DISCLAIMER: So I finally saw Ant-Man in theaters and may I say that is was amazing. I loved Jonathan Majors's performance as Kang the Conqueror. With the movie setting up the second season of Loki and Kang's definite return in Avengers: Kang Dynasty, I'd say were all in for a wild ride in the multiverse for the MCU. Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy.

C/W: Little bit of violence like punching or slapping.

Everyone was seated at the bleachers outside during recess, still slaving and toiling away at their endeavors, crafting more and more red panda stuff together, but it was really starting to get boring and exhausting after a while. Each day fashioning their merchandise that passes by feels like an eternity and they're all working their butts off non-stop trying to give the fans what they want and capitalize and monetize their red panda empire trying to get to that concert because every dollar and coin counts.

But all work and no play was carefully extracting a heavy toll on their physical strength and stamina until it just became increasingly difficult to keep up with their work performance. Kris was busy counting the money with Mei while their friends were piecing keychains together, each of them looking ready to collapse from exhaustion at any moment. The boys really wanted to give up, but they were doing it for their girlfriends. To ease everyone's minds from their tireless labor and help save their sanity, Miriam started checking out the basketball players on the court.

"Check out #12. He's got delts for days." She pointed out.

"Forget that. I need lunch. I'm starting to BLACK OUT!" Abby wailed into the air, then slumped right onto Rudolf's lap, looking as if she just died from hunger. "All this work is killing me, Dolfie."

"There, there, my dear." Rudolf cooed to her, gently petting and kissing her head and holding her tightly to enjoy the feel of her soft, plump body in his arms.

"Shut up, you two." Stig snapped, looking ready to lose his mind. "Gah! Is this really all we're gonna do?"

"I think I'm getting carpal tunnel." Priya groaned, leading her head back tiredly.

"No pain, no gain, Priya." Kris told her.

"Yeah, come on. Chop-chop!" Mei piped up, looking over the money eagerly whilst her friends were desperate to do anything but work. "$5, $10…"

"Girl, relax."

"Yeah. We're doing our best." Roar spoke. "I'm using up my allowance money making these trinkets, just so you know."

"It's not enough!" Mei panicked as red panda ears materialized and her hands turned into paws in direct response to her apprehensiveness at the fear that they weren't making enough cash in time. Kris desperately tried to calm her down by holding her shoulders, but it wasn't helping.

"The concert's this Saturday and we're still a hundred short! I knew we should've charged more for photos! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Mei, take a deep breath in." Kris then gripped her tightly, rubbing her up and down to help relax her nerves. "Do it with me. In and out. In and out."

Mei followed his instructions and copied his actions, inhaling in through her nostrils until her emotions dialed down and finally, the ears and paws vanished.

"Thanks, Kris." Miriam smiled. "Why don't you boys go have fun on the court while we and Mei have a little girl time?"

"Okay." He shrugged and let go of Mei, climbing down off the bleachers with Stig, Roar and Rudolf as they joined the other kids in their warmups before playing a game together. Back on the bleachers, Miriam convinced Mei to slow down and take some time off while they ogled at the boys on the court, fawning over them all like fangirls admiring their favorite stars. Some of the players even began flexing their muscles for the girls, showing off the goods, which angered the four boys.

"Hey, watch the eyes, pal." Stig warned one of them.

But thankfully it wasn't the players the girls were observing with admiration, but their boyfriends (and secret crush).

"Looking good, Dolphin baby!" cheered Abby.

"Nice calves, Roar!"

"Give 'em hell, Gomez!"

"Hey, Kris!' Mei shouted. "Are you a triangle? Because you are acute!"

Then the girls giggled. Now Kris's face contorted at that joke thrown his way. Mei was only brightening up the situation, but sounded way too cringe worthy to be funny. Is she seriously flirting with him using math jokes?

"Is she fucking serious?" Stig remarked with disbelief.

But then Kris was roughly shoved to the ground, hitting his face and knees against the pavement of the court as he groaned in pain.

"Kris!" Mei and the girls screamed.

Yes, it was none other than the Monroes with Moose, obviously, being the one to push Kris. They all laughed at the fallen boy's misery and pain. While the basketball players all backed away from the trio, Kris's friends stayed by his side.

