For a moment, I stared at the door, wondering if anyone would stop me if I walked out of this building.
Instead I moved toward the staircase and walked up to the second floor. Only one of the white doors was huge and I pushed it open.
The master bedroom opened up before me. As with the living area, an entire wall was made up of windows overlooking the cityscape.
The king-sized bed was facing them. I wondered how it would be to watch the sunrise from bed. The wall behind the bed was upholstered with black fabric.
At the end of the room a doorway led into a walk-in closet and to its right I could see a freestanding bathtub through the glass wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom.
I walked toward it.
Even from the bathtub you could watch the city.
Despite the glass wall, the washbasins and the shower weren't visible from the bedroom, and the toilet was in its own small room.
"Young lady?"
I gasped. My heart pounded in my chest as I slowly followed the voice and found Xu on the gallery, carrying my bags.
"I didn't mean to startled you," he said when he saw my face. I nodded.
"Where do you want me to put your bags, young lady?"
I'd forgotten Fu Shao had dropped them on the sofa.
"I don't know. Maybe the walk-in closet?"
He strode past me and set the bags down on a bench in the closet.
My three suitcases as well as two moving boxes were beside it.
"Do you know if I need to dress up for tonight? Fu Shao said he wants to take me to his favorite restaurant, but he didn't tell me if it has a dress code."
Xu smiled.
"No. Definitely no dress code."
"Why? Is it a Mcd? I'd actually never eaten back at home. Father and Mother would have never taken us to a place like that. Even Qina, Qinli, Su Liang and I had once convinced Martial Zhen to take us to a McDonalds but that was really the whole extent of my experience with fast-food joints."
"Not really. I think young master wants to surprise you."
I doubted that.
"Maybe I should unpack then."
I gestured at my suitcases.
Xu kept a careful distance to me. He was nice but professional.
"Do you need help?"
I really didn't want Xu to touch my underwear.
"No. I'd prefer to be alone."
Compassion filled his face before he turned and left. I waited until I was certain that he was back downstairs before I opened the first box.
On top was a photo of me with Qina, Qinli and Su Liang. I cried for the third time in less than twenty-four hours.
And I'd seen them only this morning, so how could I already feel so alone?
When Fu Shao came home almost five hours later, I'd changed into a skirt and a flimsy, sleeveless blouse.
Despite my best efforts, my eyes were still slightly red from crying. There was a limit to what make-up could do.
He noticed immediately, his gaze lingering on my eyes, then darting to the photo of my family on the nightstand.
"I wasn't sure which was your side. I can move it to the other nightstand if you want," I said.
"No, it's okay."