Brave

'What a crazy shit...' Unable to believe how this girl learned everything with such stupid meanings, Christian spoke "Can you show me how you gave yourself so many resources in the game?"

"Yes" Turning his gaze to the computer, Christian sees Emily open a cmd, typing incredibly fast, as a gleeful smile formed on her face.

'This girl... I'm really underestimating her' Staring at the girl's hands, Christian realizes that it's impossible that this is her first time doing this, the familiarity she has with the keyboard is something that comes after a long time of use, she practically doesn't even look at the keyboard when typing.

"Ready!"

Turning his gaze to the screen, Christian notices that a small white screen opened up on the side of the game.

"That's it..." Even more surprised, Christian looks closely at everything that opened up "Th-this is an administrator menu!"

'SHIT, THIS GAME IS ONLINE!' In a bit of a panic, Christian grabs the computer's power cord and unplugs it, then turns and looks seriously at Emily "Don't ever do that again"

"Why? It's funny..." With a sad pout, Emilyreplied.

"Emily, do you know what hacking is?"

"No..."

"You just logged into the system of an online game, I don't know if you know it's online, but practically there are a lot of people playing with you, but there are also people who are dedicated to keeping everything in order... what you did, it's a bad thing, those people can call the police to take you away."

"The police!" Eyes widening in fear, Emily spoke fearfully "Dad said the police only take bad people..."

"That's why you have to be careful" Relaxing a little knowing they were in the school library, Christian sighed inside his mind and spoke more softly "Emily, have you done this before?"

"At home, there's a big computer like this, dad told me it was from mom's work, it had lots of number games like this"

"Number games?"

"Those games that give a lot of money on my farm."

"*Sigh* Emily, listen to me, today I'm going to teach you something called common sense and responsibility" With a wry smile, Christian indicated Emily to pull the seat closer to his chair.

"Yes" With sparkling eyes, Emily quickly agreed.

...

Finishing school, after many 'why's' from Emily, Christian ended up incredibly tired, while the little girl left with a big smile towards the bus, but not before understanding that she should watch her butt when getting into piracy.

"That little girl will be a headache for companies and governments if she keeps that intelligence with computers" Smiling bitterly, Christian walked to fetch his siblings.

"But her mother... she must have an interesting story" Biting his thumb with a smile "That book is amazing, even if I only got to read a third of the whole thing, it has a lot of knowledge that would take me months to collect."

"It's a pity Emily doesn't know that woman's name..."

"Give her back to me, she's mine!"

But as I was on my way to join my brothers at the exit, Hailie's voice was heard loudly only a few feet away from Christian.

Frowning, Christian ran towards the voice, finding Hailie and a girl beside him, glaring at each other in aggravation at a group of 3 girls and a boy, who, from their size and faces, you could tell were fifth graders.

"Are you going to cry? You want to cry?" smiling mockingly, one girl had Hailie's backpack, lifting it in the air as she giggled.

"Give me back my backpack!" shouted Hailie, jumping up while trying to grab the backpack.

"Hahaha~" Laughed the boy softly, as he watched the girls tease Hailie "How funny."

"Hand it over! It's hers, not yours!" shouted the girl next to Hailie.

The girl was quite cute, she was a little shorter than Hailie, while her hair and eyes were a dark brown color, wearing glasses on her face.

Approaching the girl, the boy smiled teasingly "And what will you do if they don't give it to her?"

With some trepidation, the girl clenched her fists and cried out nervously "I-I... I... I'll... I'll tell the teacher!"

"Pffffff~" Stifling her laughter, the girl who had the girl who had Hailie's backpack, spoke "And then what? You'll charge me with your daddy too?"

"*Sniff*" Not bearing her aggravation any longer, Hailie's eyes began to redden, as she tried her best not to cry in front of these girls.

Christian, unable to bear to see any more of this shit, dropped his backpack to the ground and quickly ran to the boy.

*PA!

Upon arriving, he leaped up and connected a wonderful Dropkick to the boy's chest, causing him to fall heavily to the ground, as the air forcibly left his lungs.

But not caring in the least, Christian got up from the ground and shook off his clothes, then turned and looked coldly at the girl holding Hailie's backpack.

Walking towards her under the astonished gaze of the girls, Christian looked her in the eyes, and with a quick movement, took the backpack out of her hands.

Without taking his eyes off the girl, Christian spoke, "If a similar situation happens again, you'll be next."

Turning to the other girls, Christian pointed his finger at them "And then it will be you."

"Don't you dare do your shit with my sister or I'll take care of all of you, I won't warn them again!" Christian, looking at the girls one by one, Christian shouted angrily "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!!?"

"Y-yes" Spoke quickly to the girl holding Hailie's backpack, as the other girls followed his words and nodded quickly.

"Okay, you've been warned" With one last glance towards the girls, Christian turned to Hailie and smiled at her as he handed her the backpack "Let's go!"

"Y-yes" Hailie nodded nervously, quickly receiving her backpack, then turning and walking with her friend.

"Woaaah!" Exclaimed the bespectacled girl, looking with stars in her eyes at Christian "That was awesome!!!"

"Hailie, did you see that!!?" Frantically shifting her gaze, the little girl turned to Hailie "It was just like in the movies!!!"

"He came in and Boom!" quickly waving her hands representing an explosion, the girl continues "He hit Mike!!!"

"It was awesome, wasn't it!?"

