**@Sunny_Shumail, I dedicate this Chapter to you! Thank you for your support and guidance. ❤️🌹**
For the rest of the shift, Amanda’s hawkish gaze remained locked on Cixi, waiting for the slightest slip-up on her part.
If Amanda caught anyone causing trouble or even making a mistake, that person imdiately beca her sole target for the day. She followed them and watched them relentlessly. That was why every employee at Warm Land fought to make as few mistakes as humanly possible, except for the head cook, whom Amanda actively feared.
Lily, on the other hand, spent the afternoon thoroughly enjoying the sight of Cixi walking on thin ice. She was two years older and taller than Cixi. She was brunette and had sharp features.
By five o’clock, the suffocating shift finally ended for Cixi. She and Lily pushed through the cafe’s back doors, stepping out into the cooling evening air.
"So, are you up for clubbing tonight?" Lily asked as soon as they were outside, linking her arm through Cixi’s as they walked down the pavent.
"I told you, I am not interested," Cixi replied, trying to gently untangle her arm. "I like my cosy space in the evening."
But Lily had made up her mind, and no was not an option today. "Listen, dear, my other friend just went through a horrific breakup. She almost killed herself over that cheating bastard."
Cixi’s shoulder stiffened. Any conversation surrounding suicide made her skin crawl.
Unaware of Cixi’s discomfort, Lily continued enthusiastically, "I want to cheer her up! I want to show her that there are plenty of other bikes on the market. Why cry over one unfaithful one when you have a whole showroom available?"
Lily suddenly stopped on the pavent, forcing Cixi to halt beside her. "I want you to et her! I want you to show her how cheerfully you are living your single, boring life. You made it! She can make it too!" Lily exclaid candidly. She poked out her bottom lip, widening her eyes into a pitiful, pleading puppy-dog expression.
Cixi stared at Lily. Her expression triggered a mory of Cassian. He had once told her how he had forced a woman to live in an animal shelter for an entire year simply because she had made exactly the sa fake, pitiful face at him to try to get her way.
Involuntarily, a tiny, genuine laugh escaped Cixi’s lips at the mory.
And Lily instantly took the laugh as a green light. "So you are up for it?!" she squealed, her eyes beaming like Christmas lights.
Cixi cleared her throat, already regretting her slip. "I can et her during the dayti," she corrected Lily.
Not pleased with her friend’s response, Lily shook her head furiously. "No, tonight is the only ti we are all free. And, Cixi, dancing is a fantastic way to explore your femininity. It might help you discover the real you!" Lily was clearly channelling her online dance guru. "Hips swaying to the beat of the music, your arms reaching out and twisting, moving in perfect unison with your body, your feet lightly tapping against the ground, anchoring you while still embracing the liberty of motion. Dance is not rely movent, Cixi. It is a celebration. Why are you holding yourself back from that celebration?" Lily took Cixi’s hands. "Co on, don’t shatter my heart. I have already promised my friend that you would be with us."
"You did what?" Cixi’s eyes flew open, her mouth dropping into a perfect O. "How could you promise sothing like that without asking first?"
Lily offered a guilty, sheepish smile. "I thought setting up a playdate would finally force you to agree to go out."
"And you thought absolutely wrong," Cixi stated with hardened determination. She pulled her arm free and started walking again. Lily scrambled to keep up beside her.
"She is eager to soak up so of your positive, single-girl energy. Think about us, Cixi! Join us!" When Cixi remained adamant, Lily also threw her tantrum. "Okay, fine," Lily sighed dramatically. "I will call her right now and tell her you are not coming. I just hope she does not think you are avoiding her... and dislikes her exactly the way her cheating ex-boyfriend did. I pray she does not feel abandoned all over again."
Cixi knew exactly what Lily was doing. It was blatant, unapologetic emotional manipulation. But she could not help falling for it.
’What if this girl really did feel abandoned because I refused to show up?’
Cixi stopped walking and rubbed her temples. "What ti are you planning to go?" Her voice was tight with irritation.
"Around midnight," Lily replied brightly, sensing victory.
"Midnight? That is entirely too late!" Cixi nearly scread, causing several pedestrians to turn their heads.
"Girl, we have tomorrow off!" Lily reminded her, pointing a finger at her. "And which party starts early at night?"
Lily was putting Cixi in a dire situation. She began rapidly calculating her survival odds. Sotis she woke up early if the victim died early. Other tis, she was trapped watching a torture sequence that lasted six or seven gruelling hours.
After a long, agonising ntal debate, Cixi finally caved. "Look, I am not sure about midnight. Co to my apartnt around eleven-thirty. And knock on my door as loudly as you physically can!"
Lily looked at Cixi with raised eyebrows, utterly baffled by what she was saying. Her expression seed to ask, ’Are you okay?’
Anyone would have reacted the way Lily was reacting. Cixi understood that very well.
"Look, I fall asleep at ten o’clock sharp. And when I sleep, it is incredibly deep. So deep that no one can wake up," Cixi rambled, trying to cover her tracks. "I swear, a burglary could happen in my apartnt, or a serial killer could break in, and I would still be dead asleep." Cixi forced a casual smile, trying to sound normal, but her words sounded decidedly unhinged even to her own ears. Lily just stared at her.
"Then just... don’t close your eyes," Lily offered, providing the most obvious, useless solution possible.
If only the curse worked like that, Cixi scread in her head.
"I have an actual dical issue," Cixi lied smoothly, deciding a fake diagnosis was less creepy than admitting her soul left her body to watch people die. "I sleep at ten, no matter what. It just happens. So co with your friends to my apartnt. Bang on the door. Hard. No one will complain. Everyone in my building is either a student or single."
"And yet you still could not find a single decent guy for yourself in a building surrounded by singles?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow again.
"Let’s talk about guys at the club. Not now."
"Okay! We will talk at the club! And I am going to show you how to flirt with n." Lily bead, practically skipping down the pavent, thrilled that her manipulative puppy-dog eyes had actually worked.
In contrast, Cixi felt no joy at all. She was left grappling with the thought of whether she would genuinely be able to enjoy herself that night, or whether she would instead be consud by screams, pain, blood, and the flash of knives or gunshots.
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