No Time

So I was sold away by my bastard father.

My mom's totally innocent. She was an office lady before she met dad. She met dad on the streets one day when he was being pelted by thugs.

She should have walked away. Really should have. But she's too much of a nice lady to do that.

Mom took dad home and fixed his wounds up. She eventually got that symptom of falling in love with the patient thing.

When he woke up after 2 days, dad thanked mom and left.

Mom was still in love with him, so she searched for him for weeks.

She eventually found him in a bar. He noticed her and asked how she was doing.

She talked with him for the whole night and dad got interested in the innocent and beautiful woman.

He asked her out and mom joyously replied "Yes".

I heard from mom that dad was so nice when they dated. She knew he was a poor man, but she didn't care about all that.

So they married secretly since her parents didn't approve of such a man.

Grandma died from a heart attack after hearing that her daughter married dad. Grandpa cut off all his relations from her.

By now, mom wondered if this was the right thing.

When she became pregnant with me, she was very happy since dad took better care of her, but that was only for the first 3 months.

After, dad rarely came home and it was said he had a look like he lost his soul.

After I was born, mom asked him why he was like that. She was sincerely worried since he didn't even come to my birth. She should have been angry.

He said nothing and just went out of the house.

Dad went missing for the first 10 years of my life. Mom was a great mom. She took care of me and loved me as much as she could even with the meager salary that was given to her every month.

Then, dad came back.

Mom was overjoyed and cried a lot. I was just wondering who this stranger who was smiling so strangely was.

Dad said his apologies while mom denied everything and said that it was hard for him.

He then took one look at me and told me that he was my dad.

I ran towards the kitchen and hid. I only came out after mom yelled from the doorway that she was going to go out with dad for dinner and that she already made dinner for me and that it was in the fridge.

Mom didn't come back that night so I stayed up all night worrying.

When the next day came, I was at school, so I don't really know when mom returned.

When I came into the house, all I saw was my mom with bruises all over. She sat there on the couch with dead eyes.

I called to her, asking what was wrong but she didn't hear me.

I walked to her and grabbed her hands. She shrieked and cried out "Let go of me!".

She saw that it was me and tears started falling from her eyes.

Mom hugged me tightly and sobbed for a long time. She never told me what happened.

After 2 weeks, Dad came back again. He apologized to mom many times and mom took them. She still loved him.

Dad stayed in our home for a month and lived together with us. Mom was a little wary of him at first but she eventually warmed up to him once more. I still didn't trust him. He made mom cry and hurt. My friends' dads were caring and loved their wifes' a lot. This dad was too strange.

Dad took mom on several dates while he lived with us to try to prove that he wouldn't do whatever he did to her ever again.

Mom began to trust him again and when she wholeheartedly trusted him, he took her out and she came home worse than before after a whole week.

She held onto me crying.

The boss at her workplace called asking why she wasn't there for work. Mom could only apologize and promise that it wouldn't happen again.

But this happened many more times. Mom couldn't stop loving the horrible man and fell for his schemes again, again, and again. She ended up losing her job.

I once asked her, "Why do you still love him?"

She cried and said that she couldn't help it.

We moved to another place and mom got another job. That year, I was 12 years old.

Mom gained back her smile and enthusiasm. She even dated a nice guy who didn't seem that bad.

A year later, that man came back again.

Mom didn't love him anymore. Dad had to try extra hard in gaining her trust. He never did.

He then threatened her that he'd make me do her job.

She lashed out but agreed. She broke up with the nice guy over a phone call.

From that day on, mom was out almost every night and came back with hidden bruises. Dad always drove her out and back.

The nice guy came to our house to try to find out why she would break up with him, but mom didn't open the door any time when he came. He left after 5 weeks of knocking on our door.

On my 13th birthday, dad came to our house with a present. It was a small cactus. After he left, I threw it away.

Mom broke out into tears after he left. She muttered her regrets about falling in love with him and told me all that had happened to her.

I was enraged when I found out that she had been forced into prostitution to settle his debt.

We moved again. This time to a farther place in a city. We lived in a condo where security was heavy. Mom used up almost all of our savings for it.

