7. Lia Chen

6:30 P.M

It was already dark when Lia finished her work. Aside from spending the whole afternoon as a student, she is also an assistant to the owner of the school she attends so that she can able to attend in the prestigious school for free. She dared to study in this international school because he wanted to finish school and get a job and live abroad. In addition, she also took various jobs to save and pay for the apartment she was renting. As a student and assistant in the morning and worker at night, it does not neglect her studies because she is always the top 1 in their class.

Lia walks quietly to the side of an alley because this is the easiest way to reach the location of her workplace. She does not feel any fear while walking because she walks almost every day and she is familiar with the people here.

"How are you Lia?" greeted by an old man selling some delicious snacks on the street.

She smiled at h and approached. "I'm fine, Grandpa. I'm a little late for work. My boss might get angry. I'll get going! Let's talk next time!" the girl responded enthusiastically and waved as a goodbye.

Even though it was dark all around, the children are keep playing on the street, as well as the people who were talking happily. Lia just smiled because she remembered the times when she was young and thought of nothing but playing. She removed anything that was forming in her mind and immediately hurried until she saw what she was working on.

When she reached the place, she immediately went in and went straight to the employees room to change her clothes.

"Why the heck are you late? Our boss will be mad if he know about this." Lia's co-worker said. She would replace her because their work was shifting.

"I'm sorry Yin. I just finished what President asked me to do at school. I'll just spend overtime as a recovery." she sincerely apologizes.

"All right. I'm leaving, huh? I'm going. ." Lia's companion said goodbye and she just nodded to it in response.

Lia adjusted herself and entered the counter because at any time there were customers coming. Lia works in a convenient store. Her working hours are from 6 to 11 p.m. Her salary is not big but enough to pay the rent and eat every day.

From time to time, customers arrive and she calculates various products. Whenever there is no customer to buy, she makes it an opportunity to adjust the rolled product range of consumers. Even if she wants to do her homework and school paper works, she can't because the store has cctv and she can still be scolded and fired by his boss.

Lia's boss is rude but it does not forbid them to use the phone. So even when she is at work, she will called her friend but she only does that when there is no buyer.

While arranging products, she heard her phone ring so she paused for a moment and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Are you at work?" Lia's friend Xing replied.

"Yes why?" Lia replied and sat down on the chair.

"You can ate here cause I cooked. I know you will make and eat noodles as a dinner again."

"Really? However, I will be home at 11 o'clock. You should eat and sleep first." Lia replied.

"All right. Be careful, huh? Bye." her friend response and dropped the call. Lia smiled as she put down the phone and put it back in her pocket.

Xing has been her friend since she was a child. They both live in one room because they can't afford one room each. So they thought of dividing it up and live together. Unlike her, Xing is not working but also a student assistant. It does not work in the store or any work because there is a family that supports the her friend. Unlike Lia who was just alone in life since she was orphaned by her parents.

From the moment she met Xing, she was happy because she knew that she had a friend to lean on and be told of problems she thought she could not face alone.

11:00 P.M

Feeling exhausted and drowsy when Lia closed the store. They made a lot of money this afternoon because there are a lot of people living in this area and they sell the most alcohol. She checked it and immediately walked away from the store. She walked back to where she had been before because her apartment was just near the apartment where they were staying.

Cold breezes and moonlight caress Lia. She likes this feeling because it is a delicious sensation. She felt something good was going to happen. She take a deep breath and smiled before continued her walk.

As she continued walking home to their apartment, she could not help but remember what had happened to her. Whatever she thinks she doesn't imply to herself why this must happen to her even though she did nothing wrong to that man. But she never knew the man was drunk because she could smell his breath as he leaned close to her.

She lost her mind on these things because she knew there were many more opportunities for her to see the young man because they were in the same apartment and they were only one class. Knowing herself that she would also know who this young man was because for her it was mysterious.

She entered the lobby of the apartment and immediately boarded the elevator to the second floor. While waiting to arrive, she felt hungry because he had been eating since this afternoon and he had not even had a snack.

