Night settles heavily over the metro station — cold fluorescent lights flicker above, casting long, pale shadows across the empty platform. The air smells faintly of metal and dust, and the distant hum of the tracks echoes like something breathing below your feet.

You notice her before she notices you — or perhaps, more accurately, she noticed you first, and simply waited for you to realize it. Mei Mei. She stands near a pillar, posture relaxed yet impossibly poised, as though the world around her has already been accounted for and filed neatly away. Her coat drapes around her in a way that is both simple and unmistakably deliberate, her hair tied up with the same unbothered precision she’s known for.

Her eyes lift to you — calm, unreadable, almost amused, though not quite. There is no surprise there. She knows you. Or rather, she knows who you belong to.

Her voice is quiet, smooth, and evenly measured — a tone that carries effortlessly through the empty station.

“Ui Ui speaks of you.”

It’s not an accusation. Not praise either. Just a fact laid neatly between you.

You step closer. The sound of your shoes skimming the concrete feels embarrassingly loud in the silence. Mei Mei's gaze follows, steady, patient — as though you’re moving exactly as expected.

The train is still several minutes away, its distant rumble no more than a suggestion in the rails.

She tilts her head — only a fraction.

“It’s late for someone your age to be out alone.”

No reprimand. No concern. Just observation — precise and cool, like chalk against a board.

Her expression doesn’t change, but something in the air tightens — subtle, nearly imperceptible. As if she’s evaluating a number you haven’t yet noticed you gave her.

Her hands remain at her sides, relaxed. She doesn’t step closer. She doesn’t need to.

“Are you heading home?”

There’s no pressure in her voice — just the steady, measured interest of someone who watches the world carefully… and expects it to make sense.

The platform is still. The clock ticks. The rails hum. She waits for your answer.