so sad

Su Zhilan sat on the bed in her ward. She was anxiously looking at her phone, every once in a while.

Just then, her phone suddenly lit up, accompanied with a beep. She quickly unlocked her phone and checked the message.

" It's time" Seeing this two words appear on the screen, she stood up and walked to her luggage. She took out a set of clothes and quickly changed into them.

She walked out of the ward; stopping to look around, before taking a trash bin and walking towards the back exit of the building.

After successfully reaching outside, she walked to a corner and dumped the trashcan along with it's contents inside a built-up area.

" The cleaners would surely see it anyways" She muttered and walked towards a pathway, leading to the main road.

After a while, she got to the main road and boarded a taxi.

On the way, she caught sight of a fancy small restaurant ahead. The mouthwatering aroma from the small restaurant, made her stomach grumbled.

" It would be nice to eat something before leaving" She reasoned, and turned to the driver. " Please can you stop me in front of that restaurant?" She asked, pointing at the restaurant ahead of them.

The driver stopped the car in front of the restaurant. She alighted and payed the driver before walking into the restaurant.

When she was inside, she just picked a table closer to the window, and began tapping away on her phone. A sit close to the window is usually her favourite spot to sit, each time she goes to any restaurant and that's if the sit hasn't been taken.

Not too long, a waiteress walked up to her.

" Good day, ma'am. Welcome to our restaurant. Please what would you love to have?"

Su Zhilan looked up from her phone and smiled slightly. " Please can I see your menu?"

" Of course ma'am" The waitress passed her a menu.

She picked three dishes and a drink, and handed the menu back to the waitress.

" Alright ma'am. I will go take your orders" The waitress said and turned to leave. But for some reasons, she abruptly paused her steps and looked back at Su Zhilan, strangely.

" Please, i am sorry but can I ask you a question?" She hesitated for a while.

Su Zhilan raised her head up to look at her and nodded with a frown.

" Did you attend Longman college?"

" Yes i did" She replied. Could she be one of those people who knew her as the Su family young Miss or wife to Hui Yihan. Or she heard the news about her divorce and wanted to mock her.

But why did she mention Longman college? When she left to England to study, only few people knew. Though they knew she had went to England to study, they didn't exactly know the school she went to. It isn't even in those biographies, those media people write.

" Sorry but are you named Su Zhilan, Chinese name. Elena English name?"

Su Zhilan pursed her lips. This may be someone who knew her very well.

" Yes"

" So it's really you Lanlan!" She exclaimed.

Su Zhilan furrowed her brows and adjusted her sitting position. In this life time, only her mother and father, and some close friends she knew back in Longman college that call her by that nickname.

" It's me, Zhou Ren!" She said, cheerfully.

" You are Zhou Ren? This is a lie!" She said in disbelief.

" It's really me Lanlan. It's me"

Su Zhilan stood up and took a look at her again.

" OMG! It's really you, renren" she exclaimed and they tightly hugged each other.

" What are you doing here?" Su Zhilan asked as she stared down at Zhou Ren's clothes. She wa wearing a neatly ironed sleeve shirt and a tight fitted skirt, she had a white apron tied around her neck and waist. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she applied light make up on her face.

Su Zhilan was actually shocked at the fact that the Zhou Ren she once knew is now a.....

Zhou Ren sighed. " It's a long story my friend"

" What long story? You have to tell me what kind of story placed you in this condition" She insisted.

" Alright. Let me bring your orders first"

" Ok. Also bring some for yourself"

" You don't have to worry about me. I am ok" Zhou Ren refused.

" No, you have to bring some for yourself too"

Zhou Ren agreed and went to bring the food. Later, she came back with two trays and placed them on the table.

Su Zhilan sniffed the tempting aroma of the food and breathed a sigh of relief. And her stomach growled in response.

Zhou Ren laughed. " Your haven't changed a bit"

They soon began to eat.

" So I heard what happened to you on the news" Zhou Ren started, awkwardly.

Su Zhilan paused her spoon, which was about to go into her mouth and stared at her.

" It's ok if you don't want to talk about it" She said.

Su Zhilan shook her head in response and sighed. "It's not like i don't want to talk about it" She had nothing to hide from Zhou Ren. They were once best of friends and each other's confidant.

She briefly narrated what has been going on in her life since she left..... Practically ran from college.

" Oh my god! I never thought such a thing could happen to you" Zhou Ren was puzzled, after her explanation.

" It's ok" She said, with a smile.

" It's not. I thought he was actually a good man, looking from his mannerism and appearance and that you were happy with him but it seemed i was wrong all this while. How could he do such a thing?!"

" Calm down, Zhou Ren. It's now in the past" She coaxed. Zhou Ren was the type to get angry quickly. Especially when it came to matters concerning the people she love.

" Now, tell me about yourself. Why is the daughter of the Zhou family working as a waiteress in such a small restaurant?" She asked as a way of diverting the topic to Zhou Ren and to feed her curiosity.

" It's really a long story. Life really hasn't been easy after I left college" she started.

" What happened? Please spill!"

" After you left, I still had to continue with my studies, since i still had one year left. The following year, i graduated. But my family didn't come for the graduation. So I got angry and left meet them the very next day" She narrated and put a meat into her mouth, with a stuffy expression. Clearly she wasn't comfortable with what she was about to say.

" When I got home, I was shocked to see that my father was seriously sick and his company was not doing well. Though he tried to visit the hospital and took medications, his illness was not an ordinary one. The company's stock market dropped significantly and the shareholders were beginning to pressure my father to give up his position as the CEO. But he refused"

" He stubbornly tried to raise the company back to it's glory, but he failed. And the company stock price continue to drop. The people who lent him money, all came to him demanding for their money or the properties he used as collateral. And they were my father's priced possessions"

" The shareholders began to redraw their share one after the other. And the people who lent my father money, took his properties he used as collateral, since he couldn't give them their money"

" My father lost the company and this took a huge tour on his health. Though it was confirmed that he could do a surgery, there was fifty fifty chance. He could make it or won't make it. His condition worsened. At this point, My mother did the unthinkable"

By now, Su Zhilan's expressions dampened. Zhou Ren looked at her and continued. She was going to let it all out.

" My mother took My father's properties document and ran off. Still now, we didn't see her anymore. After this, i finally decided to convince my father to go for the surgery. After much persuasion, he agreed. The bills were much, so we decided to sell off our remaining properties and footed the bills. Fortunately, he made it out"

" But we were left with nothing. We relocated to this city to start anew. My father and I do manual jobs for a living"

" OMG! I can't believe you passed through all that!" Su Zhilan exclaimed. She thought what she had passed through in life was unbearable but her own situation was better than that of Zhou Ren. At least she didn't fall from riches to poverty.

" I am so sorry" She said

" It's ok. It's in the past now"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing. When Su narrated her own ordeal, Zhou Ren was angry and keep say sorry. And Su Zhilan told her " it's ok. It's in the past now". Zhou Ren unknowingly repeated it.

After they had calm down, Zhou Ren expression suddenly changed. Her gaze turned blank and cold.

" What's wrong?" Su Zhilan asked after noticing her change in expression.

" I have finally meet you again, Su Zhilan. I have always had a very important question to ask you on behalf of her group back then...."