XG 32 - Their gaze was actually weighing down on her conscience

 

Suzie Yap was in a bathrobe, rubbing her hair with a towel. It was a sight Wong Xue Guo had not seen for more than a decade, as her mother always appeared before her in her well-presented state. What was more surprising was that her red hair was dyed back to black, her new appearance having her look younger and more sophisticated. 

 

From the first memory she retained, she had never seen her mother’s hair in any colour other than red. If not for her eyebrows not being red, she would have thought her mother was a natural redhead.

 

Eying her daughter's attire and plaited hair, Suzie Yap held no displeasure over them. Wong Xue Guo was relieved that her mother would be understanding of their current situation. 

 

Picking up something from her vanity table, Suzie Yap handed it over to Wong Xue Guo. "I will give this to you."

 

What was given to her was a Japanese sword at the length of her entire arm. Fortunately, she had the foresight to use both hands to accept it, or she would be pulled down by the unexpected weight. 

 

"Mother, won't a gun be better?"

 

Tossing the wet towel into the laundry basket, Suzie Yap voiced her disagreement. "Guns are good, but they are too noisy. A silencer would fix that, but I believe a sword is better than a gun for a complete newbie. You need a lot of training for gun lessons, which is a waste of bullets but for a sword, you can use it with barb… strength alone."

 

Mother, you are going to say barbaric, right?

 

However, she could not deny that weird logic, as they had been using strength alone to fight against those zombies. Her muscles ache so badly that it was a great chore when she needed to raise her arm to wash her hair earlier.

 

Suzie Yap continues voicing her opinion. "Using guns also have risks of getting it jammed in dangerous situations or running out of bullets. Both would require luck to fix, but we should not use all our luck on those nonsensical things, right?"

 

But guns are cool! The recoil also won't give you much problem, ah!

 

Wong Xue Guo with her poker face nodded sensibly. "Yes. You are right, mother."

 

Suzie Yap could see that the sword was too heavy for her daughter's first time, but this sword was the best among those she had now. A sword was the only weapon that did not need her daughter to get too close to those 'failures'.

 

"This sword is a wedding gift from my mother-in-law." Suzie Yap turned on the hairdryer and halted the conversation. 

 

Wedding gift? Who on earth would give a sword as a wedding gift to their daughter-in-law? 

 

That was a bad omen as if to cut off their relationship!

 

But when she recalls her paternal grandmother that loved to wear a leather jacket and ride a Harley Davidson bike, she could twist her mind to understand, for a very tiny bit, the tough love behind the gift. 

 

If one disregards it as an offensive gift for one's marriage, it was actually a really beautiful katana. Pulling out the sword from the beautiful sheath that was of white lilies with purple-coloured base, she noted it was a single-edged sword. Even the hilt was similarly patterned as its sheath.

 

The anime lover Wong Xue Guo was actually freaking out behind her composed poker face at how cool it was to have a Japanese sword in her hand! One of her dreams had been fulfilled easily!

 

Although her paternal grandmother often travelled around the world with her bike, she never failed to visit them twice a year. The first was for her son's birthday. The second was her husband's death anniversary. Those days, her grandmother would spend some time telling Wong Xue Guo some stories from her past, even if Suzie Yap was against it. 

 

There was a time, after facing Suzie Yap's anger when their storytime session was caught, that Wong Xue Guo wondered if her grandmother was a bad person to have her mother react that way.

 

Her paternal grandmother explained that Suzie Yap just acted that way so that she could remain innocent and wished for her to grow slowly in her beautiful cage. It was only many years later did Wong Xue Guo finally figure out what her mother was trying to hide from her. 

 

Both sides of her family were actually involved with gangsters, or mafia, to sound classier.

 

Her grandmother was not exactly working as hard as her parents in hiding that fact. But seeing her parents working hard to pretend otherwise, she also pretended she did not notice anything. 

 

But never did she think that her mother was so lethal with kitchen knives! Her moves could rival a professional meat butcher! Her crude imagination of her mafia mother only consisted of her mother coolly smoking a cigar and staring down at her victim of choice behind her sunglasses while pointing a gun at them. All the while stepping onto the victim with her pointy high heels.

 

Maybe her imagination was not far off from reality, seeing that her mother could fight and run in high heels. 

 

From her grandmother’s mouth, her father was from Hong Kong, and her mother was from Italy. Coming to Malaysia to stay was because of their daughter’s well-being, likely because a mafia would always have a rival or enemy.

 

In fact, Wong Xue Guo’s ancestry was complicated with mixed races in her blood. That was why her features were not the typical Asian, but more of a child with parents from different races. 

 

As she waited for her mother to finish drying her hair, she choose not to put down the sword in her hands and she paid the price. The sword was getting increasingly heavy in her hands, causing her arms to tremble rather embarrassingly. 

 

Hair dried, Suzie Yap ransacked her closet and passed another item to her daughter. "Baby, try if it fits you."

 

Wong Xue Guo started to imagine her mother was the NPC in charge of the newbie town to pass out items and quests to players after the tutorial set in the location of the shopping mall was passed successfully.

 

 

• NPC - Non-playable character in games. 

 

 

… Aish, I must have been very tired to have my mind flying skewed that way. 

 

After passing the sword holder belt, Suzie Yap grabbed her clothes to be changed in the bathroom. 

 

The belt fits fine around Wong Xue Guo’s waist as it allowed adjustment. With her tingling palms and shaking arms finally free from the weight, it was time for her hips to support the weight. Walking around for a short time was fine, but running would be a bit awkward as it does not stop the sword from swinging and smacking at her leg.

 

She just hopes she would not trip from her own sword. She could already imagine Kang Xunsu laughing at her if she does.

 

Her heart itches to test out the lethality of her new weapon, but she does not dare to use anything in her parent’s bedroom as a tester. Even if her mother was in the bathroom now, the large picture of her parent’s wedding photo hanging on the wall stopped her from doing so. 

 

The frame happened to be facing her direction and their eye contact with the camera felt as if they were actually staring down at her. The weight of their gaze was actually weighing down on her conscience and telling her to behave well.

 

Wong Xue Guo was just thinking of using a string of her hair to test the blade’s sharpness when her mother emerged. 

 

Suzie Yap was dressed in form-fitting pants and a tank top, with a cool black trench coat draped on her arm. There was a large suitcase rolled out beside her, which would be unsuitable to bring around if they would need to run on foot. But Suzie Yap would not do a burdensome thing, so she must have a way. 

 

Her hair was tied in a similarly styled plait like her daughter’s, giving her a more youthful feel. This was the first time the mother and daughter had a matching style. 

 

Digging her nails into her palms to stop those unpleasant memories from surfacing, Wong Xue Guo adjusted her tone and asked, "Mother, is there something you want to tell me?"