Forgiveness

A lot had happened, that much was clear. Djodie was occupied by her thoughts as she was cleaning coffee cups and mindlessly putting them back on the shelves. It was quiet in the café, and she didn't like to sit still.

She was, however, pulled out of her thoughts by Míngzé calling her name. She needed a second to get back to the present, before she turned her face towards him, humming softly that she had heared him. The question that came after made her frown. Had she done something wrong? Had she served a wrong coffee? Had a costumer - the man stopped her thoughts again as he declared it was fine if she didn't want to talk, and suddenly she understood this was not about work.

She had almost forgotten about her little conversation with Míng, before she had run into Lucina and Sang, right after.
"Yes, sure. Let's sit down somewhere more private?" She proposed, knowing that this might not be the type of talk they would want to have in their work environment.

He seemed to be relieved by her answer, even a hint of a smile tugging on his lips. She followed him into the staffroom, walking in as he asked her if she wanted anything to drink first.
"Oh no that's alright, thank you." She said, as he pulled a chair back and took a seat, watching Míng curiously.

She wasn't even sure if he wanted to talk about their last encounter, but the tone of his voice made her think that. She had almost forgotten it, given how much had happened after.

"What did you want to talk about?"

So it was about their last encounter. Ming explained 'something' happened before, causing him to react in the way he had done.
Djodie tilted her head slightly, this close to being done with all that vagueness.

What was 'something'?

On the other hand, he and Lucina seemed to be pretty close, right? Maybe he could tell her more. She already had a feeling there was more happening here, maybe he was involved to.

"It's okay. Thank you for saying this, I very much appreciate it." Djodie replied kindly. "Something happened after as well... I... I'm not sure if I should tell you but - you seem pretty close with Lucina, right?"

Míng still seemed a little awkward, but it was no different from his normal behaviour, really. Djodie just chuckled when he said he should've probably apologised sooner. "Probably. But at least you came to me now, right?"

When the topic shifted, Djodie noticed him tense up a little. "I did, or, well, I ran into her..." She probably keep her mouth shut, but now she'd already started, and she needed someone to help her make sense of this mess.
"And Ruisang..." Was she really going to do this? Just randomly tell Míng what had happened, that Sang had attacked Lucina?
Míng also knew Sang, maybe he wouldn't even believe her. Didn't they live in the same building?

This suddenly felt like a terrible idea.

He knew about it! Djodie lifted her head as he continued that they - Luci and Sang - had a fight, completing Djodie's unfinished words. Had Luci already told him? Did he perhaps know more?
"Well, a fight is a bit of an understatement. He tried to kill her, Ming... Vince jumped in, I got Lucina away." Djodie stopped thinking, Míng knew about it already, maybe he would at least be able to answer her question if she had gone mad or not.

"She... She just kept going on and on about some item Sang had stolen, and that Vince had it now?" Cody had declared her stressed. Like she had imagined it. But she hadn't, right? She knew very well that Vince matched her own affinity, she had felt it a couple times before.
But that night, she hadn't felt his fairy affinity as strong. It had felt like something, that thing, had dimmed it down.

"I can't help but think that I felt whatever it was, on Vince." Djodie bit her lip, not sure if she should've said all this. But he clearly already knew about the fight, right? And if he didn't knew anything more... Well, then she'd have to find someone else.

Míngzé's demeanor changed when she started about the whole situation. The man placed his elbow on the table, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. Djodie leaned back in the chair, not liking where this was going. Already sensing she wouldn't get any more information here.
Again.

'Things are not as easy as they seem to be.' Djodie rolled her eyes, realising that, luckily, Míng couldn't see. The man seemed very thoughtful of his words, choosing them with calculated precision.

'It's probably just an affinity thing -' Djodie couldn't help but stop him right there. "It's not! I -." She halted herself, realising she had raised her voice. She swallowed the lump in her throat, irritation growing, as she tried to calm herself down. "I know what I felt. And you, are quite picky with your choise of words, it seems." Djodie clenched her jaw together, as he continued to explain that he had a fight with Lucina before Djodie had ran into Míng, and before Lucina had confronted Sang about the object.

Why was everyone suddenly acting weirdly? Why was everyone treating her like a child? Uncertainty crept up in Djodie's mind as Míng admitted that he was choosing his words carefully, or else she might jump to conclusions.

He added that she wouldn't - shouldn't want to be involved, and that she should leave this between Lucina and Sang. But why was everyone going around the information she really wanted to understand? Could it really be that dangerous? it was just an item, how much danger could that posess?

Djodie let out a sigh, attempted to calm herself down, but failed. Was there even someone in her life that hadn't treated her like a child? Kaye had kept her away from those fucking phonecalls and messages in the most fucked-up timing. Cody had told her she was just overreacting when she had told him about the item. Lucina had simply said that it was better if Djodie wouldn't know. And now Míng was trying to put the idea in her head that she was imagining things as well.

"Why is everyone treating me like a fucking child?!" The words weren't supposed to come out at all, let alone like this. Djodie's voice was raised, tears burning behind her eyes as she tried to grasp onto every fiber of certainty that she could find here.

She noticed the change in his face. The frustrated sigh he let out.
She'd gone too far.

But, where she had expected him to start yelling at her, Ming didn't. Instead, he semi-calmly asked her if she never thought that maybe it was for her own good. Explaining that she had seen what could happen, and asking her why she still wanted to know, even when everyone told her it was best to stay away.

Djodie's expression softened, guilt falling over her as she leaned back in her seat.
"You're right..." She sighed. "I'm sorry." Maybe she really should just forget about it. The idea of that item, that feeling, still gnawing at her, ofcourse. But the last thing she wanted was to get herself in the same position she had found Lucina in.