…
That evening as Annie walked into the H District Apartment Building, everyone who walked past her could tell the girl was in a good mood.
Her usual calm face held a subtle smile and a few people that walked past her couldn’t help but marvel at the girl’s beauty.
Mrs. Huang, who had just come out of her apartment, couldn’t shut up about it. Her eyes squinted and she asked, “Ms. Lin, what’s the good occasion? You appear to be in a happy mood.”
“Good evening, Mrs. Huang.” Annie laughed softly. “I got a promotion at work.”
“That’s great. That’s great.” Mrs. Huang forced a smile. “Aren’t you the luckiest girl on earth? I am sure Ms. Lin is especially blessed by the heavens.”
“By the way, don’t forget to invite me in case you want to celebrate. Definitely, Ms. Lin will have a lot of money these days. I hope you will treat me well.”
Mrs. Huang added before quickly walking away. It was as if the woman was in a hurry.
Annie shook her head. With a small smile still on her face, she turned around and unlocked her apartment.
Walking into the living room, she headed into the kitchen and took a bottle of juice out of the fridge. After pouring herself a glass, she slowly sipped at it, her eyes glancing now and then at her wristwatch.
Finally, she put the glass cup away and went into the bedroom.
Annie took her time inside the bathroom, washing away the exhaustion of the day. She came out to find the bedroom empty and a small frown formed on her face.
When she was done changing into her night clothes, the girl sat on the bed and brought out her phone, her smile returning.
“Ma.”
From a single word, Mrs. Lin could tell her daughter was happy.
“What is the good news, Annie? Have you finally found me a son-in-law?”
Annie chuckled and shook her head. “That’s not it, Ma. I got a promotion at work today. I wanted to share it with you.”
“Huh? A Promotion?” Mrs. Lin was confused. “Didn’t you get a promotion before?”
Mrs. Lin could remember that some months ago, her daughter was promoted to be the assistant of that boy. Did she get another promotion?
“You’re right, Ma. I just got another promotion. To a higher position.” As if hearing the woman’s thoughts, Annie cleared her misunderstanding.
“Really!” Mrs. Lin’s confusion was instantly replaced by happiness and she exclaimed. “That is great news, Annie. Thank goodness, Dear. You are very hardworking, and you deserve everything good. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Ma.” Annie nodded.
“I can’t wait to share the good news with the neighbors. You make this family proud, Annie. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Ma, It’s nothing-“
“In fact, come down to X District during the weekend. We have to celebrate it. I should treat everyone to a great meal, Dear.”
As Mrs. Lin spoke on, Annie’s eyes strayed to the clock. So when Mrs. Lin asked her next question, she was distracted and didn’t answer on time.
“Annie.” Mrs. Lin grabbed her attention. “I said which position were you promoted to?”
“I will be working among the CEO’s secretaries from now on,” Annie explained.
“That’s great!” Mrs. Lin’s exclamation was louder than before. She rained more praises on the girl and added, “How I wish Dylan could be as ambitious as you. I can feel that boy is playing with his studies, Annie.”
“Have you interrogated Little Chen?” Annie asked.
“That brat is avoiding me.” The woman sounded irritated. “You’re right, Annie, they’re hiding something from us. Fortunately, Dylan returned. So I’ll make sure he spells the truth out. I have asked some older guys in the neighborhood to keep an eye on him also. If they see him sneaking away, I gave them permission to beat him up.”
“Ma, that’s a good idea. But telling them to beat him up-“
“Don’t worry, they won’t have the chance to. I told them that in front of Dylan so he could behave himself. He’s being obedient nowadays, you know. It doesn’t mean I won’t interrogate him, though.”
“Let’s take it easy with him. If Dylan has something to say, we must coax the words out of him.”
“On the other hand, we can also force the words out of him. Dylan promised me that he’ll never leave home anymore. I hope he isn’t lying.”
After listening to her mother talk for a while, they finally bid goodnight and Annie hung up.
She left the bedroom and headed towards the kitchen. Her eyes settled on the couch in the living room, thinking she would see the man’s figure. Well, he hadn’t returned yet. And she wondered if he was even going to return.
Due to her good mood, she didn’t feel that hungry. And she decided to bake a cake after cooking up a fast meal.
Hours passed by before she was finally done. And she carefully stored the cake in the fridge after taking a slice.
It was midnight by now. Somehow, she didn’t have the urge to sleep. As she sat in the living room, her eyes fixed on the TV, she looked at the wall clock every once in a while.
As if prompted by some instincts, she picked up her phone and stared at her contacts list. Her fingers hovered above the screen before she decided to scroll down.
Stopping at the contact’s name, she contemplated pressing the message button or the dial button for some time.
Annie finally made up her mind and decided to give him a call. It hadn’t started ringing, though, when an electronic voice came from the other end.
The line was busy.
She tapped on the message button and texted him.
[Mr. Lim, I will lock my apartment. If you don’t come back now, please don’t in the middle of the night. Lest you disturb the neighbors.]
Instead of a text reply, Annie’s phone rang and she answered it.
“Should I take that as a warning or a plea? You seem desperate for me to be back.” His voice was supposed to come from the other end, but Annie could hear the same sound outside the living room.