Monster Paradise

Ever since I started working, I have never expected what would it be like if my parents and Grandmother were still alive. I never thought that it would happen with the help of the heart-glimpsing rune. I could not resist the happiness in my heart. Although I knew this was not real, I indulged in it anyway. We had dumplings for lunch as a happy family, and I could not help but feel that this was bliss.

Although I lost myself in front of Granny, she did not dwell on it after I came up with an excuse. She was a smart lady, not even telling my parents about me crying in front of her. She also got me out of the awkward situation when Mother asked me about my red eyes at the table.

”I got Xiao Mu Tou to bring me my stuff, and something got into his eyes.”

I stayed at my parents’ place during the weekend, enjoying the family reunion that I had lost for 20 years in this familiar yet unfamiliar house. After dinner on Sunday, I hailed a cab and went back to my place. The two days brought back most of the memories of my job scope at work. On Monday morning, I went into my office early as I wanted to spend more time familiarizing with my work.

Since the heart-glimpsing rune’s script was written this way, I had to go with it instead of quitting my job. As soon as one portion of the script went wrong, it would create a domino effect, and many uncontrollable things would be affected. Following the script gave me an idea of what the story was going to turn out like as well as the techniques to work with the flow. Things would become unpredictable if I changed the script on my own.

It was 7 a.m. I got to the office and found my seat immediately. It took me a while to recall my computer password. After I logged into the computer, I looked at what had I been working on recently. Although it was unfamiliar, I got used to the computer soon and found my work list on a spreadsheet. I then started checking the documents following the list. When it was 7.40 a.m, Xiao Wang from our group had arrived. He greeted me as soon as he saw me.

”Bro Lin, you’re here.”

I nodded at him and proceeded with my work. There were six teams in the sales and marketing team. I was one of the team leaders, a supervisor with eight employees under my watch. After taking some time to familiarize with my work, I looked at the contact list for each department on the table and matched their names with their faces in my head.

After thorough preparation, I did not expose anything. Soon, one week had passed, and I had completely adapted to work. I went to see my parents during the weekends. As we had dinner on Saturday night, Mother came up with an awkward topic out of nowhere.

”Xiao Mu Tou, you aren’t young anymore. You’re already 25. It’s time to get a girlfriend and think about marriage.”

I was stunned to hear that, and this popped into my head: ”Would marriage change the story?”

I smiled as I nodded.

”I want that too, but first, I’ll need to find someone suitable.”

”I heard about this lady that your Aunt Liu knows. She’s half a year younger than you, and she’s a newbie at work. She’s pretty cute.” Mother grinned.

”Are you interested in meeting her?”

”It depends if she wants to see me.” I knew that Mother could not wait for me to get married.

”It’s Sunday tomorrow. You can meet her tomorrow if you want.” Mother clearly could not wait anymore.

”Alright then, I’ll meet her.” Lin Huang did not have any opinion on marriage. Since this was how the story developed, he thought he should see her anyway as it could be crucial to the story.

After agreeing to meet the lady, Mother called Aunt Liu without even doing the dishes after dinner. The lady agreed to meet us as well. The next morning, I arrived at the cafe that we were meeting 20 minutes earlier. I waited patiently after ordering a cup of coffee. We had agreed to meet at 9 a.m. I saw a familiar person walking towards the cafe when it was 8.50 a.m.

The girl wore a white short-sleeved shirt with a pair of jeans. She had a ponytail and sunglasses that covered half of her face. She carried a khaki brown handbag, and I found her attire refreshing during the summer season. I was just as shocked as she was when she saw me upon entering the cafe. She hesitated before walking towards me as she took off her sunglasses.

”Long time no see…” I did not expect to see the girl that I once wanted to kiss and had allowed me to.

”I didn’t expect to see you as well.” Zhang Yan sat down. Silence came between the both of us. I had no idea what to say while she seemed to be awkward as well.

”When did you come back?” I decided to break the ice with a safe topic.

”I just came back a month ago.” Zhang Yan peeked at me secretly from under her glasses

”Yanyan… Let’s get married.” I did not know how that slipped out of my lips, but I really did not want to let go of the girl that I had spent almost two years with. If I had to marry someone on Earth, she would be the perfect girl.

Zhang Yan became silent again as she seemed to be hesitating.

”I’ll spend more time with you at home. I’ll try to decline unnecessary entertainment.” I knew very well why had she left me.

”You promise?” Zhang Yan’s eyes lit up.

”I promise!” I nodded hard.

”Promise me. We’ll get married, have two kids, and grow old with them.”

Zhang Yan giggled as she covered her mouth. ”You’re still so silly.”

”Promise me, okay?” I looked at her passionately. I had never wanted to spend my life with a person as much as this before.

”You didn’t even get a ring! Hmph!” Zhang Yan pouted and looked away.

”Erm, I didn’t know that I would propose today…” I panicked and stood up immediately. ”You wait here. I’ll go buy one!”

”Buy what?”

”The ring!”

”Do you think I’ll say yes if you buy the ring?” Zhang Yan smirked.

”You…” I was stunned, but I caught her mischievous expression.

”I don’t care. I’ll buy it even if you say no! If you don’t say yes today, I’ll ask you again tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. I’ll propose to you every day!”

”You sure you want to stick with me for the rest of your life?” Zhang Yan smiled.

”I’m sure. I know you’re the one,” I said in all seriousness.

”Then… I do.” Light shone in her eyes as she recollected our beautiful memories.