Rina Young

"Haa…Haa…"

Hiding behind the character cardboard of a diner, was a girl crouched down while wearing a blue dress that reached up to her knees and black heels.

She had light blue wavy hair that was like the ocean water flowing until her waist. A pair of blue eyes that were like a deep ocean, a cute pointy nose, with thin pink lips. Her whole face was a bit pinkish from running too much.

She was panting while her heartbeat was running wild. She held her breath as she heard footsteps and voices coming near her.

"Search over there!"

"We must find Young Miss or else…"

"Have the security help in searching."

Men dressed in black were frantically searching the area. They entered the stores one by one, looking for the person they were trying to find.

She put her hands on her mouth as she tightly closed her eyes, making her vision dark. Sweat trickled down her forehead, nervous from being found out.

She counted in her mind, trying to calm herself down.

"It looks like she is not here either."

"Damn it! We're dead if we don't find her!"

"Increase the search area."

She flinched when she felt the men dressed in black suddenly stopped in front where she was hiding.

'Hurry up and go away!' She thought.

Then, when she heard the footsteps going away, only then, did she relax.

The girl sighed as she didn't know what to do in her situation.

Rina Young, that was her name and she was currently being chased by her father's men. Her father was a strict man and didn't tolerate any mistakes, he also did anything in order to achieve his goal.

With his personality, he would no doubt try to manipulate his own daughter. Even her mother was a tool for him to achieve his own gains.

Rina didn't like the life she was living right now, always following her father's orders, like a puppet being controlled by a puppeteer. She wanted to be free, being able to do whatever she wanted.

Whenever she looked outside the car, a scenery of people living in peace and having freedom to do whatever they wanted was what passed through her eyes.

She envies those people. She wanted to be like them. Free.

Then, one day, an opportunity arose. When the bodyguards weren't looking and were distracted by something, Rina took this chance to escape.

It was the first time, the first time she opposed her father.

With her heart thumping in excitement, her lips curved upwards, eyes glimmering with elation, she ran away from them and reached this mall that was near where the car was parked, though Rina knew that she would be caught any minute now after knowing that they were fervently looking for her.

Rina looked around discreetly from the place she was hiding. When she confirmed that there were no bodyguards around, she slowly got up.

Then she ran again and stopped when she saw a man dressed in black were looking around. She turned around, but another one was behind her.

Rina anxiously looked around for a place to hide. Then she found a jewelry store with the name 'Lux Jewelry Palace' just in front of her, so with no choice left, she entered the store.

"Welcome! Are you looking for something?" A female staff member warmly welcomed her. She randomly spewed her words.

"Uh, brooch! I would like to see the brooches." Rina quickly spoke as she nervously looked behind her. The staff member nodded her head and took out the brooches they were selling.

While waiting for the staff member to take out all of the best brooches they have, Rina heard the conversation between a chubby person who seemed to be the manager and a girl who seemed to be eighteen years old.

"Miss, your order will take a week to finish. Please leave your contact info here, so we can contact you when it is done."

The girl nonchalantly nodded her head as she wrote her contact details. Then, while she was at it, she also started looking around for jewelries while the manager had his assistant take her to look around.

"Here you go." Rina's attention was turned back again to the staff member as she showed the brooches they were selling.

All of them were exquisite and uniquely designed. It was beautiful and enough to complement the beauty, that is… depending on the wearer.

The staff member explained the quality of the brooches one by one. It was all made with expensive materials and an expert artisan.

Rina wasn't listening much to it as she was nervous that they would enter any minute now.

Speak of the devil!

Just as she was thinking about them, two men dressed in black entered.

In a high-pitched voice, so as to not be found out easily, she calmly tried to speak. "Please pack this one up."

Then, she quickly hid somewhere people won't easily notice as she saw two bodyguards coming in.

"Welcome! What are you looking for?" A staff member welcomed them, but that welcome was ignored by the two bodyguards, whose eyes were wandering around the store.

