People from teenagers to adults were playing various games inside the amusement arcade, shouting and laughing. The place was filled with noisy sounds from the arcade games and the flashing, colourful screens enlivened the area. Mavis, who stopped going to such a lively place years ago, was unable to refrain herself from getting excited.
The man, Siyan Hyun, watched Mavis moving her head around without stopping with sparkling eyes, anyone could easily tell that she was captivated by the scenery. Before Mavis could walk further in and before he would lose sight of her, Siyan took hold of her arm and pulled her closer to his side.
"First time?" he asked.
Mavis wanted to remove his hand from her but in the end, she didn't.
"No, it's just that it has been a long time since I went to the arcade."
"How about playing a few rounds?"
Mavis was surprised by his question but she immediately shook her head. "No can do. It's a waste of money."
"It's on me."
Upon hearing this, Mavis frowned. "No, thank you."
"And why is that?" Siyan knitted his brows. "It's only a few rounds, it won't hurt you."
Mavis didn't budge and sternly shook her head. "No is no. I don't want people, especially strangers, to spend money on me without a good reason."
"But there's a good reason," he stated, "I want you to enjoy your time here with me."
Now, this was a reason why Mavis didn't want to spend time with new people: sometimes they would tend to be overly friendly with you and that only made her feel awkward.
Ignoring her taken aback state, the man continued, "Besides, it's my money, I can spend it in any way I want."
He smiled when Mavis gave him a glare as he had no intention to back down. If they were going to spend their time there for the next four hours, there was no way he would want to do nothing but walk around and watch other people play. Besides, playing alone was no fun. Since they came to the arcade together, it would truly be a waste if they didn't play at least one game.
After a few more minutes of arguing, Mavis reluctantly gave up and lost. She sighed as she got dragged by the satisfied man over to an available arcade machine. And over time, Mavis was so absorbed in playing games and winning that she didn't realize the amount of money she had wasted. At the same time, Siyan was rather amazed, he didn't expect her to be a good gamer, or much less a gamer.
"I used to play a lot at the arcade when I was younger. I don't play anymore, though. Waste of money and too noisy."
Siyan continued to watch Mavis play until he suddenly felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Narrowing his eyes upon the sight of a certain name showing on the screen, he picked up the call. Mavis was focusing on playing so she wasn't aware that he was on the phone, talking to someone with an icy voice that had a faint hint of panic. It was only when the game ended did she turn around to see him putting his smartphone away and looking at her with an apologetic face.
"Hey, sorry for ruining the moment but I have to leave."
Her mind went blank for a second before she answered, "Oh, right now? But how—"
He didn't let her finish; he took out her hand and gave her the remaining game coins.
"Don't wait for me and don't forget that you have a train to get on."
"What about you?"
"I'll be driving." He bid his goodbye quickly, not waiting for her to respond to him, before he hastily exited the amusement arcade, leaving Mavis on her own, stupefied. Even after the sight of his silhouette was no longer to be spotted, her body was still frozen. A brief moment later, Mavis tilted her head.
".... Then why would you take the train to begin with?"
'What a strange man', she thought. She genuinely couldn't understand people, for example: if the man already had a car, why would he want to take the train to get home? Such a thing really confused her. Nevertheless, she didn't linger over it; she had nothing to do with that mister, whatever he was doing was none of her business.
Mavis looked down at the coins on her hand and sighed. Then, she turned around as if nothing had happened and continued to play until she ran out of coins.
When it was only an hour left before the train would arrive, Mavis was on her way to leave the arcade. But just as she was about to step out, a person walked past her, she suddenly stopped and turned her head to take a glance. Turning back her head, Mavis kept walking, stepping outside the arcade. She couldn't help but look up at the sky and silently comment 'what a day' before she began to sprint, as if she was running away from something or rather, someone.
Unfortunately, it hadn't even been more than ten seconds before both of her shoulders was caught from behind.
"And where do you think you are going?"
'Although I would very like to die, I don't really want to die by the hands of this lady…' Mavis inwardly wept over her misfortune.
"... Elder Sister Evie? How come you are here?" Mavis nervously spoke.
She could hear a lighthearted laugh from behind and then, her body was spun around with force, causing her to unwillingly face the woman.
The woman gave her a seemingly warm smile. "Why, you don't want to see me?"
