Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 39: You Don’t Ask For Much, Do You?

Chapter 39: You Don’t Ask For Much, Do You?

There was a comforting silence in the rec room. The whole house was peaceful, the adults having gone to bed a long time ago.

Now, only the three of them were awake, but no one was speaking.

Ye Yao Zu let out a soft sigh and got more comfortable on the couch. He had missed quiet like this. The comforting kind, not the silence that came at his house where it was a precursor to something worse.

"It’s not good to sleep with it in, you know," he heard the low voice of his friend as he talked to the small child on his lap.

"I’m getting used to it," she sighed. "I might have a roommate in name only, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have a key to the room and could come home at any time."

"You have a roommate? I thought the University would want to keep you separated?" muttered Bai Long Qiang. Ye Yao Zu remained silent, not wanting them to register his presence in the room. This was a much better way of learning about the girl who had his friend completely wrapped up.

"The university thought my age was going to be enough of a factor. They wanted me to try to develop socially like my peers," she replied with a shrug.

"Are we talking academic peers or age group peers?" chuckled Bai Long Qiang, wrapping her up even tighter into his arms. He slowly started rocking back and forth on the Lazy-boy chair. The movement was minuscule but enough for both of them.

"I have yet to meet anyone I could consider to be on my level academically," she replied with a raised eyebrow. "And I am pretty sure that those in my age group are still playing on the monkey bars at school."

"Do you ever wish that you were doing that?" asked Bai Long Qiang softly. The girl simply shook her head.

"No. There is this need inside of me that I need to go faster, that I need to get everything done sooner, or else the world is going to end," she said softly. Ye Yao Zu suppressed the laughter that was threatening to come out. There was a term for that: Impending doom anxiety.

Those who suffered from it would always think that something terrible was about to happen, and when it didn’t.... it was almost worse.

"I already know I won’t be getting my residency at the end of these four years. I might try for another degree in the meantime. Maybe a psychology degree," she shot Ye Yao Zu a twisted smile before turning her attention back to Bai Long Qiang. "But I don’t see any hospitals willing to take on a 12-year-old resident. Especially when I would be better than most of the ones they already have on staff."

"Do you really think that you are that good?" asked Ye Yao Zu, speaking for the first time.

"No. I don’t think I am; I know I am. And that is the biggest difference," she replied with a shake of her head. "If you only think you are, the first time you encounter something you can’t overcome, you will crumble. I know that I am that good. And even if I find something that I can’t overcome, it is not enough to tear me down."

"That’s a very mature way of thinking about things," muttered Ye Yao Zu with a comforting smile on his face. "But you are young. There are going to be a lot of things that you don’t know about. There is a big difference between confidence and arrogance. And arrogance is never attractive," advised Ye Yao Zu.

"Then I guess it is a good thing I am not arrogant," she replied, stroking Bai Long Qiang’s chest as if to calm him down. "But I don’t suggest you provoke the beast. I’m surprised that he hasn’t already offered me your eyes."

Ye Yao Zu stiffened and looked at the little girl. "How do you know he didn’t?"

"Because if he did, I would already have them. Unless he didn’t want you to look at me even if you couldn’t see me. I also accept hearts. Should I ask him for yours?" The smile on her face was almost creepy. The way she was talking about taking internal organs was setting off alarm bells inside Ye Yao Zu’s head.

"Joking, joking. Geeze. You need to learn to relax. Your heart really can’t handle you being so stressed all the time," she laughed, and Bai Long Qiang laughed with her.

"That was really not funny," muttered Ye Yao Zu, taking a drink of his warm beer. Shuddering at the taste, he sat down the half-empty bottle and went to the mini fridge to get another cold one.

"Agree to disagree. I like leaving people in stitches." This time, Bai Long Qiang burst out laughing, his entire body shaking under her.

She looked like she had just received the greatest prize of all time as she watched Bai Long Qiang laugh.

"Who else should I have on my team?" asked Bai Long Qiang, changing the subject once he was able to stop laughing.

"You know I am not in the military," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Whoever you choose for your team is fine."

"Humor me," he said with a sigh, leaning forward to put down his beer bottle.

"Fine. In addition to someone that can read microexpressions, you will need a medic," she started, but Bai Long Qiang shook his head.

"That’s what you’re for," he replied.

"But you won’t let me in the field with you, so you will need something to keep you alive long enough to get you to me," she countered. "You will need a good logistical person. Someone who can procure you stuff that you didn’t even know you needed before you needed it. A father figure. Someone older than the rest of your men can go to and talk about stuff with. You will be their leader; you can’t blur the line between friendship and authority like a father figure could."

"Is that all?" smirked Bai Long Qiang as he looked over at Ye Yao Zu. This was why he brought him home. He needed to see this and understand it if he wanted to be on his team.

"No," replied the child with a shake of her head. "You will need someone who knows how to have fun but be serious at the same time. Laughter is the best medicine, even if the jokes are darker than what most are comfortable with. A good individual will know how to relieve tension within the group without lighting a powder keg with their words."

"You don’t ask for much, do you?" muttered Bai Long Qiang, thinking about everything she had just said.

"Not if I want you to come home to me at the end of every mission."