42 Vase
He was still standing in front of the apartment's door when a person walked out of the elevator. It was the only person he never wanted to see again. The only person he had no mercy for.
Chao's face hardened when he locked eyes with her and firmly took an offensive stance in front of the door, guarding Yitian inside.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, with more animosity than he intended in the first place. Because it was still her apartment. Technically, he had no reason to be there.
"I? You are asking me? You are the one that is not supposed to be here." She asked sweetly, widening her red lips in a creepy smile.
Chao measured her up and down and if he had no idea what she was like, he would be okay with her. She looked like a normal mom coming back from work in the office.
"Yitian is taking some things back with him," Chao said, and Nou's face darkened.
"He has no pretense to take those things. They are not his. I paid for them. I will have them. He abandoned them the moment he walked away from this house!" Nou Rao raised her voice, it was just a little from shouting.
"You were abusing him! He had to walk away! Otherwise, he would die!" Chao did not hold back, he was shouting at her. He was bigger, more muscly than her. So, Nou Rao, scared, made a few steps back. Her eyes darted from side to side and Chao's followed.
When her eyes stopped at the vase in the hallway, Chao was cursing the person who wanted to make the hallway nicer.
Nou Rao took only a while to get there and lifted the vase. Chao, surprised by her strength, did not know how to react.
"Get out of my way!" she hissed at him threateningly, holding the vase above her head. Chao still stood in the door, blocking her path to Yitian. He did not move. Only shook his head.
As soon as he did that, she slammed the vase on the door right above Chao's right shoulder. Good, she didn't hit him directly, despite that, few shards painfully stabbed his shoulder. He looked at it and saw that he was bleeding.
Chao raised his head to look at Nou Rao, but he wasn't prepared for her second attack at all. She slammed something buzzing into his stomach.
An electric current stormed through his body. He started convulsing, not able to control his body. Chao felt immense pain, and he just knew he was falling down on the floor. Then his eyes rolled back and he couldn't think anymore.
***
Yitian heard some shouting in the hallway, but he was paying no attention to it. He was carefully going through the things in his room, deciding what carried painful memories and what was worth taking with him.
The box he had prepared was almost empty. Because almost nothing held any value to him. He took some of his books, his paints, and sketchbooks.
And now he was just looking around at how empty his life was before. He grabbed the backpack from the cabinet and put his phone in and some clothes that still fit him.
Yitian took the box and was on his way out when he remembered he had his keys in the living room.
He went back to pick them up. He was putting the bundle in his backpack when a loud crash sounded throughout the entire apartment, but it was coming from the hall.
Yitian quickly took all of his things and put on his shoes. The only sound like this should be the big vase in the hallway, so there might be shards all over the floor.
He put the box on the cabinet in the entrance hall and carefully opened the door. Something unexpected fell on him.
He was quick enough to catch at least Chao's head, so he wouldn't crush his skull on the floor. Yitian had no idea what to do, then just lay his head carefully on the floor and looked at the woman who was at fault.
"What did you do to him?" Yitian asked her coldly. She was laying beside Chao on his side. She threw her hair over her shoulder and looked hurt, her eyes wet from tears.
"I was defending myself. He attacked me," she said and sniffled. Yitian was speechless. He looked at Chao and blinked a few times as if he were sorting out his thoughts.
"Why would he do that?" Yitian asked, still stunned at his mother. She elegantly stood up, calmly put the stun gun in her purse, and hugged herself.
"He said you are not good enough for him anymore. That he wanted someone more mature. I was just fighting back. He wanted to rape me!" The last sentence she shouted.
Yitian looked around at the other apartments, scared that someone would see this scene, but nobody came out. Nobody cared, as usual, but now he was thankful for that.
"He attacked you? Why was he back to the door then? Don't try it. I don't believe you! He would never do something like that!" Yitian wanted to show her that he knew what happened. That she attacked Chao like she did, many times before, Yitian.
But she threw herself at him. And started crying. Yitian was now bigger than her, so she laid her head at his shoulder and cried, mumbling something about self-defense.
Yitian couldn't take it anymore. He made sidestep, letting her lose her balance and almost falling; he kneeled beside Chao's body. He saw him breathing and the bloodstains on his shoulders were small, so he wasn't afraid about him that much.
He took some of those jolts from her stun gun too. It would just leave marks. He scooped up Chao's phone from his pocket and surprisingly noticed that Chao was calling the family member Yitian met during the New Year.
He was just pressing the phone to his ear when he saw three big men and Chung Jiaer emerge from the elevator.
Yitian was stunned for a moment, then he turned around to point at his mother. But she was nowhere to be seen.
"Hospital, now. He may need a stitch or two on the shoulder," he said towards Chung Jiaer, finally getting that they were there to help. Then he turned to Chao. With tears in his eyes, he took Chao's hand and whispered something only he knew what meant.
