In a bustling city, there was a young man walking through the pedestrian infested sidewalks. His stride was unhurried as he carried 5 bulging paper bags in his arms. Each step calculated as dull black eyes meticulously observe their bodies near him. Smoothly evading any direct contact in the compact area. His figure was hunched over and unassuming as he made his way through an alley.

God, it's really late. Looking as my watch blinked out 2:32 AM at me, I checked my phone to make sure I wasn't seeing things. My body drooped down even further when it was confirmed correct. Remembering what happened today, a sigh left my lips.

It was a busy night at the bar I worked at so it was the norm for me to leave late. However, the part-timer who had the night shift had called in sick despite the fact that I had just seen him looking as healthy as ever this afternoon.

I would have protested if not for the fact that the manager seems to be taken with him. Believing his lie, she had shoved that shift onto me, despite the fact that I had an early shift at the restaurant tomorrow, not to mention, the other five jobs I had that day. Frowning to myself, I took out a dumpling from my paper bag and immediately relaxed at the delicious flavors that settled in my mouth.

The heat of the birds eye chili pepper and the basil leaves among a myriad of spices mixed well with the ground meat. The wrapper itself was mixed with spices (that I wouldn't be able to pronounce) and pan fried which made it taste amazing. I mentally sent out blessings to the kind stall owners who gave me these dumplings regularly. Thank god they sold me a lot today, I was starving. May they find happiness in all they do. Getting closer to my apartment I passed by a shop and checked my reflection on the window.

A tired face greets me with a blank expression. My skin was extremely from countless years of working jobs under the hot sun, making my freckles a permanent fixture on my body. I was only slightly toned despite doing back breaking labor for most of my life and had an average height. My face was pretty unnoticeable and would have blended with the background if not for my extremely noticeable eyebags. Hmm. I took a couple of steps back and peered at my reflection. Soulless black eyes were framed my bottle-cap wire-framed glasses. Glasses that were expensive as hell to fix my eyesight damaged by late hours working in the dark for years. Even from a distance you could tell they were there despite my dark skin. Observing my hair, I made a note to cut my hair soon. My black hair curtained my eyes and made me look like that one character from a new korean manhwa that was getting popular. Billing Dropping? Sitting Popping? Eh, never mind. All I remembered was that he was…..locked in a basement?

My hand shoved another dumpling in my mouth and I shrugged and walked on. No point in trying to remember when I can just eat. A rumble from my stomach notified that my body agreed with me.

When I arrived at the start of my block, my hand had gone through all five bags and I was satiated for now. I bent form continued to drop down further as the exhaustion grew after eating a hot meal. Gotta make sure to set the alarm tomorrow….or is it today? It's the same thing I guess. A yawn interrupts my train of thought right before I hear the rev of a car come up behind me. Taking notice of the car that randomly came from nowhere—to me at least—I turned my attention back to the sidewalk. The hard hours from work yesterday had started to take its toll on me rendering me unable to notice when there was a click of a gun coming from the car.

Using all my concentration to move my feet on the sidewalk, I didn't see when the window had rolled down or when the barrel of the gun was pointing at me. The only thing I heard was a malicious cackle as a sudden voice broke the quiet of the night.

"Hey boys~ Look at what we have here."

*CRACK*

The sound of a gunshot fills echoes through the quiet streets as I stand still in shock. A group of masked men file quickly out of the car as they rush towards me. Rough hands hold me back and feel my body searching for something. Upon finding my wallet they shoved me back and rushed back to their car. A cold feeling spreads out from my chest as I watch the car speed its way away. Feeling weak, I fell down on my hands and knees, barely keeping consciousness as black dots appeared in my vision.

Ah.

Seriously. I just wanted to go home and sleep. Tomorrow was supposed to be my payday and I was supposed to buy another 5 bags of dumplings. Chuckles wet with blood came out of my body as I lay on my back to look at the night sky. Well, at least I finished my dinner tonight.

My body felt more and more like ice as time started ticking away and at the corner of my awareness the sound of sirens echoed in the background. Must be the ambulance, too bad they were late. With my mind slowly drifting away I felt all the stress that had piled up from my life break away and all I'm left with is a certain lightness. I don't have any close friends or family members who would mourn for my death so there was no regret about dying. The only complaint I had was the mugging part but that's done and over with so I can't do anything about it.

With that as my last thought, I shut my eyelids and let go.

Mnn. A soft feeling surrounds me as my consciousness begins to wake up.

Soft? Why is there softness? Were these supposed to be the fluffy clouds of heaven? (I doubt it since I was never a Catholic)

"Ā-Yǔ, Ā-Yǔ. My sweet little Ā-Yǔ." A soft and tired voice whispered out before something big and soft brushed against my suddenly sensitive cheek. "Your Ā-Niáng hopes you have dreamed well."

What.

N—?

"Your Gēgēmen and Dà Jiějiě are waiting for you, so stay awake for a little bit won't you? They want to meet their new Dìdì after waiting for such a long time. You do too don't you?" She cooed to me despite sweat coating her sickly face. Feeling someone lift me up, I squirmed a bit before realizing that they wouldn't drop me. The sound of whispering entered my ears when they came closer. Poking and prodding my body in fascination they murmured questions to the voice as if trying not to wake me up. I didn't pay much attention after a minute of listening to the woman talk to them drifted off to sleep.

Fuck it.

This could wait, my sleep couldn't.