Page 4 of Everdoll

My hand flew to my mouth. “So rude, Silvia.”

“Don’t talk to me as if we’re close. Leave me alone. I’m just… tired.”

She stopped resisting, and I stepped back, glancing. This familiar tired expression made my heart ache. No, please smile. How can I make you smile?

Once, I was a girl who wished for a world where everyone was happy. But over the years, life had shown me the impossibility of it.

Through many tragic events. Through a very precious person.

Instead of saving him, I was the one who shattered his smiles.

I gulped, then found my voice, loud and firm, bordering on a shout.

“Don’t hold back! You’re allowed to be tired, Silvia! Just remember, we’ve got your back no matter what. It’s just a phase, it won’t always be this hard! I promise you!”

“Well, thanks for the pep talk, but I’m not sure,” Silvia glanced over Prisne. “That so-called cop has a lot on her plate. I think she’s trying to get rid of me.”

Huh? I turned my suspicious gaze to Prisne, but she just put her hand to her mouth, feigning surprise.

“Look at a liar! For the past two days, I’ve only been dealing with your treatment!”

Wow, this is surprising. Prisne rarely took such a close interest in her clients. And Silvia wasn’t even really a client, logically speaking. She’d been found in the bar in her mutated state, and could even be considered a suspect, yet Prisne seemed to have a soft spot for her.

I beamed at them. “You guys are already close.”

Silvia immediately waved in refusal. “Not at all!”

“Of course,” Prisne comfortably wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “She’s my new little sister.”

“I already have a sister, thanks. Don’t need another one.”

I broke into laughter. “I think you need a cop sister, actually. They can be helpful.”

“Not a bad idea.” Silvia nodded. “I might actually count on her to cover for me if I ever killed someone.”

“Don’t you dare.” She grimaced as Prisne tugged on her ears. “If I ever catch you committing a crime again, I’ll send you to jail myself, I swear.”

“Don’t worry. Once I get my chip back, I’m going to kick your ass and pray I never see your damn face again.”

I gave a clap with flat face. “I love the determination. It’s rare nowadays.”

Prisne glared at me. “Enough, Mina.”

I only grinned. We kept walking, catching a glimpse of Silvia, I felt a pang of recognition.

She was so young, so confused and lost. Almost a mirror of my younger self. I barely knew her, but since we’d met today, it couldn’t be for nothing.

At that very moment, I made silent promises to myself:

Prisne will boost customer satisfaction, I’ll return to the agency with excellent news, and our little Silvia will get her chip and return home peacefully. Everything will be fine.

But what I didn’t know was that “fine” was the last thing everything was going to be tonight.

CHAPTER 2

We stopped at the yellow neon sign glowing above a shack-like building. Silvia stared at it in confusion, Prisne left her standing there, heading for the entrance.

“This is it? We can just walk in like that?”