Pitbabe S2, Chapter 32 pg 5
Pitbabe S2, Chapter 32 pg 5
I’ve been standing here watching my stubborn brother struggle to set up a computer for a while now. I don’t know what to say, because I know he won’t listen anyway. And so far, Charlie doesn’t seem to realize he’s moving 0.5 times slower than usual, frowning every now and then, and swaying unsteadily whenever he tries to move as fast as his mind wants.
“Enough,” I say flatly, crossing my arms and looking at him with full-on exasperation.
“What now?” Charlie snaps back while ducking under the desk to plug in the monitor cable. He doesn’t even glance at me, probably because he knows he’s about to get nagged. That’s why he’s avoiding eye contact.
“Go to bed.”
“Bed? I just woke up.”
“Charlie, you’re sick,” I say, my tone firmer now. It seems to work. Charlie crawls out from under the desk, slumps into the old office chair he brought from the old lab, and lets out a long sigh. “Don’t start with the sighing. It’s obvious, just look at yourself.”
“It’s just how it is. I haven’t been resting much lately.”
“You know that, so why don’t you rest?”
“Rest where?” Charlie replies softly, his eyes scanning the new lab we had to abruptly relocate to after everyone agreed the old one wasn’t safe anymore.
This place is quite far from the old lab, meaning it’s no longer in the city. After a string of problems, Dr. Chris suggested we move the lab immediately for our safety and the work we’re doing. This new base is a large warehouse renovated into an operations hub, with areas for meetings, the lab itself, and living quarters for everyone. Dr. Chris said it was originally built as his vacation home (though it doesn’t feel like one at all—first, it’s a former warehouse; second, it’s surrounded by forest; and third, who builds a lab in a vacation home?). When things went south, he figured it was the perfect time to make use of it. So, we packed up and moved everything here, and this will be our headquarters until we have a reason to move again.
“Let it go, Jeff,” a small voice says before its owner appears. Phii Liu walks in carrying a box labeled “BEAKER” in huge letters. Today, she’s not wearing her usual cute dress, just a plain white t-shirt and jeans, looking practical and strikingly different. But she probably didn’t mean to change her style—today’s just a heavy-lifting day, more than usual. “This guy? Even if he was in a coffin, he wouldn’t rest.”
Charlie rolled his eyes but didn’t argue a word. Of course—he couldn’t, because what Phii Liu said was true. Charlie’s way more stubborn than he seems. Outsiders often think he’s the easygoing kid stuck with someone as headstrong as Phii Babe, but in reality, Phii Babe’s stubbornness doesn’t even come close to Charlie’s.
“This state? You’ll probably collapse before you get any rest,” Phii Touch chimed in, landing a second verbal jab as he hauled in two large fans. Despite his age, his strength was astonishing—possibly stronger than every young guy here. “But you’re close, look at you—no color left in your face. Right, Doc?”
He passed the baton to the third person trailing behind. Dr. Chris strode in with two medical bags in hand. Without even glancing at Charlie, he breezed straight to the table in the center of the room, carefully setting his bags down.
“If you’re so eager to die, do it somewhere else. We’re scared of ghosts.”
His expression remained impassive, his tone flat. His hands busied themselves checking the equipment, ensuring everything was intact and undamaged from the move. But his words? Still as biting as ever. If I were Charlie, I’d probably run outside and drop dead just to be done with it, given the sharp tongues around here. But having been together for a while, Charlie just sat there, quietly accepting the “blessings” without seeming too bothered.
“I’m just tired,” Charlie said, his voice drained of fight. As he spoke, the so-called genius unconsciously furrowed his brow, a clear sign his body was protesting hard. This wasn’t just ordinary fatigue. “There’s still so much to do. How can I rest?”
“You think we’ve come this far just to watch you work yourself to death?” Dr. Chris’s hands kept fiddling with equipment I couldn’t name, while his mouth worked its usual magic. “I don’t know about others, but we’re here because of you. If you die, we’re done. We’re not continuing.”
“Phii Chris…”
“If you want us to keep working, go sleep. I’ll come check on you later. If it’s bad, you can die on my watch.”
Dr. Chris didn’t give Charlie room to complain. His demeanor was relaxed, but his words were a clear ultimatum. If Charlie kept being stubborn, it wouldn’t just be sarcastic jabs anymore.
“Go on, even an hour’s better than nothing,” I said, turning to Charlie and trying to coax him along. “I’ll handle the rest.”
Charlie stayed silent, his face screaming reluctance, but he gave in under the pressure from the researchers he’d handpicked himself.
You went and chose the toughest ones, didn’t you?
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you then.”
It was like a collective sigh of relief echoed through the room. Phii Liu and Phii Touch grinned, satisfied, before hauling their stuff toward the lab, having gotten the answer they wanted from Charlie ASAP. Dr. Chris, meanwhile, pulled up something on his tablet to check, but the slight upturn of his lips was enough to show he was just as pleased.
CHRIS:
I pushed open the bedroom door without knocking. I knew it was bad manners, but I did it anyway. Who knows? My lack of etiquette might just let me catch something interesting.
The patient, ordered to rest, was lying on the bed, breathing in and out. He showed no signs of opening his eyes, even as someone else entered the room. I stood beside the bed, arms crossed, silently scanning Charlie. His outward appearance seemed normal, aside from a pale face and dark circles under his eyes. Nothing else looked concerning. But that didn’t mean he was fine. If diagnosing a condition were as simple as a glance, the years I spent in medical school would’ve been a waste of time.
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