32 Late Again

Lina was woken up by the loud ringing of the alarm next to her bed. She opened her eyes and saw that it was only 7 in the morning.

"Urghh..!" Putting off the alarm, she turned to the other side and went right back to sleep.

However her sleep was disturbed for a second time, this time by the continuous knock on her door.

She recognised that the knock was the same one as yesterday. Three knocks in a row then a pause and again the three knocks.

"Coming!" She yelled and got up from her bed.

"I just hit the snooze button about 5 minutes back and you are already her to wake me up!" She opened the door and her guess was right.

Outside stood Suzie, with a trolley that had her breakfast on it.

"Miss, it's already 10:00. Mrs. Ping asked me not to wake you up early because you like sleeping late on Sundays." Suzie pushed the trolley in.

She walked to the balcony door and pushed the thick curtains aside. Immediately, the bright sunlight shone in the room.

"What did you just say? 10:00? But I just hit snooze for my alarm at 7!" Lina ran and picked up her alarm which displayed 10:00 on it.

'Dammit! I wanted to go out early!' She hit her head.

"Miss, hurry up and get dressed or else you will be late for your appointment." Suzie reminded her.

"Appointment? Ah yes, my salon appointment! When is it?" She immediately questioned her with an eager smile.

"At 11:30, Miss. You will miss it if you are late. Mrs. Ping asked you to meet her after you are ready. She will give you the details of your appointment." Suzie watched Lina rush to her bathroom immediately after she finished speaking.

Placing all the covered plates on the table, Suzie shook her head.

"Don't forget to eat before you come down stairs, Miss." She yelled so that Lina could hear her over the sound of the running water. Then she walked out of the door and closed it.

----

Inside the bathroom,

Lina hurried to take off her clothes and switched on the shower.

'Hisss.. Too cold!' She immediately pulled her hand away from the water and then picked up her toothbrush.

"Let's quickly brush till it gets heated." She put on her spearmint toothpaste and started brushing her teeth, buck naked in front of her mirror wall.

'I remember I just hit the snooze. It was 7 then and literally after five minutes the time's already 10?' She frowned.

'Did I just experience a time jump?' Lina scratched her head in confusion.

After she finished brushing her teeth, she checked the water again.

"Perfect!" She jumped into the shower.

Lathering the mint shampoo, she quickly rinsed it off. Not wasting her time like she usually does.

'I only have one and a half hours to get to my slot. What if the place is on the other side of the city?' She washed off the soap from her body and got out of the shower.

Lina's worries were valid because Yang Manor was far away from the city centre.

'I love this place because of its serenity but at times like this I wish we weren't so far away.' She thought while she quickly patted herself dry.

Tying the bathrobe, she walked out with her hair still dripping wet.

'I don't have time to towel dry it, I'll leave the car's window down so that they can air dry.'

Pulling out a grey faded high waisted jeans and a navy blue full sleeved crop top from the closet, Lina sat down to eat a little.

She stuffed the mini sandwich into her mouth and gulped down the freshly squeezed orange juice.

After putting on her clothes, she decided that today she would wear the new shoes that she had bought at Phoenix mall.

Lina sat in front of the dresser and combed out her now semi wet hair with her fingers. She put on one of her favorite perfume 'Gwen' that a famous actress had launched onto her pulse points and sniffed it.

'Hmm.. Smells divine.'

Dabbing the lip tint and then applying her lip balm on top of it she was ready to leave.

Picking up her phone and her sling purse, she put on her huge sunglasses and checked herself out in the mirror.

Satisfied with the results, she walked out of her room to find Mrs Ping.

---

She found Mrs Ping waiting for her in the Hall.

She looked around to see if Lucille and Mandy were there. She heaved a sigh of relief when she did not see them.

"They never wake up before lunch. At least not when they don't have any plans to go out." Mrs Ping noticed what Lina was doing and gave her this useful information.

"Oh so I don't have to stay in my room to avoid them." She laughed.

Then remembering the appointment, she checked her watch for the time. It was 11 already.

" Don't worry Young Miss, it won't be a problem even if you are late for your appointment." She smiled and handed a card to Lina.

"What's this?" She took the card and looked at it.

It looked like the salon's membership card. It had the silhouette of a little girl with a top bun on her head as the store's logo.

"It's the salon's membership card. I booked your appointment using this card. Turn it over."

Lina did as she was told and turned it over. The name of the salon was written in a deep emerald green.

*Cecilia's*

'Huh?' Lina looked up and saw Mrs Ping nod at her.

She too nodded and placed the card in her purse.

Mrs Ping had already asked for a driver to take her to the salon because with Lina's driving skills she would surely be late.

She reached the front door and her car with her driver were already there waiting for her.

The driver looked like he was in his late thirties. With a kind smile, he walked up to her and introduced himself.

"Good morning, Young Miss. My name is Derek Yun, please allow me to drive you around for today." Then he bowed and opened the door for her.

"Please just call me Lina when we are outside the Manor." She said after they took their seat inside the car.

"Young miss is young miss. How could I call you by your name?" Derek just shook his head and started the car.

Pulling the windows down, Lina just looked out.

'Being suddenly called 'Young miss' after all these years surely is uncomfortable but I can't expect them to change so soon. But I will work hard so that one day they can speak to me normally.' Lina thought with determination.

The salon, Cecilia's was half an hour away from Yang Manor and under normal conditions they would have reached before her appointment time.

But how could anything be normal when Lina was involved?

Her half an hour car drive turned to more than an one hour, thanks to the rush hour traffic.

'Stupid office workers! Who's going to compensate me if I lose my slot at the hairdresser?' She glared at the random strangers that made eye contact with her in the traffic.

By the time she reached Cecilia's, it was 12:15.

'I know I missed my slot. Let's just go and get another appointment, then I'll just roam about the city to wait until my slot arrives.'

With this new plan in mind, she asked Derek to wait for her in the parking and walked to the store.