Survival of the Fittest.

Phoenix lied on the comfortable bed after taking a shower. Once upon a time, taking a shower and being clean from dirt was a luxury to her, so however tired she was, she would never miss taking a bath and cleaned herself.

Going through her handbag, she took out her phone and plugged it into the charger. She waited for a few seconds before turning it on. Her phone had died sometime without her notice. 'This so-called 'smart' phone, shouldn't they at least have a battery that can last throughout the day? Not only the battery life is short, the lifespan of the phone also can only last about two to three years before it goes 'kaput'. What a smart way to rob people's money,' Phoenix complained in her mind.

Once her phone was turned on, several notifications came pouring in. She ignored all of it and only checked her call log.

'Of course, there's a missed call from Sky. It's too late to call him now.'

Phoenix didn't care about the other missed call that she got. She only looked at the missed call from a contact saved as 'Sky', in her phone.

Every time she came back from work, she would call Sky or waited for his call to share about their day. She loved hearing Sky talked about his day, what he did, what he ate, and who he met with Sienna and Phoenix would listen attentively.

Sometimes, Sky complained about Sienna, and Phoenix would just listen, it put a smile on Phoenix's face hearing he talked. The phone calls were the only thing that could make her dull day suddenly bright and she could fall asleep with her heart in ease and have a good sleep throughout the night.

Phoenix left Country B a week ago in a hurry and there were a lot of things that needed to be arranged before they could reunite with each other.

"I better find a real estate agent fast, to help me find a suitable house," she said to no one. She searched in her mind the name of neighbourhoods that she may have heard her employee mentioned.

"I need to get some sleep. I'm too worn out after today's event." Phoenix sighed regretfully since today she missed her daily call and she knew there was a high chance it would be a sleepless night for her.

While lying on the bed facing the ceiling, Phoenix recollected her day and her life.

Her day was a hectic one, attending meetings, visiting stores, meeting partners and checking documents. Then came the dinner with her subordinates, saving a drugged girl in the elevator and the trip to the hospital. What a day!

Pondering about her life, never before in her life, she thought she would be living like this.

Working and living like a normal person would. Earning money to survive living in this world.

Surviving.

Living.

Was it really different, her life before and her life now?

Wasn't she also trying to survive before?

To keep on living

Survival of the fittest.

After playing this all in her head, her mind finally shut down, her eyes closed and her breath even. Her once buried memory resurfaced in her dream.

*****

*Blaargh

*Blaargh

"You can't throw up. You need to eat." The girl patted the back of the boy's body to help him ease the nausea he was feeling.

"I can't. It's disgusting."

"If you don't eat. You die," the girl said.

The boy looked at the meat in the girl's hand and made a disgusting face.

"Eat," the girl said again, shoving the meat in front of the boy's face. Pointing the meat in her hand with her eyes, the girl urged the boy to take it.

The boy looked at the meat in the girl's hand; the meat was raw and still covered in blood, the iron smell was strong and made him wrinkled his nose. Due to their circumstances, they couldn't even cook the meat and just had to settle for it raw.

With a shaking hand, the boy took the red bloodied meat from the girl's hand. The girl smiled slightly, relieved that the boy was at least willing to accept it.

"Eat," she repeated the word again.

"How can you eat this?" the boy asked her.

"To survive," she simply answered.

"It's disgusting," the boy said again.

"Fine! Don't eat. I'll eat it. It's food. I want to live."

She snatched the meat from the boy's hand and shoved it into her mouth. She chewed the meat roughly, and the meat juices filled her mouth, staining her teeth red.

The boy looked at her and grimaced at the sight. She just ignored the look that the boy gave her.

*Rumble

*Rumble

A sound from the boy's stomach was heard, and the boy rubbed his tummy. The girl snickered at the boy.

She ignored the boy and continued chewing the meat. It was hard, there were tears threatening to fall at the corner of her eyes, but she had to do this. It was not that she enjoyed it, but she aimed to survive this and be alive.

'Survival of the fittest.'

She had to survive this.

*****

"We are done! We are so done Katie!" A girl was pacing back and forth in the room talking to the other person who was with her in the room.

"Shut up Lola! and please stop moving. You give me a headache!" The other girl, Katie, was trying to keep a brave front. However, inside, she was also scared of their fate after they failed their quest tonight.

It was supposed to be an easy task, but they have failed because of that lady. 'How can that lady beat the two men?' Now, the two men were in police custody, they were afraid their hands in the scheme would be exposed.

"What will happen to us now? We shouldn't let Mia drink the wine." Lola had stopped moving around, but she changed to biting the tip of her finger.

"We only give the wine to Mia, it's not like we know it was drugged. I think we'll be fine," said Katie.

"Fine? Don't you know how Mia's brothers are? They were so protective of her. You think you'll be fine if they found out what we did? We are dead!"

"We didn't hire those men, that was 'that person' people. We don't know them and we aren't related to them, we will be fine." Katie was convinced with her own words.

"And 'that person'? Do you think 'that person' will let us be?" Lola asked with hopeful eyes.

"We didn't fail. We were asked to invite Mia to the party and give her the drink. The rest is not our doing." Katie rolled her eyes towards Lola.

"You are right". Lola looked at Katie sceptically, 'I hope what you say is true Katie', deep inside Lola regretted following Katie's persuasion.

Little that they knew, their fate was already sealed when they try to harm Mia. Both of them would face the wrath of the Qins', the Hans, and the devil, and no one could survive from that.