Khalifa: Queen in the Apocalypse

Chapter 117: Sid’s Sister

Ten Years Prior.

The ten-year-old Sid was playing the guitar in the storage room like he always had, sneezing occasionally due to the dust, when the door abruptly opened.

"Brother! Brother!!" An adorable little girl a few years younger ran to him with red eyes. She was gripping a letter on her hand, so tightly he could see some parts of it had already ripped.

Curious Sid extended his arms to see the letter. As he did so, he didn’t forget to give his sister some warnings to prevent her from getting punished, "You shouldn’t run in the halls and shout. You know auntie hates noise."

"Mom died!"

"What?"

Sid’s eyebrows furrowed and stopped himself from reacting too strongly. He only looked at the letter in his hand and carefully read the contents.

That woman left them to the care of relatives—if that was what they were called—years ago. After their father (who had been their primary caretaker in the first place) died, she did not even bother with them at all. Not a single letter was sent to them after all these years.

And now she died, just like that.

He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. He did not even fake tears. He really didn’t think much of that woman. He rarely saw her even when they were together.

Similarly, his sister saw her even less. "I didn’t know you had so much affection for that woman."

"I don’t!"

"Then why are you crying?" He asked, and then she just sobbed even more.

"Because it means we’re really alone now!"

____________________________________________________________

Present.

After eating, Sid excused himself to begin his quest to find his sister. He went out of the barracks area and asked around, reaching the entrance for more accurate information.

He had encountered a lot of fans along the way, and he spoke to them amicably, not wanting to make enemies. There was someone who tried throwing themselves at him, but fortunately, most of his fans weren’t rabid and stopped the girl, and even told her off.

He was saved by a family who luckily had at least half of their clan alive. All of the younger generation happened to be his fans.

"Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? My family is very good…" A little girl pouted as he rejected her offer to join their RV.

He chuckled. He couldn’t help but pat the girl’s head, and her image coincided with the image of his sister in her childhood. "Yes, I have my own group and I like them very much."

The girl nodded with a smile. "Well, as long as our Sid is happy."

Sid smiled, "It’s hard sometimes, but I am indeed happy."

***

Along the way, he found out that there was a location in the barracks where people could post ’Missing’ announcements to look for their relatives.

Sid stood still in front of the board looking at each one, one by one, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Brother!"

His eyes widened as he saw his sister running for him and his eyes warmed at the sight of her. After that, the first instinct was to see how well she looked—was she alright? Was she injured?

When she approached and he saw her looking fine, he heaved a sigh of relief.

She was wearing a plain one-piece dress but it was clean and well-kept, in sharp contrast with many others. She was also very good-looking, attracting the stares of many men she passed by.

They had an eighty percent resemblance and back when they were kids, if they wore the same clothes, they could even pass off as twins.

She threw herself at him and Sid happily embraced his sister in return. He then pulled her away so he could look at her better. Even up close, she really looked decent and quite clean.

And also, he was really not expecting to find her so quickly! How lucky!

"How are you? Are you okay? Did you come alone?" She sent him a barrage of questions, looking genuinely worried.

Sid was a little surprised by her concern. To be honest, since his rise to fame, his sister had become a bit vain. It seemed like she had grown up a lot in the past week or so.

He patted her head. "I came with a team this time." He said.

Her eyes brightened at this, "Oh? How are they? Uhm.. were they good to you?"

"Well, yes." Sid saw his sister looking at him expectantly. "Do you want to meet them?"

"YES!" She smiled, "Let me guide you around the base, okay? I’m doing decently here."

"Oh? That’s a relief to hear." Sid said and she grabbed her arm like the sweet little girl she was before all the fame went up to her head.

Sid chuckled. It seemed like there was still one thing that was good in this disaster.

But as they walked, he realized the time. Khalifa and Hugo may not appreciate the interruption of their sleep.

His feet stopped and his sister looked at him, puzzled. "But it’s a bit late… Can we do it tomorrow? Where do you live?"

