Not Alone (Please Vote!)

Not Alone (Please Vote!)

Wednesday.

Four in the morning.

The sky was still dark.

"I hate you!"

As his sister Missy complained with her eyes closed, Little Sheldon turned off the alarm and got out of bed.

He went to the garage, put two large cartons of milk into an ice bucket to chill, and evenly placed spoons in the neatly arranged glasses. The dozen or so chairs had been set out the night before, their spacing perfectly in line with mathematical principles.

Then Little Sheldon tuned the radio. When he heard an introduction to Sweden's Nobel Prize preparations, he smiled happily. Then he sat on his throne, facing the garage entrance, quietly waiting for the classmates who were supposed to come after hearing his broadcast.

But even by four fifty, no one had come. Little Sheldon's mood instantly sank to rock bottom.

At that moment, only Mary, the mother who truly loved Little Sheldon, came in wearing her robe.

"I don't think anyone is coming."

Little Sheldon spoke softly.

"Oh, baby."

Mary's heart ached for him. "Mommy is here."

"I know."

Little Sheldon's mood did not improve. "You're my mother. You were supposed to be here anyway."

Just then, the broadcast announced that the award ceremony was officially beginning.

"Do you want me to stay?"

Mary asked.

"No."

Little Sheldon shook his head. After Mary left, he listened to the broadcast alone. When they announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, Little Sheldon could no longer hold it in and began to cry.

Because the winner was not the scientist he approved of.

Noon.

Library.

Little Sheldon sat there with a proud, aloof expression that said, 'Nobody talk to me.'

"Is Sheldon okay?"

Juno nudged Adam.

"He's fine."

Adam glanced at Little Sheldon and smiled carelessly. "No one listened with him, so he probably felt hurt."

"Poor little thing."

Juno said sympathetically, "If I'd known, I would have gone to keep him company."

"There was no need."

Adam shook his head. "He isn't alone."

"Hm?"

Juno shot Adam a surprised look, then deliberately raised her voice. "Why do you say Sheldon isn't alone?"

Adam smiled knowingly. Seeing Little Sheldon's gaze drift over as expected, he considered his words before smiling. "Because although none of us kept him company this morning, somewhere in the world, there must have been someone listening with him.

"Maybe some bespectacled bookworm,

"Maybe some gamer boy sitting in a potato chair, furiously hammering away at his keyboard,

"Or maybe some foreign young man across the ocean who was 'down-to-earth despite having hundreds of millions,' with dozens of servants standing beside him to study with him.

"As long as they exist, Sheldon will never be alone.

"Besides them, at five this morning, somewhere in the world,

"Maybe there was some silly girl sleeping sprawled out every which way,

"Maybe some adorable little girl sleeping obediently,

"Or maybe some future female scientist secretly reading a romantic story about princes and princesses by flashlight to avoid getting caught by her mother.

"So many maybes.

"Maybe they seem to have nothing to do with Sheldon now, but once a miracle happens, they and those boys will all gather around Sheldon, day after day, putting up with his weirdness.

"They aren't stupid. They're his friends. They love him!

"So Sheldon will not be alone."

No one responded to Adam.

With surprise and admiration in her eyes, Juno stared at him blankly for a long time without saying a word.

Little Sheldon had completely swept away his earlier gloom. The corner of his mouth lifted, and his incredibly powerful mind, which often simulated the universe, had already turned Adam's description into a 3D video.

He seemed to truly see a bespectacled boy in pajamas, sitting at a desk with thick books piled on it, quietly listening to the Nobel Prize in Physics ceremony on the radio. There was also the gamer boy and the 'foreign Iron Man.'

As for the silly girl sleeping soundly, the adorable little girl sleeping obediently, and the future female scientist who loved romantic stories—sorry, they were not his type. He could not imagine them at all.

"What is it?"

Adam felt a little embarrassed under Juno's gaze.

"Nothing."

Juno smiled. "I just didn't expect you to say something like that. It was quite touching."

"Heh."

Adam smiled.

He was not an emotional person, but when he had seen this scene in his previous life, he had been deeply moved as well.

To be honest, if he only wanted Wisdom Points, he would have distanced himself from Little Sheldon long ago. After all, this guy truly was a brat, always throwing disdainful looks his way and making blunt remarks that made people want to hit him.

Juno's mysterious comings and goings over the two months of summer vacation had already proven one thing: even if they did not meet, it did not affect the daily supply of Wisdom Points.

The reason Adam still hung out with Little Sheldon was entirely because of the influence of his previous life. The Big Bang Theory Seven, especially Sheldon, truly counted as his old friends.

Zhou Shuren once said: When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

After watching it dozens of times over more than a decade, who could say that Sheldon's life was not a part of Adam's own life?

Time passed easily in idleness.

In the blink of an eye, another year had gone by.

1991.

They were already in eleventh grade.

Academically, Adam worked hard enough, and as his Wisdom gradually increased, his grades consistently remained among the best.

Although Fruit Hard Candy Band had long passed the glory days when "Don't Cry" had first come out, it still had some modest fame. It would also count as a bonus on future college applications.

As for family, Duncan's family remained as warm as ever.

The only shortcoming was that there had still not been much progress with Paige.

Paige did not live nearby and rarely interacted even with Little Sheldon, much less Adam.

Fortunately, Adam had plenty of patience.

Marriage was the sort of thing that would eventually fall apart if it was meant to. The United States' sky-high divorce rate proved it. Numbers did not lie.

"Sheldon, what's wrong?"

At noon one day, Adam saw Little Sheldon wearing a conflicted expression and asked.

"Paige is coming to my house this week."

Little Sheldon frowned. "My mother said her parents got divorced, and she's very hurt. She's been having trouble at school. Paige's mother thinks I have a positive influence on her and wants her to spend more time with me."

"Yes!"

Adam was excited. Wasn't this the opportunity he had been waiting more than a year for?

The rebellious troubled girl was coming.

"I mean, we're all friends. Paige is so pitiful, so we should show her more concern..."

Seeing Little Sheldon's unwilling expression, Adam added, "It's a necessary social custom, you know."

"Fine."

Little Sheldon was most susceptible to that sort of argument. Once he learned it was a 'necessary social custom,' he chose to accept it despite his inner conflict.

Weekend.

Cooper's Home.

Adam showed up uninvited again.

The moment they met, Little Sheldon was shocked. His blunt-boy instincts kicked in. "Why did you dye your hair like that? Was it because your parents got divorced?"

"Shelly!"

Mary was instantly embarrassed. She had repeatedly warned him not to bring that up.

"She just wanted to dye her hair."

Paige's mother was also somewhat embarrassed and could only cover for her. "And under these circumstances, there's nothing wrong with it."

"I think it looks beautiful."

Mary chimed in with a smile.

After some small talk, Paige's mother left. Missy pulled the nonconformist-looking Paige away to play, while Adam began considering how to make his opening.