Day 28
'The feeling of waking up into that quiet solitude of morning stillness was both relieving and nostalgic.' Shizuka thought to herself.
Yesterday's sad occurrence was washed away by her sleep. That's how it always was. When she slept, all the emotions of that day would sleep with her. When she woke, those emotions and memories would still slumber in her mind.
She was woken up by the burst of light from her window. Shizuka was a great example of a diurnal creature. Just a bit of sunlight would wake her up. It's just that today, her eyes felt puffy and dry.
'It's been so long since I woke up this way.'
'I realized that as I grew older, I became more of the child I should've been in my younger years.'
'I mean, I did feel sad yesterday. But the time I've been sleeping each day has been from 7:00p.m. or 8:00 p.m. I wake up between 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.'
'Yesterday, before 8:00 p.m. I was already asleep and I woke up by 6:55 a.m. I've been asleep for more than 10 hours.' Shizuka chuckled at the thought of this. She yawned and stretched as she began to fix her bed.
'It's so satisfying how well I've fixed my room. It's every bit makes me feel so happy. From now on, this is my space, my home.'
Her room's interior:
Her room had concrete walls at the left and right. In front was an almost floor to ceiling window. At the back was where the door to exit her room was at. It was at the furthest left. Opposite it, to the right, was the cabinet to her clothes. In the middle of the door and the cabinet was her bed, it was vertically placed to face the window, so she can directly see the window when she wakes up.
She says it's one of the ways to make her yearn for tomorrows, for mornings, to dream again.
Her bed was also placed there so she could make use of the wall behind it. She loves the yoga position 'feet up the wall' because it feels nice for her legs and she's doing it for the health benefits for her blood flow. She always did this even before she lived here. Whenever she walked a lot or exercised, and even when she just felt like it, her feet would be placed up those walls as she sometimes even dozed off because it was that relaxing.
Underneath her bed, was supposedly where you can pull another bed but since she doesn't plan to buy another bed, what she placed instead were her books. If she wasn't reading webnovel to sleep, she'd just choose one of her hard copy books ranging from psychology, sociology, philosophy, novels, research, etc. She'd read until she felt so sleepy that she wouldn't even realize she fell asleep. There are, of course, rare occasions wherein she reads until what time when she becomes engrossed with her readings.
Her work table was in front of the window because she's a rabid fan of natural light. She says it has a soothing effect that helps her eyes when working.
Her left wall had nails in them even before she bought the house, but that wasn't a problem for her. Making use of them, she placed her whiteboard and corkboard on the wall. The corkboard was filled with inspirational quotes about being a woman, working out, life, and the psychological journey of the human mind. On the other hand, her whiteboard has been with her since her college years. It was the temporary shelter of her most important thoughts and findings, that was until she started writing them down on her notebook so fossilize it into her archive of experiences. The whiteboard would then be left clean so she could write new things on it.
This whiteboard held the secret to her success. Or so she jokes about it. You see, this whiteboard would also be used for her practices for her presentations. She always makes sure that before she presents her work, she has polished her words, her actions, and even what she wrote on the board to better expound her discussion. One of her mantras in life is practice makes perfect.
Queer enough, her right wall was and is an empty canvas.
When Shizuka went down, she caught the scent of delicious food being prepared. Then it dawned on her, yesterday was the day Kiefer Campbell came to her home. When she was at the Kitchen's door, she saw a woman beautifully cooking food. Her movements were clean, well-practiced, and somewhat breathtaking.
The woman seemed to have felt her stare for she looked behind her. "Oh, you're up early. Hi. We didn't get to meet properly yesterday. I hope you don't mind that I used your kitchen, I already cooked us some breakfast. Care to eat with me?"
Shizuka smiled gratefully at her, "Mm." She walked towards her and saw what she cooked. On the pan, salted dried herrings were being cooked, at the side was an already prepared tomato salad, sunny side eggs, there was also fried brown rice with minced white onion, diced carrot, green peas, and some meat.
She couldn't help but comment, "Well, this is interesting. Are we going to war or something? The food is sumptuous."
Kiefer giggled, "Thanks, breakfast is very important for me, that's all.
