After getting off the train and leaving the train station, Alan immediately took a taxi.
During the taxi ride to his destination, Alan sent a message to the family group chat that he had to stop by somewhere first before going to the hospital.
His dad replied with a thumbs-up sticker.
Soon, the taxi stopped near the Awakeners Association's building. After paying the fare, Alan went inside the building and walked straight towards the reception counter.
"Awakener Carter, here's your visitor pass. Please go up to the fifth floor, someone will be there to guide you."
Before Alan even opened his mouth to say something, the receptionist beat him to it.
As receptionists at the Awakeners Association, they are required to remember the faces of Awakeners, especially those who are active in the field, since interacting with Awakeners daily is part of their job description.
Alan quietly took the visitor pass from the receptionist and got into the elevator after going through the security gate.
When the elevator door opened on the fifth floor, an association employee was already there waiting for him.
"Where's Daniella?" Alan asked bluntly.
The association employee remained composed and responded, "Awakener Ruth will be with you shortly. Please wait in the meeting room."
Alan knitted his brows but did not say anything, just followed the association employee to the meeting room.
After he was seated, he checked the time.
There was still plenty of time before the hospital's visiting hours closed for the day. However, today, Alan couldn't help but feel particularly impatient because today may be the day, the day he had been waiting for.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait that long in the empty meeting room.
The moment Danielle walked into the room, she took the initiative to speak first.
"Sorry for the wait. Thank you for coming to meet me here despite the short notice."
"Is this going to take long? I have somewhere to be right now."
His impatience and displeasure were obvious from his face and the way he kept checking the time.
Daniella, unbothered by his behaviour, said, "There's a new awakened."
'What does that have anything to do with me being here?', was the look Alan made.
"They came to the association today for an assessment, and I was hoping you'd deliver their assessment report."
"Isn't that the job of your subordinate?"
Alan refused in a roundabout way to be polite.
"This new Awakener said they're a big fan of yours."
Although his place of employment - ROAR Guild, is famous, his team mostly work out of the public eye. So it's nearly impossible for normal people to know him as an Awakener.
Alan cast a suspicious glance at Daniella who noticed yet still kept pushing for him to agree to the task.
"Also, this new Awakener was sick for the longest time and only got better after their awakening."
Daniella hit Alan's weak spot.
"…Give me the report. Where are they?"
Alan reluctantly gave in.
Daniella checked her x-watch before replying, "They're waiting at the lounge."
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.
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The first to recover from the shock was Lea.
She was about to say something when Bella belatedly rushed over to her side and helped her stand back up.
Lea thanked Bella and then turned back to look at her brother who had turned into a frozen statue. It was a look she had never seen on him before so she felt the urge to poke his forehead, but held herself back in the last second.
Instead, she took two steps back and opened her arms wide.
"Aren't you going to give me a hug?"
When her brother still showed no movement, she spoke again.
"Al, I can't keep this up for too long."
Still nothing.
On her third try, she purposely chose to sound a bit more pitiful and also to tease him just a little bit.
"Unless you want to see me fall back to the floor."
To make it more believable, Lea slowly lowered her arms, acting like she was losing strength. And just as she intended, her brother snapped out of his daze.
When his eyes finally focused on her, he called out her name in a soft murmur.
"Lea."
Lea smiled at her brother, her brother whom she hadn't seen since she woke up almost half a year ago.
"Hi, Al."
"Is it really you?"
Lea could see his mind was still slowly processing due to shock.
"I'm Mom and Dad's daughter, who else can I be?" Lea shot back.
A memory from when they were very young resurfaced when Alan heard her response.
Since their family travelled a lot because of their mom's job and their dad's free-spiritedness, Alan and Lea were strictly taught about stranger danger. So whenever a grown-up asked for her name, that was always Lea's go-to answer as a child, "I'm Mom and Dad's daughter."
Now with certainty, Alan hugged Lea, slowly and carefully.
"I missed you, Lea."
The shakiness in his whispered voice like he was suppressing a cry saddened her heart but she didn't want to ruin this meaningful moment with tears.
'Still a crybaby.'
Lea gently patted her older brother's back and spoke softly near his ear like she was comforting a child, "I'm sorry for sleeping too much."
Alan flinched before hugging her tighter.
Because of her small frame, Lea was completely engulfed by Alan.
Just when she had had enough of being hugged, out of nowhere, their parents joined in on the hug too. A second too late, Lea was now completely squished both front and back.
In the lounge area on the fifth floor of the Awakeners Association, the Carters had a family reunion that took six years in the making.
.
.
.
"Here's your cane, Miss Lea."
"Thank you."
Bella had been holding on to it until Lea was finally freed from her family's loving captivity, which by the way, was kindly filmed by Bella with her phone and WaveDrop the video to her dad on the spot.
After giving back the cane, Bella took something out of her jacket pocket and gave it to Lea.
"Power gummies, they're like energy bar made into gummies. I thought you might need it."
Lea gratefully accepted the packet of snacks and opened it to refuel her energy.
While Lea was enjoying the different flavour of Power Gummies, Alan pulled their parents aside to have a talk with them.
"What were you thinking, Dad? I can't believe you actually involved the Awakeners Association in your scheme," Alan scolded.
"How'd you know it was my idea?"
The older man was surprised to be called out by his son.
It was not difficult to figure out that the current situation was the work of their parents. To be exact, it was his dad with his long-standing history of doing unexpected things.
"It's not just me. Your mom helped me plan this too, to surprise you and Lea."
This time it was Alan who was surprised when his mom was revealed as a co-conspirator because usually, she was the more sensible parent.
Alan turned to his mom and asked, "You agreed to this, Mom?"
"To be honest, I thought your dad's plan would fail midway through," his mom confessed.
"But in the end, it's a success."
He beamed proudly, unoffended by his own wife's words.
Alan held back a sigh and happened to see Daniella walking into the lounge.
Instead of waiting for her to come over to them, he walked over to her and apologised for the inconvenience his dad caused.
The veteran Awakener simply responded with, "It wasn't any trouble. We also asked Miss Lea to come for an examination, so it works out well."
"Examination, what examination?"
Alan turned around to his parents for an explanation who looked back at him with a clueless expression.
"Before I can tell you, I need Miss Lea's permission first."
The one who answered was Daniella.
All eyes turned to Lea.
Their sudden attention towards her made her shrink back on the sofa, her hand reaching into the open packet of power gummies.
"Miss Lea, may I share the result of your examination with your family?"
Lea nodded her head while slowly chewing on a Power Gummy.
Thus, the family reunion turned into something like a parent-child meeting.
"To summarise, Miss Lea has a large amount of mana particles and we wish to monitor to see if it will decrease or stay the same over time."
"How much is a large amount?" Alan asked.
Like a capable assistant, Bella already had her mini tablet ready with a copy of Lea's full-body scan and showed it to him.
Alan's eyes went wide.
He looked up from the mini tablet and said, "Was there a machine malfunction?"
Daniella and Bella understood his scepticism.
"Nothing malfunctioned. What you're seeing is exactly as it is."
Alan glanced at Lea sitting relaxedly on the sofa.
'Her complexion looks healthier.'
It was only now that his mind registered that he was seeing his sister with his own eyes, not at a photo.
Sensing his gaze, Lea mouthed, "I'm hungry."
It was past noon.
Alan suppressed a chuckle and then turned back to Daniella.
"Risk?"
"None, they're stable."
Only the two Awakeners understood what the other meant.
Alan was asking if that many particles inside his sister carried any risk to her body and Daniella dismissed his concern.
That was all he needed to know, for now.