Chapter 2: Ex
"I'm not joking. How could you go without me?" Peter asked her, calling. His voice was too serious for Lucy's taste. Especially when he was the cause of this mess.
"Because you told me you are busy and I shouldn't bother you with something like that again…" she answered, looking at the brochure she was holding in her hands.
They were ready with Lili for their ladies' party in a foreign country. It was a long time since Lucy was in Hong Kong, so her Cantonese was a bit rusty and her knowledge of the town was limited to maps. But together they would manage. As always.
And they did, up until the point when Lucy came to find twenty missed calls and a hoard of angry messages from her current boyfriend. Who, by the way, wasn't her choice at all.
"But I never said you can go without me!" he shouted into the phone. Lucy even had to pull it away so her ear won't hurt. Even Lili raised her brows how loud it was.
"Well, sorry, but you didn't say that before. But if you expect me to sit on my ass and only work, then you are totally delusional. I haven't studied so many languages just to look at papers and a computer all day long." Lili was nodding in agreement. Lucy chuckled. Even though Lili had no idea what was going on, she always supported Lucy when needed.
"You shouldn't be going around traveling alone!" Well, Lucy had to give him a point that made sense.
"I'm not alone, I'm with Lili…" she refuted back, shrugging, even though Peter couldn't see her.
"She is not a good friend! I can't even say her name. She totally changed you, you were more docile before! It's her fault that you want to travel! Immediately come back!" His reasoning was as faulty as his brain. Lucy had to laugh. Mother's favorite or not, she couldn't take it anymore.
"I was never docile, just... you weren't trying to play domineering CEO. Did you fall from a cherry tree on your head? I paid for this trip, a huge sum and you are telling me to go back after two days? Are you mental?" Lili clicked her tongue at Lucy and rolled her eyes. With their friendship, Lucy understood and grinned at her, mouthing sorry.
As a child of her family, she was used to getting what she wanted, at least from her father, yet at the bitter price of people using her. So she was used to many types of manipulation, which she usually ignored, not wanting to mess up the careers of her father, a consul. And her lawyer mother, who was as soft and harmless as a porcupine.
But once she staggered out of the reach of their sights, she was rebelling, straightforwardly telling people what she thought about them as she would usually say, not giving a fuck what others thought about her.
"I give you an ultimatum! Either this trip or me! Choose wisely. Come back and you will be staying home for a week as a punishment for you left without me, or you will continue befriending those sorts of people and lose me!" Lucy actually had to bite her lips to not laugh out loud. This was unbelievable.
"That's an easy choice…" he chuckled into the phone. Peter actually thought she would choose him because a satisfied grunting sounded from his side.
"Of course, I chose Lili and Hong Kong. I'm not a doll you can take out only when you need to attend social events and otherwise be confined at home. I guess we are breaking up," Lucy said calmly and just hung up.
"You know you will have problems because of this…" Lili noted, but Lucy shook her head.
"Have you ever seen my mom being really angry at me because of my boyfriends? She is angrier about my weight than her chosen guys. I think she got used to it. But be honest… would you be able to take something like this? He has been calling me every hour and asking me where I'm, with whom, and what I'm doing there. Even when I was at work." Lili hissed at the realization.
"I actually never agreed to you dating him. Don't you remember?" she said once more, and Lucy raised her hands in surrender.
"Yes… pardon me, my Goddess. I wasn't listening to you and I have sinned. Please punish me," Lucy giggled and caught the pillow that was thrown at her.
"Idiot," Lili mumbled and went back to her phone.
"Your Hong Kong man again?" Lucy laughed, asking, thinking that now she had to evade an even more fiercely thrown pillow. But Lili actually stopped and blushed.
"I don't know what's going on. But the way he smiled… It just stuck with me." Lucy whistled. Lili was different from her. Her dating experiences were almost non-existent. Thanks to some jerks she met in the past.
On the other hand, Lucy knew she was pretty. She knew that her family was rich. And in all honesty, most of the guys she dated were just trying to climb the social ladder, using her as the steppingstone.
"What if we take it easy today and just go to the Hong Kong park? Maybe you will get inspiration there. You can take the bag with ya," Lucy suggested, and Lili's complexion immediately lit up. She nodded and grabbed her bag with all the things she needed. It was set then.
It was quite a way from their hotel to the park. But Lucy noticed there were waterfalls and flamingos there. Something that might have helped Lili with her art block.
They found a really nice place to sit and observe nature around. Lili immediately took out her sketchbook and stared at the blank paper.
Lucy knew that it was better than before. Usually, Lili wouldn't even take out her pencils. But because she knew now, it was the time to let her be. Lucy got up.
"I'm going to get us some coffee. What do you want? As usual?" Lili nodded absent-mindedly and placed the pencil on the paper.
Without a word, Lucy took off, leaving Lili to her drawing. Maybe if she had some sugar in her bloodstream, she would resolve her ex more graciously. Well, too late...
Chapter 3: Haku
Many thought that going to Starbucks when you are in a foreign country was unnecessary. Try something that's domestic. But Lucy knew that even KFC had a totally different menu in almost every country. And she wasn't wrong when she entered the café and saw a totally unfamiliar special.
