Falling Out?

After summer vacation.

At the beginning of autumn.

The day of departure arrived.

"Mr. Duncan, Mrs. Duncan."

"Juno, Karen, welcome, welcome. Come in and have some tea first. Bob, go call Adam."

"Thank you, Mrs. Duncan."

"No, we should be thanking you for taking Adam to New York."

"Don't mention it. We're good friends."

"Yes, yes. Young people should make more good friends."

When Juno and Karen drove over, Mom, Amy, gave them an enthusiastic welcome.

Compared with Amazing Amy, who had once given her headaches and disgusted her, Juno and Karen not only completely outclassed Amazing Amy in looks, but also behaved appropriately—or at least seemed to in front of her, studying together, helping each other, forming a band, and so on. There was no sign of controlling tendencies, let alone the fact that there were two of them.

That was four times the happiness, wasn't it?

She and Bob had been high school classmates, then became lovers, and now had a happy family with four children. So she believed in and admired childhood-sweetheart relationships.

If possible, her son could carry on their romantic tradition, build a happy family of his own in the future, and live a joyful life. That would be her fondest wish.

The only question was, which one should he choose?

Juno was clever and quick-witted, generous by nature.

Karen was quiet and gentle, yet utterly wicked.

They were both such good girls. What a troubling choice.

While Amy entertained Juno and Karen and secretly sized them up, Bob, who had been caught up in a childlike dilemma, headed down to the basement in high spirits and found Adam packing.

"Son, are you done packing? Juno and Karen are already here."

"Almost."

Adam put away the manuscript and photocopies, then thought for a moment before pulling the manuscript back out and solemnly handing it to Bob.

"Dad, this is the manuscript for my novel. You have to keep it safe. Whether I end up working the streets or at some club... Anyway, this concerns whether our family can escape poverty and get rich, so you have to take it seriously. Don't let anyone steal it, or let Gabe ruin it."

"Escape poverty and get rich? Adam, you really know how to joke. Your mom has been working for four years now. We can barely count as middle class. What poverty are you talking about?"

Bob casually took Adam's manuscript. Seeing that Adam did not play along and merely stared at him seriously, he shrugged. "All right, all right, I get it. It's the manuscript for your first novel. I'll keep it safe. I definitely won't let Gabe ruin it."

Clearly, in his eyes, the odds of someone stealing it were far lower than the odds of his youngest son, Gabe, ruining it.

Adam wholeheartedly agreed.

Everyone in this small town lived in detached houses, and the people nearby were all acquaintances, so the risk of theft was not high. But once he got to a metropolis like New York, a place known as both heaven and hell, all sorts of bizarre things could happen.

Getting mugged outside or burglarized at home was practically standard fare.

For example, Joey and Chandler's apartment in Friends had been cleaned out before, though that was mostly Joey's fault for being stupid.

But in The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon and Leonard's apartment had truly been ransacked.

The lock had been pried open, and everything from Sheldon's alien laptop onward had been taken. The only thing that relieved Sheldon was that his tons of comic books had not been stolen.

Even so, Sheldon became terrified of another break-in.

First, he could not sleep. Then he had Howard install an advanced security system. After getting caught by that very system and shocked so badly that he wet himself, he resolved to leave crime-ridden Pasadena for good.

After ruling out countless places, he finally chose one.

But unexpectedly, the moment he got off the train, his luggage was brazenly snatched away. Helpless, Sheldon could only buy a ticket back to Pasadena at once.

Later, Sheldon got angry over Caltech's arrangements for him, and with his friends all going through major changes that he could not accept for a time, he once again chose to flee by train.

That time, he lost more than just his luggage. Someone even stole his pants...

It looked funny, but the grim reality reflected through the comedy left Adam, living in this country, unable to laugh.

His book had not even been published yet. If the manuscript were stolen, it would all be over.

So, for safety's sake, he decided to bring only two photocopies. Even if they were stolen, he would still have the manuscript to prove that he had written the book.

In the future, the manuscript could be worth a fortune.

"Middle class?"

Seeing that Bob had taken his words seriously, Adam relaxed and teased, "What class? It's just a term the rich forcibly cobbled together."

"What?"

Bob was stunned.

Education in the United States was indeed advanced, but that applied to the elite. The average person's narrow-mindedness and low standards could be unbelievable.

Most of the time, whatever the upper-class elite said went. That was true even in the future before everyone was connected online, let alone in the information-starved nineties.

"The middle class is entirely a false concept."

Adam explained, "In bourgeoisie and proletariat, the word 'property' refers to one's relationship to the means of production—in other words, assets. But in so-called middle class, the concept gets swapped out for personal possessions. Owning property does not mean you own assets. The middle class is merely proletarians with a few possessions."

Bob's mouth fell open. "So that's how it is?"

"What did you think?"

Adam shrugged. "What's the difference between you and the proletarians you look down on? Your house is a little bigger, your car is a little better, and your clothes and food are a little more refined. You still work for someone else."

Bob's mouth twitched. He realized the words made far too much sense, and he truly had nothing to say.

For a moment, his mood sank. Anyone would have trouble accepting that the class they had struggled their whole life to enter did not actually exist.

His American Dream!

"I'm ready."

Adam spoke up, interrupting Bob's emotional spiral.

"Oh."

Bob reined in his emotions, forced himself to perk up, and smiled stiffly. "Son, which one are you picking, Juno or Karen?"

"Picking which one?"

Adam said speechlessly, "I'm not picking either of them. They're just friends."

"Don't lie to your dad."

Bob's smile became natural again, as well as thoroughly improper. "You're so handsome, they're so pretty, and you spend every day together. Especially Juno. You're just ordinary friends?"

"..."

Adam swallowed a rant.

Yes, they did spend every day together, but had there ever been even one time when he had taken the initiative to seek Juno out?

No!

Not once!

From beginning to end, Juno had always been the one taking the initiative. He had nowhere to hide.

At first, spending time with her had left him terrified. Now, unless Juno deliberately dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, he was almost forgetting how frightening Juno could be.

As for falling out with her?

Not to mention that Juno was still continuously providing him with Wisdom Points, even without that, she had always greeted him with a smile over the past four years. Her words and actions genuinely made it seem as though she considered him a friend.

Adam had solid values. He was not some Long Aotian who picked fights with heaven, earth, and thin air. How could he turn hostile for no reason?

If he really did that, he would probably be finished off with celebratory confetti, considering how steady Juno was...

Not to mention that his physical attributes could only be improved through positive energy like familial love and friendship, while exercise was basically useless. Even if he reached Wolverine's level, so what?

If someone encased you in concrete and dumped you into the sea, you would be better off sticking out your neck for a single stroke and getting it over with.