"Dear Sirs, if you are not here to shop, then please get out." The staff member sharply spoke.

Staffs of 'Lux Jewelry Palace' were highly trained to deal with customers. But if the 'customers' are not here to buy anything, they must kick them out no matter the consequences. It was their policy and it was even written on the entrance of the shop.

"What? Do you know who we are? Do you know who we take orders from?" An intimidating aura came from the two of them, making the people

"Dear Sirs, I do not care who you are or who your boss is nor do I need to know. What I do know is that you are bothering us and the customers in this place, look at how scared they are after you intimidated them. You are obstructing our business. All you have to do is step out of this place and never come back." With a smile still on the staff member's face and voice that never wavered even under the pressure of the two men, the staff member continuously spoke a barrage of words that was like an insult.

The bodyguards' faces turned red from anger. Just as they were about to speak again, a nonchalant voice interrupted them.

"Misters, you should probably follow their words or you'll regret it." The girl was staring at them nonchalantly like she didn't care. The words she said sounded like a joke.

"Tsk. What are you still doing? Didn't I already teach you to kick those kinds of customers out!" The manager furiously shouted.

The staff member immediately followed the manager's words and literally kicked them out of the store.

The bodyguards who were on the floor, looked at the staff member with a dumbfounded look on their faces.

"Next time, please read our policy. Ah, wait. You can't come here anymore as you are banned from coming here again or any of our branches. Dear sirs, we offer no next time here." The staff member ruthlessly spoke.

The staff member turned around and left the two dumbfounded men, who were now a laughing stock, hanging.

People pointed at them and laughed at their foolishness. The people who frequent here, all knew that they could mess with any store but never ever mess with 'Lux Jewelry Palace'. The staff members would hunt you down and do whatever it takes to make sure they get back at you tenfold.

They shouldn't have challenged that store…

Inside, after the commotion died down, Rina was still hiding in her spot.

Clack, clack.

Rina heard a clacking noise coming towards her. Then, it stopped right in front of her. In her line of sight, she saw a pair of two inches high heels with a color beige.

Looking up, she noticed that it was the same girl who was at the counter earlier, while talking to the manager.

Dressed in a white off shoulder for the top while a navy blue plaid skirt for the bottom showing off her milky white skin. She was holding a branded maroon handbag. Her ink black hair was tied up into a ponytail with window bangs.

The girl's blue crystal eyes stared at her, as a smile slowly formed on her thin luscious red lips.

"Hello?" The girl spoke to her. Her voice was melodic, pleasing to the ears. "Um, I was just wondering if you are alright."

"I-I'm fine!" Rina stuttered as she fidgeted with her fingers.

"Really? You look pale… Are you sure you're alright?" The girl worriedly asked.

"This is just my natural complexion." Rina said. It was also because she doesn't get much sunlight because she was always locked up in her room, as her father rarely allows her to go out.

She didn't even go to a school but was just homeschooled, as her father feared that she might get influenced by other kids.

It was only when she turned into an adult could she go out, but with permission from her father. She also had to agree to bring bodyguards wherever she went so that they can protect her, but to Rina, it was more like placing an eye on her.

She couldn't even go out and make friends. All the friends she had were arranged by her father. All her actions and movements were restricted.

"Okay. Would you like to join me in that room? We can look through the jewelries without any interruption." The girl said.

"Why?" Rina knew that she shouldn't follow a stranger so casually.

"Why? Hmm… How do I put this? Well, when I saw you enter the store, I suddenly felt like it was fate. I want to be friends with you!"

Eh? Why does that sentence sound wrong?

Rina felt confused at her explanation. So simply put, she just wanted to be friends with her. But Rina felt like she couldn't trust her yet. She felt like it was too sudden and suspicious.

Who would want to be friends with someone they met for the first time?

Seeing the doubtful look on Rina's face, the girl smiled. Then, as if remembering something, she went 'Ah!'.

"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Ayami… Ayami Gardner."