I stepped onto the path of the city and looked up. It seemed like ages that I had last been here. I looked back at Aaron’s mansion which was a little pale dot in the distance. I really hoped Mei Mei would forgive me for running away.

It was better if she didn’t though. I was a bad friend. She wouldn’t need a friend like me. I prayed that a new maid would come and help me take my place as Mei Mei’s friend. I flipped through my pockets. I only had a little bit of money. Firstly, I needed a disguise to run freely around this city without being discovered. Carefully, trying to cover my face with my hood, I went inside a $2 shop. I looked around and spotted a short, brown wig. I picked it up and looked at it.

Hey, this wasn’t so bad. I picked it up and then found some sunglasses. This was good enough. I went to the front desk and passed them to the store owner who looked suspiciously at me. He looked kind of familiar.

“Good day,” I said, trying to change my voice a little. The store owner nodded and went to scan the items. When he came back, he said, “You know, you kind of look like the thief, Gui Gui.” I inclined my head. This is where my acting skills came in use again.

“The thief Gui Gui?” I said, sounding shocked. “Didn’t she disappear for a few weeks already?” The store owner shook his head.

“No,” He said. “I heard that she died by jumping from a roof, trying to steal from Aaron Yan’s house. You know, the child genius. He reported it in the news.” I made a huge effort not to twitch my eyebrow in annoyance. If we ever met again, I was going to kill him.

“Really?” I said. “The poor soul!” The store owner nodded grimly.

“Indeed,” He said. “But that also means she cannot steal from us any longer.” His tone sounded a bit sad. I tilted my head but not too much to show my face.

“You sound a bit sad, mister,” I said. “Didn’t you say it was kind of good because then she cannot steal anymore?” The store owner shook his head.

“No,” He said. “It’s just that she used to come into my store late at night when I didn’t have any customers. She would give me a little bit of money she had stolen to help make the store in business again. This store was going to be shut down since its business was bad, you know.” Ah. This brought back memories. Now I realised why the store owner looked so familiar. It was Mr. Lu, this store owner.

“At first,” Mr. Lu continued. “I didn’t want to accept the money because it was stolen. I didn’t want to be like that. But she said it was stolen from the rich people, she insisted me to take it. I think she knew. I think she knew that I had a hungry family to feed back home. So in the end, I took it. And the store was saved. Thanks to her.” He smiled and my heart warmed. It was nice knowing that people appreciated what you did. He looked back at me in surprise, as if he suddenly realised I was still standing there and listening.

“Oh!” He said. “I said a bit too much, didn’t I?” I shook my head and smiled. I hope he could see it under the hood.

“Don’t worry, mister,” I said. “It’ll be our secret.” I gave him the money before leaving outside to find a public toilet to change in.

~~~

I came out of the toilet, my long hair tucked into a little bun on the back of my head and the short haired wig on my head. I had clipped it up with many little brown clips to hold it tightly so it wouldn’t fall off. I put on the sunglasses on afterwards and looked into the mirror. Perfect. I looked like a completely different person. Kind of…

I walked out of the public bathroom. It was a hot and sunny day today, so wearing sunglasses was a perfectly normal thing. I was still wearing my black cape and people still stared at me strangely. I needed just one more thing. New clothes. There was a good tailor shop that I once knew. They weren’t a big fancy department store. It was just a little store on the corner of the street.

The little bell on top of the door tinkled as I entered the shop. There were no other customers and it seemed almost empty.

“Hello?” I called out. A woman with messy hair suddenly appeared from no where. I flinched.

“Ah! H-Hello!” The woman said hurriedly, coming forward to welcome me. I smiled. It was still the same Miss Zhuo.

“I need some new clothes, please,” I said, picking up a nearby catalogue. “I want this shirt and these shorts if it’s alright.” Miss Zhuo studied me closely. It made me feel nervous.

“You look like a person I once knew,” She said.

“Really?” I inquired. “Who?” Miss Zhuo nodded.

“Yes,” She replied. “Sorry, but I can’t tell you her name. She helped me out a lot even though she was…different from the others.” I nodded. Miss Zhuo focused back onto the clothes.

“So these clothes?” She asked. “May I ask for your measurements?” Her eyes widened as I told her. I looked at her for a while.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” She said. “It’s just that…your measurements are the same as someone I once knew.” She gazed at me thoughtfully for a moment before running to the back of the store t get the clothes ready. By the time it was afternoon, she had already finished.

“Sorry for taking so long,” She said huffily as she handed over the newly made clothes over to me. “Thank you for coming!” I gave her some money and left.

~~~

I changed into the new sets of clothing and wandered out, looking completely different. It felt entirely different to wearing a maid uniform. I was so used to wearing a maid uniform all the time. Suddenly wearing something else felt quite strange. I looked at Aaron’s mansion in the distance.

What were they doing now?

Meanwhile on Mei Mei’s side:

Mei Mei skipped around the mansion, glad that she had finished pulling open all 115 curtains. She wandered around, wondering why she hadn’t seen her friend yet. Then, she heard some maids talking quietly.

“Did you hear? That newbie maid from two weeks ago…”

“Why would she do that? Why would she…”

“Oh well, she deserves it. I heard she was always just a street rat.” Mei Mei ran forward to the maids.

“Um, excuse me!” She said. “What happened? What happened to Gui?” As usual, the maids smirked at her.

“She ran off, that’s what,” One of them said to her, voice full of hate. “She ditched you, princess, now you’ve got no one to protect you.” Mei Mei’s eyes widened.

“She…ran off?”

~~~

By the time I had wandered around the entire city and was stared at in different shops, night fell and I felt hungry. I went to the park and sat down, huddling my knees together and leaning against the bottom of the park bench. I wrapped my black cape around myself as a blanket.

The nights were sure cold in this city.

~~

Author’s Note: There’s not much in this chapter. It’s just Gui Gui re-visiting her old favourite places and getting used to freedom again. I thought about something good for the next chapter, though! I hope you’ll read it!!