"Well, lookie heah, fellahs. Bengtsson and his dweebs sellin' them cutesy red panda toys. What a bunch a' fags!" Moose retorted.

"Yeah, fags!" parroted Debbie.

"HEY! LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Abby roared with thunderous fury, climbing off the bleachers to come face-to-face with the towering brute picking on her boyfriend and friends.

"Oh, look at dat!" Moose snarked. "Now Steinie boy's gaht his tubby girlfriend coverin' his ass. Ya pussy!"

"Hey! I said leave them alone, you…..you… beached whale!" snarled Abby, her face turning scarlet with rage.

"Oooooh!" The Monroes exclaimed with feigned surprise and shock.

"Cute. Real cute. Whatcha gonna do about it, Pinkie Pie? Huh?" The Moose dared, poking her on the nose.

"Oh, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna kick your fat ass! That's what I'm gonna do!" Abby threatened, getting madder.

"Pfft, right." Moose rolled his eyes, unfazed. "Let's see it then."

"Alright, you asked for it! Take this, meathe-!" Abby raised a fist and got ready to punch that smirk off of his face, but then Moose got the drop on her first as he punched the Korean girl right in the face, knocking her to the ground before she could even land a hit.

"Abby, no!"

Rudolf rushed to her aid and then other girls rushed over as well. He lifted her up and checked her face for injuries. Seeing her friend hurt, Mei turned to Moose with a glare.

"What? Ah'm not afraid to hit a girl." Moose simply shrugged nonchalantly. His two siblings laughed along with him.

"Alright, THAT'S IT!" Mei roared like a mother bear about to defend her cubs from the hunters. She panda'd out right in front of the Monroes and pushed Moose to the ground and stared down at him with the most intimidating beast mode look on her face, baring her claws. Even Bruce and Debbie looked scared shitless.

"Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with my friends!" She yelled with a flaming breath, punching a fist against her palm. "If you three idiots don't leave right now, I swear I'm gonna show you a Crunch of my own! Don't think I won't!"

"Hmmph, fine." Moose shrugged, getting back up. "Ah'll let this one go. Fah now. Youse got lucky, monkey boy."

The Moose stared warningly at Kris.

"Ah'll get ya, next tahme. Count on it." Moose began to leave with his siblings before turning back to Mei. "And ya tell dat prickly mom a' yours that ah said suck it!"

Mei glared at the bullies as they took their leave before returning to normal and moving over to the down Abby.

"Are you okay, Abby?"

"I think he chipped my tooth." Abby winced with a whimper, clutching her aching cheek, tears forming in her eyes. Rudolf kissed her wounded cheek for her.

"Poor baby. Does that help?" He asked.

"Thanks, babe." And she smiled.

"Ugh! I can't believe that." Miriam snarled. "It's just….the absolute nerve of that guy! Who does he think he is?!"

"Yeah, to the darkness with those demons should they repent their sins." Priya glowered.

"You scare me in the most alluring way possible, cara mia." Her goth boyfriend compliment, holding her hand.

"I aim to please, mon cher." She purred back.

"Why, why, why?" Roar groaned, facepalming with both hands at their unearthly form of flirtation for each other.

"그 형편없고 고릴라 얼굴에 부풀어오른 자루 같은 똥덩어리!" Abby hollered in her native tongue. "One of these days, I'm gonna have my hands wrapped around that thick, blubbery throat of this, choke the life out of him, throw him against a wall and break every bone in his body! OW!"

"Leave it, Abbs. It's not worth it." Priya told her sternly, pressing a calming hand on the ranting girl's head, whose fiery tirade caused her bruised cheek to hurt in the process, making her wince.

"How do you put up with this, Kris? Every day! As if dealing with my mom at work was bad enough." Mei reminded her friend and crush.

"I'm a calm and reasonable guy. It comes with the territory." He delicately stated.

"Hey, Lee. Get over here." A familiar voice called Mei over to the bleachers where the little louse Tyler was chilling out under. Mei groaned and rolled her eyes. What could he possibly want right now?

