Lying on the couch and gazing at the ceiling, a sigh escaped their lips.
In her right hand, lying off the side of the couch, she held a burning cigarette, its glowing embers dancing like fireflies between the contrast of the dark background of the room, but dimming soon afterwards, fluttering its ashes down onto the floor where a stacked pile of blunt cigars.
The blunt cigarettes created a veil of hazy smoke. Still, Liu Yingyue breathed it in without a care.
Groaning in annoyance as she turned her head into the cradle of her arm, causing the stained bandages encircling her neck which were already badly wrapped, to come undone, unwrapping itself to fall off the wounds they were covering.
The strips cascaded down her shoulder and fresh gashes were now exposed to the smokey air, and a pungent stench permeated the room, sending a stinking sensation up Liu Yingyue to her head.
She winced as a trickle of metallic warmth coursed down her neck, like liquid rubies caressing her skin, dazed with a hint of blue shimmer. Liu Yingyue buried her head closer into her arm in discomfort as the feeling of the blood traced her neck and the tendrils of smoke coiled around her like a ghostly shroud, blending with the crimson and sapphire rivulets on her neck.
Instinct told her to get up and tend to the wounds, which she should do or the wounds would get infected, but she couldn't muster the energy to.
Only for her ringtone to break the silence.
Ringgg…Warning!!! Nagging Qingshan Calling! Warning!!! Nagging Qingshan—!
Liu Yingyue slammed her phone screen on the small table beside the couch, the distance was perfect for her to reach and close the awful ringtone snapping her senses back to reality.
"Liu Yingyue!" A high pitched yell boomed from the other line.
"What the..."
Liu Yingyue's body shrieked in reaction to the noise, and hearing that wake up call was akin to a shower of needles thrown onto her skin, but it did the trick. She fumbled for the phone on the table, missing it a few times before finally finding it, only to be met with another yell from the other end.
"Get your ass up, you have a new mission from Sir Mo."
"Ugh…give me a second, Qingshan," Liu Yingyue groggily rubbed her eyes and muttered into the phone. "Talk."
"You should be expecting someone at your door with the files soon." The sound of keys tapping on a computer and papers flipping echoed through the line with Song Qingshan's voice. "Don't shoot them, we don't want to keep replacing your messenger every time we deliver files to you."
Liu Yingyue rolled her eyes back, absently twirling strands of hair between her fingers. "Just, I dunno know, send them online? Aren't you guys supposed to be smart and all."
Song Qingshan sighed, "Did you forget what happened the last time we did that?"
"...what happened?"
"God, you forgot…of course you did, whatever. Just don't kill the guy," he almost sounded desperate.
"No promises," she whistled lazily.
Song Qingshan let out a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If you do, don't. I don't want another stack of paperwork because you felt like shooting the messenger, again." Song Qingshan's gaze fell on the mountain of paper stacks cluttering his desk, the overwhelming majority of them - probably all of them - was because of Liu Yingyue.
"Mhm… I'll think about it."
"Forget it. Liu Yingyue, do your job properly...please. For the sake of my mental health."
"Lots of love," Liu Yingyue chirped, brushing over Song Qingshan's previous statement. She knew that Song Qingshan wasn't joking when he said he'd go mental with any more problems brought to him, but that didn't mean she'd let that stop her from having a little fun with this mission.
Another irritated groan escaped from Song Qingshan's side of the phone. "Goodbye…"
"Well I'll hear from you tonight."
Song Qingshan went to press the red end call button, but he hesitated, before deciding to say a few more words. "Don't die before then."
The burning cigarette that was held between two fingers suddenly slipped out, falling down onto the pile of ash. Liu Yingyue's body seemed to pause for a moment, before she said back with a chuckle, "Ah, you know me too well, Qingqing. But don't worry about that, 'm not dying, at least not tonight." And the beep of the call being ended ringed through her ear.
The corners of her lips rose, before a burst of laughter echoed through the dark apartment.
Liu Yingyue pushed strands of her hair back, before sitting upright on the couch. Her hair devilish in style and expression twisted with a grin plastered on her face. She threw her left leg over her other and leaned back comfortably into the couch.
Watching the outside from the glass window before her, acting like a barrier - more so a cage. Liu Yingyue was to be forever separated from truly being with this world.
She's an observer stuck behind walls that confined her fate, making her the observer of this hideous world. But the beauty that lingered couldn't be ignored. The midnight sky, clearer than day with the stars decorating this blank canvas and the glowing moon acting as the center stage
The city lights scattered across the room, they mirrored her own eyes, reminiscent of fireworks illuminating the night sky. Each flicker of color brightened her usually dulled eyes, infusing them with a sparkle of life and intrigue.
Liu Yingyue lowered her head so that the locks of her hair would fall before her, looking down blankly at the pile of cigarettes that were still creating smoke tendrils. She reached out for a box placed on the side table where her phone was and Liu Yingyue slipped out a cigarette.
Placing it between her lips and pulling out a lighter in her pocket, she flicked the flecks of fire to light up the end of the cigarette.
"Back to work…haaa, how fun."