Luna felt her whole body exhausted; her job had drained all her energy. But, the moon up there was too beautiful for her to avert her gaze from it. She leaned against the barrier in the balcony with her folded hands on her chest watching the stars and the full moon in the night sky.
A moment like this made her reminisce about her togetherness with her mother and sisters before grandma Li's visit to bring her to this new world.
How was her mother? Her yearning for her mother secretly took over her heart that she had eagerness to call and listen to her voice. Unfortunately, her mobile phone wasn't with her. She might have put it somewhere in her room.
Spinning around, she impatiently scrambled back to the room. It was poor for her as the power abruptly went out. Blackout darkened the area around her. She never experienced it before During her stay in this house. There had to be something wrong with the electricity.
Walking in the darkness, she stumbled on her feet. The strapping torso shielded her fragile body from falling. It was a man, the one she couldn't see his face. His perfume reminded her of a familiar person.
"Danish…"she whispered in startle while jerking herself away from the strong figure in front of her along with the light which was on.
"It seems you always find a way to take advantage of every situation, Miss," he quipped cynically.
"You think too highly of yourself, Sir. Not everything in this world revolves around your orbit." Luna's words altered his expression. From his tensed face, he restrained his desire to debate with her. "That was an accident. I can't see in the darkness. So, I unintentionally hit you. Sorry." Luna's words might have slapped him in the face but she didn't care. There should be someone who could teach him a lesson.
***
Having breakfast with the Li Family with Danish among them seemed awkward for Luna. Every time their eyes unconsciously met, the night incident during the blackout popped up in her mind.
To cope with that uncomfortable feeling, Luna just set her focus on the food on her plate, pretending nothing bothered her. It wasn't her fault, after all, so there was nothing she should feel uneasy with.
Luna's hand stretched to ladle the soup and at the same time, Danish scoped the soup too; his hand rested over hers. For a second, the time stopped and their gaze locked. Luna towed her hand briskly before the others noticed that their hands linked.
"You go first," Luna allowed in her trembling lips.
"No, lady's first."
"Ehm… Well for me, nothing is happier than seeing you both treat each other nicely like this."
"Grandma…. It's not like what you're thinking about." Luna argued. Meanwhile Danish was just quiet.
"Ehm…." Sandra Li looked bothered. She put her spoon to the table harshly. "I am done!" Irritated with what her mother did, she excused herself. Instead of reacting to Sandra's irritation, grandma Li changed the topic
"So, you have started working in the restaurant?"
"Yes, grandma…"
"How many days do you work in a week?"
"They require me to work everyday but Sunday."
"Anyway, I have prepared everything for your engagement." Grandma Li's statement surprised Luna and Danish. They directed their incredulous eyes at that old woman in unison. "And the preparation has reached fifty per cent. But, you can still work for a few days ahead." Grandma Li smiled at Luna who just felt dumbfounded. "I also have asked the best designer to design the gown you are going to wear on the engagement day. And you can fit it in the next two days."
"Thank you but you shouldn't have done that. It was just an engagement party, after all. So…."
"This is going to mark an important day in your life. I want the best for you and Danish."
Luna didn't have courage to argue with grandma Li. Her decision was like a declaration and all people in Li's family were bound to it including Danish.
Sometimes, Luna felt pity with Danish's life because like her, he didn't have a choice how he lived his life. His life was fully under grandma Li's control. And it was no different when it came to who he should love and marry.
Luna swallowed her saliva, she fathomed
that being Danish was sometimes hard; doing something that was against his heart was not an easy thing.
Danish left the room earlier before grandma Li. Luna chased him who just got out of the house.
"Danish...wait!" That man discontinued his steps. They had stood a meter apart now. Luna stiffened in her place. Her mouth trembled with words she had anticipated coming out of her lips. "We still have time to change everything." Finally, Luna spoke after fighting against her nervousness. "We can tell grandma Li that we never love each other and we can't continue the engagement."
"Do you think my grandma will listen to us? You don't know her. If she wants something, she will get it no matter what." Danish hurriedly headed to his car and slipped into it.
Danish's words about grandma Li kept echoing in Luna's mind even after she arrived at her workplace.
"If she wants something, she will get it no matter what."
Luna shuddered in eerie. Did he tell the truth about his grandma? Was grandma Li that ambitious? She would do anything to gain everything she wanted? Speculations had played in Luna's head in a minute. It was only Huanran's voice that snapped her to her senses.
"Miss Yang… please deliver this food to this address." Reading the address on the paper, Luna's squinted, trying to recall that place. Has she ever been in that place before? "Miss Yang…. Can you do it?"
"Oh...sure….I'll do it right away."
Securing the food, Luna started the engine of the motorcycle. The motorcycle brought her to the address she went to.
Half way, Luna stopped and rechecked the address to make sure that she got in the right direction. As the farther she rode, the more desolate the place was. And the building she spotted on the left and the right of the road looked abandoned.
Luna ceased; it had been many times. Getting suspicious with her surrounding, she fished her mobile phone out of her pocket to track the route.
This place she was going through was not found on the map. And fear of getting lost made her panic. What if the food order was fictive? In her panic, she decided to turn around and leave that place. She could find an excuse for her failure this time to the owner of the restaurant. It was her safety that mattered the most now.
"Huanran Restaurant?" Someone's voice shocked her; Luna swivelled. "Are you from Huanran restaurant?" A bulky man with tattoos all over her arms and strict expression faced her. From his appearance, he looked like a boss of the mafia.