Walking with her head down, Hailie just nodded "Yeah, it was great..."

"What's wrong with you?" with confusion the girl tilted her head.

"Nothing" Shaking her head, Hailie turned to the girl "Maya, shouldn't you go catch the bus?"

Widely opening her eyes, the girl turned around and ran, but not without turning back and waving goodbye as she waved her hand "See you later Hailie, bye Hailie's brother"

"Bye" Waving his hand, Christian smiled slightly, then turned to Hailie and grabbed her man "Sis, look at me"

"..." Looking up sheepishly, Hailie looked at him silently.

Taking her face in his hands, Christian spoke "What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." Lowering her gaze, Hailie's eyes were beginning to redden.

Taking her face with a little more force, Christian forced her to lift her gaze "Don't lie to me, tell me what's wrong, is it because of those girls?"

"*Sniff*" Sniffing at his snotty nose, Hailie rolled her gaze, as she spoke haltingly "I-it's that mom told me that I had to defend you... e-even taught me how to hit to protect my brothers, b-but...it makes me s-scared."

Blinking a little, Christian understood 'It's the same thing for your father to tell you that you have to defend your sisters so that days later, you end up being defended by them... somehow it must hurt you, although I never experienced something similar'

Crouching down a little, Christian turned his gaze sideways, and moved a little closer to Hailie as he whispered "I tell you a secret?"

"..." Nodding after a few seconds, Hailie moved her ear closer to Christian.

"The truth is, I was really scared... those girls are scary" Christian whispered, with disguised fear, causing Hailie to look at him doubtfully.

"Really?"

"Yes... I was so scared that my heart was really shaking" Nodding quickly, Christian went through with his act.

"Then why? Because I didn't see you scared when you talked to them?" Turning her head in confusion, Hailie asked.

"It's because of you" Still showing fear in his gaze, Christian took Hailie's hand.

"Me? But I didn't do anything..."

"Of course you did!" exclaimed Christian "I dared to stand up to those girls because I knew my sister would take care of me if anything happened."

"M-me?" in disbelief, Hailie looked down at her hands.

"Of course you did, my sister is very brave!" Christian exclaimed, looking admiringly at Hailie "I didn't dare go near those girls, but you were yelling at them to give you back your backpack, isn't that what brave people do?"

Thinking for a moment, Hailie nodded "*Sniff* Yeah..."

"See!? That's why I approached them without fear because I knew my sister would protect me, didn't I?"

Wiping her nose, Hailie nodded strongly "Yeah...I protect big brother!"

"Hahaha~" Laughing heartily, Christian smiled "I already knew that that's why I wasn't afraid, but listen to me too... if a kid tries to bully you, you let me know and I'll protect you, okay?"

"B-but I have to protect you from the bad guys..."

"But kids are different, hasn't mom told you that you can't hit them?" Raising his eyebrows, Christian asked.

"Yes..."

"That's why, since you can't hit them, you warn your big brother and he'll protect you, so we protect each other, yes?"

"Yes!" Nodding strongly, Hailie wiped away the few tears that leaked and smiled, then took Christian's hand and spoke "Come on brother, I'll take you safely to mommy."

"Thank you" Smiling softly, Christian grabbed his backpack and moved forward with Hailie.

...

"Why are we here mom?"

Getting out of the car, Christian frowned, looking doubtfully at the publisher.

A few minutes ago they had left their school, but instead of heading home, Eva had taken them to the publishing house.

Turning to Christian, Eva spoke "I got a call from the publisher's lawyer, she said she had a contract ready and needed to sign."

"Oh... that was quick."

Today is December 1st, it's only been 5 days since that meeting, it's pretty amazing that they get the paperwork done so fast.

"Mom, what this?" asked Alan, looking curiously at the building.

"It's where your brother sends the stories he writes, for many children like you to read in the future"

"Of princes?"

"No" Christian replied.

"Boring" Not bothering anymore, Alan watched everything curiously.

"Brother, don't worry, I'll take care of you" Spoke Hailie, looking with some trepidation at the old building, but, still, she took Christian's hand and positioned herself a little further ahead.

Looking at the scene gently, Eva shook her head and moved forward with her children.

"Good afternoon Miss Eva" Smiled the receptionist the moment they entered, then turned to Christian and smiled more softly "Hello Christian, the boss is waiting for you"

"Good afternoon and thank you" Greeting while thanking, Christian advanced with his family towards the second floor, arriving with a little difficulty towards the living room, as Alan and Hailie couldn't stand their curiosity, wanting to go investigate the area, only for Eva to grab their hand tightly and not let them move from her side.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Come in."

Opening the door, the Grey family entered the office, finding Mia, Mrs. Evelyn, and a woman in a formal suit sitting next to them.

After the formal greetings, Christian took a seat, while Eva stood, not letting go of Hailie and Alan's hands.

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Melody Wilson, lawyer" Smiling professionally, Melody moved a stack of papers towards Christian "Mrs. Evelyn told me about your agreement, I took care of specifying all your demands and hers, you can read it."

Nodding, Christian takes the contract and focuses completely on reading everything.

The minutes passed quickly for Christian, but for his brothers, it was a real torment.

38 minutes later, Christian read and comprehended all 70 pages of the contract, finding things he wasn't aware of but easily understood.

"You want me to work under a pseudonym?" Looking up, Christian asked with arched eyebrows.