"What is it, Tyler?" She demanded.

"I wanna talk to you, Lee."

"What are you doing under there?" Rudolf asked.

"Yeah, are you hiding from the Monroes?" Stig jeered.

"Shut up! I am not!" Tyler instantly argued. "Only babies hide from them. Anyway, Lee, I wonder if your mom knows about her precious little Mei-Mei is flaunting the panda around the school."

"Oh, how dare he." Roar scoffed.

This struck a nerve in the red haired bespectacled girl who poofed into red panda and charged underneath the bleacher to face her rival directly in the face.

"That's none of your business!" She yelled, but Tyler held up his cell phone threateningly.

"One more step and I'll tell her everything. Now put that thing away and hear me out."

Not wanting to risk jeopardizing their whole operation, Mei reluctantly and begrudgingly turned human to listen. Kris and the boys decided to play a little basketball while the conversed with Kris secretly hoping that Tyler doesn't say anything to cause Mei to whip his ass or else the 4*Town plan is ruined and Ming will get mad at her and all of them. A furious Ming was the last thing Kris needed right now.

Turns out that Tyler wants to bring her red panda to his birthday party on Friday and wants his party to be a majorly sick one at that. Kris has never been one for parties and neither was Stig. But Mei, on the other hand, her mother would never have allowed her to attend such festivities and she would certainly be pissed off if Mei ever went to one so this would be an even bigger risk she'd be taking. Against all odds, Mei agreed to the boy's terms and demanded a huge payment in return of $200 to be exact.

Of course, Kris still had a bad feeling about this. Mei's absence will be noticed one way or another and when and if it will be, things will get ugly really fast. And regarding the fact that Ming was always on Mei's case about something, that was a tremendously huge "if".

"A birthday party?" Stig gaped. "Is he for real?"

"What choice do we have?" Mei shrugged. "Besides, he's offering $200. We'll go to his place, I do my thing and we'll bounce. Easy as pie."

"Will there be pie, too?" asked Rudolf dumbly. "Boysenberry or plum?"

"What about your mom?" Kris asked. "She'll kill you for this, you know."

"Don't worry about her." Mei shrugged off. "I'll just be back before she even notices I'm gone."

"You sound way too confident about this." Stig muttered distrustfully.

"Also, Kris, it would be helpful if you were there with me." Mei walked up to said boy with pleading eyes.

"Wait, what?" He cried. "Are you kidding? But your mom-"

"Will you forget about my mom already!?" She shouted desperately. "Look, it's going to be fun. Just you and me. And it'll just be panda time for one hour, no more and no less."

Granted, Kris still had a bad feeling and he knew in hindsight, things were bound to go wrong sooner or later. All in all, though, a party does sound like fun so he was complaisant.

"Okay." He relented.

"Eeeeeeeeeeee!" Mei squealed with delight and swung her arms around him tightly in a hug of gratitude. Kris blushed and hugged her back.

"Well, you guys can go without me." The reticent Stig chided. "I don't do parties."

"Yeah, I think I'll take rain check myself." Roar added, rubbing his arm nervously. "We're eating at our grandparents' place tonight and we're having sauerkraut and sausages."

"No thank you." Rudolf simply said.

"Your loss." Miriam sighed, but took it regardless.

Kris went home that night to inform his mother of the party and she agreed to drive him there. Stig decided not to go, of course. Come Friday night, Elsa drove him over to the address that was on the flier Tyler had given them. It was a huge place like a mansion. Tyler must come from a rich upper-class family or something to be living there. Anyway, nearly the entire school was at the party. Mostly everyone he knew; Stacy Frick, the goth girl and her peeps, everyone. Thankfully, the Monroes weren't there. Tyler was undoubtedly too scared of them to want to invite them of all people to his party and Kris could thank him for that.

Elsa wished him good luck and to have a fun time and to call her on his cell phone to pick him up afterwards. Party looked rather swell and superb to be honest. Everyone with their red panda apparel, there was food like pizza, popcorn and candy, the drinks were some diet soda and a few board games to play. The song "Cha Cha Slide" by DJ Casper was playing on the surround sound. Abby, Priya and Miriam were already there, sitting on the couch, but there was no sign of Mei yet.

