"Is it worth it?" Mei Li asked."I... Don"t know," Ryn choked out.
They were on their way to her new home after half an hour spent coaxing Mrs Long to let her go. Of course, she also had to ignore the sad puppy look coming from Jeremy. It made her felt as if she did something wrong, like abandoning him cruelly at his parents" house while she went to another guy. It made her felt like the bad guy.
Ryn looked down on her laps. Her hands were still shaking. She clutched them, trying to stop the s.h.i.+ver.
She was doing the right thing, she told herself for the millions times. This was the best for all of them. This was the best for her.
She needed this to be free from all the chains and lived the life that she should live in.
Mei Li did not comment. She let Ryn thinking over this silently. Although she did want to help Jeremy reunite with Ryn, the person she should be focused on was Ryn. If she found Ryn not happy and unwilling to be with Jeremy, she should not force her. This was Ryn"s own life and she should be the one in charge of her own life, not someone else.
"We"re here. Are you sure you don"t want me to accompany you today?" Mei Li asked once she stopped the car in front of the apartment.
"No need. Thanks for helping me and sending me here," Ryn said as she took her bags.
Ryn lifted up her head and looked at the building. Today her new life would begin.
"This is it."
She grabbed all the bags and walked slowly into the building. She did not notice the black car stopping at the gate and two windows lowered down revealing Mrs Long and Jeremy.
"This is where she is going to live?" Mrs Long asked nervously.
She saw how old the building was. Even the security guards were old. Would they be able to guard her precious Catherine?
"I"ll buy the building," Jeremy said shortly and took out his phone.
"You do that. Install more cameras especially in front of her home and the places she would use," Mrs Long ordered her son.
"I"ll do that, mother," Jeremy replied. Even without his mother"s instruction, he would do just that.
Once Mrs Long was done instructing her son and heard for herself that the owner would meet her son this evening, she told the driver to drive the car away.
She still needed to make nutritious soup for her baby daughter, Mika. It would take several hours to cook it and she needed to start cooking it right away.
Ryn, on the other hand, walked slowly toward her new home, holding all her belongings. She stopped in front of the gate and sighed. Once she opened the gate, the door and entered the house, her new life would officially begin.
And she felt a bit worried about it, honestly.
Would she get used back to be alone in the house?
She finally entered the house and dropped the bags in the living room. She quickly locked both the gate and the door. Then, she dropped herself on the couch, feeling weary.
This was just the beginning but she was already this exhausted.
And she knew all this weariness came from her own mind. She was still trying to believe that she was truly alone now. No one would knock on the door and announce the breakfast or dinner are ready. No one would ask her how she would feel or whether she would like to have some dessert or something. Or to tell her her clothes were done pressing and folded.
She was truly alone now.
She closed her eyes and just sat there doing nothing. She just wanted to enjoy the feeling of being truly alone.
Several hours later she woke up. She looked left and right in puzzled before she remembered where she was and why she was there. She shook her head and stood up, only to groan a bit. Her body was all stiffed from sleeping in the sitting position.
She must stop doing this!
She made a quick stretch just to ease the stiff. Then, she looked around. This was still a new place for her, a new surrounding. It would take some time to get used to this but she has no doubt she would take the quickest time to do just that.
Instead of taking both bags into the bedroom and arrange them, she walked slowly into the small kitchen. It was getting late and she was hungry. She needed the fuel for her energy before she could do anything.
"And I still need to visit Mika or she will be worried," she murmured to herself.
Her hand pulled the refrigerator"s door and looked inside. Luckily Mei Li bought some food yesterday. Ryn could not help from sighing in relief seeing a package of beef steak. Although one steak was not enough to fill her stomach but it would be enough to keep her by before she could eat on the way to the hospital.
Yes... should be...
Whom was she kidding to? One steak was not enough to even fill between her teeth!
So frustrating!
She almost cried at the thought of her poor stomach.
She spent about five minutes crying over it before she forced herself to start moving. Stop crying over something that she could not do anything about it, she told herself. Just cook whatever she could find for now so she could start working on tidying up the bags she brought from the mansion.
After consuming the steak as slowly as she could to keep the steak as long as she could, she washed the dishes and the pan she used before she went to retrieve the bags and headed to the bedroom.
"Time to work now, Ryn," she told herself.
She cracked her neck and her hands before started to move. She needed to finish this one before she could go out. Mika was waiting for her and she did not want her best friend to be worried.
Of course, today would be the day she would break the news to Mika. She had no doubt the Longs would tell Mika about her moving into a new house. And she should be there today to explain why she made that decision.
It would be chaotic. It would be bad. But she had to do it whether she liked it or not. There was no reason to postpone what she knew would happen. Mika would be hurt. Mika would cry and ask why. And it would be hard to make her understand especially in her current condition right now. But Mika was not Ryn and she had to accept that Ryn has her own life too.
Once she was done with everything, she quickly changed into another pair of clothes and checked her backpack. She did not want to forget bringing anything important especially money. Being in a new place, she sometimes has the habit of forgetting where she put her things. Especially when she had so many things in her mind.
Maybe it was her traumatic experience but when the Grab she called arrived, she double-checked the driver, the car plate number and everything related to the car and even posted a copy of it to Mei Li.
She was worried and scared but she did not want to always use Mei Li to move around. Mei Li has her own life. She was not the only model under Mei Li.
Maybe she needed to learn how to drive so she would not interrupt others with their own life just to bring her to places. She did not want to disturb others anymore.
"Well, I"ll just look for it next week," she murmured to herself.
"Yes?" the driver asked, thinking she was talking with him.
"No. Nothing. You can go now," she quickly smiled and gestured him to drive. She sighed a bit when he focussed on his driving now. Phew...
Instead of closing her eyes like she used to when in the car, this time she kept her eyes opened. The experience that day made her wary of everything now. Even if the driver was using another lane, she quickly asked and told him rather seriously to use the way she was used to. When she heard him grumble, she just told him to do what she said and she would add another hundred for it.
It finally stopped his grumble and he just followed her instruction. Hey, who would be so stupid to say no to an extra hundred?
She kept quiet now and watched over carefully. Her hands were white clutching to her bag. She did not even realize it but her face was paled the whole way. Once they reached the hospital, she quickly paid the fare, including the one hundred she promised.
Then, clutching the bag close to her, she walked toward the small flower shop just at the entrance of the hospital. She chose Mika"s favourite flowers and this time she added a small teddy bear just to cheer Mika up.
Maybe she should buy makeup for Mika next time. Mika loved makeup so much. Hmm...
"Stop being distracted, Ryn. What"s wrong with you lately?" she groaned to herself. Lately, she kept being distracted even when she was talking with someone. She needed to change this behaviour before it turned into a habit!
"Miss, your flowers," the florist handed the bouquet to her. Ryn smiled and paid the price. Maybe because of the teddy bear, the bouquet was a bit bigger than yesterday.
With the bouquet in her hand, Ryn walked toward the elevator. This time around, she felt something weird. Why were people looking at her and even whispering to each other? Had she worn her clothes inside-out? She frowned.