Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)-Chapter 111: We Will Wait
Being the recipient of three speechless gazes, Jia Molei silently stepped away from the perimeter of the peephole and hissed in a low, angry voice, "What are you looking at me for? Is it my fault that she recognizes me?!"
He Juan withdrew his gaze helplessly. Now that things had already come to this point, he knew that using this approach to enter Ye Lingya’s house would not be feasible anymore. What to do? Just as He Juan was wrecking his brain to think of something, from his peripheral vision, he saw the room on the corner of the hallway opened by a crack, then a head popped up to peek at them curiously.
He Juan’s heart abruptly sank. It seemed like his guess was correct. The walls in this building were so thin that one could only whisper quietly if they did not want the neighbors to know what they were talking about. How were they supposed to talk about such a sensitive topic?
Scratching his cheek, He Juan opened his mouth to ask, "Miss Ye, are your parents home?" He had deliberately softened his voice so as to not frighten the other party, yet he still heard a messy clatter inside and a dull thud as if Ye Lingya had frantically retreated from the door only to bump into something and tripped on her feet in her haste.
Goodness, He Juan, how can you be so careless?!
He rubbed his forehead. He had known that Student Ye was most likely a victim of those bastards in District 15. Even though five months had passed since the incident, some trauma would need a long, long time to heal. He even heard Er Meilin say that Ye Lingya could not bring herself to go back to school for the first few months.
Alas... her family’s economy was not good. In order to send her to a good school, both parents had to work all day and night, coming home when the sky was already dark and going out even before the crack of dawn. After that, this kind of disaster suddenly befell their daughter...
To say that the sky had suddenly collapsed on them would be an utter understatement.
What were they supposed to do? They already worked like an ox to put three meals on the table, where would they have the time and energy to fight the lawsuit? They had put all their hope and expectation in Ye Lingya, hoping that she could study well and get a nice job in the future to change the fate of the entire family.
Ye Lingya was not particularly smart, but she was earnest and diligent. Knowing how hard her parents had worked very hard just to make her life a little more smoothly, she always tried to do well in school, performing beyond her peers and becoming the teachers’ favorites. On her thin shoulders, she carried not only her parents’ wishes and expectations, but also the pressure from within to emerge from this mud of poverty and give her parents a better life.
Alas, she was simply too terrified to step out of the house. The more she tried to convince herself to forget everything that had happened, the more panicked she was. When she saw her parents’ disappointed gazes, their fatigued sighs after a long day of work, and heard the discussion whether they should move away from here which needed another sum of money, the pressure to become normal became even heavier, pressing down on her until she could not breathe.
Her parents had no idea about this at all. They had no idea that Ye Lingya, who used to be a cheerful and lively girl, had become more and more withdrawn to herself. She was afraid of loud voices, especially males, and would trigger a mini panic attack once she was startled. Even more than that, she was afraid of being seen and touched. It got to the point where she even hid from her own father...
She did not want to be like this either! However, the more she told herself that she had to recover, the deeper she was yanked into the abyss. Darkness rushed to her mouth, eyes and ears, tightening around her neck bit by bit until she lived every single day in fear, anxiety and suffocation.
Gradually, the blossoming petal lost its vibrancy and closed itself off, turning duller and duller until the day it would wither away...
Through the thin door, everyone could hear the female student’s harsh and rapid breathing. She sounded as if she was in the middle of a panic attack.
He Juan immediately gave a signal to everyone, then the three big boys scooted away from the door and left the matter for Er Meilin to handle. Er Meilin crouched down and put her face as close as possible to the seam of the door, whispering in a soothing and gentle voice, "It’s okay, you are safe, Miss Ye. Do you see the door in front of you? It is closed and nobody has touched it. You will be safe inside. It’s okay... everything is okay..."
It took a few good minutes for Ye Lingya to calm her uneven breathing. And then, her hoarse voice drifted out, "M–Mom and Dad are still working... they will not return before 9 pm." Then, there was a shuffle, and a crisp noise of the key slipping into the hole. She could tell that the people outside the door did not mean her any harm, but she just could not help her instinctual reaction. Her voice was still shaking lightly as she forced herself to say, "I–If you have something to say, then—"
Before Ye Lingya could open the door, He Juan silently stretched a hand out and tugged on the handle. As a result, Ye Lingya found that she could not pull open her door no matter what.
Ye Lingya: ??
Er Meilin snapped her eyes toward him, flabbergasted, but then He Juan only shook his head to her. Receiving the signal, Er Meilin nodded, then told Ye Lingya, "It’s okay, Miss Ye. There is no need to open the door." She rummaged into her bag, took out her journal, and wrote her number on the empty page. After that, she tore the page and shoved the thin piece of paper on the crack beneath the door. Her voice was gentle and understanding as she said, "If you have something to tell us, then just call this number. No matter how long it takes... we will wait for you." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
He Juan silently gave her a thumbs up, beaming from ear to ear. Miss Er was simply a godsend! It was the best decision to bring her along here!
There was no response from the other side. However, five seconds later, they saw the piece of paper disappear into the door. Ye Lingya had received it. He Juan heaved out a sigh of relief, gently let go of the handle, then gestured for the others to go.
Jia Molei and Su Xieren could not wait to get away from this place as soon as possible. They immediately turned on their heels and descended the stairs one after another.
Miss Er said softly toward the door. "Thank you very much, Miss Ye. Don’t forget to lock the door. Goodbye."
The four people exited the dingy apartment and marched into the marketplace once again. Only after they returned to the car did they heave out a big and loud sigh.
He Juan wiped the sweat on his forehead and huffed out a mirthless chuckle, "Well, that was... quite thrilling." He had a few more plastic bags in his hands. The four people’s dinner for today was secured thanks to the enthusiastic aunties.
Jia Molei slumped bonelessly on the seat and tugged his damp collar aside, groaning. "Goddamnit, I thought we’re done for!"
Su Xieren glanced at him in disdain. "Whose fault do you think it is?"
Er Meilin looked at He Juan and asked worriedly. "Is that okay? What if she doesn’t give us a call? Then the case—" She had not even finished her sentence yet when her phone suddenly rang shrilly inside her bag. Er Meilin fished it out and glanced at the screen, stunned.
It was an unknown number.
It couldn’t be... So fast??
