Bai Yiran underestimated the briefness of five minutes. She felt that the phone call had barely been hung up before five minutes had passed. Throughout those five minutes, she hadn't even moved, still leaning against the wall.
Her mind was blank, unsure of what was going to happen next or what she should do.
First, the sound of a car door, followed by footsteps, then a knock on the door.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang continuously and urgently, with almost no pause or gap. Each ring seemed to strike at Bai Yiran's heart as she paced back and forth in front of the door, holding her phone.
She knew she was avoiding, avoiding that heart-wrenching experience, avoiding that nightmare-like event. She didn't want to remember the pain of being beaten and kicked like an ant, didn't want to recall the despair of having a gun pointed at the back of her head, didn't want to remember the heartbreak of losing her child.