"But, some of the food here, I don't think I had them in my refrigerator.."
"I bought them yesterday"
"I see, it must've cost a fortune. Especially those bacon bits in the rice."
"It's okay. I will be living with you."
Shizuka pouted before sighing. "You could occupy the room next to mine. I'm a very noisy person, so if I were you buy some earplugs."
"No can do, what if you were screaming for help?"
Shizuka snorted as she laughed, "Don't be like that, that's a bit morbid."
Kiefer looked at her with an unreadable expression. She then smiled as she cocked her head towards the food.
Shizuka flashed her cheeky grin, warning, "I eat a lot, just so you know."
Kiefer just smiled at her meaningfully.
Day 32
Today was the day a new project would be handed down to Shizuka's team. She would also meet up with the client and her partner company for this project, Egon's team from Nebula Inc.
She headed for her boss' room. Knocking on the door, from inside the words "Come in." could be heard.
"Good Morning, Ms. Aleksi, I came to report for today."
Aleksi was a beautiful woman in her late 20's, she was looking through a set of files before putting it down to nod at Shizuka. She beckoned, "Sit."
Shizuka observed her and felt that something was off, "Ms. Aleksi, is something wrong?"
Aleksi sighed, even the sight of her sigh was picturesque. "Tsk, it's just that our client this time... the request is over the top."
"How over the top can it be? We're just requesting for probable interviewees right?"
"That's the plan, but this woman suddenly requested that it be experimental transpersonal psychology research."
"What do you mean...?"
"She wants your team and Egon's team to stay in their company for a year or two to conduct the research with the participants."
"What? Wait, doesn't she understand that we can't be in anyway related with the participants? Alek, I don't do action researches."
"She specifically requested your team because of catching hold of, -A study on the overall state of couples who chose to be childless- for her, it became such a mind opening research."
Shizuka huffed.
"Shi..."
"Alek, I don't do action researches. It's a type of research I don't dabble in. It's too sensitive. I just prefer asking questions and analyzing majority and minority answers to help better understand society. Not helping people in a deeper realm. I'm not trained for the sublime nor the collective unconscious. There is a reason why I didn't get a full Psychology degree. I don't like touching other people's way of living."
"I know."
"Alek!"
"Shi, Marcelli and I know better, even Professor Cao and Professor Murry know that you're their best student when it comes to psychology and sociology. They never stopped you from taking literature even though you fit those two fields better."
"Marcelli-sensei recommended me to her..."
"Correct."
Shizuka became quiet.
"Shi, you know that you can either help this research produce promising results or you could just let Egon handle it, let it just have the partnership as a name."
Shizuka looked at her in contemplation.
"Shi, we chose you as a scholar for a good reason. That brain of yours is meant for big things."
"I don't like it doing big things! Alek!" she said frustratingly.
Aleksi looked at her and sighed, "The meeting will begin by 14:30. Decide by then how it will go."
"Alek!"
"I'm serious Shizuka. Go and think about it."
Shizuka shook her head as she stood up and went to open the door. However, when she opened the door, she immediately faced Egon with a well-dressed man.
Egon saw Shizuka's frustrated face and couldn't help but eye her.
"Egon." she said. She then chose to nod her head.
"Shizuka." he replied as he nodded his head in agreement. He moved to the side.
Shizuka fixed her expression before she nodded at the man beside Egon, afterwards she left.
Aleksi, hearing Egon's name couldn't help but look at the door. "Egon."
"Hi, Alek. We came early to prepare. Since the client made a big change to the agreement."
She just raised her left brow and shook her head, "Come in."
14:00
The client, Ms. Xie, Ning arrived into the meeting. After giving her greetings, she immediately went down to business.
As she spoke, Shizuka couldn't help but marvel and remark, "At least you knew you were really facing great limitations. As what Dr. Tart would refer to, great limitations is the inability to understand even if there are seemingly acceptable answers to the said problem."
'I mean, why wouldn't she?' She thought, as she looked at their client, being an agnostic deist and all, the experiences of her religious and areligious employees and her own personal philosophy would at some point create friction itself if not intellectually and psychologically mediated.
