Chapter 94:

Aesthetics

So What If I'm a Girl


Phil leaned his head over to Lan Du and saw her texts, he was baffled as it was another language he didn't understand. He squinted his eyes and stared at Lan Du.

"What language is this? It looks like Japanese, but more detailed" He asked

Lan Du smiled

"Chinese, I have a some contacts with people in China" Lan Du replied with a light smile

Phil was amazed, he stared at the letters written in Chinese as if it was some mystical language. He then turned to Lan Du with an expectant gaze.

"After Japan, can you take me to China?" He asked

Lan Du paused for a moment, if she went back, she would return to being Lan Du. But if she rejected him, she might gain the irritation of Phil, if this happens, her hard work up to now might end up as smoke.

Seeing Lan Du's troubled gaze, Phil sighed

"It's fine if you can't, I know you're very busy" He said

Lan Du frowned lightly

"I don't have as much influence in China, so I cannot take you to a lot of places" She said

Phil's eyes lit up

"Then does that mean you can take me?" He asked

Lan Du hesitated before nodding

"But there are conditions, we can speak about it later, for now, just focus on Japan" Lan Du said, not long after, the two of them heard a scream from inside the toilet.

"W-Why is it female clothes!" Sato shouted

Lan Du chuckled

"Since you work for me now, you don't need to hide your gender, but if you don't wish to dress like a girl, there are male clothes in the cabinet to the side" Lan Du replied

Inside the toilet, Sato naturally chose the male clothes, as a girl, she didn't trust society, only when she was hidden did she feel secure. Phil glanced at the toilet door.

"What did you two talk about? And why did that person scream?" He asked

Lan Du smiled

"He's a timid person, he saw a spider inside, though that spider was my pet" Lan Du replied sweetly

Phil nodded, not asking further questions as to why they spoke in Japanese instead of French. He didn't mind too much, as long as Lan Du explained them. Sato then walked out, she wore a white uniform like coat and was slightly flustered, thinking back on the female clothes.

Lan Du patted her head

"What? Still shy about it?" She chuckled and asked

Sato nodded and blushed lightly, her head gazed down as Lan Du patted her head.

Phil stood at the side

'The two aren't... gay, right?' He thought to himself

Lan Du then received another message, she checked, and it was from Yuan Cai

[When will our training continue?] He asked

Lan Du's smile grew cold as she giggled to herself in a sadistic manner, she immediately replied.

[So you haven't been continuing my training when I left? Heh, just wait until I get back, I'll show you what real training is about]

She sent the message with a wicked smile on her face, Phil and Sato both didn't know what she was typing, but they knew it wasn't something they should know, especially with that dark smile of hers as she wrote it.

"Since William will be dying soon anyway, Hyke, send out file 133-150 onto the internet, make it so all of Japan will see it" Lan Du chuckled, she seems to be in a very good mood at the moment, in fact, she was more than just happy. Hyke nodded and contacted a subordinate on his phone before standing aside.

Somewhere in China, Yuan Cai felt a sudden chill and sneezed, a bad premonition rose as he stared at the message he received.

"I-I must continue his training as soon as possible, or I might really die when he returns" He muttered and ran off

Lan Du then pointed at the spare bed inside her room.

"Sato, you can sleep there tonight, the only guest room I have is already taken, if you don't want to, you can take Hyke's room, I can make him sleep in the bathroom" Lan Du said casually

Her words left Phil and Sato baffled, whilst Hyke was standing there, clueless as to what she was talking about. But he had a bad feeling, watching Lan Du smile as she glanced in his general direction.

Sato hurriedly shook her head

"No, I wouldn't want to bother mister Hyke, I've heard a lot about him and even admired him at one point, how can I take his room? I-I can sleep in the bathroom"

Lan Du shook her head

"If you really insist, I'll have to tie you to the bed, I'm not someone who takes suggestions, I give orders, only three types of people can receive a choice from me, one being the dead, two being my close family or friends, and three being newbies who joined for the first time, after this, you take orders, not choices" Lan Du said with a serious face.

Sato shuddered

"I-I'll sleep on the bed then" She said shyly

Lan Du smiled

"I already have people I like, you don't need to worry about it" Lan Du chuckled, she knew what Sato was thinking about, after all, she is still a girl.

Phil who was listening began feeling fear

'H-He likes women right? but the way he speaks sound as if he would attack mister Sato in the middle of the night, he-he wouldn't like men...right?'

Lan Du saw his expression and smiled

"I'm not gay, the one I like is a girl" Lan Du said, putting Phil at ease

Only then did Sato catch on to the conversation, she didn't think Phil would think they were... gay. In her view, Lan Du is a stern man, whilst she was but a young girl.

