"I need you tocome to my home right now." Fang says, her voice disturbed. She receives a long pause on the other side of the call.
"Is something wrong? You-" Luya couldn't complete the sentence before Fang starts talking again.
"Well I'm contacting you for a reason and I think this is important. Can't say much on phone, it would be better if you're here." she adds.
".....Okay. Let me tell nainai and then I'll be there in a bit." Luya says after a pause.
"Alright. I'll tell ma you're here for studies. Oh and you can have dinner here, I think you might need to stay for some time, I wouldn't recommend going back home late so tell her accordingly." Fang suggests and waits for an answer.
"I don't think that." Luya adds, "I-" she gets cut off again.
"Not everything can be as you say Luya. Listen to me once." Fang says with a little bit of spice in her voice. Sighing, she adds "Just come soon. Bye."
She cuts the call, closes the diary and walks downstairs.
"Ma? You need to make a dinner for one more person." she says chugging down gulps of water from the bottle.
"Heh? Who?" her mother asks looking at her.
"You'll see." she adds and goes back up again.
"Aigh, Fang! Tell me who is it?" she speaks up but when she gets no reply from her daughter she sighs and continues to watch TV.
-------------------------------------------
(About half an hour later)
*Doorbell ringing*
"Coming!" Mrs. Zheng responds before opening the door.
As she opens the door, her face changes like she has found a gold mine.
"Aigh Luya! It's been so long! Come come, come inside." she squeaks opening the door wide for her. "Ah so you were coming. Fang wouldn't tell me ha ha." she beams as she speaks.
"Nice to see you, Ayi. Oh Zhihuan....you're taller than I last remember you." Luya says crouching down to the boy. He doesn't say anything back due to his most favorite show on the TV taking all of his attention away.
"Hey Luya. Let's get started on our work." Fang's voice comes from the stairs where she stands. Both Luya and Mrs. Zheng look in her direction.
"Work? Work as if school work?" her mother asks.
"Yes ma, I called her for a sleepover because we need to work on some assignment together." Fang answers while Luya stands there, grabbing her bag and eyes down.
"Ah hou hou, won't keep you occupied then. Lets talk at dinner." her mother smiles, looking at Luya.
Luya just nods and follows Fang upstairs. Once they both get inside, Fang closes the door behind. Luya places her bag by the bedstand and sits on the bed. Silence fills the room as the duo share uneasy glances towards each other. Taking a deep breath Fang breaks the silence.
"How did you get that bruise?" Fang asks.
Luya looks at her arm which got scratched when she fell from the chair.
"Slipped. At home." Luya replies looking at her and then looks down again. "Are you.....are you okay? You sounded troubled." she proceeds.
"I'm good. Real good since my best friend of six years suddenly behaves like a nutjob to me over childish reasons." Fang answers, sarcasm pooled in her voice.
"It's not childish." Luya speaks up, brows furrowed.
Fang rolls her eyes and adds "Yes. It is. But I'm not going to argue with you. I'm too drained for that."
Luya lowers her gaze again, fumbling with her fingers, unsure about how to react. Fang doesn't give her time to react before she starts again.
"What were you doing riding a stranger's bike yesterday....at about 7 PM?" she asks agitatedly.
"How-?" Luya looks at her again, visibly surprised but closes her eyes while sighing right after.
"Doesn't concern you." she says before sitting straight.
Fang lets out an exasperated sigh and bites her lower lip while tilting her head to one side.
"Ridiculous." she mutters under her breath before Luya ends up asking her the absolute question.
"Why did you tell me to come? Is it really something important or did you want to rant about me avoiding you?" Luya keeps her head up while asking.
"Oh please. You think I would contact you without proper reason after how you behaved this afternoon?" Fang answers while going over to her desk and taking the diary to take the photo out and hands it to Luya.
"I might be wrong but take a look." she says, as Luya looks closely.
"Doesn't the woman at the left...look like your ma?" she asks, arms folded.
Luya looks at it stunned because she does.
"I could have misjudged the face but the hairstyle pinned me. Same face and hairstyle?" Fang says. "And don't forget to observe the woman in the middle. Doesn't she also look familiar?" she adds.
Luya gulps and tilts her head before saying " I don't-"
"That's Lu Muyan dummy. 2011 incident remember?" Fang adds.
"Yes...I can see the resemblance. But this picture is old, what if-" Luya gets cut off as Fang hands her the diary, showing the last page where the name 'Lu Muyan' is written unmistakably.
"I found that picture in this diary. Still need more confirmation?" she asks.
Luya blinks in confusion and asks "So you're saying you've found the diary of Lu Muyan? THE LU MUYAN?"
"Well what does it seem to you?" Fang asks back, shrugging casually.
"So what? Why tell me?" Luya asks.
"Are you an idiot?..." she stops before continuing. "What is your mother doing in this picture?"
"How would I know? I don't think this is her, she-" Luya stops midway. "Wait." she adds.
"You've got to be joking me." she says swiping her finger over the third woman's face in the picture.
"What?" Fang asks, leaning down a bit.
"This....why does she look like-" Luya stops, confused.
"Like?" Fang asks again.
"My Yima."