Her Boss, Aleksi couldn't help but giggle because of her retort. While the Nebula representatives were shocked at her open discussion with the client as if they were just having some psychological analysis with some colleague.
The woman smiled as if perfectly understanding what Shizuka said. "Indeed, I like that term now. I guess it is a circumstance of great limitations built upon my own lack of philosophical understanding."
Shizuka couldn't help but flash her a cheeky smile as she remarked, "You really love your work and employees."
She nodded, "I do. My employees have excelled in the past three years ever since the company began and embarked on being a pioneer company in the telecommunications community."
Shizuka and team all nodded at her. The same could be said with Nebula's team.
"However, I am very much aware that they are also facing not so easily adaptable situations of their own. Regardless of benefits and promotions, of lessened time of work, even of team building. The tolerance of each and luck, as would have it, of their clients' temper would be a case to case basis. In addition, the perspectives they have garnered from their belief is affecting their coping with work. Respecting this and at the same time hoping to at least come to a common ground, I already thought of a plan to remedy this; that's why here you are now. I would like for you to check and to help facilitate this psychological coaching to help my employees. After seeing the research you intended to conduct in my company, I saw its similarity with a plan I had a few months ago which I've yet to implement. This collaboration could take even less than a year, if successful. This project plan had already been seen and redrafted by another team. However, I could not see their humanistic investment which I was hoping my employees could experience with their team. I would like for all of you as well to sign the same confidentiality contract as them that whatever information you will see, it will just be between your team and my company."
Everyone was given a copy of the project plan and the confidentiality contract.
-when the client left-
Aleksi, Egon, and the man that came with him came back to the meeting room after having a few final words with the client.
Shizuka giving one of those I'm amazed sighs
"We will talk later." Aleksi said as she then turned towards the Nebula team.
"Ms. Aleksi, first of all you've worked with us before, our past was also the reason why we chose to accept this joint project with you. I just can't help but ask before we get down to business. Shizuka, right? How did you know she wouldn't be offended with how casual you spoke with her?"
Shizuka nodded, she then bit her lip as she shyly giggled. "Instincts."
Aleksi's left brow raised as she quipped sarcastically, "Oh really?"
"Because of her body language. Her hand gestures, were her foot faced whenever someone talked about the project and each time a member of the team introduced themselves, her shoulders, the aura she exuded. It was as if she was waiting," as she said all this she couldn't help but scoff lightly, "baiting more likely. She seemed to wanted to know more than just the professional capability of the team."
She then looked Aleksi in the eyes, "If I was wrong, I was more than willing to have my wage deducted and to have some unpayed days off for a month or three. It's just that something in me said that if I didn't do that. We would lose something."
Egon and Felix looked at one another. Felix nodded at him then said, "Truth be told, Ms. Xie said that she wouldn't have went on with the partnership had it not been for that casual remark of yours."
Shizuka blinked innocently, "Oh..."
Aleksi closed her eyes and sighed at this neophyte/veteran employee. Sometimes, even she felt helpless with how eccentric her personality is.
"Ms. Aleksi, did you ask if she knew Xie?"
"She just came back to the country with her family. She hasn't met her relatives her in Laniakea."
Shizuka nodded her head.
18:43
In Aleksi's office
Shizuka was sitting on one of the chairs next to Aleksi's table.
"You, really! I don't know what to do about you."
Shizuka sighed as she just accepted her words.
"Guess, instincts, instincts my foot!"
"Alek! language!"
"Oh, now you want to go back to that, hell no!"
Shizuka lowered her head, her hands together. She looked like a child becoming aware of her wrongdoings.
"Don't give me that, that ain't going to work."
"I know."
"Tell me, what's your take about this research?"
"Risky."
"We're all aware of that. However, Nebula's team wants to accept this. Egon is very much eager to develop the project plan for this to get results.
"His graduate studies is related to this?"
"Very much so."
"Alek, be serious with me, if I wanted to back out from this, would you let me?"
"Darling, ever since I layed my eyes on you... when I heard the thoughts of that pretty little head of yours seven years ago, I knew that you could help Tesda reach far greater heights."
