What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

Li Ling heard Zhihao yawn and it made him smile as he spoke, "You should go to sleep." 

"You aren't letting me sleep." 

"Okay, I won't say anything. You should go to sleep." 

"Then why are we on the call?" 

"To hear breathing sounds?" 

Zhihao snickered, "You make us sound like some newly formed couple."

"You want us to be a couple?"

"...."

The silence on the other side made Li Ling break out laughing as he immediately defended himself, "I'm kidding." 

He thought that Zhihao would say something, but it was still silent. 

"A-Zhi? You still there?" Li Ling asked as he heard the calm sound of steady breathing. 

It took him a minute to realize that Zhihao had fallen asleep. He didn't end the phone call and instead, he kept it on as he heard the calm breathing that sounded like the best music for him. A few minutes passed and he heard Xia knocking at his door. He would've kept the call going for the entire day, but he had to work. 

"Goodnight, A-Zhi," Li Ling whispered as if Zhihao was hearing him and ended the call, "Take care." 

Zhihao couldn't hear Li Ling but whatever he had said was somehow incorporated into Zhihao's dream where the Li Ling in his dreams said the same thing and it made him smile. He liked this feeling of being important to someone and being treasured by them. It was a feeling that he wasn't willing to let go of and it made him wonder why he couldn't meet Li Ling before this. If they had met early on, his life would have been much better and colorful. 

His dream suddenly changed into a scene from his memory. He remembered the time when he had met such a person but sadly, he didn't even remember what the boy looked like and their friendship had ended before it could ever begin and it was all due to Zhihao's younger self being too proud to make friends and acting like a brat to others. If he ever came across that boy again, he would want to apologize for his rudeness. If he hadn't been a brat back then, he would've had a great friend today. 

"But you should play with us," The boy in his memory whined with eyes that seemed to be filled with brimming tears. 

"Get lost! You guys are boring," The young Zhihao shouted back as he tried his best to ignore the little boy. 

"Mom said that playing video games is not good for your health." 

"Why the hell do you care about my health?" Little Zhihao snapped, which got him a smack on the head. 

"Is that a way to talk to your friend?" It was Huang Zhi Juan, Zhihao's mother who had scolded him, and now that he looked back to it, he felt like his mom had done the right thing. He really did deserve a scolding. 

"Why are you taking his side? You're supposed to be my mom. You should be on my side."

Huang Zhi Juan ignored her son as she crouched down to the other boy's level and patted his head as she spoke, "Is my son being mean to you?" 

The little boy shook his head as he sniffled back the tears and spoke up with a smile, "I like brother Zhi. He isn't a meanie." 

"Oh really?" Huang Zhi Juan was shocked to see such a boy who would rather protect his bully with such a sincere look although his lies were so see-through due to the tears that streamed down his eyes. 

"Really! Brother Zhi is really good to me," The little boy beamed and it made the woman feel happy as she gave him the candy that was in her hand. The candy originally belonged to Zhihao so when he saw his mother giving it away to this boy, he wasn't looking too happy about it. 

Zhihao stepped up to the boy and snatched the candy away as he shouted, "It's mine!" 

The little boy had only just managed to stop crying but now that his candy was snatched away, the tears that had stopped, resumed once again like a waterfall that never seemed to end. Zhihao looked at the boy who had his face scrunched up, all wet with tears. His nose and cheeks were bright red due to all the crying and somehow when little Zhihao saw this, he felt a bit of sympathy for the fellow who seemed to be younger than him. 

"Why are you crying like a kid? How old are you?" Zhihao asked rudely and the boy looked up at Zhihao's face, with tears still streaming down his little red face. 

"I-I'm ten years old." The boy answered and it made Zhihao frown. 

"Who are you trying to fool?! You aren't even a kid anymore!" Zhihao was a bit annoyed to know that this boy was around the same age as him and the personality of the two were worlds different. On one hand, there was Zhihao who liked to be alone and play online games while on the other hand there was this boy who was pestering him like a child to go out and play with others. Little Zhihao could not understand why this boy was so adamant about playing with him. Didn't he understand what a 'no' meant? 

Huang Zhi Juan looked at her spoiled son and smacked him lightly once again as she asked, "Aren't you a kid too?" 

Zhihao pouted as he looked at his mother, "I'm not as childish as him!"

"Really? What a shame. I like cute childish kids more," Huang Zhi Juan sighed and immediately looked at the kid with shining eyes as she asked excitedly, "Do you want to be adopted by me?" 

The little boy looked up at the woman, "Adopted?" 

Huang Zhi Juan nodded her head as she answered, "You can play with brother Zhi every day."

"Every day?" Suddenly the boy's lips turned up in a smile, "I want to play with brother Zhi every day!" 

Huang Zhi Juan laughed as she found the little boy to be so cute that she really did consider adopting him, but sadly, she knew that no mother in the world would be ready to give away such a cute little child. However, if the mother really was willing to give this kid up for adoption, Huang Zhi Juan would be the first to snatch away the opportunity. 

Zhihao didn't look too happy to see his mother being so kind towards this little boy and the jealousy made him indirectly hate the little boy even more. He frowned as he looked the boy up and down as if trying to show his dislike towards the boy. 

"Who'll wanna play with you every day?" 

The little boy looked at Zhihao and once again, the tears started to well up in his eyes. By this time, Huang Zhi Juan had already realized that this kid very much liked her son and her son was being a bully for no reason so instead of taking her son's side, she decided to take the little boy's side as she glared at Zhihao. 

"A-Zhi, behave yourself!" She warned. 

The little boy started to cry even more as he heard the woman's strict voice, "Don't scold brother Zhi..." 

"So what if she scolds me? She's my mother, not yours!" 

Huang Zhi Juan suddenly felt like she had been put in a sticky position as she couldn't scold her son for acting rudely and couldn't support his actions either. However, although she was left in a sticky situation where she didn't know what to do, when she looked at the loyalty this little kid was showing towards Zhihao, she felt touched and could almost predict the future where the two would be great friends if only Zhihao wasn't such a big bully. She wanted to help the little kid but she didn't know that the more she tried to take his side, the more she made Zhihao hate the boy.

The little boy suddenly ducked his head down and wiped away his tears, his entire person looking dejected and making Huang Zhi Juan want to hug him. 

Huang Zhi Juan wasn't the only one who was a bit sympathetic towards the little boy. When Zhihao saw the dejected look on the boy's face, he too, felt his heart melt and he somehow hated this feeling. 

"You can't blame me. You are really boring and childish. Why would I wanna leave X-force to play with you?" 

The little boy looked up and asked, "What is X-force?" 

Zhihao scoffed, "You don't even know what X-force is? It is the greatest video game ever released. You get to be in a special team called X-force that fights against evil and completes missions." 

"Evil? Missions? Is that interesting?" The little boy asked curiously and it looked like he had never played a video game before this. 

Zhihao was silent for a minute as he looked at the boy with a contemplating look but he somehow seemed to be a bit more friendly with him as he answered, "You want me to teach you how to play?"