Lake City
A petite young lady looked through the glass window of her new penthouse apartment, which overlooked the lake that sparkled in the setting sun. She raised her hand and tapped the panel lightly using her index finger with annoyance in her eyes.
She turned away after a moment, feeling caged and restricted.
With a sigh, she looked back to the rest of the room.
It was large, but it did not have the freedom of Nirvana Village. She sighed again with weariness as she walked to the coffee table and looked at the decanter of whisky. A mischievous smile appeared on her face.
Perhaps, she could try some to lighten up her mood and forget about her discomfort. She had never tasted alcohol before because she was always under careful watch or in delicate situations that did not allow carelessness.
With her newfound freedom, she could live a different type of life and be a little wild.
She smiled with anticipation as she raised the decanter and poured a little bit of whiskey into a crystal glass.
Just as she was about to take a sip, her phone rang. She guiltily put down the glass and picked her phone from the couch where she had casually tossed it. As expected, she could not do anything bad without being caught immediately.
"Grandma!" She called out sweetly.
"You child! I know you were doing something naughty." The old woman sounded exasperated.
"What could I be doing?" The girl denied it immediately. "I have just arrived in Lake City. I am just enjoying the new apartment. I really must praise the interior designer and the housekeeper. They thought of everything."
"You used to sound like this every time you snuck a drumstick from the pot when you were a child." The old woman laughed as she remembered how naughty the girl was.
"I am now an elegant lady. What could I do apart from dazzling the world with my beauty and talent?" She giggled.
The old woman snorted before she suddenly fell silent. Indeed, her child was dazzling, and she was filled with worry, to the point it was palpable through the telephone line. If she had a choice, she would never have let the young girl leave Nirvana village.
But there was no choice.
It involved her long-term health and safety.
"Listen to me carefully, my dear Leila. You are barely an adult, even though you are now twenty. You do not know how cruel the world is. So, you must be careful out there." The grandma repeated something she said quite often.
"I know, Grandma. I will never do anything to put myself in danger. I have to live long and take care of you and Grandpa." Leila responded patiently.
"I am serious, Leila. You must never show your true self, even if you think you can trust a person. Greed will always grow in the hearts of even the purest people." The old woman nagged again.
"I know, Grandma." Leila agreed.
There was some commotion at the other end of the line before another person took over the phone.
"Leila, I know your grandma is nagging you a lot, but she is just worried about you. Our old bones cannot take care of you anymore." The old man accused his wife of nagging, but wasn't he doing the same?
"The two of you are only in your sixties! You are acting like you are close to the grave. You run so fast every day with more energy than hummingbirds! I do not want to hear these words again!" Leila rebuked the two of them with a pouting voice.
"Alright, alright. We will live long and become your burden." The grandpa laughed before pausing. "We have talked to your uncle and auntie. They are expecting you tomorrow. Leila, be cautious of them as you investigate your matter."
Leila became solemn.
The auntie and uncle that her grandpa mentioned were the biological children of the two old people. She was only their adopted grandchild, yet they warned her against their family. This matter could not be simple.
"I will be vigilant," Leila said solemnly.
"Take care of yourself, Little Wolf."
Tears sprang into her eyes when she heard the endearment. She could not help the few drops that trickled down her face. She knew that she had abandoned everything she found comfortable and familiar.
"I will call you often and not let you worry." She promised.
After a few more words, the call ended on a good note. Leila felt low as she thought about her life in the village. It was not a typical village, but rather, a retirement area for those who did not wish to engage in the secular world.
For example, her grandparents had long separated themselves from their family and decided to not engage in the politics of the country and general society. They would always say that people would always yearn for what they never had.
For them, they wanted a simple life where they could spend time with each other as a simple couple. As for wealth and power, they had already enjoyed enough of it.
Leila walked to the bathroom to wash her face.
She stood in front of the sink and lowered her head as she released the faucet. When she looked up, the mirror revealed an image different that the one in the glass windows of her apartment.
She lifted her hand and touched the soft dog-like ears emerging through her dark hair. She flicked the ears lightly and they disappeared as if they had never been there. She then splashed water on her face.
Her adoptive grandparents were right.
She needed to be a little more careful.
Hopefully, she would be able to find her biological parents and find her origins before she exposed herself to whoever had discovered her secret. It did not matter if they did not welcome her as long as she understood herself.
It was unfortunate that the only clue she could get was that the daughter of her adoptive grandparents and her husband claimed to have found her abandoned and decided to drop her off in Nirvana Village.
This gesture would have been a sign of kind-heartedness, but her adoptive grandparents did not seem to believe it was the case, especially because the family suddenly became successful and rich after getting rid of baby Leila.
Even though they never said it explicitly, the grandparents believed that there was something strange involved in the entire matter.
At first, Leila did not care about her so-called biological parents, but she had started to lose control of her wolf more and more in the past few months.
Perhaps, it was how someone had found her secret and started asking about her in Nirvana. Moreover, she was afraid that she would hurt her beloved grandparents when she lost control.
So, she had no choice but to begin the journey of discovering her origin story.
And that began with infiltrating the Campbell family in Lake City.
Leila Lawson looked at herself in the mirror with a small smile playing on her lips, and her green eyes flashed in a glowing amber colour.
This journey was bound to be interesting.