6. A FRIEND

The cool wind brushed against her as she dashed over the tall building roofs. Not far away she could see UM Apartments. She increased her speed as she headed towards its direction.

The minimal small decorative artistic protrusions on the walls of the apartment, always made climbing easier. As she made her way down to the 7th floor's corner balcony, she could smell delicious home-made food. As the mouth-watering smell hit her senses, she slowly made her way through the balcony door. She headed straight to the kitchen.

She leaned on the door frame as she watched Bo Xue make the dishes.

Xue always stood beside her whether she was right or wrong. They knew each other from high school. She still remembered how desperate Xue was during her high school. Her friend's betrayal had left her broken.

She floated away thinking how their friendship grew over the years. Her support during the hardest times of her life were one of the reasons she kept taking small steps to move ahead.

"Mei!" exclaimed Xue out of shock and happiness. Meilin was immediately pulled out from her train of thoughts.

"At least take of the mask. Did you come through the balcony?" questioned Xue as she prepared the table for the meal.

"Yes." replied Meilin as she took of her mask.

"You know what, the reason I have a door is that you can come in and out. So why do you stick to the walls? Do they seem interesting?"

"No, they always remind me of the reality. After all a slip is all that is needed."

"Mei. Then I will join you next time." Xue responded with a wink.

Meilin smiled seeing her actions.

They sat down to have their meal.

"So how was it today?"

"Hmm."

"Any causality?"

"A few minor." she replied thinking about the hooligans in the alley.

***********

Hui headed towards the direction of the club to pick Mey as soon as he received her call. Mey got inside the car. They were heading back home.

"Guess what? I saw around five to six hooligans beaten down in the alley between the club and the other building. They all had a well built body and they all were badly beaten down. The highlight was that everyone had a similar head injury." Mey spoke about what she saw.

Hui had his brows closed in and was not happy about what he heard, "What made you involve?"

"No. I have nothing to do with it. I came across it just as I wanted to take a call outside the club." Mey responded. Hui silently listened to what she said.

It wasn't a long drive. As soon as they reached home. Hui went inside the room and made a call,"I heard about a brawl that happened near the club Three alley. Get me the entire details of the incident. I will drop by tomorrow to get the information. I don't want anything missing." he ordered.

"Yes Boss. We will look into it."

"I don't need you just look it. I want solid information."

"Yes Boss", replied the voice from the other end.

Hui sat and pondered about the situation. They have come across so many incidents lately were hooligans have been beaten down badly. They all will be left in a remote place helplessly. They have been looking into the cases for clues. Always leaving to a dead end. He wanted to get to the bottom of this.

************

The meal was quite pleasing. Meilin and Xue sat down in the living room for a small chat.

"Mei" Xue called out.

"Hmm. What is it?"

"Is the contract with the company ending soon?"

"Hmm. It is."

"Have you thought about what to do after that?"

"No."

"Why not think about it?"

Mei slowly stood up and headed towards the balcony and opened the door and responded,"Hmm. I will let you know. Take care. Its getting late." with that said she headed outside not waiting for a reply.

She had always been like this when it was about the company. 'She sure needs time. After all the wound is deep.' thought Xue.

"The dark clouds doesn't stay long. The wind always eliminates them slowly. So don't loose hope."