August 11, 2021.
I met Lily back when I first entered the university after the education that the orphanage provided.
Maybe I won't get beaten up here?
...
I did get beaten up here too.
And Lily found out that I've been working as an agent on the sidelines. It felt nice to have someone care about my safety. I felt a little less lonely than usual.
I shouldn't get used to it.
Nothing is permanent.
Especially happiness.
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She knocked on the door, and a blonde-haired girl appeared in the frame, her soft black orbs narrowing at seeing a stranger outside her house.
"Um, who are you?" she asked the girl, who somehow seemed similar to her best friend. "Do you need help? Are you injured?"
Haven internally chuckled. Of course, Lily remained the same as she ever was. Too innocent for her own good, too trusting, yet unbearably frightening to people who abused others or her friends. Luckily, she was her friend instead of her foe.
"Do you know who Haven Chen is?"
"My best friend." her eyes brightened up like the stars in the sky.
She smiled. "I'm Haven Chen. Now Haven Lee. Reincarnated like the stories you read on those apps."
She had been careful in disclosing the truth to Gavin but Lily was someone who needed only a little proof to believe something. It was something Haven admired in her, knowing that she couldn't ever be able to do it.
Lily gazed at her thoughtfully. "That could be possible since Gavin did message me not to worry and said that Haven was still alive. Do you have some proof that could make me believe you more?" her voice was tiny, quiet but Haven had seen her fiery rage directed at some people of the orphanage who they both had encountered once.
"How about this?" she dangled a beautiful bracelet in front of her now wide eyes. "Or the fact that you're amazing at cooking and mostly feed me when I came to visit you on the weekends—"
Her words were abruptly cut off as Lily jumped on her, wrapping her arms around her neck tightly. Haven smiled, patting her back as she soon heard sobs echo near her ear.
The door closed behind them and while Lily was busy composing herself back to normal, Haven surveyed the familiar surroundings with a faraway look in her eyes. Even in this house, she didn't feel like she belonged.
Even before her parents died, she couldn't call that house a home.
She couldn't call her apartment home.
She couldn't name his base her home.
In short, she was homeless.
"..."
'Since when did I start insulting myself... by myself!?'
"Tell me everything that happened from the last moment you left my house till now." the serious glimmer in her friend's eyes made her breathe out in defeat. The cookies in front of her didn't stop the drool from forming on the corners of her lips.
Bribery with food, how clever.
When she reached the part where she first met Zei, Lily almost shot up from her seat at her words. "The very man who killed aunt and uncle? Ave, that's dangerous—"
"About that." Haven glanced down at the pale white carpet under her feet. "I need to delve a little deeper into my parent's death. Wei doesn't seem like the character I've been taught to hate all these years. I need 100% confirmation that it was him and not anybody else."
She wished it wasn't anybody else.
Because if it was, then the guilt of targeting the wrong person would almost suffocate her to death.
The thought of wasting 7 years chasing the wrong man made her entire body shudder.
"Be safe okay? Don't take any unnecessary risks. Also what about university? You still need to complete your education, do you have any idea how important that is?" with both hands on her waist, Haven groaned out at the sudden lecture she was receiving. The cookies suddenly didn't seem worth the trouble of getting scolded.
"Yeah, yeah, Mom." she grabbed another piece off the plate. "Though Haven Lee is already registered in the same school where we both are currently studying. She's more similar to me than I realized at first."
"Then without any delay, it's best to go visit and study for the upcoming exams, no?" Lily smiled wide at the horrifying expression on her friend's face at the mention of the tests. How many tests was she supposed to take?! First, that bastard was after her, then fucking CIA, and now this?
They all sure are testing my patience...
Lily's family was not considered middle-class as Gavin's was. Her friend instantly refused to ride on the back of her bike, naming it 'heavily dangerous' and 'deadly.' The only remaining option was the bus which soon arrived at the nearest bus stop close to the house.
Presuming from her past memories, Haven Lee had been bullied quite often. Haven didn't need to observe her past to know how it felt to be humiliated and beaten in public. It had happened with her back in the orphanage and at college too before she learned how to fight and managed to defend herself.
This time, if she appeared too strong, it would be suspicious. Getting beaten up was not on her agenda so the best she could do was avoid the girls who were after her. If she still somehow bumped into them, then getting a few pushes was something she had to compromise on.
Getting slapped or beaten up into a pulp? That wasn't going to happen. Not again.
Jumping out of the bus with a mixture of anticipation and dread, she couldn't help but cast her gaze upward, her eyes fixated on the colossal building that stood before her. Inhaling deeply, she let out a long, slow exhale, feeling a sense of exhilaration and nervousness course through her veins as she prepared herself for the horrors that awaited her within those towering walls.
.
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New character introduced: Lily Qian!
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Happy reading >.<