Ariel was busy rushing his comic manuscript.
Joanna sat on the edge of his bed, her sky-blue eyes staring at him without blinking.
“I’ve already told you…” Ariel sighed.
“Lana isn’t my girlfriend.
She hasn’t even passed her probationary period as a Kent Farm employee.”
Joanna remained silent.
That was what actually made Ariel feel something was off.
Joanna was an extremely territorial person who resented any outsiders entering the Kent home.
For a prime example, one only had to look back eight years ago to the near-tragedy when Clark brought Chloe home—an incident that scared Chloe and Pete so badly they didn’t dare come within half a mile of the Kent Farm for five years.
It was the same now.
Under normal circumstances, if Joanna Kent witnessed a reddish-brown-haired cheerleader sitting on her brother’s bed, she would have entered stage two by now, unleashing a volley of colorful abuse like Did your brain get fried by green rocks?
That woman’s hair color makes me want to puke!
or I’m going to burn all your comic drafts!—a style truly reminiscent of their Uncle Benjamin.
Yet today, Joanna didn’t hiss like she usually did.
Her behavior was so unusual it got Ariel’s super-brain spinning.
He retraced everything, from Lana clutching the folder and fleeing the scene to Joanna arrogantly occupying his bed with a tray in hand.
Could it be that he had said something overboard earlier…?
“Ariel.”
“Yeah?”
“Am I useless?”
Now it was Ariel’s turn to fall silent.
Joanna was a proud girl who would never admit to being inadequate in front of any living creature.
Yet today, she actually had.
And now, he had to temporarily shift from a genius prodigy comic artist renowned in Metropolis to a youth counselor.
“Why would you think that?” Ariel’s expression turned serious.
“You draw comics, and the family’s financial situation has gotten much better because of you.
“Clark can help everyone with farm work, and everyone likes him.
“While I can’t do anything here.
“I can’t farm, and I can’t cook.
All I do is eat your food, wear the clothes you give me, and stay in the room you cleared out for me.
If someone comes looking for trouble, it’s mostly because of me.
You even have to keep an eye on me constantly, or else I’ll burn something down again.”
“Ariel…”
“It feels like I’m nothing more than an extra burden to this family.”
Looking at the blonde girl curled up in a ball in front of him and hearing her speak so much all at once—a rare occurrence—Ariel inexplicably recalled the rainstorm from eight years ago.
Back then, Joanna was even smaller than she was now, yet she had carried an unconscious him on her shoulders.
“Joanna, what is really going through your head?”
“I just wanted to say…”
“Hold still for a second,” Ariel suddenly said.
Joanna paused slightly and reflexively looked up.
However, under the boy’s burning gaze, she silently turned her head toward the window, letting her long blonde hair veil half of her already small face.
Ariel studied her with solemn intensity.
Joanna was currently wearing one of his old t-shirts that he had outgrown two years ago.
The garment was noticeably oversized on her.
Although the sixteen-year-old girl had grown slender and tall, she always seemed to want to squeeze herself into the sunless corner of the bed.
“Do you know what the biggest failure of a project on the Kent Farm is, if you calculate it that way?”
Joanna turned her head back in surprise.
“It’s Clark.”
“Clark?” Joanna was stunned.
“That’s right.
Honestly, Clark should have been kicked out of the house when he was eight.
He eats more food every day than the work he puts in, and occasionally in the middle of the night, he raids the fridge on the excuse that he’s growing.
“The input severely outweighs the output.
In a sense, Clark is the biggest failed long-term project on the Kent Farm.”
“Clark isn’t a project,” Joanna muttered moodily.
“Excellent.” Ariel nodded.
“Looks like your judgment is still working normally.”
Joanna finally caught on, her eyebrows immediately knitting together.
“I’m not like him.”
“True, you eat less than he does.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Her blonde hair parted, revealing her bright blue eyes.
With her pale skin and delicate features, Joanna actually looked like an expensive doll in a shop window that kids weren’t allowed to touch whenever she was quiet. Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
But when she got angry, she looked like…
“Ariel!”
Joanna let out a low hiss at him.
“Do you think you’re very funny?”
“There’s an objective answer to that question,” Ariel said.
“Readers of the nation’s monthly top-selling comic unanimously agree that I’m a hilarious…”
“That’s because they’ve never met you in person.”
“Are you launching a personal attack on your brother?”
“Stating facts.”
“Just a moment ago, someone was doubting if she was useless, and now she’s proficiently attacking the pillar of the family.” Ariel spoke with gratification, “A solid recovery.
Looks like I have quite a gift for psychological counseling as well.”
“Who asked for your counseling?”
“Then who was it just now saying…” Ariel cleared his throat, making his voice sound soft and pitiable, “Ariel, am I only going to be a burden to this family…”
“You—”
Joanna whipped around.
PA!
Ariel caught her swinging right hand.
“Look at you, you’re obviously blushing,” he shrugged.
That trace of red was hidden beneath her blonde hair.
At first, it was just a faint line, but in the blink of an eye, it flared down along her earlobe.
Joanna clearly noticed it too, immediately turning her face away in an attempt to hide it with her hair.
Ariel couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Stop laughing!”
The girl let out another low hiss at him.
This habit had stayed with her since childhood.
When she was upset at eight years old, she hissed; at sixteen, she still hissed when she was upset.
Ariel tactfully let go of her hand.
“Shut up.”
“Understood.”
Ariel shut his mouth.
Joanna resumed her expressionless look, though her ten fair toes curled up, digging tighter and tighter into the soft carpet.
