Seeing You at Dusk

No one thought Anna was a good girl.

　　She didn’t think of herself as a good girl, either.

　　Her biological father's whereabouts were unknown, and her mother was an ordinary call girl whose services were priced like a public washing machine—men only needed to stuff a few banknotes into her corset to open that secret door and enjoy clandestine pleasures. Growing up in such a "bad" environment, she couldn't help but become a bad girl.

　　She inherited her mother's beauty—thick, jet-black hair that required great effort to tie into a ponytail, skin the color of honeyed syrup, and strikingly red lips with a slightly upturned upper lip that traced a sweet curve. Her mother's clients often stared transfixed at her lips, forcing her mother to sternly scold her to keep her mouth shut. She paid no heed, believing her mother was simply jealous of her beauty.

　　She was precisely this kind of girl—vulgar, thoughtless, yet stunningly beautiful.

　　At eighteen, this bad girl encountered the first setback of her life.

　　Before this, her life hadn't been entirely smooth sailing either - though her family wasn't wealthy, they managed to scrape by at subsistence level. The trouble was her mother would occasionally run off with men, abandoning her. Fortunately, her mother retained some conscience, always leaving behind a stack of paper money each time she eloped. Anna survived barely on that money.

　　She never considered going out to work and earn money - her mother never stayed away too long. Typically after two weeks, she'd be dumped by the man and come slinking back to this glossy yet filthy apartment to resume life with Anna. So Anna always remained perfectly calm about her mother's disappearances.

　　But this time was different. Her mother seemed to have found true love - two months had passed without her returning home.

　　Sometimes Anna wondered whether her mother had genuinely found true love, or had died at that man's hands and been buried in some wilderness. The thought would linger in her mind for two seconds before being pushed aside by other worries.

　　With her mother gone, she lost her financial support - no money for tuition, no money for food.

　　It was then that she came to appreciate her mother's virtues. Though her mother was a call girl, she never once considered grooming her daughter to follow in her footsteps. If a client so much as glanced at her, her mother would fly into a rage—though the anger was directed at her, calling her a little flirt who knew how to turn heads, she understood this was her mother's way of protecting her, so she never took offense.

　　Her mother wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, often spouting romantic notions so naive they were laughable. Despite being deceived by men time and again, she still yearned for warm and beautiful love. But all in all, she was a decent enough mother.

　　Though she often screamed at Anna in hysterics, sometimes even threatening to drag them both down in mutual destruction, she used the money she earned from selling her body to send Anna to school, dressing her up as beautifully as a child star in the movies… Even if, in the end, she did run off with a man, Anna still shed a few fat tears whenever she thought of her.

　　Of course, Anna might have cried longer if she actually enjoyed school. Unfortunately, children of call girls aren't exactly cut out for academics. After mourning her mother's departure briefly, she quickly became intoxicated with the thrill of not having to attend school anymore. She was finally free from that damned place!

　　Anna's mother couldn't afford private school, so she had to send her to public school instead. There, Anna mastered smoking, fighting, and cursing - everything except actual studying. Occasionally, when her mother asked for report cards, she'd present expertly forged ones. Though generally as dim-witted as her mother, Anna showed remarkable cunning in these moments. She deliberately left two glaring C's amidst otherwise perfect grades, making the forgery appear genuine. In reality, those two C's were the only authentic grades on the entire report.

　　Once she decided to quit school, Anna slept straight through till noon the next day without hesitation. She ignored multiple calls from the school administration. No teacher would venture into the red-light district just to salvage one failing student's education. Thus, two weeks later, Anna received her official expulsion notice.

　　When Anna opened the envelope, she felt completely unfazed. She was too young—so young as to be almost naive, too young to understand the consequences of losing her right to education. All she felt was liberation, freedom, like a bird breaking out of its cage, ready to soar through the boundless sky.

　　After briefly marveling at her newfound freedom, Anna threw herself into wild revelry. A week later, her carefree adventures went bankrupt due to insufficient funds. Using her petite and not-so-sharp brain, she pondered for a while and decided it was time to get a job and earn money.

　　But where to work, or what kind of job to take—she had absolutely no clue. When her mother left, she believed she had raised a beautiful, intelligent daughter with hopes of entering university. In reality, she had only nurtured a pretty but empty-headed fool.