Lucy was sure that it was okay to leave Lili alone in the park. When she waited in line, she decided to first have one coffee here for herself.
As she was approaching the counter, she saw the barista behind it had a little panic attack. Looking around, she was probably looking for someone who spoke English.
"It's okay. I can speak Cantonese," Lucy said in that language and smiled at the barista, who loudly breathed out in relief.
"I'm sorry. You look like a foreigner," she answered, and Lucy chuckled.
"I'm…" She laughed at the confused face of the little girl, but stated her order, ignoring most of the stares that were sent her way.
Her teacher always praised her accents. In every language, as soon as she heard the original speaker, she could adapt. And because Lucy was already a few days in Hong Kong. Her Cantonese was imitating native speakers with only some minor mistakes.
She grabbed the iced coffee with her name on it and sat at the table that had just been freed. Lucy took out her phone and checked whether or not someone wrote to her. But the latter was the truth. No one spoke to her.
She had very few friends. Actually, Lucy had a lot of acquaintances. Thanks to her parents. But none of them were her friends. No one except Lili.
"Have you heard the new single? It's pretty awesome. I think it will be SOTY…" Lucy's thoughts were interrupted by a louder speech from the table next to her. She had no idea what SOTY meant, but what caught her attention was the photo on the screen of the girl.
"That's Haku's concept photo. I'm all for him in the flames. It's so beautiful..." Haku? Lucy's breath got caught inside her body when she saw the picture.
Haku…
"I'm sorry. Can I ask, who are you talking about?" Lucy couldn't take it anymore, she interrupted those two. It startled them a bit, but they looked happy to share the song with her.
"It's a Korean idol group, GoCHU. This is Haku, their main dancer. They just posted a preview for their new song," she explained, and Lucy nodded. Thanking them. And immediately she looked up at the group they were talking about.
He was so handsome. But so familiar at the same time. And Lucy knew exactly why he was so familiar. He was just too similar to Haru.
"Korean?" she asked, confused. Once more, the girl was happy to provide information.
"The group is but Haku is Japanese," she shared and showed more pictures to Lili. Somewhere he was with six other members. Sometimes he posed alone. All the time, his facial features were too familiar to her.
She thanked the girl and sat back in her chair.
Lucy bit her lips to hold back tears and drink her coffee to occupy her body with something different. And the more she looked into Haku, the sadder she was.
With an unfinished drink in her hand, she went to the counter and ordered one more for Lili. While waiting for the order, she put on the wireless headphones and turned on the song the girls next to her talked about.
Without seeing the video, she liked it a lot. The lyrics were meaningful. It touched her heart and actually made it even harder to hold back her tears.
Finally, when she got Lili her drink, Lucy was on the way back to her. When her watch showed her message from Lili. And when Lucy saw it, he swore pretty loudly.
Did she leave? She just left with someone like that? Lucy never knew her best friend was worse than a kid. Heck, even little kids knew they should never follow a stranger!
Lucy ran to the car they rented and forgot all about her, almost crying just a moment ago. It actually took her a while, because finding a parking spot was as easy as getting on the moon. When she sat down and put the coffee in the cup holders, she quickly dialed Lili's number.
"Where the fuck are you?" she shouted, not minding her language. She actually shouted it in English, because of how distressed she was.
"Mm. Czech," Lili said in their native language. Lucy calmed down because Lili could obviously take a call, so she was in no danger. The following words were all said in the Czech language.
"Okay, where are you? Somewhere where they know English?" Lucy asked, half laughing because the initial panic was nowhere to be found.
"Mmm. Dragon's gaming house. You've finished your shopping?" Lili whispered. As if it was shopping, she mainly left because Lili was too into her drawing and did not care about the outside world at all.
"Sure," she said sarcastically, looking at the two coffees on the side.
"Hey, I'm gonna pick you up. Go outside of the compound and wait for me," Lucy said and started the car already.
"Okay," Lili answered. Lucy was actually in a better mood, maybe because of the sugar from the coffee, or maybe because she knew Lili was safe, but her sense of humor was finally there again.
"So, if you are there, even if I don't know why, should I assume that you have touched more of that guy, right?" she teased Lili. Normally, no guy would get under Lili's skin. But something was different about this man.
Maybe it was because he was handsome and rich, but Lili saw many like that before. Yet, they never managed to charm her.
Mainly because of her low self-confidence, which was something they had in common other than hobbies, and the hurtful break-up he went through before. So now, when she finally got interested in someone, Lucy was ready to tease her nun friend about it.
"Shut up, you little demon!" Lili shouted and hung up, only to make Lucy laugh even more.
Her way into the compound was actually peaceful. Even though she would swear and shout at the drivers in Czechia, now her thoughts were not completely occupied by the driving, so Haku's and Haru's images popped up in her head once more. The uncanny resemblance.
Picking up Lili didn't help much. Yes, she joked on the outside, but on the inside, she was perplexed.
"Do you know the k-pop group GoCHU?" she asked once they were back in the hotel. Lili came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel, and nodded.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone You may also Like
Paragraph comment