XG 31- Never again favoured an outsider 

 

It was only because she was time conscious that she whacked her lazy self and quickly took her possibly last luxurious bath. 

 

Before taking her sweet bath, she charged both her phones and power banks. She also sent a message to Nurul Hanani’s phone, but the messaging app told her it was still sending to the recipient. Her friends might still be inside the helicopter that was not suitable for accepting calls. She does not know where they would be going, or how long the communication line would last, which was worrying.

 

Yesterday was the day she graduated from high school and she was still wondering about what college course to take. She knew her life would change, but she never thought it would change in such a traumatic way that forced her to be an independent adult with a sloppy self-taught crash course on the arts of stabbing. 

 

With bandaged hands protected by surgical gloves, Wong Xue Guo did not take a long time to shower, but when she washed her long hair, she wondered if she should cut it short. Would it be more convenient with long hair that she could tie them up, or a short bob?

 

On second thought, she would keep her long hair until she could not. 

 

As Suzie Yap's daughter, she never got to experience a short hairstyle before, except for her forgotten baby years. Her mother would definitely kill her if she cut her hair, as she had the mindset that it was only a low salaried person that could not effort taking care of long hair.

 

She could talk herself out of wearing a t-shirt and jeans since she had already worn one around her mother. Arguing to have short hair was not one she had confidence in, even if she could use the apocalypse as an excuse. She does not have the guts to challenge her mother too many times in a day.

 

Not long after she changed into a black shirt with a picture of purple guitar matched with dark blue jeans, a plump woman knocked on her door.

 

"Young miss, I have helped you pack a few sets of clothing… what are you wearing?"

 

"Aunty Cheung, that's my bag?" Wong Xue Guo eyed the black backpack that she was holding, which was a size bigger than her school bag. 

 

Aunty Cheung swiftly closed the door behind her, hiding the interior of the room from others' eyes. "Young miss, your mother will scold you for wearing these! Go change into your dress before your mother sees you." 

 

"She won't. Wearing a dress will hinder me instead of helping. Dying in a beautiful dress will look good during the funeral ceremony, but that is certainly a stupid thing to consider when zombies will make sure you look unbelievably gross when you die."

 

Skipping happily to her closet, Wong Xue Guo pulled out a shoebox hidden deep in her closet, treating it like her precious treasure. 

 

"What zombies… young miss!” When Aunt Cheung saw what was in the shoebox, her expression immediately turned scandalized. “You certainly aren't going to wear that! When and where on earth did you get that from?" 

 

Grinning happily, Wong Xue Guo ignored her family's housekeeper and wore her dark green military boots. She had immediately fallen in love with it at first sight and secretly purchased it with the help of Kang Xunsu's credit card. She had only worn these shoes inside her room with locked doors, thinking it would be many years later when she could finally wear them under the sun. 

 

To think she could wear it now!

 

"Aunty Cheung, mother should have told you about the danger and told you to reunite with your family, right?" Wong Xue Guo asked, bending down to tie her shoelaces into a double knot. "You have also seen the news. Mother had just saved me from those zombies when the infectious virus spread in the shopping mall."

 

Done with the shoes, she stood back up and saw Aunty Cheung had a complicated expression on her face. “Madam had told everyone that. But that matter and your clothing aren’t the same. You will be heading to a safe place where you will be meeting other people in the same circle. Madam will not be pleased if you embarrass the family.”

 

"Aunty Cheung…" Wong Xue Guo sighed. “Mother had not uttered a single complaint towards my attire, in which I wore a t-shirt and jeans for the graduation outing when she picked me up.”

 

She knew Aunty Cheung does not completely trust whatever her mother had told them about the danger without seeing it for herself so she stopped explaining in that direction. Pulling out her mother’s name was enough to shut any more protest Aunty Cheung had. 

 

How could Aunt Cheung not know the little miss she had watched over for years was actually restraining herself not to speak out her real thoughts just to avoid arguing with her? As she was just a housekeeper, Aunty Cheung does not persist any longer about the young miss's clothing. 

 

Aunty Cheung sighed in her heart but her gaze on the young miss she had helped to look after for more than a decade was full of gentle affection. As a live-in housekeeper, her affectionate feelings towards the young miss were actually more than towards her own daughter.

 

It would be a lie if Aunty Cheung says she did not feel guilty towards her own daughter that she hardly spent time with.

 

It was the Madam's strict lesson in having the young miss accept her position and status that she would not cross the line towards Aunty Cheung. That early lesson also saved the related parties from doing something they should not.

 

Thus, they could only have the relationship of an employer and housekeeper.

 

After that lesson, Wong Xue Guo had hardened her heart and never again favoured an outsider more than her own mother, no matter how well they treated her. It was a fact that her mother was the one that gave birth to her, providing money, shelter, and clothing for her. Aunty Cheung only treated her well because she was paid to do so, and the extra service was just to keep things peaceful in order to look good in her employer’s eyes and ensure her resume looks better. 

 

“Aunty Cheung, is that bag for me?” Wong Xue Guo asked again. 

 

“Yes.” Aunty Cheung did not offer to help her pack, knowing that their choice of clothing for the trip would be different from each other so she just handed the backpack over. “Will you let me help you dry your hair?”

 

The single nod from Wong Xue Guo had Aunty Cheung’s smile become wider. 

 

With the packing completed, Wong Xue Guo went to search for her mother and arrived just in time for her mother to finish her shower.

 

Thinking she would be told to wait outside until her mother was completely dressed, she was surprised to be actually invited in. Towards this room she had not entered even once, she controlled her urge to look around like a kid that went to the amusement park for the first time.