I have never known that it doesn’t take much time for me to establish three levels of meaning of the word ‘aliens’.

If ‘aliens’ in my little brother’s words just made me feel helpless, then that word turned into something like a tool to provoke my anger, when Long the brat interrupted my precious spare time with that damn reason. And now, at the moment I hear those letters from Khanh’s mouth, the third level of ‘aliens’ just encourages me to get back home! Immediately!!!

It’s the third time I heard this word from three different people. You might not know this, but for the Vietnamese, anything that happened at least three times continuously is worth thinking about. How the f*ck can they scare me this way? It chills me to the bone, okay?

Alien attack? No, it’s just the product of the imagination. Exactly.

Though I’m trying to warm up my freezing blood this way, my ears are still uncontrollable, and those freaky whispers are still audible to me. Things get greater when that topic is damn stunning and I’m not the only one who falls into the story named ‘aliens and Nam the poor kid’.

“He is fine. I’ve checked it out.” Another guy comes to the place where two girls are gossiping, then he joins with hard evidence thrown to the center, “My mother got a shift in the hospital this afternoon. She told me that Nam just got some flesh wounds from the broken pieces of the glass window thrusting into his body. He fainted, so his two peepers are safe as well. No need to worry about him.”

“I don’t believe that.” My crush, Khanh, turns on her detective mode, rubbing her no-beard-at-all chin with a serious opinion. “According to my experience, there must be something wrong. Aliens, you know, it’s an abstract concept. They can’t just break into a house and scare someone out of their mind.”

Well, I don’t know that the girl whom I have a crush on has this aspect.

Not so long after that, another ‘detective’ comes up with the newfound proof to make this discussion more captivating and… fearful.

“But how can you know the culprit is aliens? Can’t it be some miserable brat?” This guy is my classmate. He lives just next to that poor dunderhead’s house, so his saying is quite believable. As expected, he says, “I’m his neighbor. My father and I ran into his house right after his parents screamed out. Guess what I see?”

All the audiences look at him with the eyes of curious babies, including me, the one who is moving his backside towards the gossiping group.

“Just a broken window and a computer still in the game Sky Force.” He stops, rolling his eyes, “If you count the victim as well, then we also have a fainted guy on the floor with some wou…”

“Jesus!”

Not waiting for the last letters spoken out of that guy’s mouth, my heart nearly jumps out of my chest. I stand up in the others’ bewildered expression, with only one thing repeatedly running back and forth in my mind like a siren. My face turns pale.

“What’s the matter? You seem so unhealthy.”

Khanh, who deserves to be my crush, realizes my abnormality in a flash. Her question is heartwarming too, but I have no time to explain to her.

“Nah, nothing at all.” I roll my eyes to find Long the brat’s figure. It’s an emergency. I need to tell him this, but I can’t get him in this room. Isn’t it a farewell party for him?

I glance back at the guy whom I have just interrupted. “What time was that? I mean, when you came to his house and found him fainted?”

“Hmph, let’s see,” he takes his phone from the bag, scrolling for three seconds and answering without raising his head, “Half past thirteen. I was going to take a nap later.”

It was approximately the time someone switched off the power of my family. Therefore…

“What’s happened?” At this moment, I hear a soft voice. But before I turned back to identify who was coming, that girl had asked me, “Step aside, please? You’re in my way.”

I step backward, looking at the newcomer. It’s Thuy, my class member and a notorious gangster in this neighborhood, even though she is not an aggressive guy. She goes across me before sitting next to Khanh, bringing a freaky scent, like blood…?

My thoughts get chaotic again, though I don’t expect to do that. This ‘alien’ case is abnormal in some ways, especially when it makes me get goosebumps. But I can’t link all the clues together because of the lack of logic either. Then I tell Khanh, “My mother told me to buy some things, but I forgot that. I might have to go now.”

“Oh, just leave.” She replies to me with a smile, “Don’t let your mother be angry.”

“Thanks. Enjoy the party.” The fake reason is okay, so I don’t stand here any longer, running out of the room as fast as I can.

Where is Long the brat?

Thanks to the fact that Genvere is the restaurant where I am the shareholder, I take the right to find an individual without spending much time. Miss manager shows me that Long is doing something in the garage, but while I’m on the way to get there, that guy has done this stuff and is coming back with something in his hand.

“Hey dude, I have…”

“The aliens…”

We talk to each other at the same time. But I am faster. When Long stops for a second, I open my mouth and express all my clues.

“Look, Long, the ‘alien’ case is abnormal. I got some pieces of evidence here. We have to find a place to discuss this.” While speaking, I pull his collar to get back to the room for the boss.

“Hey, put your hand out.” He responds to me with a humiliated tone when his legs are still following my direction, “Are you going to slash my throat with your forty-feet-long sword? Huh?”

“Listen, Long. This is serious…”

“Then I need an apology.” This brat doesn’t insult his ‘brat’ title, he holds his head up to the sky and glances at me, “Come on, call me ‘dad’, son. And I’ll forgive you.”

I release his collar, looking at his ugly yet obnoxious face. Long looks back with eyes full of haughtiness and a brilliant smile, as if he was damn sure that I would never bend down my honorable spine. How can he underestimate me that way?

“Okay, daddy, I’m sorry.” My answer shocks him, since I don’t care about pronouns any more. But it's not the thing I'm going to talk about. After making sure that no one is in this place, I turn down my voice and narrow my eyes. “On behalf of my respectful father, you may need to protect your son’s little life.”

“Someone, or something, is watching me.”

Long is silent for a moment. His lighthearted look slowly turns into a sharp one, showing the freezing light from his thick glasses—the habit of him whenever he thinks. Unlike the others who can laugh at my face because my statement seems to be unimaginable, my friend just raises a finger to change his glasses’ position, asking me with seriousness.

“Detail?”