27 Panda
After entering her room, Lina first put her phone on charging and went to have a relaxing shower.
She had a quick shower and stood in front of the mirror admiring herself. Her bathroom had an entire wall which was a mirror. She stood there and dried her hair with a soft and thin cotton towel, rather than those thick and fluffy towels.
'My hair doesn't fall out as much as it did before.' Feeling the beautiful dark brown tresses between her fingers, she was grateful for the advice her classmate had given her a few years back.
'The stress was causing my hair to fall off. I thought I would go bald before I could even find a guy to play with my hair, while I lay on his lap!' Wiping the imaginary tears, she moved to the cabinet that held all her haircare products.
If someone asked Lina what she loved most about herself, her answer would surely be her hair. She worked hard to maintain her hair due to all the pollution and stress.
'I wonder how those MCs just got up late on certain days and rushed out without even combing their hair properly and still were described as beautiful? I do the same and people would call me homeless for sure!' She thought, while applying the mint scented hair mousse.
Though she had long and wavy hair, they did tend to get frizzy and tangled if not maintained properly. Hence taking proper care of them was essential.
After her hair care, Lina left the bathroom and walked to her dresser humming a famous pop song by the international artist, Ren Phillips.
'Come to mommy, my sweet little baby!' With a greedy look in her eyes, she grabbed the coconut and pineapple body lotion named 'Tropics' and slathered it on her hands and legs.
Walking to the bedside table, she sniffed her arms and smiled.
'I smell like a Pina colada!! Delicious!!'
She took her phone from the charging station and played the song that was stuck on her mind.
Swaying to the music, she finished her nighttime routine and picked up her laptop and moved to her bed.
Lina checked for any work related emails and then answered them.
She even sent a few messages to her parents and brother to let them know that she was fine.
*Ping*
Seeing the chapter update notification on her phone, she opened the novel app to check out the books that she usually read.
Her eyes were attracted to the famous book that she had wanted to start reading for a very long time.
'Some bedtime reading never harmed anyone.' She put on her glasses and started the famous novel that she had bookmarked earlier for her convenience.
'4000 chapters and still ongoing? It'll take a lot of time to catch up.' Encouraging herself, she put off the lights and started reading.
Fighting the sleep that was summoning her, she kept pressing the next chapter button and continued reading.
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*Knock knock*
"Young miss? Mrs. Ping asked me to wake you up." Lina who was sleeping heard a soft voice outside her door.
"Arghhh…!" Lina pulled the sheets over her head to shield her eyes from the sunlight entering through her balcony and tried to go back to sleep.
"Young miss? Please wake up! She told that you will have to eat only oatmeal if you get up after breakfast hour." Came the voice once again.
This time Lina sprang from her bed and ran to open the door.
There was a woman in her late twenties standing outside the door, looking at her with shock in her eyes.
'Did I sleep naked again?' Lina hurriedly looked down to check what she was wearing and sighed when she saw the pjs she wore last night.
Lina had a habit of sleeping naked, but only when she knew that she was alone because she lived with people who did not know the meaning of privacy.
But she knew that she can not do it here in Yang manor and brought many comfy pjs with her.
"Why are you staring like that?" She questioned the maid, as she walked back into the room after signalling her to follow.
"Young miss, did you not sleep well?" The maid asked with concern.
Lina remembered that she was so invested in her novel that she had only fallen asleep at 4 in the morning. She looked at the alarm placed on her bedside table, it was 6 now.
'I must have panda eyes.' She thought.
'Damn, look at those red eyes.' She was also shocked after seeing her face in her phone.
"Can you pass me the ice pack in the fridge?" She asked the maid, still looking at her phone.
"Yes Miss." The maid moved swiftly.
"Thanks. Please pick out something nice for me to wear. I feel like wearing neon today." She said while trying to comb out her bird's nest hair with her fingers.
Taking the ice pack from her, Lina placed it on her eyes to soothe the irritation then she walked towards the bathroom.
"I'll go brush my teeth." She then walked into the bathroom.
After a couple of minutes she came out and found the maid arranging the magazines on the table that she had read last night.
She saw the neon orange sweatshirt with black torn jeans that was neatly placed on her bed and smiled.
"I like your sense of fashion. What's your name? I completely forgot to ask." Giving a thumbs up to the maid, she opened the walk-in closet to decide her footwear.
"Miss, My name is Suzie." Lina nodded as she walked out holding a white sneaker with silver stripes on it.
"I love how my closet looks with all my stuff arranged so well. I can never do that." She admired the person who moved all her stuff in.
"Thank you, Miss, for your compliment." Suzie blushed and played with her fingers.
Lina just looked at her in confusion.
"I settled all your luggage in the closet, Miss." Suzie explained herself.
The expression of confusion turned to shock and then finally to admiration.
Lina held onto Suzie's hands and looked into her eyes.
"Wow, Suzie. I loved how you put my stuff according to the colours in the rainbow. I want you to take care of my closet from now on. Please don't reject me!" Lina asked pleadingly.
"Also please arrange the things I bought today in my closet." She thought of the bags still placed in the closet.
Suzie just giggled and nodded her head in agreement.
"Come, let's go before Mrs. Ping makes me eat oatmeal for breakfast." She made a puking gesture and pulled Suzie towards the door.
"Not only breakfast, but also lunch and dinner." Suzie added, which made Lina look like she was about to cry and she quickened her steps.
Practically running down the stairs, she saw Wade and Uncle Pat already at the table.
Lina made her way to sit down and Suzie walked to the kitchen to inform Mrs. Ping that she had completed her task.
Sitting down in her seat she saw the two men looking away from her, trying to control their laughter.
"What's so funny!" She asked in anger.
"I did not know you loved pandas so much that you are trying to become one yourself." Said Wade, pointing at her eyes.
Immediately after that, Patrick who could no longer control himself, burst into laughter.
Lina glared at the two men who were making fun of her and pouted.
"So tell me. How many chapters was it this time?" asked Wade, who was aware of Lina's lack of control over reading.
"Kiddo, I thought you stopped binge reading after that intervention we held for you. It's bad for your eyes." After knowing the reason for her panda eyes, Patrick tried to lecture her.
"But I only read on weekends now! It's better this way. I let the chapters accumulate and read them all at once." She spoke like a pro.
"You still haven't answered my questions. How many chapters?" he asked again.
Lina glared at Wade then looked down and whispered, "Just 370"
"Come again?" They both moved a little closer to hear what was trying to say.
"370!!" This time she yelled with a loud voice.