　　During her job-hunting phase, this fool Anna met another fool—Charlotte.

　　At the time, Anna was wandering the streets, utterly perplexed about what kind of work she should do. With her hair in a high ponytail and wearing a white dress, she looked as beautiful and innocent as an angel. But everyone on that street knew this "angel" could fight with terrifying ferocity and curse with a vocabulary no ordinary young girl could ever dream of.

　　Anna thought her behavior was perfectly normal, and so did her mother—any young, beautiful girl trying to grow up safely in this world needed some means of self-defense. Otherwise, beauty would become a sharp blade turned against them.

　　Charlotte knew this rule but had never considered following it. She believed she wasn't beautiful enough to need self-defense. Yet she didn’t realize that "beauty" wasn’t the prerequisite for being targeted—"vulnerability" was.

　　That day, though not particularly pretty, she found herself in trouble, surrounded by a group of thugs. Anna happened to pass by and, like an enraged heifer with hands on her hips, chased the hooligans away. Charlotte stared at the beautiful face of this little heifer, stunned for a moment before finally saying, "Thank you… for saving me."

　　Anna waved her hand dismissively. "No problem. You’d better leave. This place is full of idle troublemakers. I helped you this time, but there might not be anyone next time."

　　Charlotte flushed slightly. "I… I was looking for someone. I’ve been wandering around for a long time but still can’t find her apartment."

　　“Who are you looking for？”

　　Charlotte clenched her hands tightly and mumbled, "Mrs. Mason…"

　　Anna thought she must have misheard. "Say that again？"

　　Charlotte flushed red to her cheeks: "I'm looking for Mrs. Mason."

　　Anna's eyes widened in surprise as she let out a low whistle. Mrs. Mason was the most notorious madam on this street. If not for the fact that Anna's mother had already made a name for herself in the world of call girls, she would probably have had to go through Mrs. Mason too. This girl looked so proper in her white blouse and black long skirt - who would have thought she'd ask for Mrs. Mason right off the bat.

　　Not wanting to get involved, Anna said: "Mrs. Mason lives at 245 Brook District. Go straight, turn left, then right - that's her apartment. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. Be careful on your own."

　　But Charlotte grabbed her arm pleadingly: "I have to be home by six this afternoon… Could you take me there tomorrow？ I-I can pay you, or bring you food. I work at an upscale restaurant and can bring you fresh cream cakes… Those cakes are really expensive, they sell for $5 each… Please help me, I have something very important to discuss with Mrs. Mason."

　　Anna had never tasted upscale cakes and wasn't particularly interested in cream cakes. But she caught one key word sharply: "You said you work at an upscale restaurant？"

　　Charlotte nodded.

　　Anna thought for a moment and said bluntly, "I'm looking for a job. If you can get me into the restaurant too, I'll take you to see Mrs. Mason."

　　Charlotte hesitated briefly but agreed, "I can take you to meet the restaurant manager, but I can't guarantee that the manager will hire you…"

　　Anna's eyes gleamed cunningly, "That's fine, that's good enough."

　　——

　　Anna's interview went surprisingly smoothly, all thanks to the restaurant manager's gender—any man would find it hard to refuse such a beauty. Especially since that day, she had even applied light makeup. While Anna had no talent for academics, she was exceptionally skilled at captivating men. She had painted her lashes long and dark, dabbed a touch of blush on the tip of her nose, and coated her lips like sugar-glazed red cherries.

　　The restaurant manager was smitten the moment he saw her and promptly hired her. Landing a job so effortlessly filled Anna with a sense of smug superiority—she felt she was far cleverer than her mother. Neither mother nor daughter had education or wit, yet the daughter had found a far more respectable job than her mother ever had. Wasn't that proof enough of her intelligence？

　　That day, she brought Charlotte to the front of Mrs. Mason's apartment. Though curious about why Charlotte was looking for Mrs. Mason, she had no desire to step into that luxurious tomb. She lit a cigarette outside, holding it between her fingers, taking occasional puffs. White smoke curled upward, blurring her ink-dark eyebrows and crimson lips.

　　Just as Charlotte stepped out, she happened to witness this scene.

