Chapter 2: Ai’s suspicious behaviour

2012, Ai’s house, 10:10 AM

Due to the events of last night, Xinyue and Jing decided to have the girls day in a mall instead, since horror movies might make Ai fall harder into the delusion that a ghost haunted Golden Dragon.

The two girls arrived at Ai’s house, it was a chilly fall day, so the girls were wearing their jackets and earmuffs to stay warm. Jing looked really fashionable with her long blue trench coat and fluffy white earmuffs, Xinyue just wore some boots, a brown jacket and some black earmuffs, it wasn’t fashionable but at least it protected from the bitter autumn cold.

“I am so excited to go to the mall, hopefully Ai is doing better!” Jing said hopefully. “Yeah, I hope so too,” Xinyue said, she was slightly worried for her best friend, but not because she thought Ai was going insane, because she was worried Ai might be right.

Jing used the lion shaped doorknocker to knock hardly on the oak door. She and Xinyue heard footsteps coming and Wei opened the door. He was wearing a suit again and holding a briefcase, it seemed as though he was planning to go to work after Ai left, but he looked concerned. “Hello Wei, how is Ai doing?” Jing asked, cutting to the chase.

“I am sorry to say this but she doesn’t seem to be feeling much better, she is sure a ghost WAS in the mirror, no matter how much I tell her this theory is ridiculous, she does not listen,” Wei said tiredly, he seemed like he was doing the best he could. “Hopefully she will feel better after this,” Jing said to Wei.

Then they heard footsteps coming down and saw Ai coming near the entrance. She had her auburn hair styled in two cute buns like yesterday, she wore a white t-shirt with a grey cardigan on top and she wore skinny jeans underneath.

“Hello Ai!” Xinyue said. “H-hello,” Ai said, she still seemed a bit anxious, Jing and Xinyue were both nervous for how this was going to go. “Well, I guess I am heading off to work now, bye girls, have fun!” Wei said, although he seemed unsure whether they would.

He then went outside and it was just the three girls.

“Well, hello Ai, let’s get to the bus stop so we can have some fun at the mall, shall we?” Jing asked, putting her hands behind her back. Ai nodded and the girls went outside. The walk to the bus stop was short and simple, Ai, unlike the other two girls, didn’t seem to mind the cold. She didn’t even wear any earmuffs.

“Well, when we get to the mall, where should we go?” Xinyue asked, to break the awkward silence. “Maybe we could go to that new dress shop that opened recently,” Jing suggested, but Ai just nodded and didn’t say anything, she seemed lost in thought.

The girls finally reached the bus stop, which didn’t have much people waiting in it, just an elderly woman who had grey hair and wore pink glasses, she had a knitted shawl that wrapped her shoulders. Xinyue would have loved to bring a shawl out in this weather, it would help with the cold.

Jing, Ai and Xinyue waited in silence, finally, the bus came and the girls went inside. “Hello girls!” The bus driver said in a friendly tone. “Hello!” Xinyue said, she knew this bus driver, she often rode the bus when she was running late to work and couldn’t walk.

Jing and Ai stayed silent though, Xinyue felt mildly frustrated, something was going on with Ai and if they didn’t solve it soon….she didn’t know what would happen to their friendship…

Jing and Xinyue found a place to sit at the front of the bus near a window, Ai just stood and gripped one of the handles so she wouldn’t fall over when the bus moved. The bus gave a screech signaling it was heading to the mall next and then off they went.

Jing decided to talk to Xinyue to break the silence, if Ai would sulk, let her. “Xinyue, what would you want to buy from the dress shop?” Jing asked casually. “Maybe I could buy a red dress, it would be perfect for chinese new year and other occassions,” Xinyue said. “Chinese new year? That’s still so much months from now!” Jing said, confused.

”Yeah, I know, but I have a collection of dresses just for it, it’s my favorite holiday!” Xinyue responded joyfully, even the thought of preparing for Chinese new year gave her joy. “Hmm…well as for me, I was thinking of getting one of those pink short sleeve dresses, it would look so cute with a cardigan and belt. I even saved some inspiration pictures of influencers who did the same thing,” Jing said, pulling out her phone. She turned it on and shoved it in Xinyue’s face.

On the phone, Xinyue saw a pretty girl with silky brown hair and hazel eyes, she wore the exact look Jing was talking about: a pink long dress/jumpsuit that was short sleeve and had a blue jean jacket on top of it, a leather belt was on the waist of the dress.

“That’s beautiful!” Xinyue said. “Yeah, do you think it would fit for me?” Jing asked. “Of course, fashionista Jing can pull off any look!” Xinyue said, half joking but half serious. Along with Jing having beautiful hair, she also was really talented when it came to fashion.

“Ai what would you like to buy?” Jing asked. “I-i don’t know,” Ai said, shrugging. Jing rolled her eyes and ignored her, Ai was making this whole mall trip way more awkward than it needed to be.

Finally, after ten minutes, the bus arrived at the mall, it was called Cloud 9 mall and was huge. It had 7 floors, so that meant many shops for the girls to explore!

