"I am in no position to say this Master, but you really should stop drinking now." Aika stood in the same corner as always, with a worried expression printed on her face she observed how Ning emptied one glass after the other. "What if your father calls while you are in this state?"

"To hell with him... hic... He doesn't even care about me, his own son, all he does is use me as one of his tools in order to achieve whatever... hic... he wants, I'm sick of it." Ning took another big sip of the cheap whisky he bought in the nearest convenience store after his best friend abandoned him. Despite never having consumed one drop of alcohol, he seemed rather resistant to the effects. "Because of him, I'm always busy with this stupid project he is obsessed with, and not only did I need to spend my whole life working for it, I even had to betray my best friend and now his life could be in danger!", continued his rant.

"But Master, you... you did your best to protect him from your father and all the life-threatening situations, you shouldn't be too harsh on yourself."

"But it's also true that it was no other than me, who drove him into this mess... hic... Protecting him was the least I could do to repay my sins." He drank up the remaining whisky in one go and put the glass back on the table. "And for fuck's sake... hic... stop calling me master already, ...hic... just call me by my name."'

"Yes mas... Ning. But you should really quit with the drinking now." Aika placed her hand on the bottle before her master could grab it and pour in another shot. "It's not like drinking is going to restore your friendship or resolve any of your other problems Ning."

"Let go of the bottle Aika," said Ning in a harsh tone while grabbing the lower part of the whisky bottle. "You are also just a tool of my father, probably following... hic... me all day long, to keep an eye on me and report everything you've seen hic..."

Her usual ice-cold expression crumbled, her eyebrows turned up, her mouth down and small teardrops glittered in the corners of her eyes while slowly making their way down to the jawline.

" We grew up together and I always followed you since our childhood. Not once did I doubt your decisions, no matter how questionable they were. I did everything for you and whatever challenge you took on, I stood by your side and helped you to the best of my abilities. And you are seriously thinking that my sole purpose was to spy on you?!"

"Wait Aika I... I..."

"And now, when I say that I'm worried about you, you say that everything I did was just because your father orders me around?!"

"Calm down Aika, I... I... didn't..."

"No, for once I won't sit still and just listen to you, because I... I'm always worried about you. Seeing how you suffer through all of this, it makes me worry about you. Aren't we also friends?!" She shook her head. "No, that's not what I wanted to say... all this time I... I've been hiding it behind my obligations as your maid and servant, what I really should have said is that... that I care about you... Ning, I love you." Her eyes looked down to the ground, her heartbeats, fast as if she had been running a marathon, could be felt through the bottle in both of their hands.

"That... umm... I..." The burden of the alcohol suddenly disappeared from his body and the words remained blocked in his throat.

"It's okay Ning, I understand. I'll quit as your maid, to not bother you more than necessary with my presence, that way we can both go our own ways." She let go of the bottle and turned around.

The abrupt stop of the rhythmical beats Ning had been feeling across the bottle the whole time, ripped him out of his shock condition and before Aika could even leave the room he grabbed her arm. Surprised by his sudden aggressiveness, she lost her balance and fell right onto him. Without any resistance from either one of the two, both fell down to the ground, Aika lying on top of Ning.

"Aika... I..." He grabbed both of her shoulders. "I love you too Aika."

Her cheeks covered in tears turned red while her mouth formed a bright smile, the brightest he had ever seen on her beautiful face.

"With this, maybe we could even clarify the issue with Bao, you could say that it..., that it was all a misunderstanding and we are actually lovers." Her euphoric voice knew no bounds but it surprised him how quick, she turned back into maid mode, how he liked to call it.

"No, I think he understood that I lied to him after I responded with silence," he shook his head. "And on the other hand... hic... I don't want him to think that I am just using you as an excuse, an object that you could just throw away after the job is done. I have enough of all these lies, I'll introduce you as what you are to me, my beloved childhood friend and girlfriend. It's time to stop lying to him, even though I'm not sure I can tell him the truth either."

"We'll do it together, besides I'm also happy to have a fresh start with your friend since we had a bit of a rough start. After all, it's thanks to him that I had the courage to confess today."

Both stared into each other's eyes while quietness returned into the room. If it weren't for the ringing phone they would've remained so for at least another hour.

Before Aika picked up the call, Ning could take a glimpse on how Bao's avatar had just reached a small village in the middle of nowhere.