BODYGARD

Chapter 2: Eight-Year-Old with a Kitchen Knife".

Mary wasn't his biological elder sister. More exactly, Jack wasn't Mary's biological younger brother. According to his memory,

Over a decade ago on one bitterly cold winter night, Jack nearly froze to death in the snow. He couldn't remember what happened before that, only that he was picked up by Mary's parents on a freezing winter night.

Mary's parents were doctors.

Good doctors, that is!

That night they saved him. Seeing him homeless, they adopted him, realizing if it were not for their timely intervention, he would have frozen to death on the streets.

Mother Ye had always wanted a son but had been unable to have another child after giving birth to Mary. So, she took Jack in, treating him as her son.

She named him, 'Jack'!

By then, Jack had blended into this family.

He couldn't remember his past.

All he remembered was that he was six years old when he joined this family and couldn't live without them ever since.

He distinctly remembered watching the Spring Festival gala with his parents and Mary. His father molding him into a righteous man. He was a disciplined and obedient child, which made his foster parents love him even more and they never treated him like an outsider.

However, the good times didn't last.

Ten years ago,

His parents died in a car accident on the way home. By the time they were rushed to the hospital by good Samaritans, it was too late to save them.

At that time, Jack was eight years old and Mary was fourteen.

Girls tend to mature early, but Mary arguably matured even faster. She was heartbroken over her parent's death but knew that the money they left wouldn't be enough for her to complete her college education. For this reason, she reached out to her uncle and aunt in Houston.

Her uncle and aunt left Mary at their clothing store where she aided with minor tasks for a monthly salary of eight hundred dollars.

Her sister was born smart. She quickly learned her way around the store, and in no time her responsibilities increased.

With the passage of time, Mary's salary also amplified.

When she was eighteen years old, her uncle partnered with a new manufacturer in the south, leaving the apparel store entirely to Mary before moving south with her aunt to start a new business.

Mary not only maintained the store but also managed to increase its profits substantially. Earlier the store had a monthly profit of around five thousand dollars, but in seven years she managed to increase the profit by five to six times, reaching more than thirty thousand dollars.

Mary handled the store from eighteen, and Jack knew that it wasn't an easy feat for her.

Even though a monthly income of over thirty thousand might be considered upper class in other cities, it barely covered the cost of living in a bustling city like Houston.

As for Jack...

He once disappeared for two days.

That was when he was eight years old, just a month after his parents passed away. One day, he didn't heed his sister's advice and ran to their store in the afternoon to meet Mary. On his way, he encountered an elderly man in his fifties, who was rather jubilant.

The old man's eyes lit up at the sight of him.

That old man was to be his master.

He still clearly remembers his master's first words and reaction upon meeting him.

As soon as the old man saw him, he was somewhat puzzled. On a second glance, his eyes lit up. By the third look... there was no third look.

The old man grabbed his wrist and exclaimed, "It's not too late, it's not too late!"

Using various tactics, he managed to lure Jack to a secluded place.

Jack's skills that he possessed today were all because of this master.

Truth be told, it wasn't exactly a bait. His master used tricks to deal with Jack who was just eight years old.

Of course, the old man did intend to take him as his disciple. During those two days of disappearance, he was in fact away with his master who introduced him to many things. If it wasn't for him crying and insisting on going home, the old man would probably forget about it altogether.

His master taught him a lot and instructed him to come exactly at six every morning.

And then, gave him money.

It was indeed the primary reason for Jack to accept the old man as his master. Because of this money, he and his sister could afford to pay the rent on time.

When he returned home two days after his disappearance, he remembered his sister sitting anxiously on the sofa. Mary's eyes were red from crying and his aunt was also beside her. Mary hugged him as he came in the door, crying inconsolably.

"Where the hell did you go? What would I do if you left too!" she sobbed.

From that day on, he realized an essential principle and made a silent vow to himself!

He wouldn't let his sister suffer even the slightest harm.

Even a bit was not acceptable!

As for his master's phrase 'It's not too late, it's not too late.',

It took Jack a while to understand that 'not too late' meant that it wasn't too late to embark on a path of martial arts with the old man. However, ever since he had become the old man's disciple, he hadn't had a single leisure day. The endless days of training were so intensive that most wouldn't be able to endure.

If it weren't for the old man using the money as a luring tactic, Jack would have given up long ago.

Jack loved money.

And not just a little. He loved it immensely.

He would do anything for money. Because of this love for money, Jack was taken in by his master's tactics and ended up learning martial arts, which was the origin of his strength.

It can be said that this love for money fundamentally changed Jack's life.

In his eyes, the more money he had, the more he could lighten the burden for his sister!

......

"Jack, wake up!"

Mary's voice echoed within Jack's mind, and he slapped his head, waking from his sleep. With sleepy eyes, he saw his elder sister Mary standing in front of him.

Mary had just washed her hair, and there were still water droplets on her face. Her soft, fair skin was smooth like water. She was wearing a purple shirt, dreamlike and ethereal, like a beautiful lotus emerging from the water.

With well-folded clothes in her hand, she placed them on Jack's bed and smiled, "Sis has prepared your clothes. You're going for an interview today! It's already six o'clock, wake up!"

