Aunt Fin was holding back tears as she looked at A-Bo and barely managed to say, "I swear, I don't even know how many of them were in the car. I don't even know what the car looked like since I was inside the house when it happened. The neighbor's kids who were fetching water at the well with him are the ones who said they were just drawing water when the car entered the street. Some people got out, pulled him into the car, and drove off with him. This was around 5 a.m., before dawn."
A-Bo was speechless. He had never been so confused in his life and didn't know what to say. Likewise, I-Bo, who had been leaning against the car since they arrived in the neighborhood, hadn't said a word.
After a few seconds, A-Bo lifted his head, looked gently at Aunt Fin, and said, "But he has your number, doesn't he, Aunt?"
Aunt Fin replied, "He doesn't have this number, actually...just my old line. The other day, Zhan's mother was sick, so I went to Chongqing to check on her. On the way, I lost my phone. When I got to Shanghai, I bought a new line before reactivating the old one. To this day, I still haven't reactivated the old line."
A-Bo fell silent, thinking.
Aunt Fin, tears streaming, said, "It was just bad luck that he went out to fetch water today. Honestly, since he came, I usually do the fetching myself...I never let him do it for me. And now look, he hasn't come back. Mostly...at night, when I return from the market, I do the fetching because water is hard to get this season. The wells usually dry up, so you have to let the water collect before drawing it. And there's no electricity to fix the pump, let alone get a water pump running. The other day, I cooked a lot for a party and got too tired to fetch water at night. When I woke up, I had a fever. So that's why he went out to fetch water for us."
A-Bo leaned against his car, closed his eyes, and opened them again. His mind was completely blocked. He hadn't expected Yiming to be this way—the guy was really something else. Yiming knew every kind of dirty tactic. To this day, he still hadn't turned on his phone, so there was no way to know where he was. He wouldn't even turn on his line by accident.
As for I-Bo, he had never underestimated Yiming—just one look at the kind of actions Yiming had been showing made that clear.
Tracking Sean all the way to Shanghai was the least thing A-Bo thought Yiming would do, since he didn't have access to Zhan's aunt. But seriously, how did he even find his way? He didn't have Aunt Fin's active line, nor did he know which neighborhood she lived in.
I-Bo let out a hidden sigh, thinking about where they should even start unraveling this matter. After all, there was no way they could call it a kidnapping, since Sean was legally his husband.
***
Zhan was sitting at the far end of the large room, curled up with his arms around his knees. By then, he had stopped crying...he didn't even have the strength to cry anymore—but his heart ached terribly. He had a severe headache and was thirsty. He had been sitting in the room for over twelve hours without food or drink.
Since being brought in, no one had come to the room. In fact, he hadn't heard anyone move in the house—it felt like he was all alone inside. He used the bathroom attached to the room, not knowing what time it was, just following his instincts.
At this point, he knew he had no say left in his own destiny. He knew it was Yiming who had arranged for him to be taken like this. Hot tears fell as he pitied his own life. All he could remember clearly was that he was at the well near Aunt Fin's house, fetching water, when two people came in a car.
At the same time, they led him to their car. At first, he resisted and tried to raise the alarm, screaming. The children at the well all ran into their homes. As he screamed, one of the men quickly covered his face with a handkerchief. He felt like he inhaled something like dust.
Then the man removed the handkerchief from his face. After that, he didn't even try to scream again because he became weak. Je knew that throughout the ride, he was conscious but not fully. He couldn't feel anything because his whole body had gone numb. His head felt heavy, and his eyes were spinning...
Suddenly, Zhan lifted his head and stood up quickly when he heard someone trying to open the door from outside with a key. His heart pounded hard as he stared at the door. It opened, and he walked in.
Zhan hadn't been expecting anyone but him. He lowered his head after their eyes met. Fresh tears began to fall.
Yiming voice hit his ears, full of arrogance and confidence: "So your bodyguards still haven't come after you? They should have arrived by now because I see it's almost twelve hours. How come they haven't come to rescue you, given all their capacity?"
Only then did Zhan lift his head and look at him, his voice trembling as he said, "Fear Heavens..." He couldn't continue and burst into bitter, frustrated tears.
Yiming just stood there watching him with an evil smile on his face.
Zhan quickly lifted his head when he heard him walking toward where he stood. He pressed himself against the wall, feeling as if the wall might split open so he could slip through. His heart pounded violently.