"You're not answering my question."
"Because there's no need to ask this question. You only want to hear the words you know the answer to."
"Alek, you know my plan."
"I know, that's why I'm trying to help you leave a mark in this industry before you reach for your real dreams."
"..."
"Congratulations on winning that best newcomer award. We all knew you had talent for writing."
"..."
"Shi, I know better than anyone how you have a love-hate relationship with research. This time, I have to mediate a bit."
Shizuka blinked in understanding. "You!"
"Yes, transpersonal psychology is one of the keys that Egon and I think can help the world become more open-minded and aware. This is going to be a research that will be heavily reliant on the researchers to help in the most subtlest ways to make the participants reach a certain threshold in terms of adaptability."
"..."
"Shi, this is the last research. After this, you've payed off all the investments we've given you in your undergrad years."
"Marcelli told you."
"I was also shocked when I found out. But, since you have the capability, why not?"
Her brows were scrunched up as she spoke in surrender, "... just this once."
"Mm. First and last."
Day... loading....
Then Søren, tell me, why do I need to learn all this?
Because you're still young. If you don't know this now, in the future, some people might abuse the lack of knowledge of it or worst, you might not know how to escape a dangerous situation.
Little Shishi held on to the prosthetic. She sighed at Søren's words. "Okay..."
"You told me that you saw prosthetics before right? How were they?"
"It was made to look like a burnt skin..." she said as she blinked her pretty little eyes.
"Shishi, you have to understand, not all people are nice. Just like that relative of yours. Xie told me he doesn't trust that man your mother got together with."
"He does seem off... is that why Xie gave me some instructional book on Tae Kwon do?"
"Mm. Shi, I'm most afraid for you. You're really adorable, for sure you'll grow up into a beauty."
These words shocked Little Shizuka, she lowered her head as she answered, "Mommy said that I would just become like her. That I'd have a kid in my young age. I won't be able to finish school. That... I'm just... *sniff a waste of... *sniff her money..." Tears fell down her pretty little face.
"Shi, do you believe that?"
"No..."
"Prove them wrong, then."
"That is... *sniff what I plan..."
"Darling, why are you crying then?"
"I'm just... *sniff so tired. Mom always gets angry... *sniff at the littlest things... I do... *lips trembling From homework to playing.., eating to taking a bath.., even from socializing with my father's family... he doesn't even seem to want me. *sniff He just pities me."
"Why do you say that?"
She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself, "The way he looks at me. When Xie's father and mother look at him, there's this magical thing about their eyes... but with my mom and dad, there isn't... there's just anger for mommy... and annoyance for daddy... Søren..."
"What is it?"
"I even heard that mommy tried to have a miscarriage while carrying me. What does miscarriage mean?"
Søren's face scrunched up. Tears gathering in her eyes, "Oh, baby..." she said as she immediately pulled Little Shishi into a hug.
"Søren, be honest with me... what does miscarriage mean?"
She pondered for a while, not daring to look at the child. She shook her head in disbelief.
"Søren, please tell me... I need to know..." her eyes held hints of fear and heartache as she said those words.
Søren closed her eyes, her tears fell on her face.
"*sniff... Søren... I already know that my mom and dad don't want me... I heard it from mommy's siblings... I even heard it from my grandmother, the one daddy calls mother... Is Shishi really...?"
Søren hugged Little Shizuka tightly. "Shi..." she whispered, "the world that I want to show you... will want children like you..."
"I know... but Søren, can't you be an honest adult for me? Everybody thinks I don't understand what they're talking about... and I also thought so too. But something in me is telling me that there are some words that I need to understand..."
"Shi, promise me that if you feel hurt, you can cry on me or Xie, okay?"
"Does that mean you'll explain it to me?"
"Mm..."
"Okay, I promise."
"Miscarriage means... having an accident while pregnant. Accident means something bad happened. Something bad that couldn't be avoided... usually, when pregnant women have miscarriages, the baby inside their tummy dies."
"And...?"
"But, your mother said she tried to have a miscarriage... so, it means... she tried to lose you by getting into an accident..."
