Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 2: You’re Beautiful

Chapter 27

She picked up her cell phone and dialed Grunt’s room phone number.

To her surprise, a stranger answered the phone.  The girl heard Ai Qing’s voice and quickly became aggressive.  “Who are you?  What do you want to do with him?  Speak?  I heard your voice.  Speak.  Who are you?  Ai Jing?  Are you Ai Jing?”

She hung up instantly and looked at Dt dumbfounded.

He was out of the loop and looked back at her puzzledly.

Ai Qing didn’t say anything.  She stared at her phone for a long while, then she lowered her head to dial back home in China.  Someone answered the phone, her elder sister’s dispirited voice seeped through the speaker.

“Are you sleeping?”  Ai Qing asked.

Suddenly, the other end of the phone fell into a dead silence.

There was only the sound of breathing that grew heavier and heavier, finally the sound of someone choking.  “Ai Qing……”

She was saddened when she heard her sister and her eyes quickly turned red, but she still managed to keep her voice steady.  “Uhm.  Grunt bought you a gift.  He wanted me to give it to you for him.  Do you want it?  If not, then I will return it to him.”

“Ai Qing…..”  Her sister had begun to cry.

Her sister kept calling her name.  Other than that, she was just crying.

She felt her chest tighten in pain as she listened.

She listened for about five or six minutes, the sound of crying started to quiet down gradually. Slowly, Ai Jing finally spoke,  “Ai Qing…...I can’t forget him……”

She clenched her cell phone, then she released it slowly, trying to calm down.

“If you can’t forget him, then don’t force yourself.”  She understood the feeling too well.  “Anyway…...you will forget about it sooner or later.”

“Ai Qing……”  Her sister began choking up again and said, “She took things too hard and ate a bunch of pills. Grunt and I took her to the emergency room a bunch of times.  We almost fell apart…...I feel so bad.  I really can’t do without him…...Ai Qing, I can’t do without him……”

The other end of the phone was far away in China.  Ai Jing melted down, Ai Qing could only hear the sound of crying from the other end.

It was as if she was trying to use all her energy to cry away her misery.

Ai Qing held the phone, suddenly stood up, and quickly walked out of the coffee bar.

Tears had begun to flow out for her too.

She tried to comfort her sister in a steady voice.  But she was covering her own eyes trying desperately to push back the tears.

Dt had quietly watched her dynamic display of emotions, but didn’t expect her to break down suddenly.  He threw a large bill onto the table and ran out after her.

When he saw her, the phone had already hung up.

She was standing in lobby of the hotel very close to the wall, facing away from the crowd.  She continued to wipe away her tears until she felt someone come near from behind.

She didn’t turn back, but felt her whole body embraced by great warmth.  She was held in the stranger’s arms from head to feet…...Her back was stiff.  She felt the warm breath next to her ears.  The young man’s voice was somewhat deep.  “Just think of me as one of your friends from the past like Slide, Gun, or even Solo.”

Let me support you.

It didn’t matter who you wanted me to be.