She probably got caught up in some family matter, most likely. But now this party was starting to blow hard with Mei not being here to red panda this place up and Tyler was getting increasingly impatient and bored.

"Where is she?" He groaned.

The girls were struggling to maintain their smiles and tried coming up with ways to keep the party interesting, like playing Boggle or doing charades. Nothing really helped, because it only made everything more boring. Still no red panda.

But then it finally happened.

Mei's arrival.

….which was met with disappointment. Mei chose to come wearing that hideous red panda mascot suit instead of the real deal.

Kris cringed.

"Yo! What up, peeps?" She grinned forcefully.

"What are you wearing?" Tyler demanded with dissatisfaction.

"Hey, Tyler! Happy Birthday!"

"I'm paying for the red panda, not this garbage! Deal's off!" The rich boy complained, but Mei was determined.

"Wait! Can garbage do this?" Mei barrelled her way inside and started doing a weird dance move by swirling her hips in a circle. "Come on! Stir the porridge! Come on! Stir the porridge!"

Enough was enough.

Kris grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her to the side alongside her friends.

"Alright, what's up with this?" He demanded.

"Okay, guys, just trust me on this, but…..I can't panda anymore." Mei admitted sadly. "I'm sorry."

"What? No!" The friends shouted in dismay.

"Mei, we're getting so close. You can't give up now." reasoned Kris. "You've been dying for this concert."

"We'll figure something out." Miriam said.

"Like what?" Kris looked skeptical.

"I won't go." Priya crossed her arms as she declared.

"What? Priya, you can't not go. Jesse's your soul mate. Not that you should dump Stig for him, mind you."

"Then I'll stay home." Abby suggested next.

"Abby, no!"

This went for a few more seconds while Kris looked deeply into her eyes. He knew how important this band was to her and he just wanted her to be happy and live her life the way she wanted, regardless of what her mother thought. Mei thought about it for a while and decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to panda out one last time before the ritual.

"Just one last time." She finally gave in. "Hey, Tyler! You want the panda! You're getting the panda!"

POOF!

"Let's hear it for the birthday boy!"

Now the party was officially on and everyone cheered before the fun really began. As "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child played over the speakers at full blast, everyone got into the rhythm and danced the night away. The group even cheered Tyler on as he slowly gave into the music and got down to the beat, finally enjoying his otherwise boring birthday party. Panda Mei got to work bringing others who weren't dancing, like the goths for example, into the excitement whether they liked it or not. And Kris was having the most fun for the first time in his life while dancing with Mei, even doing that dance they did together for their video days ago, impressing everyone with his amazing strength.

The red panda rocked this joint like you wouldn't believe. It's too bad Stig couldn't be there, because Priya would've loved to dance with him. But she respected his decision. Tyler was especially having the time of his life as Mei gave out piggyback rides, even Kris rode on her back and pretty soon, lots of kids, her friends included, rode on her back and Mei couldn't deny that this was truly the best thing that's ever happened to her ever since she's gotten the red panda.

After a while, Mei and the gang decided to take a breather from all the enjoyment. Kris and the girls all laid down on the roof together, drinking in the view of the city from here and chowing down on Tyler's cake, which unsurprisingly had a picture of his face on it, while listening to 4*Town music on the radio. And the best thing about it was they finally did it. The 4*Townies have made all the money they could to afford enough tickets to go to the concert tomorrow.

"Yeah! We did it! We're going to 4*Town!" Mei cheered and they all cheered along with her, scarfing down their slices.

"Sad Stig couldn't come." Kris exclaimed. "He's never been a party person, though."

"Yeah, shame." said Priya. "He probably has killer dance moves."

They all did their best to ignore Tyler calling, demanding more and more from the red panda girl.

"Dang. He is working you." Priya scoffed.

"Diva!" Abby shouted, about ready to fling a slice of cake at him, but Miriam stopped her, forcing the girl to eat it instead.

"He is never satisfied, is he?" Kris laid back down.