* Ting *

The elevator rang. That's why her mind immediately lit up because she could finally rest. The elevator opened immediately but when she got out, she did not expect to meet the young man. It also looked at her but his looks were emotionless. She tried to smile at him but he ignored her and immediately went inside the elevator. The girl thought maybe she was still mad because of what happened and felt guilty with it. She sighed again and immediately entered their room.

She immediately took off her belongings and took off the blue jacket she was wearing earlier. She hung it on the side hanger of wet clothes because it had rained on it earlier. When she finished, she immediately went to the kitchen to eat. The whole room was quiet so she knew her friend was asleep.

After she ate, she immediately put away the food and put it in the sink planned to wash it tomorrow because she was so tired. Exhausted, she simply cleaned her body and put on a nightgown before going to bed.

"Liaaaaa! Awake! You still have a meeting right??"

The girl woke up because of the force of the bang on her door which was accompanied by a loud shout from her friend. She forced herself to get up even though her bed continued to attract her to lie down again and sleep because she was still very sleepy. She used to any noise that a friend makes because she is talkative and really noisy. She didn't even bother think of buying a new alarm clock because of a friend's shout. She must have woken up immediately.

After fighting drowsiness, she immediately made the bed and went straight to her bathroom to fight the cold water. Even though it was very cold, she still cleaned herself up to be neat and fragrant in front of other people because she was going to a meeting today with the president.

After taking a bath, she immediately put on a clean, well-groomed uniform. She also put on her old necktie and took the bag. She dried her blue and long hair with the use of blower. She let it unfold because she did not know how to style her hair. She does not put any lipstick on her face because she is not comfortable with it. Using cheap perfume sold only at the store where she worked, she sprayed on her neck and even on his wrist to make her fragrant and presentable.

After fixing herself, she went out and glanced at herself in the large mirror and she circled around in front of it.

"You didn't even put on make-up." said the friend behind her.

"The time we've been together. You're still not used to me. You know I don't like it because I'm not comfortable." Lia replied in a low voice.

"Oh well. Let's eat."

She immediately followed the friend to the kitchen so they could eat together. They talked about things like what was happening at school and the arrival of their new classmate.

"Tss. He really made a mess yesterday." Xing's angry response.

"You don't know what happened, Xing. Let's not judge him first." she response.

"So what? It's still not right for him to push Yin. She still a woman." its resounding response while chewing. "Wait.., why are you defending that jerk? He robbed you, didn't he?" she added.

She lowered her spoon and fork for a moment and drank coffee before speaking. "I told you right? He was drunk that days so I'm sure he did not know what he was doing and also I did not side with him. It's just that.. we doesn't saw what happened so we have no right to judge. " she replied.

"Whatever, Lia." her friend surrendered and continued eating again but later on she spoke again. "Yeah, I'm leaving for now, Papa will pick me up, we are going somewhere. You have a meeting, so I don't need to worry about you anymore."

"Is that so? All right. Enjoy." Lia replied smiling but inside she couldn't help but feel sad because she remembered her deceased parents.

After they finished eating, she also said goodbye to her friend because she was going to a meeting. While walking, she could not help but feel sad. so because it was a little early, she thought of going to her parents. She passed by a flower shop and bought a cheap but beautiful flower basket. She bent down and laid the flower in front of them.

"How are you Mom and Dad? Me? I'm fine haha. Don't worry because I'm improving my studies. I also work even at night. Watch over me, huh? I won't.... I can't do it alone. So I hope you guide me. I really miss you Mom and Dad. I hope you are with me so I can hug you and witness my growth. I hope I am with you so that someone can advise me regarding to the problems I will encounter. I love you so much. " the girl said with tears streaming down her soft cheeks.

With the wind blowing, she felt the warm embrace of her parents so that he could feel she was not alone. She looked up at the sky and smiled to show that even alone, she could be happy and strong.