Chapter 12: The Rhodes Family's Arrival

Melissa watched Selina with a helpless smile. Even so, something warm stirred in her chest.  Selina had run away from the Rhodes family for the sake of their friendship.  Ever since Selina was small, she had dreamed of having a father.  Now that the dream had finally come true, this mess had blindsided her. "All right. You can stay here for now," Melissa said.  "If someone from the Rhodes family comes looking later, you should go back with them. " "Mr. Rhodes was worried of you." "And even if they talk like that, are you really going to do exactly as they say? Silly girl." "Oh, right, Melissa. Even if my dad says that, I can just lie to them." Selina, stubborn as ever, hadn't even considered that. "But whenever I think about cutting ties with you, I feel sick. If that's the deal, I might as well not acknowledge him as my dad at all." They chatted for a while, and soon it was time for Melissa to start her stream.  Fans in the group chat had been pestering her for ages. The moment Melissa went live, the viewer count shot up. She had always been a small-time streamer and had never seen views like this. "Whoa, why are there so many people today?" She'd barely been live a minute, and the stream was about to hit a million viewers. Melissa jolted in her chair. Of course, the numbers were padded.  The real test was active viewers. She glanced at the dashboard. Good grief.  There were five thousand active users, and climbing.  Ten minutes later, that number rocketed to twenty thousand.  On a normal night, she was lucky to have twenty or thirty thousand watching in total. The chat was going wild. [Melissa, hurry and get your brother out here. I want to see the legendary flying mount!] [Flying what? I missed the stream just now. What did I miss?] [A flying mount is an animal you can fly on. Your brother is cracked.] [If it's real, I want to buy one. How much?] [What are you all talking about? What flying mount?] A lot of newcomers had no clue what had happened earlier, and some hadn't watched Melissa's daytime stream at all. Melissa said, "Come on. What flying mount? Is that even possible?" She rolled her eyes at the camera, only to be drowned out by pushback from the live comments. [What do you mean impossible? Your brother said even a Rolls-Royce couldn't compare to his flying mount. We want to see it!] [Melissa, get your brother out. I want to hear him brag.] "My brother is in the living room. See? Watching TV." As she spoke, Melissa tilted the camera toward the sofa. The instant the lens swung over, the chat exploded. [Let's gooo!] [Your brother is awesome!] [Mambo Pavilion sent Super Rocket Gift ×5.] [Melissa, explain. Is this a magic trick?] [This is great! I'm following this streamer!] [Do old fans still get perks? I want one of those pills. I can never grab any.] Melissa and Selina stared at the comments, then turned, curious, to look for themselves. A beat later, they froze. Melissa had been proven wrong again. Right there in front of Caspian sat the same battered cauldron as always.  Only this time, it hung in midair, slowly rotating. "That's..." Selina's jaw dropped. She clapped a hand over her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing. Caspian had been focused on the cauldron.  Selina's yelp made his hands still.  The cauldron settled onto the coffee table with a neat little thud.  He picked up the remote and, as if nothing unusual had happened, started flipping channels.  After two seconds of silence, he turned to look at Melissa and Selina. "Huh? Melissa, Selina, when did you get here?" Melissa and Selina were speechless. The viewers were losing their minds. [Hahaha! I'm dying! Is he trying to cover it up?] [Stop pretending. We all know you practice cultivation. Hurry up and keep refining pills!] [Melissa's brother is so cute. I want to jump him.] [Melissa, ban the one above.] [Agree!] [Outrageous!] [Shameless!] [What? What did I do? A real man goes for men!] [I agree. Don't stand in the way of true love!] [Dudes making out is disgusting!] Melissa had just shaken off her shock when she saw the chat had veered wildly off course. "Hey, keep it together. No dirty talk in my stream. If I get banned, which one of you pays the price? And my brother is straight." "Melissa, what is going on with Caspian?" Selina asked, still shaken. She couldn't tear her eyes off the cauldron on the coffee table.  She was about to say more when her phone chimed. One glance at the screen, and her face fell.  Cyrus Rhodes was calling. "What is it? Is it your dad?" Melissa asked, seeing Selina's expression change. "Yeah." Selina nodded. "Answer it. They must be coming to take you home." Family didn't come easy.  From losing her parents and her only brother to having him return, Melissa understood that truth too well.  She cherished Caspian. Which was why she wanted Selina to go back. Under Melissa's gaze, Selina picked up. "Hello... What? You're at the door?" That one line startled Melissa too. She hurried over and opened it.  A silver-haired elder and a middle-aged man had stood on the threshold, phones in hand. This was the first time Melissa had seen prominent figures like John Rhodes and Cyrus Rhodes up close.  People she used to see only on TV were now standing in front of her. It felt unreal. "Mr. Rhodes, hello." John stood in the doorway, his expression complicated, curiosity keen in his eyes.  What kind of girl could have his granddaughter so bewitched? Cyrus was easier to talk to. He smiled.  "You must be Melissa Peters. We're here to take Selina home." "Selina's inside. I'll call her." "I don't want to go back."  Selina still pouted, unhappy.  If a life of privilege meant giving up her friendship with Melissa, she wasn't going to agree. "Selina, come home with us. Don't trouble others here." John was losing his patience.  He had just welcomed his lost granddaughter back, and she'd run off with another girl.  He was furious.  Was he, as Selina's grandfather, worth less than a young woman? Selina dug in her heels and refused to budge.  With no other choice, Cyrus stepped inside to take her by the arm. "I don't want to! I'm not going! I want to stay with Melissa!"  Selina struggled, but it didn't help. Just as Cyrus was about to haul her away, a voice cut through the scuffle. "Hey! She said she doesn't want to go. You two grown men pushing around a girl is inappropriate."