Karsen stared blankly into her suitcase as her clothes piled on top of one another rather messily. Her eyes burned from the salty tears which were pouring out of her eyes about an hour ago. At this point, she may have just been mindlessly putting things inside until it filled to the brim.

"I'll be right back." She excused herself, getting off the floor and waddling over to the bathroom, locking the door behind herself.

All Shay did was nod her head, reverting her attention back to her phone. She waited patiently until she knew Karsen would take her time in the bathroom. Once this was confirmed, she fast walked over to the girl's night-stand, beginning to rummage through her belongings. The woman was mainly trying to find all of Karsen's essential documents, specifically her ID and birth certificate.

It was starting to take a while, causing the woman to groan and curse under her breath in irritation. However, she managed to find more than what she was looking for. She sighed in relief, shutting her eyes for a moment to thank whoever was looking out for her above. Shay got up, taking out a manila colored envelope that she had for God knows what reason, and placed those documents inside of them, sealing them and shoving it in her large, Prada bag.

Meanwhile, Karsen stood in the bathroom, staring at her broken reflection in the mirror. Her face was red, her eyes puffy and aching from the constant crying. The brunette's nose seemed to be as red as a white person walking into a Middle Eastern for the first time – but this was another skin of pain, one that she felt more so in her heart and not burning on her skin. Karsen's reflection burned its gaze into the girl standing opposite of it, contemplating whether this profession was even worth losing someone she valued so much.

Her mind convinced her otherwise though, maybe out to shove away the growing paranoia, or maybe to teach her a lesson – that was to be found out later on. Nonetheless, Karsen walked out of the bathroom, going over to her suitcase and finally zipping it up.

"Ready?" Shay inquired curiously, though her eyes were glued to her phone screen.

"Yeah." She replied bleakly.

Once Shay examined the girl, her brows furrowed, as if to be confused and perhaps even disgusted at the girls outfit choice.

"You're wearing that?"

"So? It's not like this is what I'm going to wear when I'm f-"

"No." Shay stood up, holding her hands up in order to shut the girl up from giving her a headache with her bullshit. "Wear something...fancy?"

"Shay, I don't have anything fancy. Plus, that's your thing, not mine." Karsen attempted to let the girl down easily, hoping she didn't cause any offense, but would it really be considered that if it were true?

The woman shut her eyes, taking in a much needed inhale, exhaling as she decided to let the petty issue go.

"Fine, now come on – his driver's waiting outside." Shay gave her a slight grin, plastering it onto her face as a genuine one would be very rare.

***

The journey to the house was quiet, no one uttered a word – not even the radio. The only sounds emitted throughout were the slight bumps of the road signs painted onto the tar, as well as the speed of the car. Karsen didn't know where they were going, but it seemed far considering she'd been in this Mercedes for over forty-five minutes.

She rested her head against the window, watching the city buildings slowly transition into the country side, which eventually morphed into modern style cottages scattered around the place. The atmosphere seemed quietly and quite sketchy, but that was probably Karsen overthinking as she usually did.

The car came to a halt as the front door of the cottage nearby the lake. The front porch was decorated with two, grey stone benches on the opposite sides of each other – leaving a gap for a pebbled walkway towards the front door. On the other side, the backyard seemed to go on for miles if not explored, but it eventually stopped by a lake.

Karsen stepped out of the car, looking up at the two story building. Her eye caught the distinct window which was large in size, almost half the size of a deluxe hotel room suite. Her gaze was broken when the driver gestured her to the handle of her suitcase, causing her to purse her lips at the man and nod as a way to say 'thank you'.

Shay didn't hesitate to walk towards the front door, sauntering over to it as if it were her own house. She welcomed herself in, sliding open the glass door – odd front door designing, but that's exactly how Derek Hall preferred it. The woman placed her suitcase at the right side of the door, taking off her fur coat and placing it onto the hook. As she walked over to the foyer, the clicking of her heels summoned in the man himself.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." Shay spoke indirectly to the man, her eyes glancing over the new addition to his wall art.

"Careful," Derek partially embraced her, planting a small kiss on her cheek as he glimpsed at the lost-looking girl in front of him. "You don't want her finding out what she's in for."