When Yiming got close to him, he said in a calm voice, "What did you say?"
Zhan shook his head at him, his heart still racing, his voice shaking as he said, "Fear Heaven's, Yiming, fear..."
Before he could finish, he felt two hard slap land on his face. He saw stars. He held his cheek, staring at Yiming without blinking.
In his husky voice, Yiming said, "You still have the guts to repeat what you just said? You have no shame, do you? You're telling me to fear God's? Then should i fear you. Or fear your good for nothing father...if I don't fear God?"
Barely able to speak, Zhan said, "You insulted me, but don't insult my father again...."
Still, before he could finish, Yiming delivered another heavy slap to the other side of his face. This time, the room spun around him...it wasn't a playful slap.
Yiming glared at him with a look that terrified Zhan; Yiming eyes had turned red, and he was breathing heavily as he said, "I'm talking, and you talk back to me? How dare you, you poor, wretched boy?"
Zhan burst into intense tears, feeling that if only Heaven would take his soul right now, he could finally rest. He was about to sink to the ground, but Yiming pinned him against the wall and said, "So where are your bodyguards today...the ones who support you while you act arrogantly toward me? Tell me where they are today. You were dealing with those useless men just to spite my marriage to you because you're nothing but an ignorant fool who doesn't know what he—what he's doing."
Zhan was crying so hard he didn't even realize when he said, "Well, is marriage supposed to be forced, Yiming? I said I don't want this marriage. I hate you. You might as well just kill me so we can both have peace."
Yiming slammed his head hard against the wall, and Zhan felt his breath stop for a few seconds.
Yiming gave him a vicious look, breathing heavily, and said, "So you didn't know that marrying me is obligatory for you, whether you like it or not? Didn't your father tell you that, or did you forget because you started chasing after men? haven't you? Any day you try to run away again or pull any silly act, then the lives of your twin siblings will pay the price for my marriage. If you dare defy me, whether you like it or not, you will stay with me, or I will destroy your siblings' lives. I am promising you this. And nothing will happen to me because killing your sisters would be like killing a nobody. From you to your parents, there's nothing any of you can do. Even your bodyguards...I haven't ignored them. I will take revenge for the intrusion they made on my property. I will teach them a lesson. You hear me and you'll see."
Zhan couldn't say anything. He could barely breathe. Yiming's words about destroying his siblings made his whole body tremble. Yiming turned, full of arrogance, walked over, and opened the room's closet, which was filled with sexy, expensive clothes.
He said, "All of these are your clothes from now on. Once you've bathed and dressed, come find me in my room, which is three doors away from this one. I'll be waiting for you at exactly 7 p.m., and it's now only 6:30 p.m."
With that, he left the room, holding the key.
Slowly, Zhan slid down to the floor, catching his breath, feeling something stop dead in his chest. He didn't even have the strength to cry properly or feel any relief because he haven't eat food since the previous day. He was just weak and helpless.
His eye hurt from the slap Yiming had given him before today...it hadn't healed at all, and every now and then, he felt it bothering him. The fear that Yiming might return and do worse than what he'd already done gave Zhan just enough strength to stand up with the little energy he had left.
He walked with difficulty into the bathroom attached to the room, gathered some pump water, and drank it, hoping to ease what he felt in his heart. After drinking, he stared at his reddened face in the mirror. Slowly, he slid down to the bathroom floor, leaning against the tiled wall, hot tears streaming down his face. He stayed like that for over ten minutes, then forced himself to stand after remembering the time Yiming had given him...afraid he might come back.
He wished there was a lock on the bathroom door so he could just lock himself in, even if it meant dying there, which would still be better than being with Yiming.
Listlessly, he took off the nightclothes he was wearing and began to bathe with the shower gel in the bathroom.
Everything a person could need was in the bathroom...everything was just set.
After a while, he finished bathing, brushed his teeth, and came out wrapped in a towel, different thoughts running through his mind.
Since Yiming had left the room door open, maybe he could sneak out and find a way to escape. Even though he knew Yiming would never be stupid enough to leave the door open for him to get out. In fact, even if he got out of the building, he knew there was definitely a guard at the gate, and there was no way the guard would let him leave. Maybe Yiming had even told the guard not to open the gate for him if he tried to leave. But still, his goal was to find a room with a lock, go inside, lock the door, and leave the key in the lock from the inside so that even if a spare key was used, the door wouldn't open because of the key he'd left inside.
