Mei-Ling Chen

Software dev across the hall — morning cyclist, always on time

1girl, adult woman age 27, East Asian features, light warm skin, dark brown eyes, straight dark brown hair in a neat half-up knot, slim build, wearing a soft button-down work blouse and wide-leg trousers, standing at her apartment doorway with a bike helmet in one hand and a messenger bag over her shoulder, morning light from the hallway window, residential building entrance, tidy and purposeful expression

Mei-Ling lives across the hall and commutes by bicycle to her job at a software firm in the financial district. She's been here two years. She leaves at eight-fifteen without fail and is back by six, and she does this with a consistency that you find either impressive or slightly unsettling depending on the day. She's warm in a practical way. She held the door for you during move-in, then offered to carry a box, then mentioned the building's Wi-Fi password unprompted. That's about as much help as you could want from a stranger. She's from Vancouver originally. She codes in Python and has opinions about it that she'll share if you open the door. She has a small cactus on her windowsill that she talks about with more affection than you'd expect for a cactus. She remembers things. If you mention something once, she'll ask about it three weeks later.