"Eh? Why?" Suli looked a little disappointed, and he really wanted to give her what she wanted.

Unfortunately, Hugo was not a good man. He was afraid he’d send them metal spikes for disturbing their sleep.

"They should already be resting now," he gently said, patting her head. "You understand, right?"

She pouted but nodded in the end.

"I live with a few other girls…" she said, "I’ll knock on your door after breakfast tomorrow."

Sid smiled. "You can join us if you want."

"Really?" She beamed, hugging him like a small girl again. Sid couldn’t help but laugh, brought to the past where they were all so innocent, happy, and with their parents.

"Of course," he said, "Anything for my sister."

***

The next morning, the door was knocked on cue, and Sid hurried to open it up. Khalifa watched his excitement with a smile, "Your sister?"

"It should be," He said, not daring to assume. Fortunately, it was indeed his sister, wearing a plaid short skirt and jumper—which should be her best clothes at this juncture—and he couldn’t help but feel a bit touched.

His sister must not want his companions to have a bad impression of him…

As such, Sid proudly introduced his sibling to the people at the table. "This is my sister, Suli." He said, then pointing at the others. "These are Khalifa, Sid, and Jojo. They’ve been taking care of me all this time."

The young girl looked at the two with apparent admiration and gratitude in her eyes. "Thank you for taking care of my brother!"

Khalifa smiled, "Your brother is a very good teammate, you’re lucky to have him."

Sid blushed and coughed, while Hugo’s naughty hand went and lightly pinched her supple thighs.

This movement was seen by Suli, who was in front of them, who simply smiled as if she didn’t notice. "I’ve been here for nearly a week. My brother said that you just arrived? Would you like a tour guide?"

Hugo and Khalifa looked at each other and nodded in the end.

Although neither of them was planning to stay, the couple decided to take a look at the base, mostly for learning.

Hugo had a perfectly good mountain base. This was assuming it didn’t explode like it did in the books, which Kaize should have warned about already.

Khalifa, on the other hand, had her island which had complete facilities and even weapons.

Both may have good facilities, but how to handle the potential population surges was something they could study.

They went out with curious smiles and followed Suli to wherever she decided to take them.

"First stop: Marketplace!" She exclaimed, acting all cute, until they reached the area in question.

The so-called marketplace was an open area in the middle of the base. This used to be a place for the soldiers to run, but was converted for refugees to set up tents, should they have it.

They watched as different people set up stalls on blankets, selling various trinkets, antiques, and jewelry in exchange for a few biscuits.

Hugo even saw a pink diamond exchanged for some bread.

They felt complicated by how the value of things changed.

Hugo approached an old woman selling the diamonds. Judging by her temperament, she should’ve been quite well off before the apocalypse.

But Hugo didn’t care about that and focused on the diamond. It was a gorgeous fingernail-sized pink diamond which he estimated to be about three to five carats.

It would look very nice on Khalifa, he thought.

"I don’t have bread but I have this." He said, taking out a packet of chocolate from his pocket.

It was one of few in his pockets, in case Khalifa wanted one and she wouldn’t take chocolate from strangers anymore.

The old woman brightened at the offer, obviously life had not been very good.

Hugo’s heart softened and gave her two, and he went to Khalifa with the beautiful diamond necklace, placing it on for her with a chaste kiss on the lips.

Khalifa smiled and returned the kiss. "It’s beautiful, thank you."

"Anything pales in front of your beauty though." He said sincerely, making her giggle, and earning him another kiss on the cheek.

Suli stared at them, not knowing what she was thinking, before turning to her brother who had a dark expression.

She knew her brother definitely had something with Khalifa.

She walked beside her brother, grabbing his arm like the close sibling that she was.

Then she leaned, whispering, "Sister Khalifa is really beautiful…"

"Hmnnn…." He said, eyes not leaving Khalifa at all.

Suki’s eyes narrowed. "You two would look even better together."

Sid blinked and looked down at his smiling sister, unsure what to make of her tone.

"Well? Don’t you agree??"