7 Heading to the Mall

Rubbing her face into her pillow she relaxed for a couple of seconds before sitting up in a hurry. Looking to her right she picked her phone off the night stand and quickly checked the time.

'6:45 a.m.'

Her pounding heart slowly calmed down and she flopped back down onto her bed. Placing her hands on her face she laid down for several more minutes until she completely calmed down. She had set an alarm last night to make sure she was awake by 7 a.m. but wasn't sure if she slept through it. Waking up and not knowing what time it was scared her, thankfully she had woken up earlier than expected. Turning off all her alarms she left her phone by her side before heading towards the bathroom. The cold tiled floor helped her wake up more as she walked with her feet bare against it. Tying her hair into a bun and stripping off her clothes she stood under the warm water to shower.

During the shower she took the time to think about her plan for the day. The guise that she had was that she was buying clothes and the credit card was a way of tracking her. She could leave the card at home but that would be too suspicious. The other hand was that she had to use them but wasn't able to buy what she wanted with it. It would be better if she bought clothes but asked them to overcharge her. Its not if they would go through her bags or know exactly how much the items cost. Topping off a couple hundred at each store into cash would be simple and hard to see through. She could also take advantage of his money to buy herself a new style of clothing.

'You may have done this to track me brother but I refuse to suffer any losses.'

Finishing up she got out of the shower and wrapped herself in a warm, fluffy towel. Glancing at the small clock in the corner she checked the time and saw that only fifteen minutes had passed. Opening up her closet she pulled out a light blue dress and put it on. It was loose around her body and went to her knees. She didn't like it but it was great if she wanted to keep a low profile. The shopping center she was heading to was for the upper class so even though she craved comfier clothes, everyone would be dressed excessively. Looking through her jewelry she found a simple silver chain and a plain silver ring for her thumb. She wanted to keep her hair tied up but knew that she couldn't for now.

'Sigh I forgot how tiring being a figurative lady was.'

Finding some plain black flats she put them on to finish her outfit. In the past she would wear heels everyday but for the amount of walking she would do today flats were more practical. It wasn't an obvious change and she could easily convince her parents why she didn't wear heels. Sitting down in front of her mirror she used her skincare products and some subtle pink lipstick to bring colour to her face. After spraying on some perfume she was ready to go. Grabbing a bigger purse she placed her phone, his credit card, her wallet, her keys and some spare cash into it.

Taking a deep breath she said a little prayer in her head before walking out into her house. It was still early in the morning and her footsteps quietly padded against the floor. By the time she made it to the front door it was around 7:45 a.m., her parents would have breakfast soon but she could avoid them if she left now. Turning the knob she made an action to open the door but was stopped by the sound of someone standing behind her. 'Of course it would never be that easy.'

"Heading out so early?" Putting a smile on her face she turned around to see her brother standing there.

"Mhm, I want to go a bit earlier when there's less crowd."

"What about food?"

"I'll grab something there if I'm hungry. I'm leaving now GeGe! I'm taking the chauffeur as well." Waving at him she stepped outside and finally made it to the car. Once she got in the car she ordered the driver to take her to the HillCrest Mall. She was nervous that she had not acted well but she didn't make any obvious mistakes either. 'Its just being yourself nothing too hard, come on you can do this.' There was no doubt in her mind that within a couple of days this acting would be completely natural to her. There was no place to be weak, she just had to bulldoze her way through this.

'Hopefully the rest of the day is peaceful.'

***

"Why am I going?" His voice was gruff as he spoke into the phone. The irritation was apparent through both his voice and body language. The angry man stood tall at 5"11 with a maroon suit tight against his muscular body. Feeling suffocated he opened the first two buttons of his white dress shirt to let himself breathe more.

"You have to and I have already promised." An elderly voice spoke through the other side with a tone of ordering.

"Fine." Cutting the call, Li Qiang moved back to lean against his table. His body was tense as he tried to calm his emotions. Running his hands through his messy black hair he sighed before coming to a decision. Picking up his phone and keys he took long strides out of his office. Using the elevator he headed straight to his car and sped out of the parking lot. As he drove he used his bluetooth to call his secretary.

"Cancel my morning appointments and reschedule them. Let the shareholders know I'm doing a surprise site visit at HillCrest Mall."

"Okay sir." Cutting the call he tapped his fingers against the wheel. It was early in the morning bur his mood was already ruined.

'I need a f*cking coffee.'