Chapter 11

• “Calm down and stop…..stop packing. Stop throwing things around.” Ling grabbed Meilei’s wrists to haul her away from her erratic throwing of clothes into the suitcase on the bed and yanked her to face her. Battling her friend's fight or flight response to meeting Kai today.
• The room was a mess, strewn with Yue and Meilei’s things and highlighting the panicking cyclone she must have been since getting here. It looked like someone had gone through all her possessions in a robbery. The case sat wide open and was a riot of strewn clothes, unfolded with hangers and odd shoes. The space around it was littered with Yue’s toys and pictures. It was the sign of a woman in meltdown trying to pack.
• “You didn’t see him… you didn’t hear him….. he won’t let me go…. He warned me…..” Meilei was crying hard, her face awash with tears and stifled sobs. Drenched and pitiful, Ling was struggling to keep her in one place. “He knows I work there… my department, my job role. All he has to do is look at my file, and he knows where we live… He has access to all personnel files without question. He’s the CEO!! What if he comes here?” Meilei was in fresh hell, freaking out with all the possibilities of what he could do. She had run out of work midday, left without a word, and left Ling a hysterical voicemail while hurrying to pack her things.