"You"re fired""W-what?" AnLing said, starring wide-eyed at her fifty-year-old landlady and boss.
"Don"t what me. I know you heard me properly so I won"t repeat myself." The woman sighed and then said, "You have a week to move out." before she turned around.
AnLing was frozen for a moment. She couldn"t believe what she had just heard.
She had been working and living at the bar for more than a month now. She was so used to the place that it had really become her second home.
When she was looking for a job the landlady was the first person to give her a chance and AnLing would forever be grateful to her but something didn"t feel right.
"Wait, wait, wait!" AnLing screamed as she chased after her.
She put herself between the landlady and her destination. "Why am I fired? I need this job. I need this place."
The woman looked at AnLing in the eyes, she was void of emotion while AnLing seemed to be one sentence away from crying. The woman clicked her tongue, her eyes scanning AnLing"s whole body disdainfully, the light pink dress catching her eye, before she began to speak.
"I told you yesterday; come early. But now, look at what time it is. When you were hired I told you that I was strict. I was fine with you missing work yesterday but not today. I"ve already found your replacement, but I hope you can finish your shift today and leave peacefully." The landlady walked towards AnLing and put her hand on her shoulder gently, but to AnLing it felt like a slap.
Seeing the girls defeated expression, the landlady frowned.
Landlady: "I"m sorry but this is how life works. I hope that you"ll be a little more hardworking at your next job."
She scanned over AnLing"s body once more.
"I bet you"ll be fine though." She said before turning around.
No words came out of AnLing"s mouth. All she could do was watch as the Landlady walked away.
AnLing was used to things not going exceptionally well in life but for these past few days, things had been going horribly. So horribly, in fact, that she began to wonder if she was cursed.
She had even lost her phone but she barely had time to think about that.
AnLing spent the majority of the week searching for a new place but when Friday came along she still hadn"t found anything satisfactory. It was either that the rent was too high or they just didn"t fit her standards.
What AnLing wanted was simple.
She wanted a place that was clean, safe and had good understanding people so that she would be free to come and go, but also she hoped for the people to be fine with noise so she could freely compose music.
Back in the loft above the bar, AnLing was free to do as she pleased. The Landlady was half deaf also, so she couldn"t care less about how much noise AnLing made.
Working at the bar was a G.o.dsend.
AnLing was able to live there for free too because rent was cut out of her pay and she was free to do whatever she wanted because the owner did the same.
AnLight knew she would never be able to find a place like this again in her lifetime. Not to mention that she probably wouldn"t be able to find a job that paid as well either.
At the moment, AnLing was pretty short on cash.
The job as an a.s.sistant was good and stable but not well paying while her online job as a translator was well paying but the jobs were few and far between.
AnLing needed something stable and that paid well…
When she had first gotten fired, AnLing considered going back abroad but the consequences of doing so were much bigger than if she stayed. She could clearly imagine Grandma Lu cutting ties with her, but also, she would be going against her words, which would have dealt heavy damage on her trustability.
At that point in time, it was all she had left.
Though she always had the chance to go and live in the Lu Household, AnLing left it as a last minute resort. Unless someone stole all her belongings she would not go anywhere near the Lu"s.
Or maybe over her dead body…
Even if she was so adamant about it, however, she knew that today was her last chance to find a place.
Straight out of work, AnLing went to the bar to pick up her luggage. She didn"t have many things to pick up. The loft had been fully furnished when she moved in so the only things she owned where all the things she had brought with her in her small luggage and a few female hygiene products.
AnLing packed her bags.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the pink dress Mingyu"s guardian had given her.
AnLing walked towards it and looked at both it and the heels.
"Maybe I should sell them?"
She picked them up and examined them. They were so beautiful… They would surely be worth a pretty penny but AnLing couldn"t bring herself to do it. She simply folded the dress with as much care as she could and then put it in her luggage, along with the heels.
At that moment, AnLing thought of something. She quickly ran to her drawer and grabbed the Hotel Helios room card.
She had been so caught up in her own drama that week that she had completely forgotten about returning the card.
That night, AnLing packed her things, said her goodbyes to her coworkers and headed to Hotel Helios.
Meanwhile, Kang Jun was disappointed. He sat at his desk looking at doc.u.ments halfheartedly.
Glancing at the clock on the wall he sighed.
It was 9:30 pm.
Time had been pa.s.sing way too slowly for Kang Jun.
It had been a week since the incident and yet AnLing hadn"t come by Hotel Helios. By his calculations, she should have gone looking for her phone, at the max, two or three days after figuring out she had lost it but it wasn"t the case. The girl had exceeded his expectations. This annoyed him to an inexplicable extent.
Had she not noticed yet? He wondered.
Impossible…
Then what was keeping her?
A part of Kang Jun blamed himself because he had given himself a one month margin for error.
Maybe that had jinxed himself?
He didn"t think he could wait another week, let alone a month, to see her again.
Ever since they met, his mind was filled with thoughts of her. The first and second times, their meeting was abrupt and he hadn"t known her name, but their third meeting was different…
AnLing was a strange girl, she had demonstrated this upon their second meeting and because of that, she brought a bit of amus.e.m.e.nt and spontaneity to his life.
And not the dangerous kind either. It was the type that you looked forward to; like when you receive presents on your birthday.
Kang Jun could only imagine how life would be like if she was always by his side…
The thought made warmth grow in his chest. It reminded him of the feeling of the summer sun on bare skin. The feeling grew from his chest and expanded throughout his body.
A smile crept upon his lips.
He was glad the office was empty. If someone saw him like that he wouldn"t know how to explain. He was so used to being stone-faced that he
Some would call it love at first sight but he wasn"t sure if that was the right term.
Was he was interested in her? Yes. Did he want to see her? Yes. Did he want to be close to her? Of course.
But was that what love was?
He wasn"t quite sure.
Many people around him spoke about love like it was magic. Like it was better than strength, power, and money combined but he had seldom met a person who could truly sacrifice everything and anything for love.
Even he wasn"t even sure if he could do that.
If what he felt for the girl was true love then he would just wait and see but first things first, he needed to make her his.
Suddenly, a ringing echoed in his office, cutting the silence like a knife. Without giving the phone a chance to ring twice, Kang Jun had already answered.
Kang Jun: "Mmm."
"Sir, Miss Lu has arrived."
"I"ll be there. You know what to do." Kang Jun hung up.
A c.o.c.ky smile appeared on his lips. He pushed himself up from his desk, turned off his computer and then fixed his suit. Kang Jun grabbed a few doc.u.ments and put it in his bag as he prepared to leave, but before he could walk out the door, his phone rang again.
He picked up the phone without looking at the caller ID.
He didn"t say a word and allowed the person who called him to speak first.
"Come home."
Kang Jun frowned.