She glanced at Lan Du

"Mister Isaac, how old are you?" She asked

Lan Du wore a beaming smile

"Give a guess" She replied

Sato and Phil both began thinking

"25?" She asked

Lan Du shook her head

"22?" Phil asked as well

Lan Du shook her head once again

The two began thinking even harder

"26" Sato suggested, feeling lucky about this guess

Lan Du laughed and tapped her head

"I'm not that old, but Phil is quite close, I'm 18 this year"

Her words shocked the two of them greatly, the mature looking man in front of them was only 18!? They wanted to know if Lan Du was joking or not, after all, the both of them are already over 20!

"T-That's a lie" Phil stuttered

Lan Du shook her head

"Believe it if you want, but let me ask now that you know my age, you two won't attack me in the middle of the night, right?" She asked with a mischievous smile on her face.

The two of them blushed, they always thought that Lan Du was older than them, that was why they also felt slightly wary of her. But now, their logic has been thrown out the window, in front of them wasn't a mature man, but an overly mature young man!

They blushed lightly. If Lan Du didn't change her appearance, they might have actually been tempted, after all, now, she looks like a suave and mature young man with her current identity as Isaac.

Her original face was delicate and even pretty to many people.

"I'll stop teasing you, tomorrow will be a long day, Phil said he wanted to go to unique places, so I've taken not of the major places in Japan so we won't waste time, I have three places where we will go over the next week, two days for each place, how does that sound?" Lan Du smiled warmly and said to Phil.

Phil's face changed immediately, he was now beaming with smiles as he nodded

"Then what about after the week?" He asked excitedly

Lan Du chuckled

"I'll be going to China after that, Sato, will you stay or will you follow me? You need to know I have very little influence in China" Lan Du asked as she glanced at Sato

Sato rubbed her chin

"I... I want to follow along, but my Chinese isn't as great as my French" She said

Lan Du nodded

"That's fine, you won't need to talk much anyway" Lan Du stated with a casual expression, she disregarded their concerns about the language barrier.

She then glanced at Phil

"Go sleep, we will be up early tomorrow" She said lightly

Phil nodded, he left the room obediently, but he seems to show a trace of wariness about Lan Du as he left. He didn't completely trust her yet, after all, he has met many people who try to take advantage of his status.

Lan Du glanced at Sato

"You should sleep as well, or would you rather I make it a sleepless night for you?" Lan Du stepped forward and lifted her chin with a gentle smile.

Sato pushed her away and flushed red in embarrassment, she didn't expect this sort of approach from Lan Du. Her gaze then landed on Lan Du's face which had a mischievous smile.

She then patted her head and went into the bathroom. Sato was dazed as she sat down on the bed beside Lan Du's. Her eyes were filled with uncertainty, but her heart was feeling strangely firm. As she was in deep thought, she heard a vibration, she turned her head and saw Lan Du's secondary phone ringing.

She picked up the phone and saw a message come in. She didn't understand it at all so she used a translator to find out it's meaning.

[When will you stop avoiding me? I know you feel hurt, and I, as your father is a failure, but won't you forgive me?]

She was shocked to see this message come in, she then stared at the bathroom door.

'Is Isaac not a foreigner? This is clearly in Chinese, but his features aren't that of a Chinese at all' She thought to herself.

She then saw another message come in

[How many times has it been since you last changed your phone to avoid me? A week? Six days? My child, please, you have been doing this for the past 6 years... give me a chance]

Her hands shook

'Six years! Changes every 6 days?'

She then heard the sound of the bathroom door opening, Lan Du walked out and saw Sato holding her phone. She walked over and furrowed her brows lightly. After seeing the content, she let out a sigh of relief.

She then clenched the phone and crushed it to bits.

"Wha-"

"Forget everything you saw on that phone, it never existed and neither did the messages that came in" She said as she tossed the scraps to the corner of the room.

She then called Hyke

"By me another set of phones, make sure they are all different brands and received on different dates" Lan Du said as if this was a normal occurrence.

She then turned to Sato

"Don't mind what you saw, he bothers me very often" Lan Du smiled and said

Sato felt doubtful

'Is that what he means by us being similar? He hates his father? No, we're different, your father still loves you, why do you hate him?' She thought to herself over and over again.

"He clearly wants to make up with you" She said, she wanted to continue but Lan Du placed a finger on her lips to prevent her from saying another word.

"Shh, sometimes reality can be deceiving, if he truely loves me, he should be telling me everything he has done wrong, rather than making a vague message about his faults" Lan Du spoke with an indifferent look on her face.

"His faults? He doesn't seem like a bad person from the messages he sent" She asked with a confused and questionable expression.

Lan Du laughed

"You live in ths type of society, yet why are you so naive? Sato, you're a girl, think more on being wary than judge a person from a message, in fact, the kinder the message, the less trustworthy it is, this goes especially for people like my father, he is trustworthy as a man, but not as a father, this is why I will never acknowledge him"

Lan Du's smile was slightly twisted and cold but it gave out a sense of bitterness that Sato cannot be more familiar with.

