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Lena asked, “Why did you give me money?”
Lina was taken aback.
“Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t mean anything else—” Lena interrupted her before she could end her sentence.
“I asked, why did you give me money?” Lena’s voice was clear and firm, showing maturity beyond her years.
Lina took a deep breath. “I wanted to thank you for helping me out in the restroom last time.”
Lena remained silent but pushed the money back into Lina’s hands. “No need to thank me.”
As Lena turned to leave, Lina wanted to call her back. But Lena stopped and turned around again. A gust of wind
lifted the brim of her cap, finally allowing Lina to see her face clearly.
Lena was pretty, with a touch of youthful intelligence in her expression, but her eyes carried a sense of world-
weariness beyond her years.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“If you ever encounter trouble again, you can find me to help you,” Lena said.
“But… don’t I need to know your name and how to contact you?” Lina asked.
Lena chuckled. “After we met last time, didn’t you investigate me? You claimed not to know my name.”
Lina and Zuko exchanged glances, realizing they had met their match.
The best approach when dealing with a strong-willed opponent was to be straightforward, so Lina said directly, “I
did investigate you, mainly because I was curious why you helped me. Also… I didn’t find out anything about you,
except that your name is Lena.”
Lena paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.
Her smile was innocent and mischievous, like a child who had just succeeded in playing a prank. “I didn’t expect
that even people like you sometimes fail to find information about others. I thought you had an extensive network!”
Lina stayed silent.
“I’m Lena Harding.” Lena adjusted her cap. “If you need me, go to that bar.”
Before Lina could say anything else, Lena left swiftly with a faint smile.
“What an odd person.” Zuko chuckled softly. “But she doesn’t seem bad.”
“Yeah, she would’ve acted on it already if she had ill intentions toward me.”
“It’s a pretty fruitful day today.” Zuko looked at her. “We know her name now. I’ll have someone investigate her
further and find out everything about her.”
–
Lena returned to her shabby rented room and removed her cap and sweat-soaked T-shirt. She cleaned the fish and
put it in the pot. Then, she opened a cold beer can from the fridge.
The sound of the tab popping was a refreshing contrast to the heat of the small room.
Lena took a sip of the beer, which tasted a bit bitter. She frowned, still not completely used to the flavor.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Lina Jenner…” she murmured with a smile. She put down the beer can and took out a diary from the drawer.
She carefully wrote the name on the last page of the diary. Then she went to check on the fish soup bubbling in the
pot. She added some salt and lowered the heat before sitting back on the kitchen floor to flip through the diary
again.
She had lost count of how many times she had read it. Many sentences were already ingrained in her memory, but
she couldn’t get enough of them. Reading the diary every day had become an essential part of her life.
Running her fingers over the familiar handwriting felt like touching that person’s face. Only then did she feel like the
world didn’t abandon her and that she had family, even though that family member was now behind bars, waiting
for execution on charges of human trafficking.
The diary’s pages had turned yellow, and the stories inside were from long ago.
Lena read the words line by line. “Tonight at the nightclub, a few men gave me a hard time. I was there to serve
them liquor, but they insisted I accompany them for drinks. They were too many for me to handle. Just when I
thought I had no hope, he appeared.”
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