"Could you please help me, then?" Mr. Pařík had asked Lucy in a pleading tone. She wanted to groan and whine, but he was Lili's father.
"And does it have to be that weekend? I already have something…" Lucy tried to subtly suggest a change of date, but he shook his head.
"That guy is apparently very busy, and he only has that Friday free. We worked really hard for this opportunity and it's hard to find an interpreter from Korea that is not already booked or only translates." Lucy nodded, knowing it was true.
"And you know more languages, so you can adapt if something else is needed. Not to say you have experience in law and business settings." The more Mr. Pařík spoke, the less Lucy could reject him.
"What do I tell Lili?" she asked in the last attempt to actually not comply with his request, but Mr. Pařík only shook his hand.
"She will understand. Lili knows how much of an opportunity this is for me and actually for her to meet her idols." Lucy now frowned.
"Wait. She is Atiny. Did you manage to talk Ateez into the endorsement?!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly because she liked their songs and them, too. Even though she was Gami, meeting Ateez would be a dream come true for her, too.
"Ateez? I don't know. I was told it's a Korean idol." Lucy just blinked and fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Here goes the excitement she felt for a brief while.
"I will talk to Lili. Maybe I can do it… When would we leave?" she asked, just to be sure.
"Thursday. Everything is booked already. Hotel, and even a car with a driver. So we need you to interpret the entire time for us." Lucy nodded. She wasn't that thrilled to go there instead of the con with Lili, but work was working. And because Lili's father already asked her agency, she had no other choice than to nod and go.
"I will make it somehow. Let's talk about it more later." Lucy smiled and after he nodded, she went to Lili's room, where she was found packing.
"Are you going back home?" Lili asked, and Lucy nodded.
"I have something to take care of first… I will call you later." Lili frowned. Before saying anything, she came up to Lucy and hugged her.
"You are the most beautiful person I know. Believe in yourself more and don't let others belittle you. You are a strong and fiery warrior." Lucy was confused by this, but she hugged her back and had to admit that it warmed her a lot. The feeling spread around her chest and she felt a lot better than before.
"I booked a bus back home. Can you give me a lift to the bus station?" Lucy chuckled when Lili confusedly stepped aside.
"This early? Is it your mother again?" Lucy shook her head at that question.
"Mom hasn't even contacted me since the last time. Teri sent me a message that he is sulking. And Honza was actually pissed at me because of what I told her. But when I explained he changed his opinion and was pissed at our mother." Lucy laughed, recalling the call with her younger brother, who just studied law and was really beloved by her mother because of that.
When Lucy sat on the bus, she knew she had almost three hours to kill and decided it was time to start her planning. Not caring how late it was in Hong Kong, she called Lei first.
"Can you get to Czechia?" she asked, completely skipping the formalities. It was obviously late for him because Lei sounded sleepy, even confused.
"When?" he asked. So he obviously wasn't so confused.
"I need to get away on Thursday and was supposed to go to con with Lili. I know you don't watch anime or those things, but you can surprise her. She would love it." Lucy knew that it would give her an excuse to go to Korea and work without getting Lili extremely mad.
"Will you help me?" he asked, and Lucy could hear the shuffling of the blankets, suggesting he was getting out of the bed.
"Yes, I will tell you everything once I'm home. I don't have a laptop with me now. But I will send you the tickets and write them in your name. I will tell you how to get there and when. Just please say you will come this Thursday." Lucy needed to beg him, otherwise, Lili would kill Lucy and her own parents too for screwing their plans to have fun.
"I will. I miss her. You don't need to beg me to go. I'm happy to do it." Lucy almost yelled out with joy, but recalled that she was on the bus, and instead she looked at the person sitting next to her, smiling.
Well, to say that the guy next to her was looking at her like a normal person would be an understatement. He was staring at her as if she grew horns on her head and her tongue split in two.
"I will call you later when I'm home," she said back and Lei just hung up on her. Embarrassed, Lucy smiled at the guy sitting next to her, and rather than saying something, she tried to find a movie to watch. But her phone rang once more.
"Hey, Lucy, I'm going to Prague this weekend. Do you have time to show me around?" It was hard for Lucy to switch from Cantonese to Japanese this quickly, but Yousuke was her friend and it would be rude to ignore him and speak in a language he didn't know.
"Yo, I'm sorry. I'm in Korea that week… You should have called me earlier. What are you doing here?" she asked and heard a disappointed sigh on the other side of the speaker.
"Ah, just work… We have to make a surprise visit from the headquarters again." Lucy chuckled. Yousuke was actually a director in a Japanese company that had a branch in Czechia.
After a bit of talking and joking, Lucy had hung up on Yousuke and because her ears were hurting a bit, she took off the wireless headphones.
"How many boyfriends do you have? And what were all those weird words? Please, next time when you want to have phone sex with all of your boyfriends, don't do it in public!" The rudeness of the guy totally stunned Lucy that she was unable to say something back. But she didn't have to.
"Don't be salty, you old pervert. No one else cares. You are just jealous of them because you have been watching her, too. So shut up and shove your outdated opinions up in your ass. And by the way, she was talking business with that second person. In Japanese…" The girl that was sitting opposite the aisle to Lucy spoke up for her and made the entire bus, that heard it, chuckle.
"Thank you," Lucy mouthed, but the girl just giggled.
"No problem," she answered loudly, looking just really happy. So weird how some people were just plain rude to strangers and, on the other hand, some were just too kind. But Lucy aspired to be a kind one. Just like the girl…