Cixi felt emotionally numb. The kind that drowns anxiety before it can surface. Everything inside her had gone quiet, as though her body had decided that feeling anything at all was too dangerous and had shut the system down.
It took her a moment to realise Silviya was actually there, and it was not someone who looked like her.
Silviya.
Standing in the sports arena, arms wrapped around Cixi in a hug that arrived without permission, her voice saying words like 'missed you' with the ease that it sounded real.
Silviya drew back from the hug and held Cixi at arm's length. Her face held the expression of a woman who had just found her dearest friend after a long and painful separation. The smile on her lips could have convinced anyone— How lovely, two friends reunited.
Cixi had no reason to smile back. Soon her eyes found Kevin first, and then Ronny; a dangerous alarm shrieked inside her skull.