With that thought, he headed for the door, his heart pounding. He opened the door carefully to leave, and they almost ran into each other. Afraid, he turned quickly to step away from the doorway, but Yiming fixed him with a stare.
His lips trembling, Zhan said, "I'm very thirsty."
Yiming's face showed no mercy. He said, "Follow me." Zhan couldn't refuse him, knowing that Yiming was just waiting for any excuse to slap him. At every slight opportunity, he would just slap him.
He followed Yiming, his heart pounding. They entered the main living room of the house. The house was a duplex, but Zhan didn't even notice because he was only focused on himself. Following Yiming, they reached the kitchen.
Yiming turned and looked at him briefly, saying, "Here. Cook whatever you want to eat because I don't have time to go out and buy you anything, since you know how to cook. After that, make me some Lipton tea and bring it to the room I told you about."
Zhan was leaning against the kitchen doorframe, his mind completely disconnected from his body. He saw Yiming leave the kitchen. He followed him with his gaze until he could no longer see him. He slid to the floor, curled his knees to his chest, and said in a trembling voice, "I'm in real trouble now."
He stayed like that for nearly five minutes before forcing himself to stand, wiping the tears that had stopped on his face. He walked slowly to the living room door and tried the handle...it was locked, and there was no key in sight. He wasn't surprised because he knew Yiming must have locked the house. He went through the house, trying every door...all locked, no keys in sight.
Tears rolled slowly down his face as he returned to the kitchen. Even though he hadn't eaten since yesterday, he didn't feel hunger because of all the stress. His body was just weak, and he felt all his strength was gone. That's why he made a little cup of tea to drink. But he couldn't drink it...he had no appetite.
So he poured it out, took the black tea that Yiming had asked him to make, and left the kitchen. Just then, Yiming entered the living room. Zhan bowed his head. His heartbeat accelerated because Yiming was only wearing shorts and a singlet.
Gathering all his courage, Zhan said, "Here's the tea."
No praise, no acknowledgment...Yiming just said, "Did I tell you to bring me tea here?"
Zhan didn't say anything, but anyone looking at him could see he was terribly frightened. He turned and headed toward where Yiming had told him to bring the tea, with Yiming following behind him.
If fear and terror could kill a person, they would have killed Zhan at that moment. At the bedroom door, he stopped and said in a trembling voice, "Here's the tea."
Yiming gave him a long, hard look that made Zhan not even realize when he entered the room, placed the tea mug on the floor, and looked around in a daze. Yiming came into the room, pushed the door shut, and said firmly, "Take off that jacket. And today will be the first and very last day you walk around the house with a jacket on."
Zhan dropped to his knees and burst into tears of distress, looking up at him.
Yiming shouted at him, "Are you daft?"
Suddenly, Zhan felt Yiming grab the jacket from behind. Before he could finish taking it off, Zhan began struggling with him, holding onto the jacket and calling for his mother in confusion. But when Yiming grabbed him with one hand, Zhan realized there was no power left but the Heaven's. He couldn't make a single solid move.
He felt and saw Yiming pull off the jacket and throw him onto the bed. Zhan began pleading with every word that came out of his mouth, saying, "I'm begging you, for the sake of Heaven, have mercy, Yiming. Please, have mercy on me and let me go. If you honor your parents at all, have mercy..."
Yiming gaze linger over him, simultaneously surveying every bit of his beautiful, breathtaking body. Everything about Zhan was perfect. So his real beauty had been hidden all this time, and Yiming hadn't known. He had been with all kinds of women, but he had never seen a male as beautiful as Zhan when naked. Just his radiance alone was enough to confuse anyone.
Yiming's eyes had already changed color. He took off his singlet, looking down at Zhan, and said, "Even if you resist, you'll be the one who suffers because that isn't stopping me in any way, baby boy. Just relax, and I won't be rough."
Zhan panicked even more, begging him while trying to get off the bed. Yiming fixed him with a stare and put him back on the bed, looking at him in his husky voice, saying, "Don't make me give you a dirty slap..."
Zhan didn't even know what he was saying...he tried to get down again, and Yiming pinned him to the bed. Roughly, he began exploring Zhan's body as if he had found an old whore...
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