That night, before Mellie could reply to Lilia's message, they had just stormed someone's house to collect a debt. They had a fight with security that was called by the host. As a result, Mellie's beautiful face was bruised and there were torn sores on her lips.
But this was a common thing for Mellie. She leaned back on the bed staring at her cell phone screen. When she read the sentence "What are you doing?" from Lilia, the corners of her mouth automatically lifted into a wide smile. Although the movement made the wound bleed, Mellie was barely aware of the pain.
Mellie thought for a moment before typing her reply.
[Mellie]: "I'm not doing anything other than replying to your message."
After submitting that, Mellie got an idea and immediately wrote it down.
[Mellie]: "Do you have free time tomorrow? How about you go out for coffee with me?"
The woman immediately pressed the send button without thinking. As Mellie reread the message, she frowned with a look of disgust. This sentence sounded like something a cheap man would say trying to seduce a woman!
On the other hand, Lilia couldn't help but laugh when she read the message. She could imagine Mellie's expression and voice as she pronounced those lines clearly. She imagined that the woman would try her best to sound calm and confident.
[Lilia]: "Yes, let's go. Where will we meet?"
Mellie let out a sigh of relief when she found out that Lilia accepted her invitation. She immediately replied to the woman's message.
[Mellie]: "I'm planning to go downtown tomorrow. I'll meet you there. I'll send you the specific address later, okay?"
[Lilia]: "Okay. Have a good sleep."
Mellie couldn't hide her smile as she read the message. How long had it been since someone last said good night to her? She closed her cell phone, but she couldn't sleep. Her heart was filled with indescribable joy.
She had never met someone who could soften her heart like Lilia. Her heart that was hard as steel and tempered by the harshness of life suddenly melted the moment Lilia touched it. When Mellie was with that woman, she felt as if she was valued and looked upon as equal. Something as simple as that was enough to make her happy.
Mellie opened her cell phone again, then started surfing the internet. She wanted to know all the news about Lilia. So far, she had never been interested in the entertainment world. It was hard enough to deal with her own life, let alone other's. She didn't need to know the lives of other people she would never meet like artists and celebrities.
But therein laid the mistake. If she hadn't met Lilia yesterday, Mellie would never have known that there was a model who looked so much like her.
*****
Mellie woke up at five in the next morning. She immediately searched her tent for something. The commotion woke up the people sleeping next to her tent.
Herri crept out of his tent with sleepy eyes. He walked over to Mellie's tent and peeked inside, "Captain… What are you doing? Why is it so fussy?" He weakly protested.
"I'm looking for something." Mellie replied curtly without stopping to search her things. Her actions were so violent that the little tent shook violently about to collapse.
"Huh? What are you looking for? It's still early in the morning, the sun hasn't even risen yet." Herri asked, rubbing his eyes.
They were all exhausted after last night's violent fight. That's why they hoped to wake up at noon today, but it looked like Mellie wouldn't let them rest in peace.
Finally, Mellie turned to her subordinate. She frowned and asked, "Where's the powder you gave me last time?"
"What?" Herri blinked, not sure if he had heard wrong, "Powder, you say?"
It looked like the captain had gone crazy! Wasn't she a tough woman who could knock out a muscular man without a weapon?! Why was she suddenly attracted to feminine items like powder?! Herri would have believed her more if Mellie had told him to fetch an ax!
Herri said nothing, but Mellie could read the man's expression like an open book. The woman's face turned expressionless before she finally kicked Herri out.
The poor man landed a few feet away from Mellie's tent while groaning in pain. He hadn't said anything but why did he get kicked?!
Mellie sighed and looked around her tent. This morning, she just remembered that her face was still covered in wounds from last night's fight. She couldn't appear in front of Lilia with a face like this. Somehow, Mellie knew that woman would be worried about her.
She remembered that one of the people she billed had given her all her cosmetic supplies to pay off her debt. Mellie never needed anything of the sort, so she kept them somewhere. She was starting to regret her decision now.
Meanwhile, Herri slowly rose from the floor while listening to Mellie's sigh from inside the tent. He felt that his captain had become strange since meeting that beautiful woman last night.
The man decided to immediately consult his fellow subordinates regarding this change. Maybe they needed to start raising money to get the captain examined!
When Mellie heard the discussion of his subordinates, she beat them all for thinking she had a brain tumor. But that's a story for another time.
*****
Around eleven in the morning, Lilia was sitting inside a small cafe. The cafe was never empty as it was located in a pretty busy office district.
After Lilia received the message from Mellie that morning, she went straight to the cafe the woman mentioned. She had said goodbye to Jean, who reminded her repeatedly to let Clifford accompany her. Even though her husband was sometimes overprotective, Lilia knew that was Jean's way of showing his concern.
Lilia watched the pedestrians passing by outside the cafe window. She was seen playing with her cell phone restlessly. About fifteen minutes later, her ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps.
Lilia turned her head and saw the appearance of the woman she had been waiting for. Mellie was still wearing the same black clothes as last night. The woman approached Lilia's table and sat across from her.
"Sorry I'm late." Mellie said. In contrast to Lilia's subtle voice, Mellie's voice was clear and full of confidence.
"No, I just got here too." Lilia shook her head. Then she noticed that there was tape stuck to the side of Mellie's face, "Are you alright? Is your face hurt because of something?" Lilia asked worriedly.
Mellie touched the tape and smiled faintly, "I am alright. Yesterday I accidentally scratched my own cheek, that's all."
The woman couldn't find the cosmetics she needed, so she could only use a bandage to cover her wounds. Fortunately, the sores on her lips faded and were barely visible.
Lilia looked at Mellie with concern. She felt that the woman was full of secrets she could not reveal. But it's not time to talk about that yet. She handed Mellie the menu book.
"Okay, what drink do you want to order?" Lilia said to change the topic.
A few minutes later, Mellie had ordered a cup of Americano coffee, while Lilia ordered her favorite caramel macchiato. After their order came, there was only an awkward silence between them.
There were so many questions Lilia wanted to ask Mellie. She sipped her coffee while thinking about the best way to strike up a conversation.
"You…"
"You…"
Just as Lilia opened her mouth, Mellie also spoke up. The two of them looked at each other in surprise. Lilia immediately retracted her words, but it turned out that Mellie also had the same thought.
"You first."
"You first."
For a moment, there was only silence between them. The two of them looked at each other before their laughter broke out. Moments like this could make the distance between them feel even closer.
Then Lilia put down her glass and looked at Mellie with a serious expression, "You are the member of the Irwan Family, right?"
Lilia's voice indicated that this was a statement, not a question.
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