Little Jun was taken to a shabby and seemingly unused apartment. The floor was dirty with dust lying around the corners and small spiderwebs shone on rusty walls under the faint light. He coughed as he felt uncomfortable breathing in the dust.
"Sit there."
Jun glanced at his small phone in Ouyang Haitao's hands which was now broken. There drowned the hope of tracking his location.
"And you say you just wanted to talk. You don't break someone's phone for a conversation."
"Shut up!!!" He lashed out.
Jun slightly widened his eyes by his outburst. Before Jinhai, he had behaved so meekly.
Well that is to be given, he thought.
Ouyang Haitao took a good look at Jun from head to toe. "You…you are so arrogant for a damn kid!"
"Huh?" Jun was dumbfounded.
Arrogant?
"Don't feign ignorance! You looked so proud looking down at me that day…I kept groveling on the floor and you were enjoying my misery! Your eyes…" his green veins popped on the back of his hand, "they were so fucking irritating! You were sneering at me! Mocking me for my pathetic state! I could feel your disdain!"
Jun grimaced. "First of all, that's my normal look. I am not good with expressions. Secondly, judging by how you studied my 'emotions' so deeply, if you had put even half the effort into your life, you wouldn't have ended up in that state in the first place. Thirdly, you have kept your family in the dark about your debts. You have lied to them. You broke their trust. You think I mocked you that day? I didn't. But then do you suppose I should have showered you with respect either?"
Ouyang Haitao angrily laughed. To think that a nine year old child was pointing out his mistakes was utterly humiliating.
"You are fucking arrogant! It's easy for you to give a lecture, isn't it? After all, you are bathing in money and cash!" His eyes flashed with greed and envy. "What will you know about how it feels to live a life without money!?"
Jun gave him a look. "NOW, I am actually mocking you. Easy? I am swimming in money because my father is busy signing profitable business deals every day without a wink of sleep. I am showered with cash because my Grandma and Grandpa have shed their blood and tears to build the Liu Corps."
He froze.
"I don't have to think about living a poor life because my uncle spends sleepless nights working on his fashion designing projects. I don't have to worry about my future because my twin uncles are very particular in not wasting a single day to practice for modeling and their career. Yes I don't lack money, but that's because my mother feeds hundreds of stomachs with her delicious food as a chef every single day.
I am surrounded by a family who have given their all to earning lots of money for me and my siblings to grow well. So I am proud of the fortune I am blessed with, not arrogant about it."
Ouyang Haitao trembled hard.
"Bathing in money and cash is just an easy argument for you to escape your mistakes," Jun ruthlessly said. "You don't have any idea how much effort is put in behind the curtains. So don't mock the Liu family for living a life of luxury because that's what we deserve."
"You…!"
Ouyang Haitao grabbed his neck and pressed it hard. Jun tightly knitted his brows, feeling strangled and breathless.
"I was right that day. I despise you! I despise your father! Who does he think he is threatening me like that? He just gave me three days! Is he nuts!? I wished I had killed him then and you too!"
He threw Jun away, and Jun immediately broke into incessant coughing. He knew his words would agitate him immensely, but he was prepared for it. He never tolerated people saying how easy their life was just by shallowly looking at them from the outside.
It was as if the world selfishly dismissed all the hard work his family put in, which he wouldn't bear at any cost.
"Enough with your talk! Just stay quiet or I will kill you!"
Ouyang Haitao left the apartment in a fury and locked the door behind him.
Jun sat straight and coughed for a few more minutes until his neck felt less painful. He snorted at Ouyang Haitao.
He should feel lucky that it was me talking. If it was Mom, she would have twisted his ear and scolded him even harsher. She hates it when people take light of anybody's struggles.
He heaved breathlessly and looked in his front at the girl who was sleeping. He got up, dusted his hands and walked up to her. Now that he saw her more closely, he felt that she looked older than him.
Is she eleven? Twelve?
He gently shook her shoulder. "Hey, wake up."
She didn't.
Jun frowned. He tried some more, but she was completely knocked out. He let out a sigh in defeat.
He went back to his place and sat down. There was no scope of escaping. There was only one door which Ouyang Haitao had locked from outside. The room was windowless. But till then, he wanted to talk to the girl and find more about their kidnapper.
He could only wait for Jinhai to rescue him.
—
Jun straightened up in alarm when the door opened again and Ouyang Haitao came in. He went straight towards the unconscious girl and picked her up. Then he grabbed Jun's arm and dragged him.
"Hey let us go! Leave the girl! Where are you taking us!?" Jun struggled hard to escape his hold. It pained his arm as his fingers were digging deep into his skin.
Ouyang Haitao became more restless. Jun could see his mind churning with some ideas.
"I cannot keep you screaming like this. How about you peacefully sleep like she is doing too?"
Jun stiffened. He guessed he would give some sleeping pills or smell him chloroform to knock him out. But he could do nothing to protest it because there was no room to run.
Ouyang Haitao forcefully covered his mouth with a napkin. Jun coughed and tried not to breathe in, but his senses slowly started to dull.
Even so, he fought the dizziness setting in and as far heighted he was, he grabbed his leg and pushed all of his strength to make him stumble.
The door is open…I can grab the girl and run away…
"You fucking brat!"
Ouyang Haitao tripped backwards, and his head struck hard on the wall behind him. He gasped in pain and fell on his knees, feeling an impact on his neck too.
"You…you…" He collapsed on the floor, unable to fight it.
Jun was shell-shocked himself to see blood flowing out of his head. He only wanted to trip him off balance.
But he was in no position to think more as the choloform's effect was kicking in faster and faster.
I-Is he dead…? I didn't…I didn't mean to…kill him…I didn't…want…to…
Eventually he fell down too, his teary eyes closing themselves.
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