Mei had just walked out of the door when she heard Y's words. She froze for a second before closing the door and walking away as though she heard nothing at all.
Mei took her time getting out of the headquarters that was disguised as a small office in a building that held a big tech company. The great business of the tech company made it so that their headquarters was less visited but still used to the point that it isn't to be trifled with. However, due to the nature of the headquarters business operated both undercover and regularly as seen by the normal employees who have no idea that they work for a hidden national level headquarters.
Mei didn't feel the need to hide herself so when she walked out she took the main entrance. She also felt like taking a walk hence she got out at the first floor and planned to take a walk around the area before heading back home.
The second she took a step outside the main entrance doors she felt a vibration in her pocket followed by a ringtone.
Riinggg
The ringtone was the instrumental of a song that Mei loved. She had set it for two people in her contacts and instantly Mei felt like listening more to the ringtone than to answer the call so with the phone still in her pocket and still ringing Mei walked out.
After a while the ringing stopped but not long after it rang again. Mei on the other hand enjoyed her walk down the streets. There were quite a number of people who had just gotten off work and were out walking down the same street as her. To those that were close to her and heard the ringing, some ignored her while others gave her a few glances.
Perhaps the person trying to call her had given up, the ringing had come to a stop after seven times. By that time Mei had already walked roughly two blocks away from the headquarters. Nothing had happened, nothing caught her interest. Mei kept walking.
Mei had managed to walk another block and half before her phone started ringing again. It was still the same instrumental cover but that verse that it started on was different so Mei directly knew that it was the second person calling her. Her reaction was still the same. She still kept on walking and listened to the blaring loud ringtone on the slightly empty streets. She had no intentions to answer the call.
The caller was obviously agitated as they would call and end it after it had rung for roughly three seconds before calling again. Mei got annoyed.
She still wanted to listen to the ringtone but the caller was making it impossible for her to do it. Letting out a grunt, Mei roughly took out the phone from her pocket and gave a disgusted glance at the name tag before pressing the answer button.
The caller was named after "Bastard" and Mei felt like puking. When the call connected, she greeted, "What?" Her tone clearly expressed her disinterest and her annoyance at the caller.
Her "greeting" did work to agitate the caller more. Mei distanced the phone from her ear out of instinct and surely enough she still heard the caller's words loud and clear.
"You brat! Where are you?! I told you to be back home by 5 today! It's already 8 and not a shadow of you is to be seen! You knew your Aunty Lin was coming to see you and yet you dedicated yourself to hide away?! Get your *ss back into the house in 30 minutes if not don't bother coming back into this house! I didn't raise an unfilial brat like you for nothing!"
When felt that her mother had vented her anger enough and was calming down, she brought the phone close to herself and said, "Not coming." Her words were clear and concise.
Mrs. Caskcrag felt as though she had been given a slap in the face when she heard Mei's words. Her anger rose and she felt herself lose control. "You br*t! I said to get your *ss over here! I didn't ask for your f*cking opinion! If you don't get here in 30 minutes I'll make sure that you can't set foot outside of this house when you return!"
Mei's father whose phone was being hoarded by his wife sighed helplessly as he stood by her side as she lashed out on their daughter. Although he was a bit dissatisfied with her words he didn't stop her from doing whatever. Mei already knew that he was there but he didn't say anything to stop her mother. Mei was already used to it. She didn't bother with their words.
"Sure. Do whatever you want but I'm not coming home tonight." With that said she directly ended the call and blocked both of their numbers. As much as she loved hearing the ringtone she wasn't in the mood to think about them again. In order to ensure that she wouldn't be receiving any of their calls she also made sure to turn off her phone.
Perhaps by luck or fate, Mei spotted a fairly comfy looking alley way that seemed rather welcoming for Mei. She walked in and glanced around in the dark. She noticed a few boxes lining both sides of the walls but they all seemed fairy clean. There was not much foul smell and no signs of critters. It was a very suspicious looking alleyway. Mei wasn't scared though.
She walked directly to the very back of the alley and settled down on top of the little wooden box. Sitting down she leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes.
She felt tired.
This was that one time of the month where she had the time to even think of such things. She would always be off on missions or catching up on some learnings or earning money. It was only during this time that she would have the time to think about things.
Things like why was she back in this world? Why were her parents still the same? Why couldn't she just be normal…?
The nature of her thoughts were naturally emotional and Mei who stayed cold-hearted everyday felt as though she couldn't hold on anymore. As her thoughts ran wild, endless tears streamed down her eyes.
Inside the lonely alleyway Mei cried. The light from the outside hit the back of the alleyway but Mei was seated at a corner where she could see the outside but the light itself didn't hit her body.
It was as though she was a figure in the dark, watching those running the spotlight. While she stayed in her dark hidden corner wondering why she couldn't be like them.