Nice Seeing You Again

The next morning, Grace almost screamed out when she checked the time; it was 7 a.m., and she had never slept up to that time.

"Mother will kill me," she thought with a scared tone. Then she looked at her environment, and her mind became awake.

"Oh," she had forgotten that she had ran away from home and had a class at 9 a.m., so she wasn't late for class.

Grace got freshened up and found clean clothes in the closet. She got dressed and went downstairs. The aroma from the food on the table got her tastebuds active.

"Good morning, Miss Chen," the butler who stood by the table said.

The table was filled with Dim Sum: dumplings, steamed buns, spring rolls, and rice noodle rolls.

"I am not used to having breakfast." She hardly ate breakfast; the only time she used to eat breakfast was when her friends forced her to join them at the cafeteria.

"Please have a taste, Miss Chen."

She nodded and sat on the table before picking up the chopsticks. "Won't you all join?" she asked the butler and the maids, who shook their heads in denial.

"Am I supposed to eat all of this alone?"

"Don't bother, Miss Chen; the leftovers won't go to waste," the butler assured her. Just from her look, he could tell the type of person she was.

Grace didn't want to force them to do what they didn't, so she ate her food silently. "It's so tasty," she commented, and the maids had a proud smile.

Krish walked downstairs with a school bag for Grace. "I parked your bag."

"You did?" It was a new school bag. Grace opened it to find some new notebooks and her science textbooks, which she couldn't afford. Then there was her phone and some cash.

"Where did the cash come from?"

Krish shrugged her shoulders, though she was the one who placed it there per her master's order.

After having breakfast, she got into the car, and the driver took off.

She received a WeChat message, and she knew at once that it was Mr. Xu because he was the only one with her contact.

[What does your driver look like?]

[I don't know, medium size] She replied and waited for his next message, which came in immediately. [He will be your personal driver; don't trust any other driver who is not him.].

She swallowed nervously and simply replied, [Okay.]

And then she changed his name from "my protector" to "Mr. Xu."

"More comfortable," she thought.

The car dropped her in front of the gate, and she walked down. "Thanks, Mr. Li," she waved at him before she walked inside and spotted Steph and Ken.

"Grace," Steph smiled at her; they were both so busy arguing that they didn't even notice the car that dropped her off.

"Good morning." Grace smiled at them.

"Let's go have breakfast before class." Ken suggested, but Grace shook her head in denial. "I already had breakfast."

"Why are you dressed this way?" Steph and Ken stared at her beautiful gown, which looked very simple but was expensive.

Grace also stared at herself. "How?"

"I mean… Well, never mind. You suddenly disappeared yesterday after the presentation. Why?"

"Let's go to class, Steph." Grace avoided their questions.

"And, oh yes, I will send you a WeChat message, okay?"

"You have a phone now?" Ken questioned, and Grace nodded before she headed to class while Steph and Ken stared at each other. "Did her parents become caring over night?" Steph asked in disbelief.

"Maybe," answered Ken.

-

After school, Grace stood at the entrance with Ken, as Steph had already left school.

"Umm, tomorrow is a half day. And a new episode of The Legend of the Moonlit Blossom will be shown; do you want to go watch it with me?"

"It will be out tomorrow?" Grace asked excitedly, and Ken nodded. "Of course I will come."

"Great, let's go after classes tomorrow then." 

"Sure, just let Steph know in time so she won't complain about underdressing." Grace chuckled, but Ken had a nervous look.

"Umm, Steph will be busy; it will be just us."

"Oh," 

Then she spotted a familiar car across the road; it was Mr. Xu's car. She never expected him to come pick her up personally.

"You should go ahead," she said, urging Ken to leave because she didn't want him to see her talking to Mr. Xu.

"Okay, send me a WeChat message as well, okay?" 

Ken stopped a cab and got in. Grace crossed the road and approached Mr. Xu's car. Seb got out of the car and pulled the door open. "Hello, Miss Chen," he said, smiling at her, and she nodded.

"It's good seeing you again," she said before she got into the car, and then felt the atmosphere in the car was frightening.

Seb closed the door, but he didn't get inside. Instead, he stared around and spotted a black van. They got alerted that a car had been following Grace; that's why Raymond came to pick her up personally.

In the car...

"Umm…" Grace didn't even know how to greet him or how to approach him, so she just kept quiet.

"I said no male friends."

"You also said if Ken was an animal, then I could keep him, and according to science, he is an animal of class mammalia." 

Raymond frowned at her, and she shut her lips tightly and got scared. "If he is dead, will he still be an animal?" He raised a brow, and Grace's eyes widened in shock.

"Did you have any trouble in school today?" He casually changed the topic, and she shook her head in denial. "Any new friends?"

"None"

"New teachers?"

Grace got confused. "Are you that interested in my education?"

*

Seb received a call from Nathalie, Raymond's sister, and he picked it up. "Yes?"

"Why is Ray ignoring my calls?" she asked angrily.

"He is busy with his girlfriend."

"His what???" Nathalie screamed. Seb had to bring the phone away from his ears. "What do you mean by girlfriend? How could he have a girlfriend?"

"He is human; can't he have a girlfriend? Well, I have to go now." He ended the call, got inside the car, and nodded at Raymond, who understood, so Seb drove away.

Grace was getting scared of the silence, so she decided to break it. "You didn't tell me your name," she said to Seb. Raymond glared at her angrily.

"Sebastian, Seb for short."

"Oh, okay, Seb. Thanks for picking me up from school."

"Please stop talking, ma'am," Seb pleaded after he felt that Mr. Xu was glaring at him.

"Why? what's wrong?"

"Why don't I put on some music?" He wanted her to stop talking to him, and the best way was to turn on the music.

"Stop the car." Raymond ordered, and Seb did just that. Raymond got out of the car and opened the driver's door. "Get down; take a cab back to your place."

Seb knew how short-tempered his boss was, so he didn't argue and went down the car. Raymond looked around before he said "Find out who is trailing her," then he got into the driver's seat and drove away, abandoning Seb on the lonely tree.

Grace had a confused look; she was still trying to understand why he did that. "Was it because I talked to him?"

"I said don't make friends with men; you need to listen to me, baby." men were dangerous; he needed to keep them away from her.