25 Standing before Lucifer

Sara always left during noon so Li Muchen had not expected Sara to still be at his apartment since it was already past 6 in the evening.

Heya threw herself happily into Minde's arms when she saw him. It was nice to finally see him in person after going away for long.

"Bro Minde, when did you get back? Why didn't you tell me?"

Li Minde was her favourite cousin. Although, he had a younger brother who was around her age, She wasn't really close with him because he was always 'too serious'.

Since Minde was the 'bad sheep' of his family, his parents had invested more resources into taking care of his younger brother Li Hoy, instead.

So Li Hoy acted more matured than most people his age.

Li Minde laughed and gave her a half hug since he was still carrying the shopping bags and could not wrap his arms around her in a proper hug.

"So Big bro finally allowed you to stay with him?" He asked since he knew all the tactics she had been using to get Li Muchen to allow her stay with him.

She gave a cheeky grin as she raised her head and answered, "Yea, sure!"

She pulled away from his embrace and that was when he finally paid attention to the other person standing there.

Sara had always prayed for this day to never come even in her dreams.

When Minde was busy with Heya, several thoughts filed through her mind. What was she going to do? Should she feign ignorance? Should she pretend to faint or run back inside the house?

What if he reminded CEO Li about her 'gangster' behaviour, she may end up getting fired! And she had already promised to get a lot of things for Joreen and even buy her family a new house after she was done with this.

She had even totally forgotten about Li Muchen who was still standing there, looking intently at her.

She was completely focused on her thoughts.

Should she just allow things play smoothly? Smoothly? Nothing was ever going to play out smoothly! 

She couldn't help sighing in resignation as she silently prayed for God to save her.

She was sure that although she could 'fool' Li Muchen since he only saw her once and she was putting on a hoodie that day, the same could not be said about Li Minde since they both knew each other and he had been on the receiving end of her tyranny that day.

Li Minde finally noticed Sara standing there and looked her up and down as he wondered what a pretty girl who was dressed like that was doing in his cousin's apartment.

He was about to ask Heya whether Sara was her friend but when he looked closely at her, he noticed she seemed to look very familiar.

Really, really familiar.

And he was not getting good vibes from this strange looking girl at all.

When Sara saw the way he was looking at her, she averted his gaze and finally looked at Li Muchen.

She was suddenly startled by the way Li Muchen was looking at her. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. 'Is he suspecting something?' She wondered impatiently.

"Good evening Mr Li" She said with a forced smile and bowed slightly.

As usual, he sent her a curt nod and didn't say anything else after he looked at her up and down.

This attitude still annoyed Sara. But she could not probably hit him right? Who was he to look at her like she was filthy? If he thought his money gave him the right to look at her that way, she would slap him on his face with it and quit her job!

But when she remembered Joreen's happy face when she had handed her a list of the things she needed to buy, She just had to swallow everything and entertain his behaviour. She might probably lose her job soon though.

When Muchen looked at her, he noticed they were both putting on grey and black outfits. To him, It really looked like a couple's outfit. A smile almost crept into his face but then, he suddenly realized why the atmosphere suddenly changed when he saw both their expressions.

It had totally skipped his mind and he had not been able to plan ahead for this day. Here they were— Sara Wang and Li Minde.

After Sara greeted Li Muchen, she turned to face Li Minde with the same fake smile plastered on her face.

Heya, who did not notice the awkwardness, thought Sara probably did not know how to address Minde so she spoke,

"Sara, This is my cousin Li Minde. You can also address him as Mr Li."

'Of course he is' She thought to herself as she forced out a smile to greet him,

"Good evening to you too Mr Li." She bowed slightly.

Minde's mouth fell open in disbelief.

He did not want to believe it was her, but it was really her? Sara? Of course it was her!

Even before he heard Heya say her name, he knew it was her but was still in denial. He remembered her! Who wouldn't remember the girl that had appeared in their nightmare several times?

After she had promised to come back for him, he had imagined several scenarios of her, coming at him with a knife just like Chucky.

Why was she here? In his brother's house?

He was about to say something when Li Muchen who had been observing everything suddenly interrupted.

"Come with me Heya" He said as he led her by the hand inside the house.

He knew if he remained there, Li Minde would probably ruin everything. For some reasons he did not know about, he did not want Sara to know that he remembered her from their first encounter two years ago.

"Bro! Bro!!" Minde called after Muchen's retreating figure desperately. He wanted to know what was going on here.

But unfortunately, the front door was already shut.

When Heya and Muchen entered, His lips curved upward slightly.

He trusted Sara to handle the entire situation.

This time, Sara was thankful that Li Muchen suddenly left. This was the first time she actually appreciated his aloofness towards her.

Sara who was still 'smiling', looked at Li Minde who was still trying to get Muchen's attention despite the door being closed.

Through gritted teeth, she said, "Shut the hell up, you  bastard!"

When he heard her, and saw her 'smiling' face, there was a sudden chill in his spine.

He really felt like he was standing before Lucifer!

This was a nightmare!

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