25 A Place To Reside

I stood frozen in front of the door, staring blankly at the golden plate. It had number 9013 carved on it. The nine to represent the floor and thirteen as the room number.

'This should be it,' I thought.

I could only remember vaguely since Li Fei had only stayed here that one time. And after that, she never came again. Besides, this memory was not mine. I wouldn't be able to completely grasp everything. There would be a hole here and there.

I even doubted that Li Fei herself could remember everything. After all, she had had her head in the cloud because of Lu Tianfeng.

But, I believed this was the room since I was feeling deja vu. I glanced at the dark screen above the handle. When my hand leaned closer to the screen, the sensor seemed to have been activated and row of numbers appeared on the upper space of the blank screen.

Following my memory, I entered the password and pressed my thumb on the empty space below the numbers. Then, the monitor traced my fingerprint line by line just like in the elevator.

When I heard the beeping sound coming from the device, I knew I was in the right place and I had entered the correct password.

I grabbed onto the metal handle and pushed opened the door.

As soon as I stepped inside, the light by the entryway automatically switched on. My eyes were immediately greeted with a minimalistic design interiors. Everything was in the shade of black and white with accents of dark marble and light-wood colors. The interior set off an elegant vibe but also a bit rugged with bold and structured funitures.

I took off my shoes and put on the indoors slippers which had been snuck away near the shoes cabinet.

I didn't really bother myself to check out Li Fei's shoes collection and directly strode towards the floor to ceiling window that stretched widely in the living room, giving me a full view of the capital city below.

It did concede with the apartment's name. It gave its tenant a great view of the city. I wondered how it would look like at night. Imagining dozens of lights lighting up the city, I couldn't help myself but be dazzled. It would surely be an amazing sight.

But for now, I really needed sleep. My eyes were getting heavy again. Although I did doze off on the way to the apartment, it didn't alleviate my exhaustion much.

Alas, I turned away from the window and headed towards the bedroom at the end of the hallway.

I had to say though, when I entered the bedroom, it wasn't what I had expected at all. I had already anticipated warm color scheme and feminine theme that was so much like Li Fei who loved vintage style. But instead, it was the opposite.

I was welcomed with another dark color palette and the same bold interiors. I became speechless at the sight of this masculine bedroom, although I admitted this apartment was on the high level of aesthetic. This type of minimalist interior design was something I often saw in a magazine.

I didn't comment much on the kitchen and the living room area because I thought those were common space and decorating it too much in a girly manner would be too excessive. But bedroom was a personal space and it represented the owner's personality. So, I thought Li Fei would style it to her liking.

However, this was far from her taste. Looking through her memory, this just screamed Lu Tianfeng.

As for me, I didn't know what to say. I felt complicated looking at all these. I guessed it was right up my alley, but thinking that I would be staying here, I couldn't bring myself to call this home.

I felt detached and constricted. It was as if I was looking up at a throne. Though tempting and glamorous, the sight of its power imbued fear and an overwhelming suppresion.

This...wasn't home.

But then again, where was home?

I wasn't Li Fei and I couldn't be Airi. Either way, there wouldn't be a family. One was dead and one was evil.

So there was no home. No place to return to. Only a place to reside.