Pitbabe S2, Chapter 33 pg 2
Pitbabe S2, Chapter 33 pg 2
The last room, furthest in, is my bedroom. As I mentioned, the lab’s pretty far from the city, which means it’s far from my house too. On days when I get caught up working late, I just sleep here. The others have their own rooms too, but they’re all on the second floor. I volunteered to stay downstairs since I know I’m more alert than most. If something happens outside, the person on the ground floor would notice first. No one objected, and Liu even backed me up, saying, “Good. We’ll have a guard dog for the house.”
Tonight, I’m planning to sleep at the lab. There’s still a long list of campaign tasks to tackle, and my brain works better at night. Instead of driving back to the city to sleep at home, I’d rather use that time to churn through more work.
While I was spinning in my chair, stuck on ideas, I heard the door unlock. Finally, our regular guest got out of the car. I don’t know what he brought today or why it took so long to open the door.
“Thought you were gonna sleep out there,” I said when I heard the door open, not turning to look because a key word suddenly popped into my head. I had to jot it down before it slipped away—lately, I’ve been extra forgetful. “Is Phii Alan being fussy?”
I couldn’t resist teasing. At first, I thought the captain would come in and greet me like usual, but hearing only one set of footsteps—and the sound of sneaker soles, not leather shoes—I realized it was just Jeff.
Even after I greeted him, there was no reply. Alarm bells went off in my head. I tore my eyes from my notebook and turned to look at my little brother, who was standing there silent, as if he’d forgotten how to speak.
Jeff was still by the door, staring straight at me. His face could be called neutral, but looking closer, it was more like the blank expression of someone in shock.
“Jeff?” I asked. “You okay?”
Right after that question, my little brother’s lips started to tremble. The corners of his eyes drooped, and within seconds, they were red and teary.
I dropped everything and rushed to him, pulling him into a tight hug. Jeff hugged me back, burying his face in my shoulder and sobbing like I’d flipped an emotional storm switch.
It had been a long time since I’d seen Jeff cry like this.
Usually, I’m the one who cries and whines to him over the smallest issues. Jeff is a great listener and advisor. People are often good at handling others’ problems—knowing what’s wrong and how to fix it, analyzing things sharply and methodically—but stumble when it comes to their own issues. Not Jeff, though. He handles his own problems well too. It’s not something you see every day, but he has his stresses and tears like anyone else. It’s his way of dealing with problems and emotions. He acknowledges his stress, cries to release the pent-up feelings, and once that pain is gone, Jeff solves his issues like always. My job is just to hold him when he cries.
I hope he can do that this time too.
I didn’t pry too much. I just brought him to sit on the sofa in the hall and let him cry as much as he needed. Truthfully, I could guess why Jeff was like this. How many things could make someone like him break down in tears? Combined with other clues—like how he took much longer than usual to come find me, and how he came alone despite someone dropping him off—it was enough to piece together.
“We’re running out of tissues,” I whispered after glancing at the tissue box on my lap, which was getting noticeably emptier. “Should I grab another box?”
“No need,” Jeff mumbled, his voice muffled. His nose was bright red like a reindeer’s, and his eyes were puffy. I had a ton of teasing remarks about his funny face ready in my head, but I kept them to myself. It didn’t seem like the right time to poke fun. “I can stop now.”
“Huh?” I looked at my Phii, confused but impressed. I knew Jeff wasn’t like other kids, but I didn’t expect him to be able to control his tears like that. The kid grabbed another tissue, wiped the remaining tears, took a few deep breaths, and just like that, the tears stopped, and there wasn’t even a hint of sobbing left. “You can just do that?”
“Yeah… I was gonna stop earlier, but since I don’t cry often, I let it out a bit more.”
“What?”
The more he talked, the less I understood, but there was no reason to dig for an explanation. What mattered now was figuring out why my little brother had cried enough to empty a tissue box.
“Fight with Phii Alan?”
“Yeah,” Jeff replied, letting out a long sigh. “Haven’t had a real fight like this in a while.”
“I believe it. Bad enough to make you cry.”
“It’s just that Phii Alan was being dumb.”
“Did you say that to his face?”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“Good,” I nodded, sweeping the tear-soaked tissues on the table into the trash. In my head, I thought if the second-tier gang saw this bin full of used tissues, I’d probably be accused of something dramatic. “I was really upset when I said Babe was being clingy.”
“But Phii Babe is clingy, isn’t he?”
“Maybe sometimes, but isn’t it better not to say it?” Jeff let out a soft chuckle in his throat. He shook his head, as if he thought I was hopeless when it came to Babe. From my perspective, I could see how it might look that way, but at the same time, I didn’t think it was a bad thing at all. I have my pride like everyone else, and I value it just as much, but sometimes, if it’s not too much, I’m willing to set half of it aside to understand someone I want to keep in my life. The logic is simple. That’s all.
“You can’t always get everything you want, you know. No matter how good things are, there’ll be days when it feels like nothing’s working.”
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