Mei huffed up her chest confidently. "No, I'm going to follow you either way. You lost your memory, remember? You don't know anywhere around this area. But don't worry, you have me. I'll be your guide, alright? Let's go."
Yunxia at that moment was dumbfounded. She was worried that she had been a bit harsh on Mei, but the child didn't even seem bothered. Sighing, she let herself get dragged by the overly excited girl.
"Besides, I'm not ten years old. I'm older than you, by the way. Just because I act like a child doesn't give you the right to call me a child. Although, since you think I look so young, I won't be angry with you."
"Understood, ma'am," Yunxia responded sarcastically. Mei had managed to drag her all the way out of the hotel and was leading them to an unknown location.
"Wait, Mei, do you even know where we are going?" Dawn had already broken, and the sun's rays were affecting her eyes. "Damn it," she muttered, her eyes already watering and squinting from the pain of the sun's rays. "How do you look so perfectly fine—" she was silenced when Mei handed her a pair of shades. She hadn't noticed them on Mei before, but now, looking closely, although her vision was still blurred, Mei was wearing contacts.
"W-when did you even get time to put those on?" she asked skeptically.
"Sigh, never mind. Let's just go."
"When I went to shower, duh. Besides, I always had issues with my eyes. Do you want me to look like some nerd? And you still haven't told me where exactly we are going, Yunyun," Mei responded while helping Yunxia put on the glasses. "There, now you look… hmm, I don't know, but it's ok though." Stepping back, she judged her work (Yunxia's look). "Mmn, perfect. Now say cheese!"
Flash, flash
"Nice, that will be added to the bestie collection for the future generation." Ignoring the protesting Yunxia, who was trying to snatch the phone in order to delete the pictures, Mei checked out the photos. "Talk about photogenic. You should be a model, baby girl, like damn…"
"Let's just go," Yunxia responded coldly, already walking towards the bus station.
"Hey, wait up! You can't just leave like that, you haven't told us where we are going!" she shouted while trying to catch up to Yunxia.
…
Bus station
The walk to the station took 5 minutes to reach. It was a commercial zone, so there were lots of bus stops and subways. Yunxia, checking her time, realized they were a bit early even with all that banter.
"6:47 a.m., great. Just need to wait for the bus." Looking at the small crowd that was beginning to form at the station, she decided to hold onto Mei's hand to prevent the child from getting lost. Fortunately, Mei clung to Yunxia, seemingly afraid of crowds. To think such a hyperactive woman would tremble just because of a small crowd of people… Yunxia thought while laughing.
Although, what she didn't notice was that Mei's eyes were fixed on the north direction, as if unable to look away. Yes, there was fear in her eyes, but not the fear that causes trembling — the kind that keeps one rooted to the spot.
"Yo, Mei, snap out of it! The bus is here, you don't need to be afraid of people. I'm here," Yunxia comforted, pulling the still Mei into the bus. But Mei's gaze was still locked in that direction. She looked entranced.
Yunxia waved in front of Mei's eyes, trying to bring her friend back to her senses.
"Earth to Mei… earth to Mei… you here? Blink once if you are ok, and twice if you need help."
"Silence."
Even the once bustling crowd that had been chatting seemed to have joined her in a trance.
It was like they were mindless puppets.
The bus swerved out of the lane.
It seemed that even the driver was entranced.
But this caused Yunxia, who was by the window side of the back seat, to hit her head on the glass.
Crash
The glass was broken, and she was nearly thrown out. Fortunately, she gripped the seat in front of her, but her strength was too strong, and she ended up causing a dent into it.
But the force continued its pull. It was no longer the bus's momentum, and with the force of inertia at play, she was sent flying — both her and the body of the bus, which later crashed into other vehicles.
"Shit!"
That was all she could say as she was sucked into a tornado-like space, which coincidentally was the direction Mei and the others kept staring at.
…
Gasp
She woke up with a jerk. It turned out it was all a dream.
She found herself still seated in the bus, panting and sweating, while Mei was fussing over her.
"Yunxia, Yunxia, you here? Did you have a nightmare or something?" she said as she dabbed the sweat off Yunxia's forehead. "You look really pale."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine, Yunxia. You are sweating and heaving seriously."
Yunxia, who had finally relaxed from the strange supposed dream, asked, "Was I asleep?"
Mei nodded. "Yeah, we have already passed two stops. You were sleeping the entire time. I didn't want to disturb your sleep."
Yunxia sighed, running her hand over her hair. "It's fine. We should stop at the next bus stop."
…
Author's Note
Gomenasai, mina!
//Sorry everyone.
This is a fantasy novel, so even though I mentioned real stuff like clothing brands, I'm not a Chinese person so I don't really know the places there. Most places are from my imagination, please bear with me.