Lea overslept till noon the next day.
She waddled out of her bedroom to the living room, plopped down on the sofa and blankly stared out the window.
One big yawn later, she was lazily stretching the sleep out of her body and mind when Alan came to the living room and placed a big bowl of porridge on the coffee table.
"Dad cooked a large pot, all for you. He knew you'd be super hungry when you wake up."
Lea, who wasn't in the mood to move a lot today due to yesterday's unexpected event, slid down from the sofa to the carpet on the floor. She picked up the spoon and quietly ate the porridge that tasted just like how she liked it, with a few drops of soy sauce.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Mm…"
"How's your body?"
"Sore."
Lea slurped a spoonful of porridge after every single word response.
Not minding her listlessness, Alan turned on the TV.
If Lea paid him the same attention as she was on the porridge, she would see the tiredness around his eyes. He barely slept last night and kept checking on Lea while she was asleep because he was worried she might have nightmares.
After filling her stomach with two bowls of porridge while watching a crime series, Lea finally opened her mouth.
"Aren't you going to ask?"
"Ask what?"
The two kept their gaze on the TV screen as they talked.
"How I got away from the Mini Cerberus with only a scratch."
"Only a scratch?" Alan repeated as he shot her a side-long glance.
Lea looked down on her unblemished hands, as if the ordeal she went through yesterday was not real. But, the exhaustion was real so it definitely wasn't a dream.
"Just tell me this, your skill, it's not combat-oriented, right?"
Alan broke the brief silence.
To him, that was more important than knowing what exactly her skill does.
Lea leaned back and gave an immediate, "No."
Alan nodded, looking satisfied with just hearing that.
Their talk naturally ended as they became engaged with the plot of the series.
Four episodes later, Lea turned to her brother who was now lying on the sofa on his side with one hand propped up on his head.
"What's with that face?" Alan asked without turning his gaze away from the TV.
"It's the face of a sister who is suspicious of her brother."
"I think you got too engrossed with the show."
Alan ruffled her hair roughly but Lea didn't sound a complaint.
"Thank you, Al."
"What are you saying now?"
"When I was in the rift, I didn't panic as much as you thought I'd be because of the three rules of survival you made me memorise."
When Lea told him the reason for her sudden gratitude, Alan sat up with the corner of his lips curled up into a smug smile.
"See, I told you you were gonna thank me someday." He then gently patted her head along with a praise, "You did really well for your first rift, I'm proud of you."
"The skill I got was pretty helpful, probably because it's a Named skill," Lea casually shared.
She could see her brother's ears twitch when she mentioned 'Named skill'.
"Seriously?"
Alan tried not to sound interested but Lea knew her brother better. After all, awakening with a Named skill is equivalent to winning the lottery, for most cases.
'He must be dying to know, in that case…'
"I give you permission to bug me about my skill."
The moment she said that, her brother immediately caved in.
"What's it called, the Named skill?"
"[Eyes of an Eagle] but it's not as impressive as other Named skills," Lea gave her honest impression. "The skill's practically a switch that lets me adjust the quality of my eyesight."
As for the [Foresight] skill, Lea decided to keep it to herself, for the sake of her peace and safety.
"A Named skill is still a Named skill. We need to celebrate, Lea."
Alan got up from the sofa energetically and rushed out of the living room.
Half an hour later, he came back with two large brown bags bearing the logo of Lea's favourite fried chicken place.
"Congratulations on your awakening, Lea!"
The brother and sister clinked a piece of seasoned fried chicken.
They spent the rest of the afternoon watching a Korean variety show while indulging themselves in different flavours of fried chicken.
.
.
.
Two days later, Alan took Lea out of the house to make up for the shopping they never got to do because of the rift.
"So Lea, how far can you see?"
Alan suddenly brought up her skill when the car stopped at a red light.
"The billboard."
Lea gave a lukewarm response.
"Lea, be serious."
There were billboards on almost every tall building they drove by, that was why Alan scolded her lightly.
"I am being serious. There's a large movie poster of two men in superhero costumes."
Alan looked out for the movie poster but did not see it until they drove past a shopping mall with a cinema.