　　It was hard to imagine this seductive beauty before her was only eighteen this year. Charlotte took a deep breath, suppressing a fleeting surge of jealousy, walked over, and whispered, "Let's go…"

　　Ana, observing her expression, still couldn't restrain her curiosity: "What on earth happened to you？"

　　Sometimes, when sorrow is suppressed for too long, even a casual inquiry becomes unbearable. With reddened eyes, Charlotte threw herself into Ana's arms, sobbing, "I…I'm ruined… My whole life is over!"

　　Ten minutes later, Ana understood the whole story.

　　Charlotte was born into an ordinary family, but her spending far exceeded what an average household could afford. Yet, she had no idea how that money was spent or where it all went. This was something Anna understood all too well, as she too often wondered why money seemed to disappear so quickly.

　　The year Charlotte spent the most recklessly, her father happened to lose his job and stayed home watching TV all day. One day, out of boredom, he went through her clothes and found a long receipt in her pocket. He nearly fainted from anger. As a result, Charlotte was kicked out of the house. Though her father later brought her back, she never dared to reveal her true expenses to her family again.

　　She knew that reckless spending was bad, but she couldn’t suppress the ever-growing urge to shop. Shopping advertisements—bright and flashy—were everywhere on TV and the streets. More and more wealthy young women dined at the restaurant, and many of her coworkers were involved with rich men—during the day, they were pretty young waitresses, but by night, they changed into sequined miniskirts, carried leather purses, and strolled arm-in-arm with wealthy men.

　　After being immersed in such an environment for too long, she gradually lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong - too many people were doing the same, making even bad actions seem acceptable with so many companions in wrongdoing. Thus, she became involved with a wealthy man. She didn't aspire to become his mistress, merely hoping to fill the financial gap at home and ease the burden on her unemployed father's shoulders.

　　This was what she had in mind, but once she actually became involved with the wealthy man, her shopping desires only intensified. Now, she not only competed in beauty with the girls at the restaurant but also vied with the glamorous women around wealthy men. Unconsciously, her debts piled higher and higher. A few days ago, a threatening call even reached her home; thankfully, she was the one who answered, or she wouldn't have known how to explain it to her father.

　　In the midst of this turmoil, the wealthy man she relied on suddenly disappeared. Left with no choice, she sought out Mrs. Mason's address, hoping to find another wealthy man to help her through the crisis. Had she not met Anna that day, she might have chosen suicide after being violated by street thugs.

　　Listening to her plight, Anna felt little sympathy - she had heard too many stories of benefactors vanishing suddenly and call girls left in distress, making it hard for her to be moved anymore.

　　She pondered secretly - if one day she found herself in Charlotte's position, would she too seek out a wealthy man to weather the crisis？

　　After brief contemplation with her petite, narrow-minded brain, she reached a conclusion: cross that bridge when she came to it! At least it was a fallback option.

　　——

　　Anna never imagined she'd need this fallback so soon.

　　When listening to Charlotte's story, she'd thought her utterly foolish for competing with others despite knowing her financial limitations. But after starting work herself, she realized avoiding such comparisons was truly impossible.

　　The girls around her all wore luxury French lipsticks, making her plastic-cased drugstore tube impossible to produce. Their curls glowed with vitality and bounce - clear evidence of regular high-end salon visits.

　　While inwardly rolling her eyes at these girls enjoying services beyond their station, Anna was startled to discover her true desire when forced to choose: joining their ranks.

　　She disdained their hedonistic extravagance, yet couldn't resist the gravitational pull of that glittering, gilded world. Charlotte likely fell for the same reason.

That day, Anna returned to her apartment, kicked off her high heels, and walked barefoot to where her mother kept the savings. She reached out to feel for it, only to find nothing there.

　　She blinked in confusion, feeling around several more times, but still found nothing. The house couldn't have been burgled—she lived among thieves herself, and no one since childhood knew better than her how to guard against theft.

　　So, there was only one possibility.

　　She had spent all the money.

　　Where had it gone？

　　She didn't know.

　　She truly didn't know.

　　Anna tried hard to recall what she had bought these past few days, only to realize she seemed to have purchased nothing. Wait—no, at first, she had bought some small items, like earrings, hair clips, false eyelashes… These little things cost only a few cents each, and she thought she could afford them, so she bought a whole pile at once.

　　Later, passing by a magazine stand, she saw the fr