"Who cares? It'll all be worth it." Mei wasn't too bothered about it, though. Then she poofed back into a human girl. "Tomorrow, we're walking into that concert girls and coming out women."

"Literally goosebumps!"

"Hmm. What do you think Jesse smells like?

"Milk chocolate and wet rocks."

Mei pulled out her tamagotchi, 'Robaire Jr', out and observed him like a mother would a child. Kris had gotten that for her a long time ago as a symbol of their friendship.

"It's happening, Robaire Jr." She softly said to it. "You're finally gonna meet your daddy!"

"And your hot uncles!" Abby joked and they giggled.

Kris took a deep breath and thought to himself before finally mustering up his courage. It was now or never.

"Mei,..." Kris began steadily. "What if you didn't do the ritual?"

"What?"

"I mean, what if you kept the red panda?" He continued, insisting his case head-on. "I mean, look at you! You're not the same feather-dustin', straight-A, goody-goody girl that I've seen in, like, forever."

"Really?" She gasped.

"Yeah. You're rebelling now. That's normal for growing teens like us."

"But I can't be like this forever." stammered Mei. "My whole family would freak. Especially my mom. All her hopes and dreams are pinned on me."

"But you are NOT your mom, Mei. You're you." Kris argued. "You're Meilin Lee- the wild one, the powerhouse and the cutest girl in the world. Your mom wants you to be something she wants. Maybe it's time you stop thinking about what she wants and think about what you want for a change. This is your decision, not hers. And I won't care what you choose. Besides, ever since you've gotten the red panda, you've changed and you know what? I really like this new you."

"You…..you do?" Mei looked straight at him with mild surprise as he said that. Her friends eyed the two with curiosity and excitement with a strong feeling of where this was going.

"Yes. If it weren't for you, none of this would've happened." He said.

"Do you really think I'm cute, Kris?" She asked, brushing her hair back with a smile.

Kris blushed, but he wasn't going to back out now. She needed to know and she needed to know now.

"Yes, I really do, Mei. You're the cutest, strongest, smartest and above all, the prettiest girl I've ever known. For the first time in my life, you've made me feel things. Things I've enjoyed feeling. Every time I'm near you, I feel safe and loved. And Mei…"

"Yes?" She coaxed. The girls leaned in for a closer listen.

"I really wanted to tell you-"

"'Alright, homies, next up is 4*Town. The boys are coming to Toronto on the 25th. So get your tickets now. And check it, they'll be cranking open the SkyDome and performing under a red lunar eclipse. It's gonna be galactic, for sure….'"

All movement had ceased.

All the warm fuzziness had instantly vanished within a flash and had been replaced with utter horror.

As they all listened to the broadcast, their hearts stopped and their blood ran cold once it fell upon their ears and they began to panic. How could this be happening? That can't be right.

No. It shouldn't be right.

But yet,...it was.

They all turned their suspicious faces in the direction of Abby's.

"Abby, I thought you said the concert was the 18th." Mei said with worry.

"It is! He's wrong! Look! The 18th, Toronto!" Abby argued, wiping out the flier and showed it to them.

However, there was just one tiny, itty-bitty little error.

"This says Toledo." Priya corrected.

Yep, just when they all thought it wasn't too good to be true, it was.

It was like the world was against them all. As it all drastically turned out, Abby had apparently misread the schedule on the flier and she then flew into a frustrated episode at her mistake, screaming in Korean.

"What the heck is a Toledo?!"

"4*Town is the same night as the ritual?!" Mei panicked even more, her immense stress at the realization caused her to panda out. "No! The same night?! THE SAME NIGHT?!"

"Mei, please calm down. It's okay." Kris tried his very best to settle the red panda girl down, but how can she? The concert was actually on the same night as the ritual for when she needed to seal her panda away and not tomorrow like they originally thought.

"No, it isn't! I can't miss 4*Town! We worked so hard! But the ritual! I'll let everyone down!"

A huge and massive wave of emotions rushed through the poor girl, trying to figure out what was more important.

The concert or the ritual.

"Hey, Panda Girl!" Tyler shouted from below to get their attention. The stress Mei was dealing with was having a huge effect on her as she growled down toward the rich kid.

