Officer Konstantin stayed in a rather old residential building that still preserved the architectural style of the previous century around the 80s or the 90s. There was no elevator and the corridor was narrow with dim lighting. Vivian felt like she might just faint as she ascended the concrete staircase step by step. Only then did she see the greenish-gray burglar bars. She raised her head to look at the house number and ensured that it was the right house before she knocked on the door gently
Vivian had limited time, so she dared to stay for too long. She did not take the information with her. On the contrary, she passed it back to Madam Konstantin and said, “It’s best to leave this item with you. It will actually be safer. I’m going to try to figure out a way to take Edward’s fingerprints. I just wonder if I can find someone reliable to make a comparison for me.”“Leave that to me,” Madam Konstantin said. Vivian stood up and bade her farewell. She encountered Estelle who had just
Vivian kept quiet for a long time upon hearing the question before she forced a smile and answered as if she was expressing her innermost thoughts ambiguously, “Try not to contact me first if you can. You can contact me when there comes a time that I won’t even be able to find you.”When there came a time that she could not even find him, Edward would not be able to find him either naturally. He understood her hint. He nodded and answered, “Alright.”He went to the bedroom to pick up something
A thousand miles away, Vivian’s cry halted to a stop almost in the next second after her call ended. She gazed at the display screen of her phone absentmindedly for a while before she pulled out some tissues to wipe away her tears. Then, she stood up with an ordinary expression to wash her face in the washroom. Next, she headed to the kitchen to make herself some dinner. There was almost nothing left in the refrigerator, so she could only make instant ramen with an egg for herself. She conclud
Vivian did not encounter any obstacles in her path all the way. It was exactly the same as the situation when she had gone over previously, and again, it was Wade who opened the door. However, Wade did not appear as apathetic as before though there was vague concern in his gaze. When she walked past him, he even reminded her softly, “Mr. Levin isn’t in a good mood.”Vivian stopped ever so slightly in her path, then she walked into the house with her usual expression. She stood at the spacious l
She was already incapable of answering him. Her head leaned weakly against his shoulder and the sound of her breathing could no longer be heard anymore. Shocked, he stretched out his hand to check on her breathing. He felt slightly relaxed when he sensed her weak breathing. He carried her into the bathtub swiftly, turned on the hot water, and removed the wet clothes on her body while blasting the warm water at her. He managed to shed her clothes completely with great effort and found her used
It was a critical moment now, so Vivian could not possibly perform fellatio for him. She was stunned for a moment before she rejected him in a straightforward manner with flushed cheeks, “Don’t even think about it.”When the situation calmed down, the temperature of the water remained high as before, yet it felt as if his body temperature was even higher. After a long while, he relaxed slowly and got up to help her out of the water. Vivian had been quiet all this time as her cheeks blushed fu
As he was speaking, he turned his head to ask Jake, “Jake, what she’s doing is like the phrase ‘forget your friends when you are smitten with a new love’, right? I haven’t used the wrong phrase this time, have I?”Jasmine was very used to handling this situation. She cracked up upon hearing Baldie’s remarks and she said in a brisk yet harmonious manner, “You’re a scoundrel who shirks from your own fault, then blames someone else for the mistake. I’ve been here for half a night, and how many wor
Did you know, Vee?I’ve thought of this more than once. If only our beginning from that night wasn’t so unbearable, how wonderful would it be?… The light from the setting sun spilled towards her from the side, casting a glow on the piece of paper, illuminating the words on it, and giving them a slight shimmer. Just like last year, when she emerged from the ultrasound room in the maternity hospital, weak after a mere two steps, she had to lean against the corridor. She covered her mouth with
Vivian arrived home a little late. She parked the car at the side of the road first, then collected her subscribed newspapers and magazines from the mailbox at her gate. She flipped through the mail as she walked in. To her surprise, she found a letter. It was an envelope made from kraft paper with her name on it.It was a rare handwritten letter with the faint print of a bamboo tree, drawn with Chinese calligraphy ink. The bamboo was tall, straight, and fierce just like the script on the lette
“It’s been three months now, why isn’t the little one moving? When will the baby quicken?” he asked her, “Can it hear me? Will it remember my voice?”He even asked, “Who do you think it’ll look like, Vee? Will it be a girl or a boy?”She knew very well that he was harboring evil intentions, but she gave into him and crumbled anyway. She sobbed and screamed, “Kill me, Sean Jackson. Kill me. I will never give birth to this child even if I die! Never!”He soothed her, “Alright. Don’t give birth
His lower jaw tightened. The lines on his face stiffened icily like the cold edges of a knife. In reality, he had given up long ago. His heart was as dead as ash. However, refusing to accept this, he grasped at everything, hoping to find a straw that could save a life, not to save himself but to save his child’s life. That was how well he knew her. He knew that once she escaped, she would never spare his child. Did he hate her? Yes. He hated how he couldn’t shoot her dead. Love triumphed over ha
“Then, what should we do?” his aide asked.A hero’s end was, inevitably, death. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he was simply plagued with remaining grievances. After a bout of silence, Edward calmly said, “Do something for me. Once that’s done, just slip away. There are no lives in your hands and you aren’t in the cops’ database. No one will notice you.”This aide had received a great debt of gratitude from Edward once, so he was solely loyal to him. He became distressed when he heard this, so
“You deserve it for all of the crimes you’ve committed!” Vivian screamed, losing control. Her emotions felt strangely steady after that scream. She threw the gun away as her sparkling, dark eyes were filled with renewed determination. She stared at him and spoke, enunciating every word, “Sean Jackson and those brothers of yours, you’ve all got your justice. Beaten to death, right? Arrested, was it? But when you willfully hurt others and view their lives as nothing more than weeds, you should hav
She hadn’t slept the entire night, and she was extremely high-strung. However, she was feeling slightly fatigued. Perhaps because of the comforting glow from the brightening day outside, she lay down on the bed with her clothes on after a bout of hesitation. She had only intended on taking a nap but unexpectedly fell into a deep sleep.Vivian suddenly woke up, startled. She had lost track of how long she had been asleep. She found a figure standing in front of her bed when she awoke and was gre
Vivian was taken aback by his question. “You haven’t caught him?” she exclaimed in astonishment. She thought that they had already apprehended Edward based on the expression on Jake’s face.“Our men have surrounded the condominium,” he answered simply, “He and Wade seized a hostage and hid inside the study. Both sides were caught in a deadlock for a while, but when they burst the study door open, they only found Wade and that hostage inside.”Vivian trembled uncontrollably as she listened to h
The wedding day was drawing to a close. Vivian stayed at the condominium until the day before the wedding. Then, she moved to Edward’s villa by the lake to wait for the wedding ceremony. Edward drove her there himself, feeling reluctant before he left. He turned around and looked at her, then softly said, “Wait for me. I’ll come for you tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”Vivian didn’t respond and simply stood at the doorway, quietly watching him.For some reason, the sight of her like this