Jack didn't look at the clothes. He rubbed his sleepy eyes. When his vision was clear, his gaze fell on Mary's beautiful face, and then quickly onto her voluptuous chest.

Mary knew that Jack liked to stare at her whenever he had the chance. Her face turned stern, she placed the clothes on Jack's bed and left the room.

Jack chuckled, noticing that his sister's bust was getting bigger. When he was younger, he could touch them; Mary was flat-chested then. Now that they have grown up, he wasn't supposed to touch them anymore, but his sister's chest just kept growing.

Jack quickly got dressed and freshened up. He saw his sister bustling in the kitchen.

"Wash up and come eat!" Mary seemed to forget about the incident just now and smiled.

......

"It's windy outside today, wear more layers. I just checked the computer. The temperature is also a bit low today, put on an extra jacket, don't catch a cold! The weather in the north is fickle; you should take extra care!" Mary took out a few clothes from the counter and placed them in front of Jack for comparison.

Seeing Mary doing this, Jack had mixed feelings.

Mary had been taking care of him for many years. Not only did she manage the store, but she also took care of the house, doing laundry, cooking, and bustling around in the shop daily. Despite all these, he was unable to ease her burden.

"This jacket looks good!"

Mary commented as she compared.

She selected a green jacket, putting it on Jack, carefully buttoning it up.

From top to bottom.

One button, two buttons, three buttons.

How Jack wished his clothing had more buttons?

"Sis!"

Jack stared at Mary unblinkingly and suddenly said.

"Mm?" Mary fitted the jacket on Jack, responding with confusion.

"Sis, I can dress myself!" Jack

"What are you doing!" Although Mary was surprised, she still turned around.

The next moment.

Jack opened his arms and suddenly hugged Mary from behind.

Being suddenly hugged by Jack from behind, Mary's body trembled, and her soft flesh instantly tensed, clearly there was panic. Subconsciously, she didn't resist. When she thought about resisting, she couldn't bring herself to do so.

Her face quickly turned red, like a ripe apple, she placed her slender pale hand on Jack's arm that was holding her.

"Sis, I just want to hug you for a while." Jack's face was pressed against Mary's black hair, holding her soft and smooth body.

The entire room suddenly fell silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Who knows how long it passed.

Even Jack forgot about his lie of just wanting to hug for a while.

Mary's face was flushed, she could hear her own heartbeat, pounding.

It seemed that a lot of time had passed.

Jack let go of his arms, didn't say anything, pushed open the door, and ran off as if in a panic, seemingly to escape from the awkwardness.

Feeling Jack's arms loosen, Mary touched her chest to calm herself for a while, she stared at the closed door and said, "As people grow up, they grow bolder!"

Somehow.

She suddenly remembered an incident from the past. It was somewhat laughable to speak of, but even now, she couldn't forget it, it seemed to have become a part of her memory.

That year, Jack had just turned eight.

Her parents hadn't yet had their car accident, and she was also going to school regularly. Since her academic performance was very good, she was admitted to a prestigious middle school in the Houston district. At that time, she was only fourteen years old, only a second-year student in the 8th grade.

Her academic performance still ranked among the top, but perhaps because of her pretty appearance, she was constantly harassed by the boys in her class.

Things like love letters often appeared in her desk drawer, and there were even some boys with poor academic performance who were bold enough to confess to her on the way home from school.

Although she rejected them one by one, those boys still persisted, she knew that telling the teacher about these issues would not help at all.

Therefore, she could only record these things in her diary to vent her frustrations

But then one day.

Her diary was secretly read by Jack. Jack learned about all the things that happened to her at school and, surprisingly, the next day he went to her school to confront those boys.

At that time Jack was only eight years old, there was no way he could beat the boys in her class, and as a result, Jack was beaten up by those boys. When he came back he was bruised and battered, badly hurt.

But the matter was not over yet.

It was not the boys who wouldn't let it go, it was Jack who wouldn't let it go!

At that time, Jack was just eight years old. Even now, Mary still couldn't believe that Jack at eight could do such a thing.

She didn't know where Jack had learned it.

As the saying goes, the horizontally strong are afraid of the vertically strong, and the vertically strong are afraid of those who are not afraid of death.

Jack was not afraid of death!

After being beaten up by those boys, Jack was not intimidated at all. On the contrary, on the third day, he took advantage of the time when his parents had just left the house and took a kitchen knife from the kitchen to her school. Even during the teacher's class, he put the kitchen knife on the desk and cursed at the boys in the class.

Not to mention those boys, even her teacher didn't dare to say much.

From then on, she became a celebrity in the school, or to be precise, her younger brother Jack became a celebrity in the school.

And after that day, indeed, no boys harassed her again. Even some of those bullies in the school calmed down a lot. When the girls in the class mentioned that Mary had a brother, they all gave a thumbs up without a second thought.

Who wouldn't be proud of having such a brother?

The matter of Jack bringing a knife to her school naturally attracted the police. But Jack was only eight years old at the time. The police were between laughter and tears. They had no choice but to call his parents to properly educate him. This managed to calm things down.

But the story of Jack's bravery at her school didn't calm down until she graduated.

She wasn't angry at all about Jack bringing a knife to her school.

Even until now, the memory was still clear.

She knew she had a good brother.

And she was also very lucky...

That her brother was 'picked up'.