"What are you doing? I want more rides!"

"Buzz off, jerkface! I'm busy!"

"You want your money? Then get your butt down here!"

"Shut up, you little brat!" Kris screamed at him. "She's going through a lot right now!"

"Forget your money and forget you!"

"What about our deal?"

"Shove your deal!"

"Fine! Get out of here!" Tyler snapped back. "Go back to your psycho mom and your creepy temple, you freak!"

Now the fuse's been lit.

Mei growled and snarled like a wild beast. Kris and the girls tried to stop her, but it was too late. Mei pounced on Tyler from the roof and pushed him into the ground, clawing at him like a savage creature, scaring the wits out of the boy. At this point, Kris couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, even if he's a total jerk most of the time.

"TAKE IT BACK! DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY THAT!" She screamed into his face with uncontrolled fury, even terrifying the ever living hell out of all the guests as they no longer saw the cute and lovable red panda they saw in school, but instead, a dangerous and feral monster.

"Mei, stop! That's enough!" screamed Kris with fright.

"Mei-Mei, stop!"

Oh, no.

As if things weren't bad enough.

Mei's mother had arrived at the party just in time to see her red panda daughter attack a classmate of hers. Tyler was fine for the most part, but had multiple cuts and scratches on him and was positively scared to death. As soon as his parents heard of this, it was safe to say that they were most displeased. Ming's daughter assaulted their son as the red panda and now they were furious. Ming tried to calm them down and diffuse the situation, but they were not having it. The party was over and everyone was sent home.

After calling his mother to come pick him up, Kris stood by his friends before an incredibly angry and most furious Ming Lee, the most furious had ever seen her before in his life. Here he was with her daughter at a party using the red panda without her permission or her knowledge. Although terrified, Kris knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

"I knew you were trouble." Ming glowered at them, making them shrink back at her gaze. Even Kris felt his blood freeze up and heart rate slow down. "Putting all these thoughts into Mei-Mei's head, parading her around. Now she's lying, sneaking out. She attacked a defenseless boy. You think this is a joke? Do you know how dangerous this is?!"

"We didn't mean to! We just wanted to see 4*Town!" Miriam defended, almost pleading with her.

"4*Town!? You manipulated her for a bunch of tacky delinquents?!"

Okay, now this was starting to go a little far, even for her.

"No! She wanted to-"

"Don't blame her! She is a good girl and you've taken advantage of her!"

Then Ming casted her ire onto Kris and he practically shook as the fire in her eyes met his weak and nimble ones. Here it comes.

"And you! Oh, where do I even begin with you!?" She barked and swore with hate. "I just knew you'd stoop this low. I just knew it! To think you'd actually commit to brainwashing my Mei-Mei with these wretched and sordid ideas! Turning her into a complete deviant like you!"

"That's not fair!" Kris actually yelled back defiantly. Now it's definitely gone too far.

"Not fair?! I tell you what's fair! My precious daughter spending more time with her family and with her own mother who loves her very much and not with smelly, bumbling, freeloading idiots like you with your weird long hair and your goofy clothes and that ugly shirt!"

She raved as she pointed at his long dark brown locks, his long-sleeved jacket and jean shorts and especially his black T-shirt which had the picture of a similarly-shaped hammer on it with sparks.

"I am not-! Mei, you know that's not true! Tell her!" Kris pleaded for Mei to back him up and defend him from the harsh criticisms and accusations being thrown at him by her mother.

But she didn't.

Instead, she just helplessly looked at him and pressed her head against her mother, hiding her face from everyone.

And at that very moment, Kris felt his heart shatter into pieces.

"You oughta be ashamed of yourself, mister." Ming hissed at him, holding her protectively. "Thinking she could ever be your friend. She doesn't need a retard like you."

"I AM NOT A RE-!" That's when Kris suddenly yelled with rage, but then Ming slapped him hard across the face, cutting him off while the girls gasped with shock and terror.

The devastated boy panted rigidly as he shakily raised a hand to his hurt cheek, looking absolutely broken.

