li Xiang lied quickly.
"You're lying," Everyone chorused.
"No, I'm not!" Li Xiang said defensively, "Can't I be happy to see my older brothers?"
Yao bought it first.
"Oh, my dear little brother, I'm so happy to see you to!" Yao crooned, wrapping Li Xiang into a tight embrace. "Aiya, I missed you so much. Did you clean like Kiku asked you to?"
"I, uh, like, made dinner!" Li Xiang said quickly, trying to change the subject. "I mean, there is dinner, but-"
"You good little dear!" Yao squealed.
"I'm not five," Li Xiang grumbled.
Yao smiled sadly. "Ah, yes. They grow up so quick. I still remember when you were a little baby and you tried to steal Batbayer's composite bow. Such good memories. How I miss those days, when the world was still young…"
A tear slid down Yao's cheek.
"Like, don't cry!" Li Xiang yelped, quickly trying to wipe away his elder brother's tears. "I- cr- dinner!"
Yao nodded, smiling weakly. "Of course. You all must be so hungry."
Li Xiang sighed in relief. "Yeah. Let's, like, get going."