Glancing at her feet, which were digging into the carpet enough to carve out a full apartment…
“This is home, our home.” Ariel let out a helpless smile.
“Lana delivers my manuscripts because she’s willing to offer her labor just to read the next issue of my comic ahead of time.
To put it plainly, she’s so eager for the next update that she doesn’t mind giving up her free time.
“Clark hauls grain purely because he feels uncomfortable all over if he isn’t allowed to haul it.
“These are all just things everyone happens to be doing.”
Joanna raised her head to look at him again, a look of bewilderment flashing across her face.
Ariel couldn’t help but grin.
“If Dad suddenly can’t do farm work tomorrow, he’s still Dad.
“If Mom never makes apple pie ever again, she’s still Mom.
“If Clark can’t lift a single bag of grain one day, he’s still my brother.
That fact won’t change just because his cerebellum shrinks or his intellectual development isn’t lacking.
“Joanna.”
Ariel said in all earnestness, “First and foremost, we are family.”
The sun set in the west.
Patches of light slid down the hem of her clothes all the way to the back of the girl’s fair hand.
“Then what if I don’t do anything?” she asked cautiously.
“What if I just want to stay here?”
Ariel nodded slightly, feeling somewhat sentimental in his heart.
So this was what they meant by “the little girl of the house is finally growing up,” huh?
After all, ever since eight years ago, Joanna had always stood at the crossroads of her life.
Today, it seemed she finally dared to step out from the childhood shadow Vought cast over her to imagine a life where she didn’t have to be a weapon.
“This is your home,” Ariel answered with utmost seriousness.
“Sit if you want to sit, sleep if you want to sleep.
You don’t need to prove to anyone that you deserve to stay.”
“Why?
But I clearly haven’t done anything,” the girl asked naively.
“Joanna.” Ariel shook his head.
“Family isn’t maintained by usefulness in the first place.
“As long as you love us and we love you, that’s enough.”
Joanna froze.
Her eyes widened.
The sparks that usually flickered erratically in them abruptly went out, leaving behind only a thin veil of watery sheen.
“Sometimes, you even secretly wait downstairs just because I come back too late.”
“I wasn’t waiting for you.” Joanna remained expressionless, but her toes curled visibly tighter into the carpet.
“Alright, you weren’t.”
Ariel tactfully skipped over this minefield.
“My point is, that’s love.
Whether you admit it or not, it’s love.
“As long as there’s love, a person isn’t extra.
You don’t need to prove you’re useful, much less compare yourself to Lana.
Lana has her place, and you have yours.
“No one can replace you.”
“Is that really how it is?”
“That’s right.”
Ariel nodded slightly.
From his perspective, Joanna was the only little sister in this house, an irreplaceable family member, just as Clark was the only big brother, Jonathan was the only father, and Martha was the only mother.
Everyone was irreplaceable.
Except…
What Ariel couldn’t comprehend was that the look in the eyes of the blonde girl sitting on the edge of his bed…
Joanna’s gaze began to shift, bit by bit.
She knew it.
There was love between them.
“So, as long as there’s love…
that’s enough?” the girl confirmed in a low voice.
“Of course.” Ariel breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed Joanna had finally been coaxed back from her astray thoughts.
“No matter what kind of love it is?” Joanna added.
“Alright, alright…”
“Love isn’t an exam, does it need to be categorized into different types first?” Ariel turned back around to continue writing, deciding to let Joanna digest things on her own.
“In short, stop overthinking it.
“You love us, and we love you.
That’s enough.”
Although Ariel said it lightheartedly, to Joanna, this sentence meant that whether she viewed Ariel as a brother, as her sole safe haven, or as a father in the future…
He would accept it.
After all, love was love, and any kind would do.
That was what he had said.
“So that’s how it is,” she murmured softly.
“Of course it is,” Ariel said offhandedly, handing his empty glass of orange juice back behind him.
“Here, take this to Mom.”
Joanna nodded, walking over to the desk to take the glass.
Her eyes involuntarily settled on a faint lip print on the rim.
“Yours?” she asked softly.
“Whose else would it be?” Ariel asked, finding it a bit odd.
“Take it downstairs quickly, most important member of our family.
Remember not to crush the glass on the stairs, or it’ll deduct points from the family contribution you just built up.”
Joanna twitched her mouth, but she still cupped the glass with both hands and stood up.
“…Got it.”
Stepping out of the room, Joanna gently pulled the door shut.
She looked down at the glass in her hands, but instead of heading to the kitchen, she turned back into her own room and casually placed the glass on her desk.
She stared at the glass without blinking.
She kept staring until she finally couldn’t help reaching out.
Though she shrank back slightly right before touching it, a thought seemed to strike her, and her eyes gradually grew resolute.
Cupping the glass with her long, slender fingers, she couldn’t resist slowly pressing her lips against the rim.
“Family…”
“In the future, too.”
Releasing the glass, she took a deep breath.
Squatting down, she pulled open the innermost drawer of her nightstand.
Neat and orderly inside the drawer lay several miscellaneous small items…
They were all fragments dropped from Ariel Kent’s daily life during inadvertent moments—fragments intercepted and preserved by Joanna Kent in ways undetectable to others.
She gently placed the glass inside, right next to a piece of candy.
Closing the drawer, the girl sat back on the edge of the bed.
Her feet hung down, gently wiggling against the soft carpet.
“As long as there’s love, that’s enough,” Joanna repeated softly.
“You said it yourself, Ariel.”