The child in her arms started trembling. She could hear her almost inaudible whimper. This was what Søren was most afraid ever since Shishi started asking that question. But, she doesn't trust Shizuka's relatives nor Shino's friends to break the news to her. She chose to say it now, because in this seemingly innocent child, she's very aware that Shizuka's understanding far exceeds her supposed mental understanding as a child. She would have made a way to find out, one way or another. If those people were the ones who broke it down for her, their taunting, her young heart. It did not bode well with her.
"Søren..." her raspy voice called out.
"Yes?" She whispered weakly as she hugged the child in her strong arms.
"Why...*sniff why didn't they just *sniff give me... up *sniff... like... for adoption?"
"Shi, don't say that..."
"They don't *sniff even want me..."
"It's because they had to be responsible for what they did."
"No.... *sniff, I don't *sniff feel like I belong..."
"Shi, you know that's not true."
"Søren, if I do well in *sniff school and if *sniff I'm a very good girl... do you think... *sniff... she would change her mind?"
For Søren, she truly believes that people change with the passage of time. As she said some words, in her heart, she also Hoped it would come true, "Of course, anyone would want Shishi. You're so amazing..." she breathed in deeply to rein in her emotions, "If I could, I'd want a baby just like you."
Shizuka's small hands hugged Søren. She heard the little girl in her arms say "mm." as she cried her heart out.
Day 35
Shizuka woke up from her dream. Her pillow was wet with her tears... as she became clear headed, she whispered, "You liar..."
She sat dazed in her bed. She looked at the nothing before her. Her heart clouded by grief and a sense of loss. She hugged her knees close to her as she whispered, "Shishi... Shishi... you aren't with them anymore... you aren't with them..."
She stood up and stretched, she went to her working table to analyze the data given to their team but before that, she opened her window. The sound of gentle raindrops falling everywhere could be heard. It gave her a sense of solace as she sat on her chair and looked at her previous assessment of the data.
Seeing her evaluation of the files so far, she realized that she had to read up again and brush up her social skills for the incoming field work. She had to make sure that she could get the best results and help these employees. Her work made her forget all the pain... even if it was just temporary.
--------------------------------------
A phone started to vibrate while on a table.
The phone vibrated again but this time with a ringtone.
~Mama, Papa, Deeyah!
Chewday, Mama an Papa chook me hunning in the foyesht
Dey shay weer gonna catch a deeyah for benison
Mama shaid benison ish dewishious
Papa put me ing a bag ingfwont o' him an He an Mama sharteyed walkin' funny in da foyesht
Aye shaw diffwent aynimals der
Aye herd them wiltle birdiesh shinging an some weeid buzshing shound
But aye awwso saw wan of di mosh majeshik aynimals ing da foweysh
Iyt had bwanches sticking out of icht head
An icht tail wash shaped like a weaf
Icht had weeid wite shopts an icht wimbs wer niysh an shwong
Icht had da pwettiest eyshes but, wen it shaw me, icht wash afwaid...
"That's a deer, darling." Mama shaid.
A man started to move from the bed beside the table, a "tsk" sound could be heard from him as he turned off his phone and went back to sleep.
Day 41
"Are these preliminary questions acceptable? I'm not a specialist in transpersonal psychology so, you check." Shizuka said as she handed a set of papers to Egon.
"Yeah, I'll check them. Have you been studying Veism and Lintoism?"
"I did, when I saw some of those being the religion of some participants. I made sure the questions were appropriate for their religion whilst not deviating from the goal of transpersonal psychology."
Egon couldn't help but look at her. Shizuka didn't waver and looked back at him.
Day 53
"I've been feeling weak these past few days..." Shizuka said to Kiefer as she was massaging the temples of her head.
"You must've been overworking again. Shi, you need to rest a bit. Your work isn't going to run away from you." She reminded with concern.
"I'll be fine. I think? This is just a recurring episode." Shizuka looked hesitant as she gave a weak smile at Kiefer.
Kiefer shook her head.
Day 71
At Webnovel's Annual Festival at World Trade Center.
The winners of the best newcomers novels were all at the stage. The host that year was the new trending, dubbing star of the new generation, Zhuang Ran. Annex C was filled with webnovel fans.
