Flipping the Table (Please Vote!)

Flipping the Table (Please Vote!)

Night fell.

Cooper's Home.

"Shelly, guess who's coming over to play tomorrow?"

The moment Little Sheldon came home, his mother Mary said excitedly, "Your new friend Paige! Aren't you happy?"

"Paige isn't my friend."

Little Sheldon immediately put on a look of disdain.

"What?"

Mary froze, her excitement cooling slightly. "Isn't Paige taking Dr. John Sturgis's class with you?"

"Yes."

Little Sheldon said expressionlessly, "That only means we attend class together. At best, we're classmates, but we are absolutely not friends!"

"Don't be like that."

Mary could probably guess the reason, but she really wanted Paige's family to come over tomorrow. After all, in all these years, she had never met another unusual family like hers. She desperately wanted to talk with them and see whether she had made any mistakes in raising Sheldon.

"Shelly, maybe you'll become good friends, just like Adam and Juno."

"Adam and Juno are friends."

Little Sheldon said coldly, "Paige is not a friend, much less a good friend. I don't like her, and I don't plan to like her."

"..."

Mary was speechless. Never use the words 'good friend' again, especially in front of Adam and Juno... This Paige must really be incredibly smart, or Shelly wouldn't be reacting so strongly.

Little Sheldon was straightforward enough, but he was also a mama's boy. How could he possibly be a match for Mary?

Mary first openly complained that she did not have many friends and hoped to befriend Paige's mother. Then she took a step back and said that if Little Sheldon truly did not want it, she would not force him.

Faced with Mary's hopeful eyes, Little Sheldon, who had just been so resolute, immediately hesitated. He said he would think about it, and Mary happily invited Paige's parents over.

The next day.

Afternoon.

Ding-dong.

"Welcome, wel... uh."

"Hi, Mrs. Cooper."

"Hi, Adam, Juno. It's you two."

Mary had clearly dressed up on purpose. She opened the door with her brightest smile, but the moment she saw Adam and Juno, her smile stiffened.

"You're here to see Shelly, right? We have guests coming today, so it might not be convenient. How about..."

"It's fine."

Adam pretended not to know, smiling as he said, "You mean Paige, the one Sheldon mentioned? We came over to take a look. In case they start fighting, we can help talk them down... Just kidding."

"Hehe."

Mary forced a smile. Adam's words were crude, but not unreasonable. Perhaps Adam and Juno really could help, so she stepped aside and let them in. "Shelly's in his bedroom."

Bedroom.

In front of the full-length mirror.

Little Sheldon was facing the mirror, constantly adjusting the bow tie at his neck. His face was full of conflict and displeasure. He looked surprised when Adam and Juno arrived.

"Huh? Why are you here?"

"We came to support you."

Adam made it up. "You're our friend."

Juno rolled her eyes beside him.

Although she had already crossed Adam's name off her blacklist, whenever she saw him so eager to approach younger children, she still had the urge to crack open his skull and see what exactly was inside.

"Really?"

Little Sheldon revealed a faint smile. For the first time, he felt the warmth of friendship, and his favorable impression of Adam and Juno unconsciously rose.

All of this was unconscious. Under normal circumstances, unless he had someone like Leonard fawning over him for four or five years, Little Sheldon would never have such obvious feelings about friendship.

But now, under the threat Paige posed to his intelligence, he experienced it early.

After all, what he was most proud of was his genius-level intellect. He believed that aside from scientific giants like Einstein, Newton, and Hawking, there was no one on Earth who could truly communicate with him.

Yet his conversations with Paige a few days ago had completely shattered his pride.

He was not the youngest super genius. Paige was a month younger than him, and whenever they discussed physics, Paige often left him speechless.

Anger and sadness intertwined. This feeling Grandma called jealousy left him at a loss. Instinctively, he wanted comfort from others, even from the "stupid Earthlings" he had always believed them to be.

Naturally, Adam could not guess what Little Sheldon was thinking. Otherwise, he would definitely have gone next door, grabbed a chicken, and chased Little Sheldon up a tree with it. His purpose in coming this time was clear: get acquainted with Paige and make her a new source of growth for his intelligence.

"How do you feel now?"

Juno was very interested in Sheldon's current emotions.

"Vulcans use something called Kolinahr to suppress their emotions."

Little Sheldon frowned. "Unfortunately, I only have Vulcan Hearing. I'm not actually a Vulcan. For now, I can only bury my emotions in the deepest part of my heart. If I become heartless in the future, don't be surprised."

"You can do it."

Adam gave him a thumbs-up.

"Shelly, they're here."

Mary called from the living room.

"Phew. It's begun."

Little Sheldon took a deep breath, straightened his body, and walked toward the living room with Sheldon's version of a stiff, don't-give-a-damn stride. The living room was already full of people.

"Hi, Sheldon."

A blond little girl opened her arms and gave Little Sheldon an enthusiastic hug.

Little Sheldon wore an expression of utter despair.

Mary warmly introduced everyone. Then she and her husband sat in the living room chatting with Paige's parents, while Paige's older sister was dragged into the backyard by Little Sheldon's brother and sister, Georgie Jr. and Missy, to play.

Adam and Juno followed Little Sheldon and Paige into Little Sheldon's bedroom.

"Since we'll be spending several hours together, I made a list of activities to keep us occupied."

Little Sheldon introduced it expressionlessly. "We'll start by touring my room, then play board games. If there's still time, you can look at my model train, but you are absolutely not allowed to touch it."

"Hi, Sheldon, don't be so serious. We're all friends."

Adam gave an utterly ordinary smile. "Paige, I'm Adam, Sheldon's good friend. This is Juno. Nice to meet you."

Paige stared straight at Adam.

Adam's smile gradually became impossible to maintain. For some reason, he began to feel uncomfortable all over.

"Do you play chess?"

Paige suddenly smiled.

"Uh."

Adam forced out a smile. "Of course."

"Then let's play."

Paige took Sheldon's chessboard and gestured toward it.

Juno watched the scene with amusement.

"Checkmate. I won."

After only a few moves, Paige clapped her hands and smiled. "Sheldon, your turn?"

"Okay."

Little Sheldon walked over.

The two then played chess while discussing quantum mechanics, completely ignoring everyone else.

Juno watched with great interest.

Adam, meanwhile, kept a dark expression throughout, until Little Sheldon flipped the table, because the system had not given him any prompt at all.

P.S. Thanks to Yue Zhen Yuanting for the donation!