After that, Alan kept asking Lea, more like bothering her, to tell him what else she could see as if they were playing a mini car game.
"You know Lea, your Named skill is as impressive as an archer's. Trust me, I know an archer with perfect accuracy."
"I'm not using my skill thought," Lea revealed nonchalantly.
"Eh?"
Alan abruptly turned his head to the passenger seat, his face dumbfounded, only to receive a scolding tone from Lea, who kept her gaze on the road.
"Look ahead."
.
.
.
When they arrived at the high-end department store, Alan flexed his money by buying Lea a new phone and tablet with the largest storage space including accessories.
'This is too much,' Lea thought when she looked at the pile of things Alan had taken without so much as looking at the price. 'I think I'm gonna have indigestion from overspending even though it's not my money.'
She was about to stop him from spending any more at the tech store when he held up two different products for her to choose from.
"Which one do you prefer, the glass screen protector or this other one?"
"The other one."
A quick answer came out of Lea's mouth before pulling her brother away from the product shelves to the cashier.
"Al, let's stop. You said you made a reservation at 11."
Alan checked the time at Lea's reminder.
"Okay, let's go pay."
After everything was paid for including arranging their stuff to be delivered to their house, Alan took Lea to a floor in the department store where the shops were exclusively for Awakener customers.
"Welcome, Mr Carter. How can we help you today?"
The moment they walked into a shop specialised in making custom items for Awakeners, an employee dressed like a veteran butler greeted them.
Lea habitually avoided eye contact and looked down whenever she was meeting new, unfamiliar people especially since she wasn't wearing her glasses.
"I'd like to commission a walking cane for my sister," Alan told the veteran butler-looking employee.
The walking cane given to her by the hospital was bitten badly by the Mini Cerberus. It could no longer be used so Alan offered to get her a better walking cane.
"Do you have a preferred material in mind?"
"Make it light and durable."
While Alan discussed the details for the commission of Lea's new walking cane with the veteran butler-looking employee, another employee served tea which Lea found to be the most delicious tea she had ever had.
Alan noticed she was enjoying the tea so he pushed his cup towards her.
"How long will it take to finish?"
"It should be done in a week," the veteran butler-looking employee responded succinctly. "We will contact you when the item is completed."
Towards the end of the discussion, Alan turned to Lea who had finished drinking two cups of tea.
"Lea, since we're here, do you want something else other than a cane?"
For the first time since entering the shop, Lea opened her mouth and quietly spoke, "What's the name of this tea?"
Alan wasn't even surprised that she asked about the tea instead of the products of the shop.
"The tea leaves were gifted to us by a regular customer who owned a tea house."
The employee who served the tea shared the name of the tea house, all the while wearing a gentle smile towards Lea.
'Impeccable customer service.'
Afterwards, Alan took Lea to other stores and splurged his money like there was no limit to his card.
"I know it's your money Al, but don't you think you're overspending a bit too much?"
Lea expressed her concern after witnessing her brother arrange a delivery for a heavy item he had just bought on the spot.
"I don't think so. While you were sleeping, I worked really hard to earn a lot of money. That's how I bought the house."
Alan boasted by waving his premium black card in front of Lea's face.
Her eyes went wide, half in disbelief and half in amazement.
"You mean the house we're staying in now was bought by you, it's not a rental?"
"Of course, I bought the house," Alan spoke with a proud face. "I made a promise to you and Mom and Dad, didn't I?"
'Promise?'
Lea vaguely remembered that when her brother started high school he made a promise that he'd buy their family a big house to live in. Who would've thought he actually fulfilled that promise already?
While Lea was reminiscing, Alan went on to say, "I also remembered that I promised to give you a big allowance when I awakened. So you can just think of today as you spending that allowance."
When Lea heard such amazing words, she took this chance and pointed to a promotional poster hanging in front of a franchise cafe.
"Then you don't mind if I order those two limited seasonal drinks, right?"
"Of course you can have them."
After agreeing, Alan looked at the cafe she was pointing but had to squint his eyes to see that far ahead.
Lea quietly chuckled at his face.