"Pardon for this, authors but we will be having a segment called, "Blackhole" so, we will be asking you questions out of the blue, and you cannot over analyze the questions, you must answer quickly and as honestly as possible. The questions could be very simple or quite serious. This segment was requested by your readers for them to get to know a bit about the authors they voted for."
Varying reactions were given by the authors.
"The first question will be for Bing'ge."
The man named Bing'ge smiled at Zhuang Ran and nodded at her.
"Bing'ge, is there anything bothering you right now?"
Bing'ge laughed awkwardly before answering, "I do, actually. Killing Shaobin brought about extreme reactions amongst my readers. I also wondered if I shouldn't have let death encroach him. I was actually afraid attending today."
From the audience seat, some of them shouted, "Shaobin!" while their voices held grief.
"I also loved Shaobin, but his death was a necessary catalyst to help Feng become the man that would change the nine realms. It just bothers me how even I can't breakaway from the pain of his loss. I thought being a writer wouldn't make me this attached to my characters. Hopefully, after a while I can recover after Shaobin's loss."
Zhuang Ran nodded, "Yes, Shaobin was the friend we all didn't deserve."
"Yeah," he said with a somber voice, "he was also one of those people in my life that just gave me such a new perspective." He looked at the person beside him wearing a mask and said, "Actually, Søren and I here were even chatting about Shaobin just a while ago" he placed his arm on the masked person named Søren before adding, "because I knew that I needed to give him more justice that couldn't be given in the text. Søren-senpai said that I could dabble in the parallel universe genre to give a different end to Shaobin."
"Oh, wow, Søren really does have such thoughts."
"I agree. Actually, I'm considering her opinion seriously. Since I couldn't just change the plot for Shaobin. But Shaobin's character was also major whether in the story or my real life. I'll have to make big considerations first before moving forward."
"Søren, seems like a lot of Avalon fans will be in friendly terms with you since you gave Shaobin a new light for Bing'ge."
The masked person just nodded.
The host then set her sight on the masked person. "Søren, your novel, Nirvana has brought a whole new genre into the Webnovel community. Readers have requested that for this segment, can you tell us anything at all that you're currently thinking about, after all, amongst all the authors present, your line of thought is the most peculiar at present."
"Hmmm, simping I guess."
"Simping?" Zhuang Ran asked, unfamiliar with the word.
"Well, everyone's aware of how I always have such inquiries of the simplest cultures and habit that we all share. I encountered the word Simp yesterday when I was watching some Pewdiepie clips. Simp is one of the words that have currently entered the mainstream. It's a word referring to men who really put women at such high pedestals in exchange for sexual benefits. I was actually reveling on it just now. When I was younger, I was also a simp. I waited for a classmate of mine for three years."
Zhuang Ran couldn't help but say, "Wow, wait, so does that mean the Søren is a man??"
The audience were in an shock for this author's gender couldn't be guessed, for the clothes worn hid all the features that could give an idea of its gender. The mask was also a full-face mask. Søren's hair was long, but many men now grew their hair. Plus, the well modulated voice actually didn't give away any gender. She was one of the mysteries of this batch of authors.
"Oh no, I'm very much female." Søren rebutted.
The crowd were all the more curious.
She continued, "The reason I was linking my previous self with simp was because men aren't the only ones who simp. I think, in my entire existence, I simped for seven times. So, it's safe to say women can also be simps"
"Oh my..."
"Seriously?" Bing'ge asked.
"Yeah, the first one was in high school, I think? I kept giving gifts to this guy, food, art supply, I even treated him everytime we would commute home."
Everyone was baffled by her confession.
"I waited for him for three years. The next one, I waited for him for a year, the same could be said for the following three. Then, I was really head over heels with this friend of mine for two years, and the last one for a year again. It was so bad. Gosh, it... it's so bad."
"Why do you say that?" Zhuang Ran followed up.
"Well, I analyzed myself and what caused me being a simp. If you think about it. A child's upbringing will greatly affect their notions of love, friends, family, even work. Our current culture is now going towards a more proactive trend, which is very good. Which makes me a bit envious of my readers now. If you were a kid 10-15 years ago. The world was very different. It was more strict, but a lot of things were cheaper."