Mom was transferred to the main company of the place she was working for since we moved. She turned into a serious woman who didn't make any mistakes. But she always made time for me.

She got promotions after promotions for her excellent work ethics and got a pretty important position.

We were pretty happy with our lives and didn't have any more worries.

But stupidly, I got kidnapped by dad and was sold into slavery.

I saw the contract that he flapped at my face. It wasn't even mom's perfect cursive signature! Just random scribbles!

So in the end, I was given off to come slave traders and because of my devilish looks(mom says I look like an angel, psh), I was bought at a high price from a Chinese mafia merchant.

I was given some food to eat and was flown all the way to China. Packed in with others who were sold, I had to share a room with 11 other people. For a couple of days, we were well fed, were given new clothing, got to shower regularly, and we were even allowed to play online games. Besides having the language chip installed in my head, it wasn't too bad.

Before the auctions started, we were given rags to wear. They said it would gain us some pity and make us fetch a higher price.

I made up my mind to try to live the best I could without being a sex slave. But how would I escape that kind of fate with my handsomeness?

I was placed last for my peerless looks.

When I came out, my 11 roommates were bid quickly so that they could get to me. I looked around and shivered.

There was a perverted looking fatty who was drooling as he stared at me. I looked away quickly and fixed my stare on someone else.

It was a masked man who was looking nervous. With his expensive looking suit, I thought that he'd have a high position. But he didn't seem to be used to this kind of event at all! That made me inwardly laugh and hope for him to bid for me so that I wouldn't be used in disgusting ways from this kind of naive person.

He had 3 companions. 2 boys and a girl.

The girl was very cute and would definitely grow up to become a beauty. The younger boy had handsome looks, enough to rival mine. The other boy had on a mask too.

Strangely, although the masked man was tallest and probably the oldest, the others looked towards the masked boy.

Although I couldn't hear with all the shouts, the young girl seemed to be telling the masked boy something. All of a sudden, a "20 million!" was called out.

I looked towards the direction the voice came from.

I cursed in my head. It was the disgusting old fatty.

I went back to looking at the masked man and his companions.

The young girl and boy seemed to be slowly saying something to the masked boy.

The masked boy said something to them that made them freeze and then shouted out "21 million" so calmly that I thought I had misheard.

When it properly registered into my mind, I was shocked.

Sure those 4 looked rich, but were they people who could buy a slave for a 21 million? Rich kids sure have lots of money.

The disgusting pervert fatty looked angry and his whole face turned red.

The masked boy and the fatty battled for a short while and my price suddenly became 95 million somehow.

I was chained by the neck and handed off towards the masked boy in a prepared room.

"You're now Shui Fa. But you can still keep your old name, Calix Nikos Cora."

That was basically what the masked boy said. But how did he know my name? And he spoke in perfect Greek!

At least it seemed like I wouldn't be used as a sex slave. The boy's voice was serious but sounded too young.

The masked man unexpectedly had a pretty young voice too. Do kids these days become multimillionaires or maybe even multibillionaires from how they spent such money on me so easily?

The masked man looked towards me and became flushed. He turned to the younger boy, called Xiao Lai, who was fiddling around with his phone and asked him how to say stuff in Greek.

I knew how to listen and understand Chinese words now, but that felt nice. He seems nicest out of them all.

Xiao Lai whispered some stuff to the masked man and the masked man repeated it.

I instantly knew that the younger boy had some tendencies for pranks when I heard the man introduce himself as an idiot and chicken.

I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

To surprise the masked man, Shui Jing, I introduced myself in Chinese.

Shui Jing gave me a faint smile and turned around quickly to threaten Xiao Lai with a martial arts match. So the Chinese really know how to do martial arts! Kind of cute really, this kind of embarrassed person is adorable!

Xiao Lai whined about already having his heart broken from losing his money and not wanting his body to break. What a funny guy.

Shui Jing was about to say something when his ringtone sounded and he had to answer the call.

It was the masked boy who was ready with their ride. Xiao Lai and the girl's face paled and they desperately asked him to slow down on this ride this time. The masked boy agreed. He seems to really dote on them, and shouldn't they have a driver if they're so rich?