"I should've done this a long time ago. You're fired, Mr. Bengtsson." Ming jabbed before taking her daughter with her to the car. "And if you ever come near me, my Mei-Mei or the temple ever again, I will kill you. Have fun looking for a new job. Come on, Mei-Mei. Let's go."

Mei obeyed and didn't even look back at her friends, not even Kris. The girls came over to console him as Mei and Ming drove off, but Kris just pushes them off him, too hurt to even accept their comfort.

This was the worst.

He was just about to admit his feelings to Mei and now she's chosen to leave him and the girls to take the fall for everything, too afraid of losing her mother's respect and approval. His friends warned her that this was all a bad idea from the start, but Mei was insistent and now he, Miriam, Priya and Abby have all paid the price.

Elsa finally arrived to pick him up and he miserably entered the car with her without so much as looking at her as they drove back home.

"What's wrong?" She asked, taking in his sorrowful state.

"Ah…" He shakily began, struggling to fight back tears. "Mei's mom….fired me."

"What? Oh, I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"She didn't like me and Mei being together. She said some stuff and then she…..slapped me."

"She what?" Elsa growled. "Oh my god! After seeing you and Mei together? Who the hell does that?! Unbelievable! The nerve of that woman!"

Her son still kept his eyes off of her.

"And Mei didn't even do or say anything."

"You're kidding." Elsa gaped at him, then sighed in frustration. "Well, I do have good news. I have got the nurse job. I guess now that you're…no longer working at the temple, you won't have to worry about it."

"Yeah."

As he sat there quietly in the front seat, his mind wouldn't stop going over the events that transpired like they were haunting him. Meilin Lee, the nicest girl he's ever known who had his back and been his side for as long as could remember, the girl he's fallen in love with, has betrayed him for her mother, who hated his guts.

On the one hand, this should be a positive turn of events since he no longer has to deal with Ming and her slander anymore. But on the other hand, though, he was now forbidden to see or speak with Mei again.

Clutching 'Robaire Jr '(which she had dropped and left behind) in his hands, he reminisced about their time together in the past. The person he cared for, supported and loved ever so dearly was now gone from his life.

This in mind finally caused the dam to break. Hot tears spilled from his eyes and snot leaked from his nose as he couldn't hold back anymore.

Kris sat there and cried.

He cried, he sobbed, he sniffled, he babbled. He broke down like he had a long time ago. Tears stained his cheeks and he clutched his head as his face felt hot and his head throbbed and his poor heart was broken like glass. It was too much.

Elsa looked at him sympathetically, looking ready to cry herself as she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly while the boy continued to bawl his eyes out.

….from the sting and pain of Mei's betrayal.

Damn.

Just damn.

I mean, we all knew this was going to happen so or later, right.

Ming has found out about the red panda hustle and let's say things do NOT go well from there. Things had gotten ugly really fast. First of all, though, Mei and the girls are not willing to just stand by and watch their love interests get picked on by those Monroes. And Mei is certainly not going to let Moose pick on her crush. Apart from all that, because she saw Kris there with Mei at the party after finding out about the group's plan to finance their trip to the concert (which, frustratingly enough, is NOT on the 18th like they originally thought, but rather on the same night as the ritual), Ming is quick assume the poor boy is up to no good with her daughter. I know she's trying to protect her daughter and make sure the ritual goes as planned, but this was not okay, not even for her. And now poor Kris has been fired from his job at the temple and forced to never see Mei ever again.

And Mei was too afraid of losing her mother's approval and her respect that she just had to let her friends and Kris take the fall for everything, especially after Kris had finally gained the courage to tell her how much he felt. Shocker, right? While a silver lining came in the form of his mother finally landing her job as a nurse, nothing is gonna lift Kris's mood now at this rate. The one girl he had fallen deeply in love with had betrayed him in an act of cowardice because of her strict mother.

How is Kris possibly gonna recover from this?

Next Chapter: After the unfortunate incident at the party and feeling betrayed by Mei's lack of action, Kris becomes cold and distant, falling into a state of complete silence; refusing to speak whatsoever, much to the concern of his family and friends. However, with his world slowly falling apart, he appears to become more accepting of whatever's happening to him.

Next Update: March 3, 2023