The girls went outside and outside the mall was a long stone path, some benches littered the sides of the path where friends and couples sat together, probably exhausted from walking around in the huge complex. Some trees were near the benches, but they had no leaves on them, no wonder since it was autumn.

“Well! This place looks fun, let’s go inside,” Jing said enthusiastically. Ai just nodded and the girls walked inside. The mall somehow looked even bigger on the inside, it was also really crowded, made sense since it was a Saturday. People chatted in mixes of Chinese and English loudly. Jing looked like she died and just went to heaven, she was smiling and twirling around as if she was told she just won the lottery.

“Let’s find that dress shop!” Xinyue said. In the middle of the long hallway, there was a screen that showed the map of the mall, the girls went to it. “What was it’s name again?” Xinyue asked. “I think it’s called Starshine dresses,” Jing said, she quickly typed the name of the store on the screen and searched it, it was on the second floor.

“This means we need to go a floor up,” Xinyue said, she was still glancing around the mall, this mall was bigger than the strip mall that was near the Golden Dragon. Wei suggested they go to a bigger mall because it might make Ai have more fun but by the look of it, Ai wasn’t having fun at all.

The girls then walked through the mall, they soon found an escalator and all rode it. Jing had a mild fear of escalators so Xinyue held her friend’s hand, Ai stood behind them again, putting a hand on her cheek and seeming anxious. “This isn’t helping Ai at all,” Xinyue whispered to Jing. “Maybe she will feel better after shopping?” Jing suggested although she seemed unsure. “Maybe…” Xinyue replied hesistantly. The girls reached the second floor and right away they saw Starshine dresses.

The sign of Starshine dresses was a neon yellow and had a shooting star logo right next to it, the inside had shelves and shelves filled with dresses, Jing was awe-struck. She ran inside quickly, not even checking if Ai and Xinyue were following her. Xinyue sighed and laughed, then she and Ai followed.

The girls found Jing at the back of the store talking to a saleswoman. The woman had brown hair in a ponytail and wore the starshine dresses employee uniform, which consisted of a black shirt with a yellow shooting star in the corner and black jeans.

“So…do you have any pink dresses with like short sleeves? Maybe even a jumpsuit,” Jing asked. “Yes, we have some in the back, I will get some for you to try on, what’s your size?” The saleswoman asked. “My size is medium,” Jing said. “Okay, I’ll get that for you,” the saleswoman said, jogging to the pink dresses section. “I m-might look at the formal dresses if that’s okay.” Ai said. “Sure, whatever,” Jing said, sighing. A few minutes later, the saleswoman came back, holding 3 pink short sleeve dresses for medium size. “Go to the fitting rooms, try all three and see what fits best,” The saleswoman advised.

Jing went to the fitting rooms but she saw Ai there…and she looked stunning. She was wearing a black sparkly dress that was long and elegant. Ai seemed to have taken off her hairclips and her long brown hair cascaded behind her.

“Ai..THAT LOOKS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!!!” Jing screamed, the fashion demon in her has been awakened was what Xinyue thought.

“G-gorgeous, eh…im not even buying it,” Ai said. “What! Why not? How much is it?” Jing asked. “Well, it is 496 yuan, but it is 50% off so it would be 248 yuan,” Ai said. “What? That’s such a good deal though, and it looks stunning! I can buy it if you want!” Jing said, slightly miffed that Ai wasn’t buying the dress. “I don’t care Jing, it is not a big deal,” Ai said. “Are you seriously gonna ruin this?” Jing asked coldly.

“What?” Ai asked. “I asked, are you seriously gonna ruin this? You’ve been acting so weird ever since you saw that “girl in the bathroom mirror” what if she was a real kid? Or you were tired and it was your imagination? What if the lighting was the reason you didn’t see her shadow? There are so many possibilities and you are choosing to ruin your life over this!?” Jing asked, the tone in her voice was calculating, as if she was trying to reason with Ai.

Suddenly, Xinyue stepped in between the two of them. “Jing…Ai isn’t lying,” Xinyue said. “What? I never said she was it’s just, don’t you think the possibility of a ghost is bizarre?” Jing asked, confused why Xinyue was on Ai’s side now.

“Well, there are many conspiracy theories about ghosts, many sightings and really- Ai’s description seemed very vivid for something fake, if it was a lie or prank, it would have been obvious but~ do you think Ai would seriously be this afraid if she didn’t even know what she saw was real?” Xinyue asked, and that hit hard.

“Okay fine, ghost girlie is real, what do we do now?” Jing asked, putting her hands up in the air in mock surrender. “Well, I was thinking, there’s a cemetery near Golden Dragon, right?” Ai asked. Jing DID NOT like where she was going with this.

“Yes,” Xinyue said anxiously. “So, I was thinking, what if we visit it? Maybe we will find the ghost girl’s grave and learn more about her,” Ai suggested.

“That…is probably both the worst and best idea ever, let’s do this!” Jing said.