Xiao Lai and the girl ran up to the elevator and went up without us.

Shui Jing awkwardly started the conversation and I walked up to his side. He told me about the two kids and the masked boy. It turned out that they were all from the same Shui family and siblings. He also said that Shui Yu, the masked boy's name, bought me saying that I'd be useful for the upcoming disaster. I really wonder what that disaster is.

I asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"

He said that I was his family now that Shui Yu accepted me into his family. If Shui Yu hadn't accepted me into his family, would I be considered a stranger and a slave?

As I thought for a little while, I realized from what Shui Jing had spoken of so far. Shui Yu had come here in the first place to gain a family member. I really was lucky to be so useful for whatever upcoming disaster there is.

I said, "I'm very lucky to have met you guys" in Greek. Shui Jing looked funny as he looked at me confusedly.

Anyways, I then asked him if he had any pets. Rich people should have some exotic pets, right? But turns out, they have some strange pets but they're normal creatures. Shui Jing said that Shui Yu talked about getting a cheetah and wolf though.

And, all of them are much younger than I expected! Shui Bing, the girl, is only a 3rd grader! Shui Lai is in 5th grade! How were they able to calmly sit through and mess around in an environment like this? Is Shui Jing the only normal person out of their family? And Shui Yu is only in 7th grade. I really wonder how they were able to earn that much money...

Most surprising of them all was that Shui Jing was the same age as me. How was he that tall?! That's not human!

Well, besides that, they don't seem to like their parents and earned all of their money on their own. What kind of stuff do these kids do?

For my last question, I asked Shui Jing to take his mask off. I would have been sorely disappointed if he were to have an ugly face, but it turned out to be much more.

He was very handsome.

His eyes glittered and his long eyelashes fluttered. His nose was straight and perfectly suited his face. All this and his slightly pink cheeks, red lips, and pale skin made him look like an angel. I thought that this would be what a real angel looks like.

He was slightly feminine but had the contour that just screamed, "Hot mess!".

I called him pretty and he seemed slightly offended. So cute!

I told him that he looked almost as good as me, but in reality, I liked his looks a lot better than mine.

He called me as almost as narcissistic as Shui Lai.

Although I became a slave, I was fortunate enough to meet Shui Jing and his siblings. I'll make the most out of my life and someday meet my mom again.

Shui Jing said nothing after that and just led me to a limousine.

Inside, there was Shui Lai and Shui Bing looking awfully sad.

Shui Jing waited outside for Shui Yu, so I talked a little with the two. It went like this:

SB: "Hey, hey, so how old are you?"

Me: "I'm 14, same as Shui Jing."

SL: "I thought you were my age!"

After this, I knew that they didn't mind speaking informally and they had already accepted me as a family just like Shui Jing said.

Me: "That's what he thought too. You guys are just abnormally tall."

SB: "Maybe. Is that why girls don't want to play with me?"

SL: "Yeah, they won't want to play with a Godzilla."

SB: "Hey!"

Me: "Well, they'll all regret not making friends with such a great future model."

SB: "Yeah, I'll be taller than you in the future! Yu Ge said that I could be anything I wanted and that he'd support me!"

SL: "Oh? I'll have you know. Yu Ge said the very same thing to me! And I was born two years earlier than you! I spent more time with Yu Ge so he'll listen to me!"

SB: "I'm the youngest! And his only sister! He likes me better than you!"

Me: "I think he loves you both equally. But what is Shui Yu like?"

SB: "He's my favorite brother."

SL: "He's very responsible. And hey, what about me?"

SB: "You're weaker than Yu Ge and Jing Ge. Besides, Jing Ge always takes care of me while you just make fun of me."

Me: "Um, back to talking about Shui Yu."

SB: "I like Yu Ge best because he helped us from Mom's abuse."

SL: "He provided us with everything we needed and wanted. And yeah, he did help us from Mom's abuse."

Me: "What do you mean?"

SL: "Our Dad left our Mom for a rich lady. She's not as rich as us though."

SB: "He even has another kid who's the same age as me! And it's a girl!"

Me: "What does her being a girl have to do with it?"