"I'm sorry" She muttered

Lan Du shook her head

"Don't read my texts without permission again, if you someday read the wrong message, I'd have to kill you myself, and we both don't want that" Lan Du smiled and crawled into her own bed.

"If you get scared at night, my side always has a vacancy" Lan Du chuckled and closed her eyes.

Sato was slightly speechless, she closed the lights and tucked herself into the spare bed. But her mind kept flashing back on Lan Du's messages from her father.

'Am I really just naive? Or is there something deeper in those messages?' She thought to herself

She turned to Lan Du and saw that she was sleep already, there was still some lighting next to Lan Du as she had a small lamp that was constantly lit. Her sleeping face made Sato stare deeply, it looked so pinchable and a sense of.... adorableness?

She shook her head but her eyes once again laid on Lan Du's face.

'Isaac seems much more...child like when he sleeps' She thought to herself and wanted to give that face a pinch.

She couldn't help but reach out her hand, the beds weren't too far away but when she leaned her head in, Lan Du's hand shot up and pulled her in. This took her by surprise, but looking at Lan Du's face, she was still asleep.

'D-Does he have a bad sleeping posture?'

Then, a sense of drowsiness washed over her, she smelt a sweet and aromatic smell which caused her mind to doze oss and fell asleep. The night passed quietly, and when the sun rose, Sato was the first to wake up.

She looked around and saw that she was now under Lan Du's blankets and was being held by the waist by Lan Du's hands.

'His hands... they're so soft' She couldn't help but think

Her hands then reached out, about to pinch Lan Du's face when her eyes shot up and and grabbed her hand.

"Ah" He exclaimed in shock, Lan Du however was even more chocked than she was.

She then turned her head down, only to see that her arms are wrapped around Sato's waist. She immediately released her grasp and sat up.

"Why...are you in my bed" Lan Du asked with a perplexed look, she was ore than just shocked, she was ashamed at the same time.

Sato scratched her head

"Well..." She blushed lightly, she couldn't just say it was because she wanted to pinch her face so she was pulled in by her in her sleep, right?

Lan Du paused

"Did you perhaps get too close to my bed?" Lan Du asked with a strange look on her face

Sato nodded

Lan Du sighed when she saw her nod her head.

"I sometimes have trouble sleeping as the slightest movements can cause me to jump up, so I use a type of anesthetic incense in my lamp to reduce my body's reaction speed, it's made so the smell can't travel far so it is only around my bed, once Hyke tried to wake me up and my body's self defense senses almost made him lose his head, ever since then, I used anesthetics when I sleep, but it seems you got too close" Lan Du said with a stoic face.

'So when I got pulled in last night... it was his body reacting to movements? What type of reaction does he have?! Even under anesthetics, he is able to pull me in so easily' Sato was deeply shocked by that thought as she stared at Lan Du.

Lan Du stared at Sato

"When are you going to get off my bed?" She asked

Sato was immediately flustered and was about to get off when the door suddenly flung open and Phil's figure burst in with an excited face.

"I woke up early just for today, when are we lea-" His expression froze as he stared at Sato and Lan Du who were in the same bed.

"I saw nothing" He then tucked his head back and closed the door behind him as if he saw the most terrifying thing in his life.

Lan Du sighed

"Get changed, worse outcome, you reveal your gender, if not, just let him think we're gay, up to you, I don't really care about reputation here since I won't be staying for long" Lan Du said with a carefree expression, she seemed to be too lazy to even think much.

Sato was speechless

'Why does he seem so...careless?'

Lan Du yawned

"Hyke, have you done what I told you yet?" Lan Du's loud voice rang out and Hyke, who no one knew was there popped out from behind the door.

"Yes sir, you-" He stared at Sato was was still in Lan Du's bed

"Boss... so you were... all along" He chose not to voice it out directly, but Lan Du knew what he meant, she placed an arm over sato's shoulder and pulled her closer.

She then placed a hand beneath Sato's chin and lifted her chin up.

"Hyke, I know you're gay, so does this get you excited?" Lan Du said playfully

Hyke who stood there didn't deny anything and took in a big gulp.

Lan Du chuckled and removed her arms from the blushing Sato, she stood up and yawned again. Hyke then realised what was going on.

"Um, Mr. Sato, I apologise on Isaac's behalf, the anesthetics he uses has a trace of alcohol, it gives him a more comfortable sleep... but Isaac he... he has no tolerence towards alcohol and can get drunk from a single sip, so his mind is still a bit dazed right now"

Sato was shocked, alcohol did this?!

'So Isaac's flirtatious and carefree actions, were due to alcohol?'