She leaned gracefully on the sofa as she toyed with the bangle on her wrist. She pulled it off and put it on repeatedly, an amusing game for the woman. After a long silence, when Tang Nuan was about to speak, the woman’s phone suddenly rang. The music of the phone was rather incongruous in the quiet room.
It caused Tang Nuan to shiver in her seat. The woman pulled out her phone. After glancing at the caller ID, she placed the bangle she had just removed on the coffee table before walking into the room across from the living room to answer the call.
Since the door was closed, Tang Nuan had no clue what the woman was talking about on the phone. She waited for about ten minutes, when the closed door was opened, and the woman sauntered out slowly.
Tang Nuan turned her head to glance at the clock on the wall. She commented, “It’s 11 pm already…”
The woman followed her observation and took a look at the clock as well. Tang Nuan lowered her gaze and said, “It’s getting late. I shall be taking my leave then.”
The woman stopped beside the sofa where Tang Nuan was before and nodded softly. “Okay, it is getting late. Be careful on your way home.”
Tang Nuan nodded politely as she grabbed her bag. She tried to maintain her balance as she stood up. She turned around and told the woman, “Good night.”
“Good night.” The woman answered peacefully as she stood back to make way for Tang Nuan. Tang Nuan didn’t say anything. Carrying her bag, she walked at a fast pace toward the front door.
When she passed the woman, the woman suddenly called her name. “Tang Nuan?”
Tang Nuan stopped moving. Before she could even turn around to look at the woman, the woman stuck a syringe that she retrieved from who knew where expertly and accurately into Tang Nuan’s arm.
Tang Nuan yelped from the shot of pain. Her first instinct was to struggle, but anticipating her move, the woman shoved her hardly on her side to knock her into the coffee table. Before Tang Nuan could collect herself from the physical assault, the woman jumped on her, pressing the liquid inside the syringe into Tang Nuan’s system.
It was not until the woman pulled the needle harshly away that Tang Nuan yelled at the woman, “What have you done‽”
The woman’s face had lost the gentleness and kindness from earlier. In their place was a heavy murderous air. She answered Tang Nuan honestly, “Just a little shot of hallucinogens.”
Hallucinogens… A type of drug… This means my child is…
Suddenly crazed, Tang Nuan climbed up from the coffee table to rush at that woman. However, the drug worked fast. The woman merely pushed her lightly before she collapsed once more on the table. She struggled to get up, but she couldn’t gather any strength in her limbs.
“You really think I don’t know anything?” The woman scoffed in condescension as she bent down to grab Tang Nuan’s bag. She rummaged through it before she pulled out Tang Nuan’s recorder and pressed the play button.
As the recording played, Tang Nuan knew then that the woman had already suspected her way before she arrived. Everything she did was merely a set-up to entrap her.