Many adults nodded.
"There was a time we couldn't access the internet, so you only know what is easily accessible to you. Or what at least the school teaches. I grew up in the princess stories syndrome, the fatalistic I'm fated with this person sham. Especially those kids films with those princesses waiting for prince charming." the scoff in her voice apparent. Underneath the mask, her face was sneering.
"Children, if not guided properly, will be brainwashed by this mentality. I think I'm a victim of that. I always thought each guy I waited for was the one in each phase. And I even waited for varying lengths of years. I realized as I grew older, took me long enough, that something's wrong. Something is definitely wrong. Then, you knew ten years after that the sudden shift of enlightenment and apocalyptic times empowered women came into stories. Prince charming was called out for the player that he was, flirting with those princesses."
The audience and some of the authors laughed in understanding.
"I couldn't say I was a hopeless romantic cuz' that felt like I was disrespecting the word. So, simp is something I can relate to in a more realistic level. I guess?"
The host couldn't help but shake her head in wonder, "Really, us readers of your novel can't help but wonder how much that brain of yours thinks."
Søren took that rhetorical question as a normal question, "Oh, A lot. Sometimes, just to stop thinking I make myself sleep for a long, long time. Trust me, it's so tiring sometimes."
Everybody couldn't help but laugh at her charming way of speaking. Her voice held this soothing storytelling and her thoughts were really something to think about.
That was Shizuka. Søren was her pen name, in honor of the real Søren. She was currently wearing a mask because she really regarded highly her personal space, privacy at its finest. She would prefer to remain unknown than be recognized by her readers outside. She likes communicating with them, but she prefers if the relationship of author and reader will remain that way in that space she allotted for it.
Day 99
A phone started to vibrate while on a table.
The phone vibrated again but this time with a ringtone.
~Wiltle Fwoggies
Mama an papa bwought home wiltle fwoggies
Da fwoggies wer sho adowable widdem wed eyshes
Aye got to hold em fwoggies, dey wer bewy cold an shliiipewy
Dey wer jumpin' awound an awound
Unchil wan day, mama pwaysed em in ey pot wid wader.
Aye saw dem fwoggies jusht shtay put.
Den, mama show-wy wiyted da fiye unchil da fiye wash boiying
Dem fwoggies jusht shtay put, ash if da fiye dichn't hurt.
Mama pwashed me in da wiving woom chu pway
Aye wonder wat wuld happen to em fwoggies
Aubi was surprised with Egon's ringtone. The child's voice and lack of awareness to what was happening was really adorable. She then saw Egon enter their living room, she couldn't help but chide, "What an interesting ringtone you have, Eggsie. Don't tell me, you and Aleksi are already planning to have a kid?"
Egon sneered at her, "What?"
"Your phone was ringing, the ringtone with a child's voice."
Egon's eyes constricted, he asked, "What did the child say?"
Aubi giggled, "What? Seriously though, isn't it a bit morbid how the kid saw how the frogs were being boiled? Are you sure Aleksi will still like you, especially if your ringtone is like that?"
Day 120
At Ning Xie's company
"Hi, I am Yama Shizuka. I'll be assisting you for today. First of all thank you for taking part in this research. So, shall we get started?" Shizuka was wearing a formal sky blue blouse that covered her whole upper body while a loose fitting dirty white slack for her legs.
The person before her was an employee of
Qiān Yīn Telecommunications.
"Let's get started. I think I'll be telling you a lot of things."
Day 121
~Mama, Papa, Deeyah!
Chewday, Mama an Papa chook me hunning in the foyesht
Dey shay weer gonna catch a deeyah for benison
Mama shaid benison ish dewishious
Papa put me ing a bag ingfwont o' him an He an Mama shatarteyed walkin' funny in da foyesht
Aye shaw diffwent aynimals der
Aye herd them wiltle birdiesh shinging an some weeid buzshing shound
But aye awwso saw wan of di mosh majeshik aynimals ing da foweysh
Iyt had bwanches sticking out of icht head
An icht tail wash shaped like a weaf
Icht had weeid wite shopts an icht wimbs wer niysh an shwong
Icht had da pwettiest eyshes but, wen it shaw me, icht wash afwaid...
