It had been two days, but the war between the East and the West had still not calmed down.

  If one side unched two missiles, the other side answered with four and prepared even more in advance.

  The situation only kept getting worse.

  Yen had contacted Mara and told him that he was alright.

  He also expined why his father had suddenly called him back. Apparently, his legitimate children were making a huge fuss. They were afraid that when Yen grew up, he would try to take over the company or cim some shares.

  So his father simply gave him some money, made him sign a few documents, and then kicked him out.

  Just like that.

  Yen sounded a little sad when he said it, but he was already used to this kind of treatment.

  He said that now that the retionship was completely broken, he would never go back there again. Even though life might feel lonely, he was still alive and doing fine.

  Alive and kicking!

  Strangely, he even felt a bit relieved.

  Yen didn’t know who his mother was, but he believed she must have loved him. After all, she had left him some of her belongings as a kind of vintage inheritance.

  Those things were old and simple, but they meant a lot to him.

  Before ending the call, Yen told them that although he was not in the danger zone, he was still somewhere in the North.

  Both Mara and Tianyeng lived in the North-East.

  Hearing this left them uneasy.

  The war was not stopping. Instead, it was becoming more intense.

  But along with the war, something strange was also happening.

  Climatologists around the world began to notice a strange phenomenon.

  The temperature of the Salta was rising.

  At first people thought it was because of the war. Explosions, missiles, and burning cities could easily affect the environment.

  But the scientists soon noticed something strange.

  The temperature was rising too fast.

  They said that although it was already very warm now, the temperature would continue to rise even more. No one knew where the limit would be.

  To end the temperature rise on the Celsius scale suddenly didn’t feel possible anymore.

  Both the rich and the poor were suffering.

  Even people who were not part of the war were facing its consequences.

  Heat waves started appearing in pces that were usually cool.

  But even the climatologists felt something was wrong.

  Even if the war was happening, the temperature should not have increased this much.

  Something else must be causing it.

  The discussion continued among scientists, but many ordinary people still did not know about it.

  Mara was one of those people.

  At that moment, he was sleeping peacefully when his phone suddenly started ringing.

  The ringtone woke him up.

  Still half asleep, Mara reached for his phone and looked at the screen.

  It was Tianyeng.

  Mara didn’t know much about the outside situation. Or maybe he simply didn’t want to know. Recently he had been busy researching something else.

  But whenever something happened, Tianyeng was always the first person to contact him.

  They talked for quite a long time on the phone. Their conversation moved from the war to Yen’s situation and then to some random topics.

  After the call ended, Mara turned his head and looked at the clock.

  It was already time to pick up Muyang from his friend’s house.

  Mara sighed and got up from the bed. He pulled out some random clothes from his messy cupboard and put them on.

  Most of them were wrinkled, but he didn’t care.

  Then he walked out of his room slowly.

  His parents were not home again.

  By the time Mara reached Muyang’s friend’s house, it was already five in the evening.

  When Muyang saw that his brother had come to pick him up, he happily ran over and grabbed Mara’s hand.

  Instead of going straight home, they first walked to a supermarket. After that they stopped at a small park on the way back.

  Muyang spent half of the walk jumping around and talking non-stop.

  For the other half of the walk, he fell asleep while hugging Mara’s neck tightly.

  If Mara had not been used to this, he might have thought this kid was taking revenge on him for something he had done in a previous life!

  The walk home was warm and peaceful.

  There was childish chatter, sleepy yawns, and the strong smell of potato chips coming from Muyang’s mouth.

  When they finally reached home, Mara opened the front door.

  But the moment he stepped inside, he stopped.

  The living room was full of people he least wanted to see.

  After putting the sleeping Muyang on his bed, Mara came back to the living room and greeted his grandmother and aunt.

  But they were not the only ones there.

  His parents were also sitting there.

  For a moment Mara thought he saw it wrong, but both of them looked strangely guilty… yet also satisfied.

  “Did something happen?” Mara asked calmly. “Why are you all here?”

  He didn’t sound very curious. He was already used to whatever strange drama they liked to create.

  “We are getting a divorce.”

  Before the aunt or grandmother could say anything, both of his parents announced it at the same time.

  But what came after that was even worse.

  “We have decided to divorce,” his mother said while fixing her hair. “We think we have endured enough. There is no point staying in this marriage.”

  “Yes,” his father continued. “You will be eighteen in a few months. By then you will be an adult, so you won’t need us anymore. You can take care of yourself.”

  Mara stayed silent.

  “Don’t worry,” his father added. “The house near the eastern suburbs will be given to you. You can live there.”

  His mother smiled lightly.

  “But since we are getting divorced and you are becoming an adult, we want you to take care of Muyang.”

  She spoke as if it were something very normal.

  “You can treat him like your child. After all, he is also your brother.”

  She even ughed awkwardly.

  “We know you love Muyang more than you love us. So it should not be a problem for you to take care of him.”

  Their conversation continued like this.

  Mara slowly turned his head and looked at his paternal grandmother and maternal aunt whose face was contorted and red feeling embarrassed and was full of disbelief.

  His eyes silently asked a question. What kind of people are they?

  Irresponsible?

  Or something even worse?

  For a moment, Mara felt that calling them irresponsible was already too kind.

  They were not just bad parents.

  They were people who had completely forgotten what it meant to be human.

  To be continued if life remains....