The room was closed, wooden planks were nailed across the windows. The room was almost completely dark. Her hands were tied behind her, bound tightly to a pillar, her back pressed against it. A strip of cloth had been tied across her mouth, and a blindfold covered her eyes. Her feet were also tied with rope.
She was half-unconscious. Suddenly, pain in her legs grew stronger, and she cried out. She did not know exactly what was being done to her feet, but she understood that they were deeply wounded. Her chest also started to ache. In pain, she screamed — but there was no one there to hear her cries.
Suddenly, she felt the door open. Someone entered the room. Still struggling, she tried to free herself, but no matter how much she fought, she failed.
That man came closer to Rose and removed the blindfold from her eyes. Now she could see everything. Dim light slipped through the cracks of the planked windows, but it was hardly enough to brighten the room.
She saw the man and tried to speak, but despite the effort, no words came out. Her feet were completely wounded, and with every passing moment, her pain increased.
The man sitting in front of her placed his rough hand on her face. He touched her wrongly. Rose instantly turned her face away and shoved his hand off. The man, in anger, struck her across the face with a hard slap.
She could do nothing. Her strength was drained. Tears rolled down her cheeks. The man stood up and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Rose sat there, crying in the same helpless state. She could not understand what she should do, or how she could escape.
She tried to move her hands. She felt her skin tear — the ropes were cutting into her wrists. She kept struggling, but the more she fought, the tighter they dug into her flesh. She wanted to scream from the pain, but the cloth in her mouth stopped her. After enduring so much agony, her strength finally gave way. She fainted, blood dripping from her wounds.
Morning had come. Lucy still felt numbness in her legs, but now she had Jackup beside her. Both of them went to the nearby hospital near "He Yan" restaurant. Jackup was certain that this was Adrien's doing. He went to the counter and asked about Adrien. But he had already left a long time ago.
Jackup took out his car and started roaming through every corner of the city, searching for him. He was looking everywhere, but Adrien was nowhere to be found. Jackup thought to himself: What has this man done to that poor girl?
Some people outside whispered among themselves, crying. "We didn't do anything," they said. "We just left her there. She'll cut herself into pieces on her own and die. All we had to do was make sure the place was deserted — and it was."
Jackup realized the place they were talking about wasn't unfamiliar. Rose had once been there before. Suddenly, a memory struck him. He clenched his fists tightly and began to drive with determination. The journey was nearly half an hour long, but he pressed the accelerator hard. In just 20 minutes, he reached the spot.
There were only some wooden crates and a few scattered things. There was no house, no cabin, nothing permanent. Jackup sat down, holding his head. He couldn't figure out what to do next, or where to even begin. Still, he forced himself to keep moving forward.
He thought, if not a house, then surely there will be a cabin here. With this hope, he kept moving forward. After a while, he saw a small, broken-down wooden cabin in the distance. He walked toward it.
When he reached there, he found three or four people sitting casually outside, as if nothing had happened. Rage surged inside him like a storm. As soon as he stepped closer, the men standing nearby grew cautious.
Jackup picked up a stick lying on the ground and struck it hard on the head of the man in front of him. The man collapsed. Before the others could attack, Jackup struck another man's leg, then his arm, and then his back — blows raining down one after another.
The few men there pulled out their guns and aimed them at Jackup. But he reacted quickly — disarming one man and turning the gun back at them. He fired at their feet, making the bullets scatter across the ground. Fear spread, and the men fled from the place.
Jackup rushed inside through the door. There he saw Rose in a terrible condition, unconscious. He ran to her, untied all the ropes, and lifted her into his arms. Carrying her, he came out of the cabin.
Rose was still unconscious, and her body was trembling faintly. Suddenly, a poisonous insect bit Jackup's hand as he carried her — the insect had crawled onto him from Rose's body. The pain shot through his hand, but he kept going.
He placed Rose in the front seat beside him and drove away. As soon as he reached the hospital, his own condition began to deteriorate, perhaps because of the insect's venom. He managed to get Rose into the emergency room, but he himself collapsed to the floor, weak and unsteady.
A nurse passing by saw him fall. She rushed to help, lifted Jackup with difficulty, and guided him into another room. The doctors hurried toward him.The doctors examined Jackup and gave him some injections. Now he was in a room, but his condition was not too critical. After a while, he opened his eyes. A nurse was standing beside him. As soon as he woke, he started murmuring Rose's name.
The doctor noticed that he was awake and came over to check on him. Jackup looked around, searching for Rose, but she was nowhere to be seen. Just then, an assistant came running into the room. He hurried to Jackup, asking about his condition.
"How are you now? What happened? How did this all occur?" He bombarded him with questions.
But instead of answering, Jackup asked only one thing:
"Where is she?"
The assistant replied, "She has been shifted to another room."
Jackup tried to get up, but the doctor immediately pressed him back down, telling him there was no need to move. Jackup lay down again. Once his drip was removed, he was finally allowed to leave.
He slowly walked out and went straight to Rose's room, which was on the left side of his own. He entered and sat down quietly beside her, watching her silently.
He remained in the room for nearly half an hour before finally getting up to leave. On his way out, he once again took Rose's mobile phone, which had been handed over to him.
He made a call from it. Lucy picked up.
"Hello, Lucy, it's Jackup speaking."
"Hello? Where's Rose? Did you find her? Is she with you?" Lucy asked anxiously.
"Yes, she's with me. I'll send you the hospital's location. But listen — if Rose asks how she got here, just tell her that you brought her. Don't tell her anything else."
Lucy asked carefully, "But why? What really happened?"
"I can't tell you right now," Jackup said firmly. "I'll be leaving early in the morning. After that, you handle everything."
"Alright," Lucy replied quietly. "As you wish. Bye."
"Bye," Jackup answered, and ended the call.