"That's a deer, darling." Mama shaid.
Da deeyah wan away
Mama an papa starwted chashing icht.
Aye wash bounshing sho mucht.~
The man on the bed was fumbling all over The next second his phone was ringing regularly.
*ring *ring *ring
The man kicked his blanket as he sat on the edge of the bed, he answered the call.
Levi's voice could be heard at the other end, "Egon, we have a problem."
"What is it this time?" He asked with his raspy voice.
"Shizuka and Kiefer are missing."
"What?! I just saw her from work yesterday."
"Yesterday night. Kiefer was supposed to report for the day. The headquarters didn't receive any news whatsoever. They thought something might just have cropped up. So, they waited a bit more. When it was 12:00 midnight, they tried calling her, the phone couldn't be reached. They called again and again, but still there was nothing. This was the first time Kiefer didn't report so the higher ups started to worry. They dispatched some soldiers to go to Shizuka's house, but they were already gone."
"I already checked the security cameras of their street. Shizuka and Kiefer went out last night, 7:23 p.m. I observed the footage up to where they went, they ate at Vivaldi's. After eating there, when they went out, Shizuka saw a child being kicked by a bunch of hooligans. She tried to stop them, and she knocked them all out, but what she didn't see was that the child behind her had a stunner, I think it was set at a very high voltage because the kid electrocuted her until she fainted."
"What about Kiefer? Shouldn't she have kept watch?"
"Armed men surrounded her while Shizuka was fighting those hooligans. They were both knocked out."
"Damn it!"
"...."
"Where are they?"
"The car went to a private property. When the team reached that property, they found nothing there. The car was there, but there was no sign of any human in there. They're trying to check if there are any hidden underground passage."
"Vi..."
"I know... but what if Kiefer's team can't find them?"
"That's dependent on the higher ups. Vi, whether it was you or Kiefer designated as her watcher, we're not sure how this would've panned out."
"Egon, she's not the same as us. Our upbringings are entirely different..."
"Are you afraid she would turn?"
"NO! What I'm afraid of is the psychological state she's in!"
The ringtone earlier on played again while they were conversing.
"Eggsie, is that..."
-----------------------------------
In a vehicle
The sound of hollow passage having a vehicle's engine echo through it.
Shizuka was startled awake when the vehicle drove through a bumpy rode, she noticed that she was blindfolded and her hands were handcuffed behind her back. The surrounding was very dark and cold.
The people beside her were all quiet until a child spoke, "Hey, why do we have to kidnap these two women?"
"Just follow orders, kid."
"Seriously, how could they just ask us to do these things out in the open?"
"Kid, shut up."
Silence once again occupied the vehicle except for the sound the engine made.
Hearing this, Shizuka opted to fall asleep.
Day 122
The armed men shook Shizuka and Kiefer awake. They were still blindfolded and handcuffed. When the two woke up, they were pushed to go somewhere.
Shizuka, being forced to walk fast, stumbled in front of a flight of stairs. She gasped in pain as she fell face first. Her right cheek was bruised by the fall.
"Hurry up! Get up the stairs you b*tch, stop laying around!"
"Bast*rds, you didn't even tell her there were stairs!" Kiefer shouted in agitation.
Shizuka struggled to get up.
She heard the sound of fists hitting flesh as she staggered up.
Once she was up, she was shoved into a sit.
She heard the sound of the footsteps and a body hitting a cushion, Shizuka guessed that Kiefer was placed in a seat far from her.
Their was a sudden weird movement, she felt as if something went up. Her body felt sensations, familiar sensations. They were on a plane.
The views and opinions included in this chapter belong to the author and do not necessarily mirror the views and opinions of Webnovel.The content of this chapter is restricted. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this chapter to anyone outside of the Webnovel app and in the internet. The integrity and security of this chapter cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Please help me keep my novel away from plagiarists. Support my novel here in Webnovel.