Amelia felt uneasy about the new information she had acquired. She tossed and turned all through the night, battling with herself on how to use her new knowledge as an advantage. If she chose to follow Elise and Darling, Amelia needed more insight into the plan they were crafting. On the other hand, there was a chance that she could escape, even while she was locked behind steel walls. Amelia could play to her strengths, take down Darling and Elise during training, and then escape from the manor. Then again, she also needed a blueprint of the governor's house to know where she was. When Elise led her to the training center, she'd handcuffed and blinded Amelia so she wouldn't know anything about the layout of the residency.

Amelia decided to follow along with Darling and Elise to attain more information about Richard. Then, she'd find a way out of her predicament. After all, it never costs anything to understand more about a crucial situation.

***

Amelia rolled over onto her side. She stretched and let out a content yawn—Elise and Darling weren't early risers, so training always started at eleven. That meant she could get plenty of sleep.

Then, noticing two pairs of eyes intently staring at her, Amelia pulled her duvet closer to herself. She sat up defensively and looked at Elise and Darling.

"How long have you both been hiding here?" Amelia asked the duo icily.

"Long enough to see you wake up from your beauty sleep," Elise smirked.

Darling rolled her eyes. "Around five minutes, give or take. We know this is earlier than when our regular practice sessions start, but we do have to discuss what Elise sent you yesterday. First things first, are you in?"

Amelia shrugged. "Why not? It isn't really like I have any other options."

"Great. Here's what we know about my dad's criminal record—"

"Before we start anything, aren't we under surveillance right now?" Amelia pointed to the camera directed at her bed.

Darling absentmindedly pressed a button on Elise's phone, which was lying on the desk. "That should take care of it."

"Also, I'd like to bring your attention to the fact that I've just woken up, and I'm in my pajamas, so I won't be able to process at least half the information you give me." Amelia raised an eyebrow at the pair.

"Look, let's just get this over and done with so we can be out of your hair for the day. This is the only place in the Lau Residence where we can control the security cameras. My dad doesn't even know you're here," Elise pleaded with Amelia.

Amelia sighed and sat down on the armchair in front of the desk. Darling laid out an intricate map of a grandiose manor. "This is the blueprint for the Lau Residency. You're on the third floor of five stories, including the basement. Here—" Darling pointed to a corridor on the fifth floor—"is where Governor Lau's room is. Security guards patrol the hallways, but the entire floor is Elise's dad's. Nobody except Mrs. Lau is allowed into his room. That's why we have reason to believe he's keeping his stolen artifacts inside."

"But these are only assumptions," Elise warned Darling and Amelia. "To confirm our suspicions, we must find out what's inside my father's room by all means possible. One way we can do that is to look inside his office—I'm sure we'll be able to come up with a plan on how to do that."

Amelia nodded in agreement, looking at Governor Lau's office on the second floor. "We could find a way to sneak in during our training sessions since the room is only directly below the training center."

Elise and Darling turned to look at one another with raised eyebrows, then looked at Amelia again. "We can build on that idea in the future." Elise nodded.

Upon remembering a vital piece of information, Amelia gave the duo valuable advice. "Disguises can act as diversions or distractions," she suggested. "I came to the party with an alias, Regina Lee."

"The elusive daughter of Mr. Lee Ka-Shing?" Darling smirked. "Good choice; nobody's ever seen her before. A running joke in the governor's social circle says that even her brother doesn't know what she looks like!"

"I admire her determination to keep herself out of the public eye," Amelia mused, "and I'm assuming Governor Lau has never seen Regina before, so she could be a good diversion."

"We could arrange a meeting with her," Elise suggested. "I, for one, have seen the 'fan mail' my father has sent Regina in hopes of meeting her."

"I could hack into the email account and reply," Darling offered, and Amelia looked at her skeptically.

"Trust me; I've done worse before!" Darling defended herself, and this time Elise rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Where'd you learn that from, by the way?" Elise asked, turning towards Amelia. "You told us that disguises were good for diversions and distractions or something along the lines of that."

"You wouldn't want to know." Amelia brushed away Elise's question. "And even if you did know, you wouldn't understand."

***

"Let's let the women handle the next training sessions, and we'll see what good comes out of it," Ah Ba whispered to Ah Kan, the weapons expert, as he led young Amelia down a hallway. Ah Ba had never been a good whisperer, and his comments reverberated off the bare walls, reaching Amelia's ears.

Soon enough, they arrived at a door carved with intricate designs of flowers, birds, and stars. Amelia reached out a hand to touch the beautiful engravings, but the door swung open before she could do so.

The Bauhinias' disguise specialist and stylist Aunt Yan greeted them at the door. "Oh," she said distastefully. "It's you both." 

Then, noticing Amelia, a smile spread across her face. "Come in, come in—there's a lot in store for you today!"

Anything to get me away from Ah Ba, Amelia thought. She waved to Aunt Yan, who absentmindedly slipped a pencil into her messy bun. Her bleached curls with rainbow highlights framed the sides of her face. The young girl allowed herself to be pushed inside the room by her ecstatic (and slightly eccentric) aunt, and watched in awe as she slammed the door in Ah Ba's face.

"We'll show them who's boss, alright?" Aunt Yan looked pointedly at Amelia. "Trust me when I say what you learn with me will be the key to keeping you alive during your missions."

Amelia was too busy admiring the room. It was evident that someone with pure talent and great passion owned the place. Artistic sketches were etched on the walls, turning what was supposedly a white space into an enclosure filled with vibrant hues of every color of the rainbow. A drawing of a peacock here, a painting of a field of lavenders near the window, a simple sketch of a wedding dress over on the ceiling—heaven knows how it ended up there...

Everything in Aunt Yan's room was evidently her handicraft, even down to the carvings on the doorframe and the stained glass on the windows. Young Amelia wondered how so much passion could exude from one person, even in one of the most dismal places to be.

"Stand here." Yan directed Amelia and draped a piece of fabric over her shoulders. "That's right—shoulders back, head tall. Stand confidently, no matter if it's confronting your Ba or letting me measure your height. This confidence gives you the determination and strength to do your best in any assignment. Understood?"

Amelia tried to follow Aunt Yan's advice. She stood taller and nodded firmly.

"That's it!" Aunt Yan smiled. The fabric was now pinned in different spots, creating the outline of a piece of clothing.

"Now, one more thing. Disguises can act as diversions or distractions. Even making one can count. I'll teach you how to hide in plain sight in the coming sessions. With the right mindset and materials, I'm sure you'll master this in no time."

***

Amelia wished Aunt Yan could be here to help her act as Regina Lee, but she couldn't risk revealing her whereabouts to anyone, not even her favorite relative.

"We'll figure out more details in the coming few days." Elise brought Amelia back to the present. "For now, we must deal with more pressing matters, like the agents."

"What agents?" Amelia whirled around to face the young woman.

"Did we forget to tell you?" Darling asked. "Some agents from Cantonesia's Secret Intelligence work undercover for my dad. They're trying to find evidence to exploit him, like us. But they're also looking for you."

Word Count: 1451

(A/N: I'm at the halfway point of writing this story (according to my writing document)! More updates to come next week :D)