Mavis quietly gulped. In front of her was Evie Quinton, a wealthy businesswoman who successfully took over her father's company at the age of twenty-six. Not only was she quite capable within the business field, she also had a well-formed and an elegant appearance—her silky hair put in a loose but professional bun, leaving a few wavy hair strands hanging freely on each side of her face, and in contrast with her hair being black, her blue eyes stood out remarkably. She donned her usual business attire; a simple but fashionable white shirt loosely tucked in black skinny trousers, and since she was outside, she had put on a black blazer. Adding with her height of hundred-seventy-seven centimetres, she could easily pull off as a model.
On the surface, Evie Quinton gave the feeling of someone mild-mannered, considerate, and charming. However, in truth, she was sly, dominant, and calculating. In other words, a notably unpleasant person to go against.
The fact that Mavis, an average college student, knew such a powerful person was only because Evie Quinton was one of the many people she had asked to kill herself, and of course, she got ruthlessly turned down. When Mavis recalled what happened afterwards, she shuddered; that lady was scary, all right. It had been three months since they last saw each other, and to think Mavis met her again… Why was she unlucky?
Mavis quickly shook her head. "How could I not want to see Elder Sister Evie?" Seeing that the woman stayed quiet, she began to sweat. "It is just that Elder Sister doesn't seem to be someone who hangs out at the arcade…"
Evie, with a smile on her face, said, "Oh, and you know me that well? Say, girly, how about we go inside the car and have a little chat?"
'Car? What car?' Mavis was confused. Last time she checked, there was no car parked on sight. She didn't have the time to look around when she saw a black fancy car driving towards them, stopping once it was beside them. 'Oh. That car.'
And so, Mavis was forced to get in the car with Evie Quinton. In fact, even though they had met each other before and had created an unforgettable memory together, it didn't mean they could count as friends or enemies. After all, in the past, their interaction didn't even last for two days. This was their second time stumbling across each other. Mavis barely personally knew Evie Quinton, and the same was for Evie Quinton with Mavis; they were somewhat strangers.
If it wasn't for the fact that Mavis was fiddling with her fingers, Evie would have thought the young girl was calm and collected, showing no fear. Only God and Mavis herself knew how much she felt like peeing her pants. Surely, she was scared shitless.
'Am I being kidnapped? But, I don't want to feel pain…'
The foremost reason why she was scared was that she knew that there were kidnappers who would torture their victims. If she was truly being kidnapped, she didn't want to imagine the terrifying things she would experience.
"Relax. I just want to ask you something."
Mavis looked at the woman who sat on the opposite side of her. She didn't say anything but only waited for Evie to continue.
With a serious tone, Evie spoke, "During the incident three months ago when you and I were captured… "
Three months ago, Mavis encountered Evie for the first time at a national park. She had wanted to take a few photos of nature with her newly bought camera and happened to catch a sight of two people from above the huge rock she was standing on. Because the rock wasn't too high and far away, Mavis could, more or less, see the appearances of the two people. But the longer she looked at them, the more she felt something was off.
From the clothes they were wearing, they should belong to the business people. One was a man and the other was a woman. Why would such people visit the national park to have a talk in such a random place?
A smile appeared on her face. Mavis quickly lay down on the rock and with her camera, she zoomed in on their unfamiliar faces. From the man's fierce expression, the two of them seemed to be arguing with each other, but the woman only had a calm face. The distance between them and Mavis made it impossible for her to hear what they were saying.
After they were finished arguing, the man left the woman alone and disappeared. Mavis also planned to leave but she had caught the abrupt expression of the woman, so she changed her mind. Instead, she approached the woman. The woman was none other than Evie Quinton.
However, in the middle of persuading the woman to kill her, unknown people had surrounded them. Their purpose was to capture the businesswoman, but because Mavis was seen together with her, they had also captured her.
Fortunately, after a day had passed, they were rescued by Evie's people. During that time, Mavis had witnessed all the actions of the kidnappers and Evie and her people.
The way Evie carried out her execution as a dominant CEO was simply scary and neat. They were at a disadvantage and yet, on the second day of being kidnapped, the tables have turned, the kidnappers were defeated by Evie and her people who came to the rescue.
In the end, Mavis was released and she silently left, as there was no need for her to continue staying. The fact that nothing happened to her afterwards meant that Evie had no plans to get rid of her. The kidnappers turned out to be the people from a company who always had malicious motives against Evie's company. Whichever company it was, or what kind of company Evie owned, Mavis wasn't interested.
"...have you seen a red jewel pouch?"
Mavis was surprised; she didn't know why Evie had asked her such a question, but she still answered.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Sorry, I really don't know anything about it."
Evie dropped her eyes and sighed. "I see."
Mavis wanted to ask about it but in the end, she didn't. From her words, the red jewel pouch must have been something important to the lady and it was lost, but it had nothing to do with Mavis.