SB: "She's scarier than a boy! She's the teacher's pet! She's my desk partner! She cheats off of me! She's pure evil! I want to kill her! But then Yu Ge would notice and make me confess that I'm an assassin..."

Me: "You? An assassin?"

SB: "Yeah, why? Lai Ge is a hacker, why can't I be an assassin?"

SL: "Hey!"

This pair of siblings seems to be very dangerous...

Me: "What does Shui Jing and Shui Yu do, then?"

SB: "Jing Ge is just a regular student."

SL: "But he's a monster when it comes to martial arts and weapons..."

SB: "Yu Ge is also a regular student."

SL: "But he sleeps in his classes all the time."

SB: "How do you know that?"

SL: "Gossip mostly but I also set up some hidden monitors."

SB: "Why?"

SL: "Just in case he gets bullied."

Me: "Why would he be bullied?"

SL: "He's too pretty. And he never talks in class. He doesn't even have friends."

SB: "Yeah, I heard rumors about that last one. Girls put letters in his desk but he doesn't even look at them. And he never joins the boys in playing sports."

SL: "Actually, Yu Ge might not even know that he has space under his desk... He doesn't put anything there and carries his stuff around. Oh, and do you honestly think Yu Ge should play with those boys? He's going to beat them all into a pulp!"

Me: "Why would you place monitors on him then? From what I can infer, he'd probably beat them all up if they try to bully him!"

SL: "No, Yu Ge is too nice. Underneath all that seriousness, he's a huge softie."

Me: "Oh."

After that, Shui Yu opened the front left seat's door and climbed in.

Since I was still not very sure what to think of Shui Yu, I kept quiet while the others talked.

They mentioned the things we just talked about and about buying some of the stuff on their wish list. They really are rich.

Apparently, we were going shopping, but first, we needed to take me to get my chains off and get proper clothes on me.

We stopped by the huge warehouse where it was just like a house with all the appliances added to it in the inside. It mostly looked like a gym, but there was a small kitchen, a small bathroom, and a separate bedroom.

I got to take a quick shower and borrowed some of Shui Lai's gym clothes. I felt kind of awkward borrowing someone clothes and a 10-year-old's at that.

At this time, Shui Yu had taken the limousine back to the rental place. I was pretty astonished that it wasn't theirs... Since it was only a moment's walk away, he came back after 10 minutes. I could imagine people staring at a masked boy who wore a suit. It must've been a funny sight.

We got onto a black truck that Shui Yu had bought and waited for him to finish changing clothes.

When he came out, I could tell why Shui Jing had asked what Shui Yu would be if he was called pretty.

Shui Yu was just too beautiful. Definitely better looking than me, and that's saying something. His dark eyes were cold and aloof but that made him more charming. His nose was straight and set slightly lifted, giving him a look as if he looked down upon others. His skin was pale. Paler than snow, almost blue and it looked smoother than ebony. His eyebrows were like those said to be swords in the Chinese sayings. Impeccably sharp and dignified. His long eyelashes fluttered lightly like a butterfly's wings. All in all, I couldn't say anything about him was cold but beautiful. I could see why the kids in his grade would call him a "Cold Beauty". This boy was very feminine looking and beat the females in every term of looks.

Well, I liked Shui Jing's look a lot better. Shui Yu seemed perfect. Too perfect, that in fact, it was a little scary. Besides, Shui Jing looked nice and was kindhearted.

Shui Yu got into the driver's seat once more, started the truck, and said, "I won't go as slow as before this time."

Before anyone could say anything, the engine revved to life and the truck shot forwards rapidly.

I'll tell you one thing: Shui Yu's driving is sick!

He drove super fast and dodged all the incoming cars. He swiveled so many times that I couldn't keep track of it. Now I'm really wondering who he learned to drive from! The wind whipped by since the windows were open and everyone else than me looked as if they were going to barf. It made me feel a little happy that I was better at them at least one thing.

We arrived at the mall and I was surprised by all the words I could recognize. Just yesterday, I didn't know a word of Chinese. Well, besides "Kung Fu" and "Nihao". But now, I can recognize every word, write it, and even speak it!

I really wonder what my life's going to become...